What Kai spoke about.

8

Jul

2026

EN Speech

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

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the data is clear: the next climate refugees will be us. It will be families in Spain, Portugal or Italy forced to leave towns their grandparents built because the climate is just too hot. In Andalusia right now, experts are using crop planting methods once reserved for the Sahara, because that's what Europe's soil is turning into. Yet some still prefer j…

17

Jun

2026

EN 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, recently I went to the supermarket and came back with 200 g of strawberries for EUR 5. I get daily messages from people worried about fuel prices, rising electricity bills and grocery prices. I always talk about better trains, because I want people to travel Europe by train as easily as possible, but equally because I want people to have affordable transport and groceries. Compared t…

21

May

2026

EN Speech

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Periodic roadworthiness tests and technical roadside inspection (Roadworthiness package) (A10-0139/2026 - Jens Gieseke) (vote)

Mr President, dear colleagues, I am speaking on behalf of our shadow rapporteur Tilly Metz. As the Greens-EFA we support the mandate for the trilogues on the roadworthiness package as already voted in the TRAN Committee. This is a compromise and we do not have the level of ambition in all parts as we would have liked, but the mandate also brings concrete improvements. For the first time, for examp…

20

May

2026

EN Speech

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Reviewing the ETS system to support European competitiveness (topical debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues on the conservative and far-right benches, you want to talk competitiveness. So let's do that. Look at the news. Just days after the strikes in the Middle East, gas prices were already skyrocketing. That's the real tax on European business – our crippling dependence on imported fossil fuels. Yet you use competitiveness as a trump card to unpick the ETS, our most po…

19

May

2026

EN Speech

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EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)

Mr President, a young woman in Madrid stares at her phone at midnight, wondering how rent suddenly takes 70 % of her of her salary. Thousands of kilometres away in Berlin, a young man is doing the exact same maths, feeling the exact same panic in his stomach. Because despite what national leaders and far-right politicians are telling you, your struggles are European struggles. From Porto to Tallin…

26

Mar

2026

EN Speech

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EU-US trade deal (joint debate)

Mr President, we are strongly committed to a good and stable relationship with the US. That won't change. But, as Volt, we cannot support this deal. It's enough. Sometimes when your partner crosses a line, you have to tell them. And the US, or rather Trump and his cabinet, have been crossing lines with Europe for a while now, on a daily basis. We have to stand up. A good trade deal should work for…

11

Mar

2026

EN Speech

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Building Europe's clean, independent and secure energy following the 2026 North Sea Summit (debate)

Madam President, as long as we depend on fossil fuels, we will be vulnerable to those who control fossil fuels. Can we control who rises to power? No, but we can control how dependent we are on them. Yet, Europe keeps repeating the same mistake. After Putin invaded Ukraine, we reduced our dependency on Russia. But instead of actually breaking the cycle, we simply shifted it, this time to the US. T…

11

Feb

2026

EN Speech

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Accession of Montenegro to the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters - Accession of the Republic of Albania to the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (joint debate)

Mr President, the EU will recognise and enforce court judgements from Montenegro and Albania and the other way around. This is an important and welcome step to bring both countries closer to the EU, strengthen ties and eventually for Montenegro and Albania to become members of the European Union. This is great news. We fully support that part. At the same time, across Europe, many citizens are sce…

10

Feb

2026

EN Question

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Extreme weather events in particular in Portugal, southern Italy, Malta and Greece: European response in strengthening readiness, preparedness and solidarity mechanisms (debate)

Thank you for accepting my blue card. Many of your colleagues, and you as well, talk a lot about the Solidarity Fund and about the reaction to those emergencies now. Of course, I agree that we need to react to those emergencies and help the people on the ground, but you are not talking at all about a strategy of how we can adapt for the future. We cannot just in even more severe situations, and th…

10

Feb

2026

EN Answer

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Extreme weather events in particular in Portugal, southern Italy, Malta and Greece: European response in strengthening readiness, preparedness and solidarity mechanisms (debate)

This is exactly what I am talking about. We need to have the structure to actually have our whole budget, the whole way we do European politics, going forward to a direction that is ready to tackle those problems. But this is not the case, and many of our policies are acting against our own values and those need to adapt to climate change. And I think we really need to be aware of this and make su…

10

Feb

2026

EN Speech

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Extreme weather events in particular in Portugal, southern Italy, Malta and Greece: European response in strengthening readiness, preparedness and solidarity mechanisms (debate)

Madam President, one and a half years ago, extreme floods in southern Europe, in Spain, killed hundreds of people. Last week, storms of similar intensity hit again, this time especially Portugal. None of this is simply bad luck. These floods were a predictable possibility of a raging climate. In Portugal, we saw how quickly floods can overwhelm infrastructure, cutting roads, power and access to ba…

21

Jan

2026

EN Speech

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Preparations for the EU-India summit (debate)

Madam President, the world we designed our politics for no longer exists. Power politics are back. International cooperation is framed as weakness, and many Europeans wonder if the EU is still strong enough to shape this new world order. It is. And now we have a unique opportunity to prove that the EU‑India trade agreement is not just another trade deal. Together, the EU and India represent around…

20

Jan

2026

EN Speech

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Air passenger rights (debate)

