Speeches

Mr President, in the region where I come from, very nice new companies have started. For example, a company that first made pipes for oil and gas. Or a company that first threw away normal waste and now makes new raw materials from it. And for example, a company that turns seaweed into green fertilizer and a company that turns pipes that used to be for oil and gas into pipes for hydrogen. All from the Just Transition Fund that Europe has invested in. I would like to congratulate Europe on this. However, I am also told by all these companies: It was a very complicated process and the rules often stand in our way. For example, what does a pragmatic definition of hydrogen stand in the way of mass production of green hydrogen? Or what are the rules for end-of-waste status preventing us from really building that circular future? Or how many rules prevent farmers from innovating and using greener fertilisers. So let us, Mr President, Commissioner, not be the Europe of vested interests, but the Europe of innovation, where ideas are given space, where innovation is given space. Not necessarily with fewer rules, but with forward-looking rules...

Mr President, a few weeks ago I stood in the square next to the European Parliament with a large group of steel workers from all over Europe, including from my region. From my region there was a group of boys and girls of less than twenty years who are in training to become professionals at the Hoogovens in IJmuiden. They stood there for their future and I stand here for their future. They must be able to work in a factory where no dirt comes out of the chimney, where green steel is made and where you can live next door without getting sick. We need to produce green steel for windmills, cars and batteries, so that our professionals can make it from our steel. They should be able to be proud of what they make, without having to fear for what the future brings. The same goes for recycled plastic and for clean ovens for glass and ceramics. The people who work in these sectors are eager to contribute to the energy transition. They want certainty about what the future will bring, for them and for the companies where they work. We must act now to make this future possible. Our companies can no longer compete with polluting imports and low energy prices. We have to do something about this. I am proud of the resolution we have drawn up on this subject. However, the people who work in the heavy industry have not yet been reassured. The Commission's proposal does not yet provide sufficient certainty. Therefore, let's make sure that there is a plan for every large factory that provides clarity about the future of the factory, its employees and the region in which it stands. Only when we have answered these questions can I go home satisfied. My region and our young people deserve clarity.

Mr President, I would like to thank the Commissioner for Climate Action, Net-Zero and Clean Growth for his plan. I understand he's working with the resources he has, but is that enough? Isn't it time to call for a real, integrated European energy market? Is it not time to ask all steel mills for a specific plan for the future of each steel region and to determine where we want to invest in green steel, the defence industry and clean technology? What does the Commissioner need to tempt the Member States to really take a European approach? We would like to hear this, because we want to help with this. We also want to know where the plans are going.

Madam President, change is Europe's biggest challenge, but we are not always very good at it. Sometimes Europe seems to wait until it's an absolute crisis for things to change. But to face climate change, the digital transition and the unstable world, Europe needs to anticipate the future and transform itself. This resolution helps in some ways to do that. We should support companies in adapting to a new economy. Reskilling and upskilling our workforce should be the primary way of helping citizens to get better jobs, and where companies cannot avoid major restructuring, regions and citizens should be able to rely on the EU and the Member States for help to find new economic opportunities. We should not resist change by imposing more rules on companies. We should embrace it, and we should turn it into an opportunity for a better Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, during the hearing, I asked you the question: 'can you commit to making skills truly transferable and vocational training diplomas recognised across Europe by the end of this term?' And we are very happy to see in a Union of Skills, first of all, that there is a good amount of attention for vocationally educated professionals, and, second of all, that diploma recognition is one of the core ambitions. Thank you very much for listening. We are looking forward to working closely with you on this, also on the pilot that you propose. And seeing that the Benelux cooperation is often a frontrunner in unifying policy, I want to suggest that we start piloting diploma recognition in the Benelux. But I do want to ask for your attention regarding some other things. First of all, I want to ask for your attention in involving people with practical skills in policy-making. I want to ask for your attention for fair salaries for professionals with practical skills. And I want to ask for your attention in investing in VET teachers. And I want to echo my colleague Radtke on this: skilled people are at the core of every policy. Especially in these unfortunate times, it is where Europe has to find its strength. We need to invest in the people now more than ever.

