What Per spoke about.

8

Jul

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Danish Presidency (debate)

Madam President! It might be tempting to give an election speech targeted at the Danes, but I will actually focus on the programme presented by the Danish Presidency. There is plenty to criticize: it's too little, it's too bad, and there's too much copy/paste. I think that is the best description of the priorities. If you look at the priorities that have emerged, this is an uncritical Commission, …

18

Jun

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Clean Industrial Deal (debate)

Mr President! It should be so good. We needed an agreement that ensured good jobs and workers' rights, and that European industry could strengthen its competitiveness by leading the green transition. To be honest, we have to say that's not what we've got. It sets out a policy which is more impure than it is pure, and it is also an agreement which is by no means a good agreement for the millions of…

18

Jun

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Stopping the genocide in Gaza: time for EU sanctions (topical debate)

Madam President! Unfortunately, there is nothing new or surprising in the extreme right supporting genocide. However, I would still like to be disappointed that it does not receive a clear response from the EU leadership. Why is it that we are watching quietly while innocent children in Gaza are paying the price? And when I say it that way, it is because, in reality, the European Union has not put…

21

May

2025

DA Speech

Watch

The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Madam President! As we sit here, innocent Palestinians die and Palestinians are displaced from Gaza and the West Bank. Not because of a natural disaster, but because of the deliberate actions of the Israeli government. We are talking about population displacement, we are talking about genocide, and while this is happening, what is the EU doing? Yeah, we'll talk, and we'll check. It's just not goin…

6

May

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Protecting Greenland's right to decide its own future and maintain the rule-based world order (debate)

Madam President! It should be clear that Greenland's future must be determined by the Greenlanders themselves. Not by Denmark, not by the United States, not by anyone else. The colonial period is – or at least should be – over. This is something I think is important to say today. Especially when we see Trump threatening to take over Greenland, regardless of what the citizens themselves think. He t…

6

May

2025

DA Speech

Watch

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

Mr President! Here we are again. Once again, we are seeing an attempt to water down necessary climate legislation. This will penalise companies that have invested in electric cars and weaken confidence in EU policy. If you constantly dilute and postpone the green initiatives, why should you invest in meeting the requirements? But even worse, we are once again trying to rush it through without the …

2

Apr

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Energy-intensive industries (debate)

Madam President! As one of the negotiators on the issue of energy-intensive industries, I must admit that I am disappointed and the disappointment has not diminished after listening to today's debate. To quote an old Danish song: It's supposed to be so good, and it's actually bad. We could have used this work and this debate to look ahead and put real, fair and ambitious green transition above che…

11

Mar

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Clean Industrial Deal (debate)

Madam President! When I read the Commission's Clean Industrial Deal, I was both happy and sad. After all, the 2040 target was not rolled back. Sadly, because we are still focusing on outdated forms of energy such as nuclear power and gas. It is a pity that the real problems behind high electricity prices in Europe are not being tackled. Sad, because the Commission's deregulation agenda clearly sta…

12

Feb

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Recent dismissals and arrests of mayors in Türkiye

Mr. President! In Turkey, elected officials are being dismissed and arrested again. Erdogan would rather hide his own skin than help his own people and give them democratic rights. Anyone who dares to think freely or criticize him, he sees as enemies - it's from those who fought Islamic State, like the Kurds in Syria, to school teachers, mayors - everyone is called terrorists or separatists. As lo…

12

Feb

2025

DA Answer

Watch

Competitiveness Compass (debate)

It is true that energy prices in the countries of the European Union are far too high, and we need to do something about that. However, we do not do this by maintaining dependence on coal and oil and gas. We do this by stepping up our efforts to ensure the green transition and more affordable renewable energy. That's the first thing I want to say. The second thing I want to say is that the fact th…

12

Feb

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Competitiveness Compass (debate)

Mr President! Firstly, the EU does not have a poor competitiveness vis-à-vis the United States. On the contrary. It is the United States that will impose tariffs, and therefore there is no reason whatsoever to imitate the United States. Secondly, the competitiveness compass of the European Commission will certainly lead us in the wrong direction. It calls for a comprehensive deregulation that redu…

21

Jan

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Need for actions to address the continued oppression and fake elections in Belarus (debate)

Mr President! Belarus's despotic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is preparing on Sunday to once again steal an election. For about 30 years he has been harshly governing Belarus, and although there have been several elections, no one has been free or fair, and on Sunday it will be a repeat. We saw in 2020 how opposition, civil society and the press - all who dared to oppose him - risk ending up as p…

21

Jan

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Need to detect and to counter sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet, damaging critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea (debate)

