Speeches

Mrs. Strack-Zimmermann, you like to peddle here in between. I would like to ask a substantive question. It was repeatedly claimed that Russia was responsible for the demolition of Nord Stream 2. For a few months now, we have known that they were probably Ukrainian citizens. They were often in Ukraine themselves. I would like to know about you: How likely do you consider it that these acts were committed by Ukrainian citizens without the knowledge of the Zelenskyi government?

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. In the Budapest Declaration, agriculture only gets a short point at the very end. There is talk of creating a stable and predictable framework. Yes, such sentences sound good, but can mean anything and nothing. In any case, it is the opposite of stable if Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy were to be further reduced. European farmers want to keep animals, produce meat and farm their fields. For this, there must also be reliable subsidies. However, premiums for settling areas are the pinnacle of madness and comparable to putting a football professional in top form on the stands or paying a golf professional for not targeting the green to protect the blades of grass. Ladies and gentlemen, our farmers in the EU are permanently in top form and they want respect for their hard work, which knows no end of work and no weekend. Unlike the professional golfer, they do not have 18 holes in front of them, but exactly one hole. A very large hole – the hole in her wallet. Let us prevent farmers from receiving even less support by accepting Ukraine or Turkey. Let us prevent agreements such as Mercosur from making inferior products find their way into the EU. Let us finally fight the harmful and disrespectful bureaucracy. Agriculture has a great future.

Thank you for accepting the question. So I would be interested – you have already made some hints in your remarks on Georgia – how do you think you can end this war in any way, if not with diplomacy? And do you really think that such discussions as today help to somehow bring the Russian people back to the side of the EU? Or is it not rather that it is actually a provocation to make such insinuations now, that would be all money laundering and terrorist financing? And I would be interested in: The EU has already frozen funds from Russia – funds belonging to the Russian people – and is using this money to finance projects. Don't you think it's theft? How do you rate this?

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. In December 2022, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany wanted to visit my hometown of Stendal in the north of Saxony-Anhalt. Although he reached the station in Berlin, he could not leave from there by train for technical reasons. Mayors and guests waited in vain in the Stendal town hall – the ambassador stayed in Berlin. Delays and cancellations are not an exception for train drivers, but the rule. Although Germany has the largest rail network in Europe with 40,000 kilometres, the annual per capita investment in Germany amounts to only 115 euros. In Austria, it is three times as much, Luxembourg even invests four times as much per inhabitant in the rail network. This failure of the red-green-yellow federal government is particularly annoying for travelers, because despite annually rising ticket prices, the number of delays and cancellations is increasing. Rail travel is therefore more of an obstacle to mobility than a pleasure for most people. And even if the train is considered a clean means of transport, after visiting train toilets you will no longer use the words rail travel and cleanliness in the same sentence. Expensive, unreliable and dirty – unfortunately, the railways rightly have a bad image. It is not only possible to travel quickly from A to B by train; You could also relax, enjoy the landscape or read a book by colleague Sibylle Berg. The European Union should stand by the citizens of Europe and, in general, encourage more investment in rail transport. The fact that a government with the participation of the Greens is hindering rail traffic is further evidence of their practical inability – or in other words, some poetry in the evening: There's a green man on the rails and he thinks he's regulating traffic. He still stands there with a serious face, but when the train arrives, he no longer stands.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. For Germany alone, 11 billion euros will be allocated between 2021 and 2027 to support cities and regions; So far, so good. The ideological bureaucracy, however, is beginning to work to the detriment of the regions, because a large part of this money is earmarked for a greener and CO2-free Europe – "sustainable and innovative urban mobility" on the EU paper. However, more and more cycle paths are actually being promoted, which leads to a displacement of motorists from the inner cities. Please do not shed crocodile tears with the Socialists and Greens when we debate the crisis of car manufacturers in the European Parliament, because it is your Green Deal that makes life difficult for car manufacturers and consumers. Cities are inconceivable without regions: Commuters come to work, customers to retail, tourists to visit. Because of the distances, the vast majority of these people do not come by bike, but by car, or they do not come. More cycle paths and fewer parking spaces may reduce CO2 emissions2-emissions, but above all, this development reduces people's mobility. Let's find ways to strengthen people's mobility! We need less green re-education, we need more freedom for the people of Europe.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. The rainforest is burning and the greens are alarmed. But how do we want to react to this? Greta Thunberg as the top climate rescuer falls out, because she has been looking for a new radical topic. Thousands of young people on a Friday flying out of the classroom to go on climate strike in Brazil is also not possible – too expensive, bad for CO2Balance sheet. And somehow the young people just have no interest in the Greens. Maybe it's the old classic. Veggie day. And the increase in banning the import of Brazilian beef does not work either, because we in Europe like to eat beef. Let's talk about bans. Ex-President Bolsonaro, who according to your radical left opinion, ordered a ban on slash-and-burn in Brazil for 120 days in 2020. What is current leftist President Lula doing to stop the fires? It announces the creation of a new authority. I summarize: The Greens are concerned, the Greens are even more concerned, the Greens - well funded by taxpayers, of course - can be accommodated in an authority to worry about science-based issues. Let the Brazilians decide for themselves how to solve the problem. Let us take care of the European forest, we have enough to do.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. Low range, few charging stations, high electricity price. No problem for the green do-gooder, as long as the state has promoted the purchase of an electric car with a chic premium. This redistributive insanity has already cost taxpayers in Germany many billions of euros. But then the highest German court came and stopped this so-called environmental premium. And lo and behold: Suddenly, no one wants electric cars anymore. loud Manager magazine With Volkswagen, the largest European car manufacturer wants to cut 30,000 jobs. The alarm bells must be ringing all over Europe. But instead of a commitment to the social market economy, the EU Commission can think of nothing better than to provoke a trade war with China by imposing tariffs on electric cars. This insanity must be firmly opposed by us as Parliament. Green children's book authors such as the German Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck drive our economy unchecked against the wall with their left hands. We must therefore end this horror story and instead continue the success story of the combustion engine. Let's slow down the Greens so that the European automotive industry can finally return to the fast lane!

We just mentioned the zoo killer: He was sent back to Moscow by the German government. You just said that the rule of law works for the most part. We had a debate here on Monday on the Solingen murders, which were an expression of the fact that the Dublin Agreement does not work. How much would you quantify the damage that the German government has done to the European population in recent years with your green help? Please quantify this damage. It is, I believe, significantly higher than 200 million euros.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. When thousands of farmers in Brussels and in many countries of the European Union loudly demonstrated for their rights at the beginning of the year, a political change was within reach: Away from the Failed Green Deal, away from the distortion of competition caused by cheap grain imports, away from burdensome bureaucracy, towards agriculture that can sustainably supply tens of millions of people across Europe, in the EU, with healthy meat, fruit and vegetables, towards agriculture that can count on solid financial support in the long term. But then came the European elections, and then came the woman who shines with absence today. Because Mrs von der Leyen, in order to secure her re-election, has renewed her pact with the green devil to the detriment of agriculture. She would rather sit at the table with green meat haters and climate hysterics than with conservative defenders of our European culture. This culture particularly includes farmers, who themselves know best how to keep their animals and how to manage their soils. Any attempt to make life difficult for our farmers with ever new regulations will have serious consequences on the road and here in Parliament.