Mr President, around 77 % of the companies in the EU have indicated that they are facing difficulties of finding employees with the required skills. To work on this challenge, we really have to recognise that there is a gap in our society between the practically educated and the theoretically educated. We have to be so much more conscious that our vocational professionals are carrying our society. What can we do to really do something about this? I'm inspired by Karim Amghar: he is a vocational educator in the Netherlands and, together with him, I want to plead to stop discrimination on the basis of educational level, to increase the salaries of vocational-trained professionals and to change our language: no longer 'higher education' and 'lower education', but let's talk about the professional specialists and the hi-tech craftsmen that they are. Let's stop talking about professionals as merely tools for our goals, because we are in this together: equal. The lack of appreciation and recognition of the practically educated professionals, and the lack of a human-centred approach, is the largest problem we have to win this battle.

Mr President, when your child becomes ill for the first time, you entrust it to the trustworthy hands of a doctor. If you can no longer take care of yourself as a parent, you trust the neighborhood nurse to help you. And if you get sick yourself, you blindly surrender to the healthcare professionals. It is a very good thing that we have a healthcare system that we can rely on. Everyone in this room trusts those healthcare workers with their own lives when it comes down to it. But why don't we trust the people in health care when we draw up the policy? We drown our employees in administration, we underpay our professionals and we ignore complaints about the high workload. In the Netherlands, caregivers spend forty percent of their time on administration, because we policy makers are afraid that otherwise the quality of care will not be good enough. By 2030, 4.1 million people are expected to fall short of health care. Member States, we must now take care of our concerns. We need to rely on professionals again. We need to reduce administration and we need to give the industry the modern tools we need. Make the job attractive again. Only then can we ensure that the next generation can count on reliable care.

During this debate, all the time we are talking about censorship. But it's not about censorship. It's about openness of debate. Let us see what happens right now on Instagram: if you use the hashtag #Democrat, you get no results, but if you use the hashtag #Republican, you get a lot of results. This is what happens if we don't regulate in a fair way and make sure that free speech is actually organised by rules. This is what we need.

Mr Arias, I'm very happy to hear you say that we should be strict on the DSA, but don't you think that this Commissioner should present more concrete, more direct and more immediate and binding measures to safeguard our democracy against foreign interference, and especially now? Can we agree on that?

Madam President, Miss Simpson, I'm very happy to be part of your last debate in this House. We are discussing a very well-discussed topic: high energy prices. I want to focus on those who always put this together with criticism on the Green Deal, because they are denying that green energy is the most cheap energy. It was only two years ago that across Europe, so many people faced unbearable insecurity and stress because of soaring energy prices. Now I worry that some Members in this House are leading us towards another energy crisis, cheering on Mr Trump, who only puts his own interests first. So it is time for Europe to stand on our own feet. We have to get a good collaboration with the leaders that not only prioritise their own progress, but collective progress. We have to understand that the Green Deal is about saving the planet, about getting cheaper energy and about our position in the world. Let's get it on.

Madam President, I'm sure I'm not the only one that has once written their password on a Post-it or clicked on a phishing email, because that's human and it's not nice to always live on your guard. But this is how we have treated our critical infrastructure up till now and it's time to lose our naivety. It's time to not only protect our cables, but also our elections and our media. We need to protect our citizens and it's not enough if every Member State just takes care of their own backyard. We have to work towards an integrated approach and we have to really put together our intelligence services, our police and our militaries. I think we have to put it ambitiously and make a NATO‑like command structure to counter hybrid threats. I urge the Commission and the Member States to take action before it's too late.

Mr President, dear colleagues – 'intensifying our efforts', 'decisive steps', 'business as usual is no longer an option' – I compliment the Member States for their beautiful words included in the Budapest declaration. However, I worry that when things become difficult, when Member States have to let go of red lines or bring home a tough message, these words will be much less impressive. Because when push comes to shove, it is this House that has to keep reminding Europe that inaction is not an option. And this means that we need a real European industrial strategy that contains stronger EU policies for energy, stronger EU policy for the capital markets and an ambitious EU budget. So I call upon my colleagues here. Let us agree to be ambitious. Let us agree to take the Draghi report seriously and implement its recommendations. And let us push the other institutions to follow through on their beautiful declarations.

