What Jessika spoke about.

7

Jul

2026

EN Speech

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EU-Mexico (joint debate)

Madam President, Commissioner Šefčovič, finally, we have a trade deal in front of us that does not jeopardise the position of European farmers or our European food security. The trade deal with Mexico offers ample opportunities for farmers and the EU industry: lower tariffs on agricultural products to Mexico, protection of geographical indications and easier access to Mexican products. Nevertheles…

18

May

2026

EN Speech

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European solidarity: key to securing medicine access in a shifting geopolitical era (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Várhelyi, colleagues, who wants firefighters that require you to fill out ten different forms before they save your burning house? The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that Brussels is not the place for a quick response to an urgent crisis. On the contrary, the interventions from the Commission during COVID-19 led to more complexity and less transparency according to the Euro…

30

Apr

2026

EN Speech

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How to secure a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector in light of the need to ensure food security, farmers’ resilience and the challenges posed by animal diseases? (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner Hansen, today we will be voting on our livestock report, a report I have worked on as a shadow rapporteur. So I would like to thank Mr Fidanza for the great report, and the fellow shadows for the collaboration. Our report is an important signal to our farmers. The key message is that we should start to trust in the innovative power of the livestock indus…

15

Dec

2025

EN Speech

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Breeders' protests following a lumpy-skin-disease outbreak in France: implications of the EU approach on sanitary and on animal health (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, thank you for being here with us tonight on a Monday evening – it shows your engagement. But the recent outbreaks of lumpy skin disease in Europe caused enormous distress among European farmers, especially in France, Italy and Spain, not to mention the discomfort in all the animals affected by the disease. In France alone, over 3 000 animals were lost. But it also po…

15

Dec

2025

EN Speech

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Amending certain CAP Regulations as regards the conditionality system, types of intervention in the form of direct payment, types of intervention in certain sectors and rural development and annual performance reports, data and interoperability governance, suspensions of payments annual performance clearance and controls and penalties (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, this Thursday, farmers associations have announced a massive protest in the streets of Brussels. Thousands of farmers will protest against the new plans for CAP after 2027. And they have all the reasons to be concerned. But today we discussed the outcome of the negotiations on the simplification of the current CAP, and I think it is important to brin…

27

Nov

2025

EN Speech

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Fur farming and the placing of farmed fur products on the market (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, today I stand here before you to speak neither against nor in favour of fur farming. I stand here in response to the petition signed by 1.7 million European citizens, who deserve our attention. It is a fact that most Member States have already banned fur farming in their national laws, leading to a decline in fur production in the EU. However, we also see a decline i…

7

Oct

2025

ES Speech

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EU political strategy on Latin America (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, cooperation with Latin America is of great strategic importance for the European Union, especially in these times of geopolitical uncertainty. But strong collaboration starts with protecting our own interests. The Green Deal, and as a consequence deindustrialisation in Europe, demonstrates precisely what should not be done: neglect competitiveness and the power to pr…

7

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Common agricultural policy (joint debate)

Mr President, dear Commissioner, last week I was milking dairy cows together with a young girl named Jonne. She told me: 'I just have one dream, and that is to take over my parents' farm.' We, the young farmers, are the food producers of tomorrow, and young farmers need to know that they can take over a farm, that they can start a family and raise a new generation of farmers. They need security an…

7

Oct

2025

EN Question

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Common agricultural policy (joint debate)

Dear colleague, I just have one short question for you. You are questioning this 'waste of time' of a debate because apparently we are discussing burgers, but you are the first one mentioning this topic. It is only one amendment of two very important reports. So actually, I believe – and I mean this respectfully – this part was not a very useful contribution to this debate.…

10

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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China’s unjustified decision to impose duties on imports of pork products from the EU and the need to support European farmers and workers (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, I called for this debate, as I am shocked by the unjust and outrageous decision of China to impose extra import duties on EU pork. It is a clear retaliation for our anti-dumping claim on electrical vehicles. And I remember clearly that when we decided to go ahead with this claim, I warned the Commission that retaliation on EU pork was a risk, and now we are faced with e…

8

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, last Friday, China announced extra import duties on pork as of this Wednesday, 10 September. These import duties are different for each supplying company and vary between 15.6 and 62.4 %. Many EU countries will be hit heavily, and these duties will also lead to consequences for the internal market. Evidently, these extra tariffs will hurt our swine producers very badly. It is ther…

10

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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Post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, the current form of the common agricultural policy was started by Sicco Mansholt, a Dutch visionary that reformed agriculture in Europe. And now we are at a crossroad for agriculture in Europe again. On Monday evening, with the vote in the AGRI Committee, we sent a very strong signal to you, Commissioner. A clear signal for an independent, separate agricultural polic…

9

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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EU-US trade negotiations (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, a deal can only be reached when the counterpart accepts your term. So we need conversation, not confrontation. And behind the deal there are companies, there are workers, there are families depending on it. Those are our priorities, so we support you very much, Commissioner, in finding a very balanced deal. But we do have a red line and that is an equal playin…

22

May

2025

EN Speech

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Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism (A10-0085/2025 - Antonio Decaro)

The Vaidere report, on the tariff increases.