Madam President, why are we even debating if people should get compensated when their plane is delayed? Of course they should. But this isn't just about delays or compensation, is it? It is about how we do politics. Passenger rights have successfully protected people, not profits. Now, some governments want to change that. But let me be clear: Parliament says no. No to less compensation. No to cha…

17

Dec

2025

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 18-19 December 2025, in particular the need to support Ukraine, transatlantic relations and the EU’s strategic autonomy (debate)

Mr President, Trump wants one thing: a divided Europe, because a divided Europe is easier to break. And the saddest part is that some people in this House are playing along. But a united Europe is a stronger Europe. Joint climate disaster funds, cross-border rescue teams, early warning systems built together – that is Europe at its best, united in crisis, stronger than any single nation could ever…

27

Nov

2025

EN Speech

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Outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference - Belém (COP30) (debate)

Mr President, 1 in 25 people at the COP30 was a fossil fuel lobbyist – the same lobbyists who are getting conservatives and the far right in this House to do their dirty work for them. It is you, more than half of this Parliament, that spent months weakening Europe's climate targets, so that we would show up at COP30 with as little leverage as possible. As a result, we looked unsure and smaller th…

8

Oct

2025

EN 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, German car manufacturing – or, in von der Leyen words, 'the pride of Europe' – is fighting for its life. We are watching others win a race we should be leading. Why? Because we have an establishment that is terrified of losing voters to the right. Those who called this debate today are in the business of fear tactics and, as we saw in the introduction already, also of plain lies. The…

11

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Summer of heatwaves in the EU: addressing the causes and providing adequate housing and health policies to address record-breaking temperatures (debate)

Mr President, heatwave, Hitzewelle, ola de calor – omnipresent last summer, this summer and probably every future summer from now on. But still, we are not taking adequate action to fight the root cause of the problem: climate change. Heat wave after heat wave. Commission President von der Leyen yesterday talked here about heatwaves and I hear and support what you say, Commissioner, but at the sam…

9

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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51 years after the Turkish invasion of the Republic of Cyprus: condemning the continued Turkish occupation and supporting the resumption of negotiations for a comprehensive solution in line with international law, the UNSC resolutions, EU principles and acquis (debate)

Mr President, 51 years of Turkish troops on EU ground is shattering trauma for Cyprus. For half a century, the island and its people have remained divided. A European capital cut in half. But the deeper tragedy is that generation after generation of Cypriots have been let down. Let down by leaderships that lack courage, let down by politicians who preferred nationalism over compromise and let down…

19

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Institutional and political implications of the EU enlargement process and global challenges (debate)

Mr President, what could the EU look like in 2030? 500 million citizens in the best and most resilient democracy in the world. A new union with more countries. For us, in the current 27, it means economic opportunities and a stronger defence union; 35 countries collaborating together. But how will the EU work with 35 countries? With 35 countries, it will be totally impossible. There's only one sol…

17

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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EU framework conditions for competitive, efficient and sustainable public transport services at all levels (debate)

Mr President, rail is the backbone of public transport in Europe, or at least it should be. But as long as buying train tickets feels like navigating through a maze, rail will struggle to compete. As long as passengers do not enjoy full passenger rights protection, people will not trust rail. Not because it's slow, but because it's hard to access. The upcoming initiatives on rail ticketing must fi…

7

May

2025

EN Speech

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The illegal visit of President Erdoğan to the occupied areas of Cyprus (debate)

Madam President, four days ago, I witnessed President Erdoğan's visit to Nicosia and experienced how Turkey is imposing their rules and religion on the northern part of Cyprus. I saw a small group of Cypriots exercising their constitutional right to protest, standing up against the repression of Turkey. I saw how this peaceful protest was forcefully removed from the street and protesters being arr…

6

May

2025

EN Speech

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CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles for 2025 to 2027 (debate)

Mr President, imagine the electric vehicle market as a football match: the EU against the rest of the world. In the first half, we slept, we fell behind by one goal, our team, our industry was not competitive. Now, we are in the second half. We need to catch up, and the team came out of the dressing room motivated and full of drive. The sales numbers in 2025 for electric vehicles are reaching reco…

2

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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The importance of trans-European transport infrastructure in times of stalling economic growth and major threats to Europe’s security (debate)

Madam President, a sustainable, interconnected and secure Trans-European Transport Network. That is what we want. In reality, it in parts often still looks rather fragmented, underfunded and vulnerable. That does not necessarily apply to road, but for rail most certainly. Rail infrastructure would be so important. Rail infrastructure means connectivity to have a fully functioning single market for…

12

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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100 days of the new Commission – Delivering on defence, competitiveness, simplification and migration as our priorities (topical debate)

Mr President, 100 days: that's all it has taken President von der Leyen to give in to the dinosaurs of industry and to the pressure of her own party. By butchering important corporate sustainability laws before they were even implemented. By advancing immigration policy that gives in to the far right and paves the way for detention centres in third countries. And by weakening essential rules for r…

12

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Action Plan for the Automotive Industry (debate)

Madam President, I hear every day that the automotive industry is struggling to meet its targets, cannot afford to pay its fines, will have to lay off its workers. Yes, the sector faces struggles, but these are of its own doing. Some fail to recognise global headwinds and stick their heads in the sand instead of adapting. Here's a fact: the CO2 targets work. We parliamentarians love to gather here…