Mr President, who do we need now that society is changing enormously due to the energy transition? Who will advise all our residents and all companies on all these sustainable measures? Who will install all those solar panels, maintain wind turbines, install heat networks and dig in the cables and pipes? The answer is: professionals. We must ensure that the new generation can dream of beautiful new professions. That you can become a mechanic of an electric car with pride and a good salary, or become a specialist of recycled plastic or hydrogen. So let's now seize the opportunity to fix a mistake we've been making for a little too long. Namely that we make policies and rules for people, while we do not talk to the people who know what is really needed in practice. Let's cut down on unnecessary papers and protocols that deprive people of the pleasure of the profession. Let's rely on craftsmanship. When the Commission gets to work, I would like to be the first to talk to the Commissioner about how we ensure that we get the people at the table who know what needs to be done in practice – before we start making policy. Because only together can we make plans that really work. Plans that work for the energy transition and for the people who will realize it.

Madam President, I am a child from a proud steel family and in my home town almost everybody is. Our steel plant is both our pride and our worry, and it is one of the main reasons that I'm here in Parliament today, because tough choices are needed for the regions that produce steel, or the rest of the world will eat us for lunch. Or as the Dutch say, 'They will eat the cheese from our sandwiches.' Budget choices are needed. Our European budget is designed for the past and not for a prosperous, clean future. Funds have to go from agricultural subsidies to industrial investments. This does not mean a blank cheque for the industry, because not all steel plants have a green future. To have a successful deal, we need to invest only in the plants that can exist in this future. And we have to increase our just transition fund for those that cannot, because no region can be left behind. We have to carry this change together. The time to act is short and there is so much to do. Let's go!

Mr President, I speak daily to people whose young lives are on break because they cannot live where they work or study, because they cannot move in with the partner they have found or because they cannot start a family. Not having a good home locks your life. Of course, the EU has limited competences when it comes to housing, but we can take some smart measures. That is why I think it is very good that Europe has said: “If it's important to Europeans, it's important to us and we'll get to work on it.” So let's make it easier for governments to grant grants or loans to enable housing construction. Let us ensure that we allocate money from European funds for this purpose. And let's invest in the professionals we need to build those homes. Every new generation deserves to stand on their own two feet. But we are depriving this generation of it. In the meantime, their youth is flying by. I therefore really want to ask the Commission to hurry up and stop making our young people wait for their own lives.

Mr President, we saw it last May, the Georgian youth dancing around the European flag. This sent out such a strong message to us. This youth wants to be part of Europe, but unfortunately their government chooses something else. They applied for EU membership, but at the same time, they are drifting further and further away from EU values, and straight into the arms of Putin. Their last attack on the queer community is just another example of the slippery slope that Georgia is in. We, as liberals, really want to give Georgia that European perspective, but especially with the Georgian elections only three weeks away, I want to state abundantly clear that this Georgian Government is jeopardising the European future of Georgia. But whatever happens, the youth still deserves our support. So I want to ask the Commissioner: can we please commit to keep supporting that youth that longs for the European future?

Mr President, dear colleagues, Madam Commissioner, my hometown is an industrial city near Amsterdam. And there I have two neighbours. On one side, I have a family that must choose between paying for basic groceries and heating their home. And on the other side, I have a coal-fired steel plant that employs 9000 people. And I thank the Commissioner sincerely for all her work. A lot has been achieved. But I do think that this report lacks the sense of urgency that both of my neighbours feel. I urge the Commission and my colleagues to look ahead at the challenges that arise once the energy transition is in full swing. Across Europe, wherever we are picking up steam, the same issue comes up. We find it hard to deliver on our ambition. What do we need to change this? Is maybe the wrong question. It's rather who do we need? Many skilled professionals across Europe are working every day to upgrade our grid. They are the ones bringing clean and affordable electricity to our neighbour homes. They are the skilled professionals transforming my city's steel plant, and they are the European experts that fix and build our energy union. These are the people we need to focus on. And I want the Commission to make policy for them and with them. I would have liked to read more in this report about the need for skilled professionals. And therefore, I ask the Commissioner to tell me more about the skills dimension of this energy union. And I call upon the Commissioner to address this issue further in the next term.