What Rudi spoke about.

8

Jul

2026

NL Question

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EU’s response and preparedness to protect people against recurring heatwaves and upcoming wildfires (debate)

I have already heard a number of interventions from, say, civilized right, center-right. And I always hear pleas for prevention and for investments and I know a lot. Now, what I find is that everywhere in Europe, where the vast majority are right-wing or centre-right governments, there are just savings on prevention everywhere, savings on emergency services everywhere and the like. So I'd like to …

7

Jul

2026

NL Speech

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EU-Mexico (joint debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this policy of the European Commission is completely incomprehensible. Yesterday we debated our automotive industry, which left Europe and sees thousands of jobs lost every year. And what does this Commission do? It is once again concluding a neoliberal trade deal, an agreement that undermines our industrial capacity and will pit workers worldwide against each o…

7

Jul

2026

NL Speech

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Urgent measures to strengthen the competitiveness and safeguard quality jobs in the EU’s automotive sector (debate)

Mr President, CEOs are panicking because the European automotive industry is disappearing. But where was that panic when millions of workers were laid off? I'm one of them. In 2010, thousands of colleagues and I lost my job after Opel closed Antwerp. After that, it just got worse. Audi Brussels, Van Hool in Lier and now Volkswagen in Germany. Again and again, China is to blame. But where is one's …

6

Jul

2026

NL Speech

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Coordination of social security systems (debate)

Mr President, it is important that we reaffirm the right of every worker to work in his own country or region. It is also of the utmost importance to solve problems faced by millions of mobile workers, modal families and pensioners across Europe. Why is it important that you support this revision? It protects posted workers and facilitates labour inspections in high-risk sectors, such as construct…

17

Jun

2026

NL Speech

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The resilience of the European transport sector and the need to ensure the supply of essential goods amid ongoing geopolitical instability (debate)

Mr President, companies and colleagues complaining about the ongoing trade disruptions are quickly blaming Iran. What a nonsense to point the finger at a country that defends itself against an illegal war by the US and Israel. But the Strait of Hormuz has shown the world how vulnerable our supply chains are. Railway infrastructure that has deteriorated due to lack of funding, transport services th…

20

May

2026

NL Speech

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High time to deliver on the Single Market, providing certainty and predictability for EU businesses and quality jobs (continuation of debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Mrs von der Leyen says that companies need predictability and clarity. Yes, of course. But do you know who needs that much more? The millions of workers who thought they would get training and a well-paid job from companies, who, under the guise of the green transition, received millions in subsidies. But little of that has happened. Those companies took the money and p…

19

May

2026

NL Speech

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Political repression and humanitarian situation in Cuba (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what a joke that we are debating Cuba here, but not Israel’s crimes. Mrs Kallas, you are very selective when it comes to human rights violations. You do not see them in Qatar, not in Saudi ‑ Arabia or in the US, but in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela or Iran, because they want to have their own resources. The same goes for the CIA. The Cuban situation cannot b…

29

Apr

2026

NL Speech

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The need to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish life in Europe, following the recent attacks against the Jewish community in the Netherlands and Belgium (debate)

27

Apr

2026

NL Speech

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Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank Group – annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President, the European Investment Bank manages almost EUR 250 billion and the taxpayer has no say whatsoever in what happens to these funds. It would eradicate poverty and be a climate bank. It would invest in infrastructure for renewable energy, public transport, affordable and sustainable housing and healthcare. She doesn't. There is never money for public services. What she does do is use o…

10

Mar

2026

NL Speech

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Cutting red tape to enable a competitive and clean transition – the urgent need to shorten and simplify permitting (debate)

Mr President, this business-friendly Commission continues to say that if we abolish regulation, our economies will flourish and everything will be great. Of course, none of that is true. Rules are not an obstacle to success, on the contrary. It's not science fiction. Decades ago we had social protection, good wages, a good standard of living and strong economies. Now we are ruled by pathetic peopl…

9

Mar

2026

NL Speech

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Gender pay and pension gap in the EU: state of play, challenges and the way forward, and developing guidelines for the better evaluation and fairer remuneration of work in female-dominated sectors (debate)

Mr President, the facts tell us that every year women work two months more than men. Despite this, they earn 16% less and their pension is a quarter lower. We have a directive on this, but it remains a dead letter. The current EU austerity measures that harm everyone have an even more negative impact on girls and women. You would expect that with the pro-family rhetoric we hear here, peop…