22

May

2025

EN Speech

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Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism (A10-0085/2025 - Antonio Decaro)

Madam President, excuse me but where are we now? Because I got lost in the translation.

7

May

2025

EN Speech

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Return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia

Madam President, one minute is way too short to mention the names of all these children – 20 000, and likely many more, who were kidnapped from Ukraine. But I will mention three names: Karina, 4 years old, Vladislava, 3 years old, and Margarita, 1 year old, who were all three taken from Kherson by Russia. This is not an incident, but part of a systematic Russian campaign to erase Ukrainian identit…

7

May

2025

EN Speech

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High levels of retail food prices and their consequences for European consumers (debate)

Madam President, while consumers are paying more than ever for their food, our Dutch and European farmers are being squeezed out of business. Let's be clear: the root cause is not a lack of regulation, but too much of it, combined with sky-high energy prices, and quality and compliance standards that exceed what is actually necessary for safe and sustainable food production. Lower energy costs – n…

13

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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A Vision for Agriculture and Food (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, this is a more tailor-made and realistic approach to European agriculture. But it's much more than that. In these geopolitically uncertain times, food security is the most important stable factor in ensuring European unity. After all, food shortages are regularly at the cradle of high tensions. I welcome the farewell to the One size fits all approach and therefore expec…

11

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Roadmap for Women`s Rights (debate)

Mr President, women's rights. Our grandmothers and mothers fought for these rights. And today, if we're not careful, we will lose them again. And as a mother of three daughters, I am a strong advocate for gender equality. However, I do believe two things. First of all, without allowing men to actively, actively participate in gender equality, we will never achieve anything. So this feminist hatred…

13

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I will continue in Dutch. Mr President, the position of BBB is well known. We cannot support this trade agreement with Mercosur. Our objections concern the uneven playing field. The EU is forcing our farmers to meet much higher standards than what is the norm in Mercosur. As an animal scientist, I have worked in South …

12

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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Silent crisis: the mental health of Europe’s youth (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, how would you feel if you saw your child slipping away from you, as a mother or a father, and you had to wait six months before you receive any help? I can assure you it's devastating, because in my home country, the Netherlands, the mental healthcare system has waiting periods of six months or longer before a child gets help, even in the urgent cases. More than a th…

22

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Systematic repression of human rights in Iran, notably the cases of Pakhshan Azizi and Wrisha Moradi, and the taking of EU citizens as hostages

Madam President, the ability to stand here as a woman and speak freely is both a right and a privilege. Pakhshan Azizi, Wrisha Moradi, Behrouz Ehsani, and Mehdi Hassani ‑ four names, but there are many, many more. Those people are not violent criminals. These are brave, courageous people. It is for them that I stand here today. Some ask today, does it matter? Will what we say and do here change an…

19

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Commission’s plans to include the revision of the outstanding proposals on animal welfare in its work plan for 2025 (debate)

Madam President, and welcome back to you, Commissioner, good to see you back. I'm happy to hear you talk about balancing competitiveness while also improving animal welfare. We have the highest animal welfare standards in the world within the EU. I'm happy to hear that when we're talking about Mercosur, the left side is defending our animal welfare levels in the EU. Interestingly, in this debate, …

18

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Challenges facing EU farmers and agricultural workers: improving working conditions, including their mental well-being (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Hansen, I was very pleased to hear in your statement that good mental health of farmers has priority for the new Commission. I was also very pleased that MEPs from all sides here today seem to agree that we are in trouble when we neglect the mental health of farmers. I joined politics to speak up for our farmers. I am not interested in speaking about the differences that…

28

Nov

2024

EN 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)

Mr President, dear colleagues, I wrote a speech because I thought we were going to talk about how to strengthen children's rights in Europe, so I brought ideas and I was optimistic. Let's, you know, let's talk together. What can we do? But instead, I come here and the only thing I hear is one side, the other side fighting with each other: 'Yeah, you're right.' 'You're not right.' If we are not abl…