Mr President! In the Baltic Sea, we are now witnessing an increasing number of badly concealed acts of sabotage against our underwater infrastructure. Acts of sabotage, all indications of which are carried out by Russia's shadow fleet. We must respond to this, and I cannot help but ask: When do we start taking this seriously and dropping the velvet gloves? When do we do what we have repeatedly cal…

21

Jan

2025

DA Speech

Watch

Geopolitical and economic implications for the transatlantic relations under the new Trump administration (debate)

Madam President! What do we do when the world's most powerful man threatens an EU country with economic pressure because he wants to annex a country and its people? What do we do when the same man says he won't refuse to use military means? And what do we do when the leader of the world's most powerful country thinks that you can seriously buy or sell an entire country and its people? When you loo…

18

Dec

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Promoting social dialogue and collective bargaining and the right to strike in the EU (debate)

Mr President! The right to strike and the right to collective bargaining are essential fundamental freedoms in the labour market. Unfortunately, they are threatened by reactionary forces from the far right in Europe. They are also threatened by wealthy people like Musk and Bezos, who want to do business in the EU but do not want to play by the rules that apply here. That's why I want to praise the…

17

Dec

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Use of rape as weapon of war, in particular in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan (debate)

Madam President! Sudan, where violence and rape are used as weapons of war against women and girls, is a terrible stain on humanity. Reports of gang rape, sexual slavery and violence inflicted on civilians are deeply disturbing. This is not just a violation of human dignity. It is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Women's bodies become battlefields where cultural and political, but not lea…

16

Dec

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Right to clean drinking water in the EU (debate)

Madam President! Clean drinking water should be a fundamental right, but that right is threatened by chemicals such as pesticides and PFAS. In my own country, Denmark, 50 percent of drinking water wells now contain too high levels of chemicals, and that is a figure that only seems to be rising. The Danish government, like the rest of the EU, has failed when it comes to protecting the right to clea…

26

Nov

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Continued escalation in the Middle East: the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA’s essential role in the region, the need to release all hostages and the recent ICC arrest warrants (debate)

26

Nov

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia (debate)

24

Oct

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Protecting our oceans: persistent threats to marine protected areas in the EU and benefits for coastal communities (debate)

Madam President! One of the biggest and most persistent threats to our marine areas – protected or not – is water quality. Far too many places we see that the ecological status of marine areas is not only bad, it is also deteriorating all the time. It doesn't have to be that way. This is a development we know how to address. But it requires that we dare to address the causes. It is the pollution t…

23

Oct

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Need to strengthen rail travel and the railway sector in Europe (debate)

Mr. President! It should be the case that taking a train was fast, cheap and easy, so that we could get from one European city to another by train instead of often being pushed into taking planes. Imagine if I could go from my city in northern Jutland to Brussels by train without taking up to 20 hours. That would be a huge step forward. This requires that we are willing to invest in better rails, …

23

Oct

2024

DA Speech

Watch

EU actions against the Russian shadow fleets and ensuring a full enforcement of sanctions against Russia (debate)

Madam President! Day after day, week after week, Putin's shadow fleet smuggles oil en masse through our waters. This is happening in unsafe, dangerous and uninsured ships, so Putin is circumventing EU sanctions and putting our marine environment at risk. The truth is that so far we have not taken effective action, and that inaction must stop now. That is why we on the left wanted to put this on th…

10

Oct

2024

DA Speech

Watch

The rise of religious intolerance in Europe (debate)

Madam President! When I hear about religious intolerance, I feel really bad. For we have long seen how intolerance harms both groups and individuals. We have seen how growing groups are fighting for the right to be intolerant. Intolerant of people with a different sexuality, with different values, a darker skin color, a different religion or with something completely fifth. And it gives me nightma…

8

Oct

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Situation in Sudan (debate)

Mr President! The tragedy in Sudan is not least unbearable, because it is not more than five years since there was actually a momentum for democracy in Sudan. The people took to the streets to demand a future of democracy and human rights. It was lost on the floor. It also did so because the EU failed the Sudanese people. At the time, there was no willingness to support the people in their rebelli…

19

Sep

2024

DA Speech

Watch

Possible extradition of Paul Watson: the danger of criminalisation of environmental defenders and whistle-blowers, and the need for their protection in the EU (debate)

Mr. President! Although the case is about Paul Watson, it's not, for me, about whether you like the kind of activism he has or not. It's not about Watson. That is the principle of the matter, and we must insist on the fact that it is Japan which has violated international law here by whaling in violation of international treaties. Japan is the main criminal in this case. And if you hand over Paul …