What Irmhild spoke about.

7

Jul

2025

DE Speech

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From institution to inclusion: an EU action plan for deinstitutionalisation, family- and community-based care (debate)

Mr President! Almost 200,000 people with disabilities live in homes in Germany alone, more than 200,000 children do not live with their parents, over 800,000 people in need of care in institutions. The trend is increasing in all areas. This extra-domestic care already costs well over €70 billion per year in Germany. The European Commission therefore rightly wants to remedy this situation. Inclusio…

16

Jun

2025

DE Speech

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Strengthening rural areas in the EU through cohesion policy (debate)

Madam President, The shop around the corner, good childcare, dwarf schools, spacious living space and employment opportunities within easy reach: This is what families in Europe need and want. In Germany, we have been experiencing a new desire for the countryside since 2017. More and more families are moving to small towns and villages. But rural areas must be developed accordingly in order for th…

5

May

2025

DE Speech

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Ninth report on economic and social cohesion (debate)

12

Mar

2025

DE Speech

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Adoption of the proposal for a Parenthood Regulation (debate)

Madam President, Baby Sara can't help it: Who gave birth to them is not known. Who are your biological parents, only partially? The only thing that is certain is that two women who have married each other in a Western EU country want to enforce gay marriage in Eastern Europe as well. Bulgaria, the country of origin of one of the two women, does not yet allow such a same-sex marriage. Whether the m…

11

Mar

2025

DE Speech

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Roadmap for Women`s Rights (debate)

Mr President! Reem Alsalem is not allowed to participate today. The UN Special Envoy for Violence against Women and Girls was invited by our FEMM Committee to attend today's major conference in New York. What is their offense? Years ago, she was so bold to ask what it looks like with a gender-responsive interpretation of Sharia law. But it got worse. After the introduction of the self-determinatio…

10

Mar

2025

DE Speech

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Supporting the EU’s most vulnerable regions against devastating effects of climate change, such as the recent cyclone hitting La Réunion (debate)

Mr President! Dreamy beaches, tropical climate, volcanic landscapes, lively music, Creole dances, delicious food – who doesn’t want to go on holiday to the Vanilla Islands? One of them is the island of Reunion. It is located in the Indian Ocean and is a French enclave. A holiday there is breathtaking – the island advertises on its website. But – this is also reported there – the island is characte…

16

Dec

2024

DE Speech

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Regional Emergency Support: RESTORE (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen! It is good and right that the European Commission, with the RESTORE programme, will be able to provide faster and less bureaucratic assistance in the event of natural disasters in the future. We have seen devastating flooding across Europe in recent years. Hundreds of people drowned in these floods. In this case, this has not always been the direct result of …

28

Nov

2024

DE Answer

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Strengthening children’s rights in the EU - 35th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (debate)

The fact that the state intervenes where children are abused and where children are neglected by their own parents is perfectly correct. But when we see the numbers – from Norway, or I just mentioned the example of the Netherlands, where 2,000 children were taken out of the families because the parents allegedly wrongly received a child supplement, and the government backtracked and said: We were …

28

Nov

2024

DE Speech

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Strengthening children’s rights in the EU - 35th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen! Anchoring special children's rights is always a dangerous thing. The State shall have powers which are the primary parental right; And if he doesn't get them voluntarily, he just takes them. We have seen many examples of this in recent years. In the Netherlands, almost 2,000 children have been taken from families as part of the so-called child surcharge affai…

26

Nov

2024

DE Speech

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Urgent need to tackle the gender pay gap (debate)

25

Nov

2024

DE Speech

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International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Today is another day set by the United Nations, the International Day against Violence against Women. These days of remembrance are indeed suitable to be honest at least once a year, to address things once a year that we do not want to experience in Europe. And so today would be appropriate to name the true causes and the terrible effects of violence against wom…

13

Nov

2024

DE Speech

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The devastating floods in Spain, the urgent need to support the victims, to improve preparedness and to fight the climate crisis (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen! We mourn with the bereaved of the dead of the storm disaster of Spain. More than 220 people have died in the devastating floods. But we are also angry – angry because we have seen again in Spain that the population has not been warned in time of a massive storm. How can it be that already at half past eight in the morning the national weather authority declar…

9

Oct

2024

DE Speech

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Taxing the super-rich to end poverty and reduce inequalities: EU support to the G20 Presidency’s proposal (topical debate)

Mr President! Today we are talking about taxing billionaires even higher. I think this is a very daring project. So-called rich people in Germany are already paying taxes of 45 percent, and the government has announced that it will increase the tax rate even further next year. But what would I think of instead? Instead of continuing to work on the tax screw, we should finally start to continue tax…

7

Oct

2024

DE Speech

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Need to fight the systemic problem of gender-based violence in Europe (debate)

Mr President! It is good that the European Parliament has decided to adopt far-reaching rules to protect women from violence. Forced marriages and genital mutilation are to be punished as crimes in the future. FEMM said that Europe should become the first continent to end violence against women. Unfortunately, we are far from that. Every year, more than 3,000 women are killed in Europe, and hundre…

17

Sep

2024

DE Speech

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Outcome of G20 ministerial meeting in Rio-de-Janeiro and fighting inequality (debate)

Madam President, Ladies and gentlemen, even if there aren't many left! Representatives of the G20 countries met in Rio de Janeiro to discuss hunger and inequality. An impressive backdrop was the port of Galpão da Cidadania, where the African slave trade was once conducted. It is dramatic that, to date, inequality and poverty have not been effectively tackled. To date, more than 750 million people …