30
Apr
2026
Watch
Women’s entrepreneurship in rural and island areas and outermost regions (debate)
Madam President, thank you very much. I welcome any initiative that strengthens entrepreneurship, not least in rural areas, because it is only through freer entrepreneurship and stronger property rights – in all parts of our societies – that we create the prosperity that all other political priorities require. It is entrepreneurship, and only entrepreneurship, that creates the resources that we need – not least for our weak defences and our preparedness. I therefore regret that the groups on the left, faithful to their habits, have filled the report we are voting on today with demands that go in exactly the opposite direction. The urgent need for regulatory simplifications is mentioned, it is true, but mostly as a secondary clause. Instead, the text is dominated by demands for quotas, more and greater contributions and greater political control over details. This, of course, does not hold. If we are serious about strengthening entrepreneurship in Europe – among women and men, in rural areas and cities – we cannot continue to demand more sticks and more bureaucracy. What our competitiveness needs, and it needs immediately, is drastic regulatory simplification and a sharp reduction in bureaucracy.