11

Feb

2026

NL Speech

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Addressing subcontracting chains and the role of intermediaries in order to protect workers’ rights (debate)

Mr President, tomorrow this Parliament will vote on a crucial report calling on the Commission to finally regulate temporary employment agencies and put an end to endless subcontracting. In more and more sectors, shadowy constructions have become the norm. The target? Reduce costs and make work even more uncertain. But on the right side of this Chamber, we are once again trying to get as much out …

22

Jan

2026

NL Speech

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A new action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (debate)

Mr President, in 2017, the European Union made a promise to its citizens with the Pillar of Social Rights. The European Union would be more than a market, more than just a tool for big capital. It was a promise of social protection and decent work. Almost nine years later, the result is painfully clear. Not much has come of that promise. As multinational profits hit record highs and defense budget…

19

Jan

2026

NL Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, many people here think that a war economy would be the solution to our industrial decline. But do we really want our industrial strategy to be based on the production of surveillance, violence and death tools? Have we not had enough war deaths in the twentieth century? Is permanent war our only option? That's madness. To fund von der Leyen's defense plan, our governments are abandoni…

19

Jan

2026

NL Speech

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Just transition directive in the world of work: ensuring the creation of jobs and revitalising local economies (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, for decades trade unions have accused companies of shutting down factories, making millions of people unemployed and moving production abroad to exploit foreign workers. We see the consequences of that today. We hardly produce anything. Our economies are not competitive and we are desperately trying to protect what is left of our industry by imposing tariffs on those wh…

17

Dec

2025

NL Speech

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The urgent need to combat discrimination in the EU through the horizontal anti-discrimination directive (topical debate)

Mr President, the anti-discrimination directive has been in place since 2008. Seventeen years. A number of Member States are blocking progress and earlier this year the Commission even wanted to withdraw the proposal. That's unacceptable. There are major gaps in European anti-discrimination rules. Discrimination based on religion, disability or sexual orientation is not sufficiently protected, so …

16

Dec

2025

NL Speech

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Presentation of the automotive package (debate)

15

Dec

2025

NL Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, on Thursday, European ministers will decide whether to use the frozen Russian money to keep the war machine running. This is not a neutral financial intervention, but a continuation of the dangerous escalation and militarization logic that we continue to hear in one piece. The same goes for the NATO boss Rutte, who actually wants to talk Europe into a third world war. Today, it is Ru…

26

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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EU strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities post-2024 (debate)

25

Nov

2025

EN Speech

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Effective use of the EU trade and industrial policy to tackle China’s export restrictions (debate)

Madam President, dear Commissioner, every time China imposes a kind of trade restriction, the EU response is to escalate, as if we are not doing exactly the same thing. Doesn't China have the right to protect its interests in the same way that we protect ours? And why is our protectionism justified, but theirs is called aggressive? We should have invested more strategically, built up stronger supp…

24

Nov

2025

NL Speech

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Enhancing police cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings; enhancing Europol’s support to preventing and combating such crimes (debate)

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026 – all sections (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, you said the EU budget is nothing more than politics expressed in numbers, a reflection of choices and priorities. I agree. Over EUR 130 billion for defence – five times more. EUR 18 billion for military mobility – ten times more. Border management tripled and EUR 15 million extra for the wine sector. Your concerns are not those from the European people. You invent imag…

8

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Establishment and functioning of European Works Councils - effective enforcement (debate)

Mr President, these are not good times for workers' rights. The von der Leyen Commission has decided to launch the attack on all fronts. But tomorrow we will vote on the revision of the directive on European Works Councils. This is a huge opportunity to achieve an improvement from Brussels for workers across Europe, an improvement for which we, together with the trade unions, have been fighting fo…

8

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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Europe’s automotive future – reversing the ban on the sale of combustion cars in the EU (topical debate)

Mr President, on the right side of this Parliament we hear that the future ban on cars with internal combustion engines must be reversed. This would supposedly be necessary to save European production and European jobs. But nothing is less true. This reversal serves only to secure the automotive industry’s short-term quarterly profits – an industry which, moreover, was hopelessly late in investing…

7

Oct

2025

NL Speech

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The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, what was the role of the EU in supporting peace efforts for Gaza? Nihil, zero, noppes, nada. European powers are repeating today the most abhorrent colonial racism that we thought would finally be a thing of the past. Not only are European leaders today redrawing the borders of Palestine without the Palestinians, but they are also simply watching women and children bein…