What René spoke about.

8

May

2025

DE Speech

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80 years after the end of World War II - freedom, democracy and security as the heritage of Europe (debate)

Madam President, On 8 May 1945, with the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht, the military rule of National Socialism ended. This year, too, we commemorate the millions of soldiers and civilians killed during the Second World War. We are also increasingly recognizing the dual importance of this day: May 8 meant freedom for Western Europe in the long term, but for Central and Eastern Europe it…

6

May

2025

DE Speech

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A unified EU response to unjustified US trade measures and global trade opportunities for the EU (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Those who are dependent on the outside become incapable of acting on the outside. And that is exactly what happened – not by chance, but because the old parties have left our military security to the United States of America for decades. It was comfortable, but it was also naive. Today we see the result: Europe has become blackmailable. Donald Trump's administra…

5

May

2025

DE Speech

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Passing of Pope Francis – Statement by the President

2

Apr

2025

DE Speech

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Progress in the UN-led efforts for the resumption of negotiations towards a solution to the Cyprus problem

Madam President, The UN-led efforts to restart negotiations on the future of Cyprus are an important step. But while the nations involved are engaged in constructive talks, the EU has an unhelpful role to play. This is problematic because there is a lot at stake in the conflict. Cyprus is an external border of the European Union and its protection must be the core task of any European community. A…

2

Apr

2025

DE Speech

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European Steel and Metals Action Plan (debate)

Madam President, In Germany and Europe, there is everything you need to make our industry successful: Skills, minds, technology and a centuries-old industrial tradition. But despite these strengths, our industry is falling behind. Not because our people would have gotten worse, but because Brussels is always putting new shackles on our economy: Bureaucracy, energy prices, obligations – made by peo…

1

Apr

2025

DE Speech

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Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine: standing with Ukraine and upholding justice (debate)

Madam President, We mourn the victims of the war, and we condemn the war of aggression contrary to international law and the war crimes that go along with it. Our eyes must not stop at today. We need a lasting European peace strategy beyond the war in Ukraine. In recent weeks, there has been increasing talk of a major war in four or five years against Russia – a nightmare, because in the age of nu…

12

Mar

2025

DE Speech

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European Semester (joint debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, The European Semester aims to ensure stability in Europe. Indeed, it would be necessary for us to find stability again in Europe, but what you are planning in the European Union, in the European Commission, is the further disempowerment of parliaments, a further suspension of the will of the people. We want austerity to stop happening in Europe. We do not want E…

12

Feb

2025

DE Speech

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Commission Work Programme 2025 (debate)

Madam President, The EU Commission promises a bolder, simpler and faster Union. The Commission even wants to reduce the regulatory burden by 25%. But the announcements speak a different language. Because what sounds good at first is always implemented differently in reality: Maintaining the wrong course of the combustion ban, adherence to more reporting obligations and documentation tasks through …

11

Feb

2025

DE Speech

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Preparedness for a new trade era: multilateral cooperation or tariffs (debate)

Madam President, Ladies and gentlemen, tariffs are taxes. I believe it is the first time in the history of the European Union that you are resisting higher taxes. But it is indeed true that those who want to harm our companies through higher tariffs abroad – that we must accordingly also defend ourselves in order to protect the interests of our companies. Not because we want to harm U.S. companies…

10

Feb

2025

DE Speech

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European Central Bank – annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President! Ladies and gentlemen, our currency must be safe! Because only a stable currency ensures the prosperity of our citizens. A stable currency protects prosperity and purchasing power. It ensures that prices remain predictable, that work pays off and that everyone gets as much or more for their money tomorrow as before. The European Central Bank has a mandate to do just that. For years, h…

10

Feb

2025

DE Speech

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Situation in Sweden in the midst of the recent mass shooting in Örebro (debate)

Mr President! Ladies and Gentlemen, At this difficult hour, I would like to express my condolences to the families and guarantee and assure them that at this difficult hour we stand with the Swedish people and express our solidarity with them. We would like to be grateful for those who were brave in the first few minutes when police officers went to this school and tried to prevent worse. And, of …

23

Jan

2025

DE Speech

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Cryptocurrencies - need for global standards (debate)

Madam President, In recent years, the state's ability to monitor us citizens has grown worldwide. However, the desire to protect against this surveillance is also growing. This is why cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are experiencing such an upswing. During the coronavirus era, for example, we saw in Canada how unwelcome government critics had their accounts blocked. Some affected persons did not …

18

Dec

2024

DE Speech

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Preparation of the European Council of 19-20 December 2024 (debate)

Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen, The world is changing. Demographic conditions are shifting towards population growth in Asia and Africa to the detriment of Europe. Europe's knowledge lead in science and technology has also shrunk over the past 30 years, and we have been partially overtaken. In addition: Europe itself is curtailing access to the world's resources, in particular energy, coal,…

27

Nov

2024

DE Speech

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Election of the Commission (vote)

Madam President, Europe can do more. Europe can do more than this EU Commission intends to do. Europe has the potential to play a leading role in the world – politically, economically and culturally. But in order to tap into this potential for the future, a clear focus on the central tasks of the European level is needed: strengthen the security of external borders, cooperation between European co…

14

Nov

2024

DE Speech

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Enhancing Europe’s civilian and defence preparedness and readiness (debate)

Madam President, In recent decades, the European Union has failed to coordinate the security policies of the Member States in such a way as to ensure the highest level of security for our citizens. Whether it's defending airspace, ending mass migration, or protecting our raw material and distribution routes on the world's oceans, everywhere we depend on the structures of the United States of Ameri…

23

Oct

2024

DE Speech

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Tackling the steel crisis: boosting competitive and sustainable European steel and maintaining quality jobs (debate)

Madam President, Rising energy prices, tougher global competition and increasingly stringent regulations threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs in the steel industry. Germany has the highest wages in the steel industry in the world, and it should remain so. But we also have the highest safety standards and the strictest conservation requirements – and many of these standards are adequate to protec…

21

Oct

2024

DE Speech

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Empowering the Single Market to deliver a sustainable future and prosperity for all EU citizens (debate)

Madam President, The single market is one of the greatest achievements of European cooperation. It is a living example of how sovereign nations can collectively achieve their goals by pooling their forces in an important area. The Single Market has stimulated innovation and added prosperity in Europe. But today, unfortunately, we see that the European Union is moving further and further away from …

9

Oct

2024

DE Speech

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Presentation of the programme of activities of the Hungarian Presidency (debate)

Madam President, In recent years, Hungary has shown time and again through its decisive action that it is ready to take responsibility for itself and for the whole of Europe. Years ago, Mr Orbán was one of the first European heads of government to address the challenges of migration. While many still cheered the mass immigration of 2015, Hungary made its contribution to the protection of Europe's …

7

Oct

2024

DE Speech

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One year after the 7 October terrorist attacks by Hamas (debate)

Madam President, A year ago, 1,200 people of Jewish faith were victims of a horrific terrorist attack and pogrom. The State of Israel is the promise that people of Jewish faith will never again be defenseless. Therefore, Israel had the right and duty to ensure that such acts would never happen again. The reality of the Middle East conflict remains complex. The Gaza Strip is a region of high popula…

17

Jul

2024

DE Speech

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The need for the EU's continuous support for Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, All of Europe longs for peace. There are different views on the path to peace. Once: More and more weapons and sanctions. This strategy has not brought us peace for 874 days. But this strategy has brought the Member States of the European Union closer to war. Initially, 5,000 safety helmets were delivered from Germany. Then battle tanks should bring the turn. Now, missiles are to …