Speeches

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear friends, it is a very emotional moment for me: my last speech at the plenary session. So let me change to my mother tongue. Cieszę się, że ta debata jest na kluczowy dla Unii temat, w sprawie przemysłu neutralnego emisyjnie, czyli jak rozwijać u nas – w Unii, w Polsce – konkurencyjny i przyjazny dla środowiska przemysł, który będzie tworzyć miejsca pracy, ale i napędzać naszą sprawiedliwą transformację. Gratuluję posłowi sprawozdawcy wspaniałej pracy i dobrych zapisów. Zwracam uwagę na kryteria pozacenowe w aukcjach OZE, które są istotne, by budować tu synergię z działaniami na rzecz sprawiedliwej transformacji regionów górniczych, m.in. premiować producentów instalacji OZE z takich regionów. To byłoby ważne wsparcie chociażby dla naszych producentów maszyn i urządzeń górniczych w ich zielonej transformacji, bo muszą teraz zacząć budować co innego. Proszę Państwa, to, że jest to ostatnia debata w tej kadencji Parlamentu, jest dla mnie również symboliczne w kontekście moich działań w tej Izbie w minionych 20 latach. Zaczynałem od dyrektywy patentowej, potem siódmy program ramowy na rzecz badań i innowacji, następnie Europejski plan strategiczny w zakresie energii i technologii, a wreszcie unia energetyczna, Fundusz na rzecz Sprawiedliwej Transformacji, pakiet wodorowo-gazowy, magazyny gazu w Europie, a nawet amunicja, która jest nam tak potrzebna. W kontekście nadchodzących wyborów i priorytetów dla Unii to także jest bardzo ważna debata. Thank you very much, dear friends. It was a great time for myself, thank you. (Sustained applause)

Madam President, I'm sorry. Ladies and Gentlemen Prime Ministers! Friends and colleagues! The Great Enlargement 20 years ago was a de facto European unification. The countries of our part of the continent, which were cut off from Europe against their will, have again become a full part of it. When I was young, it seemed unrealistic, and it became a fact. As a result, you have to dream and stay with your dreams. On 1 May 2004, Europe started breathing with two lungs. During these twenty years, as in a large family, we have come to know each other in depth through common actions and goals. We were together in sickness and in health, for better or for worse. We are different, sometimes we argue, but we do not separate ourselves with new curtains and we must avoid these divisions. Maintain unity, cohesion, solidarity. I am a politician of Solidarity, a trade union, because today is still a difficult time for the Union. We are also about to have an election. So we are asking a question about the future. The European Union must become stronger and more agile if it is to be counted in the world. The European Union must also become closer to the people. Europeans need to be made aware of how much we have in common. Bring them closer together. At the economic level, competitiveness and innovation are key. More investment for the green and just transition, research, education, new technologies, artificial intelligence. We need to build a defence union within NATO. We must not forget the warring Ukraine for a moment. Dear friends, Today, an entire generation of Europeans knows no other reality than a united Europe, but each generation is able to understand and bear the solidarity that has changed the face of Europe. It also contains a recipe for our common future and a new enlargement: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, the Balkans – this is a great challenge and an equally great opportunity. Let's use it. Let us wish for the 20th anniversary of the next step that we took twenty years ago.

Mr President, thank you very much. I would like to thank you for the debate. She was great. She was very useful to us. I would like to thank the rapporteurs Geier and González for their great work. To all co-rapporteurs also, our advisors, assistants. It was a great job for two years. We now have a green light for hydrogen and biomethane, which is also very important. And we have a red light for gas imports from Russia. This is a great achievement for Parliament. At the same time, we remember: was our ‘Fit for 55’ objective. That's what we're talking about. It turned out two years ago that you also have to be ready here and now, as Russia criminally attacked Ukraine. And what does that mean? Reducing imports of fossil gases from Russia, the ones that are most damaging to the climate, as well as being a source of financing for the Russian army. We have also achieved this during our two-year period. We have a higher level of self-sufficiency and electrical resistance with this package. These are the challenges for the next term. Above all, climate challenges must not be underestimated, including energy poverty or the various tensions that come with it, but defence issues must also not be underestimated. There will be no Energy Union without a Defence Union. Although, of course, to defend, if you don't look at it, you also need energy. So we have big challenges ahead of our first term. Thank you very much. I encourage you to vote in favour of this package.

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. This is a special day. Following the Paris Agreement in 2015 and our March 2007 3x20 package, we are moving towards an energy transition, towards a market with only two energy carriers: it will have electricity from renewable sources and from the atom and hydrogen. Since 2019, this is our European Green Deal. At this session, we are finishing work on a few very important legislative acts, because it takes time. It must also be socially fair and cost-effective. We act exactly in this spirit. Yesterday was the methane regulation, voted on. This initially threatened to close mines in my hometown of Silesia almost overnight. But we have chosen such a solution that we have saved the situation, and at the same time we will force real actions in the mines that will allow to limit methane. The same goes for the electricity market reform. We'll vote on it today. There, too, thanks to our amendments, common sense won. Firstly, we lift the energy price cap for so-called inframarginal installations to develop RES investments, and secondly, until the end of 2028, we extended the derogation to support coal-fired power plants from the capacity market. For countries such as Poland, it is crucial to maintain the security of electricity supply. It is necessary to use these 3.5 years well, because there will be no further derogation, and the future is RES and green hydrogen. And here we come to the hydrogen-gas package, which we will also vote on in a moment. I worked on it for over two years. This is the first such comprehensive legal framework for the development of the hydrogen economy in history. The key points in this package look like this: As regards ownership unbundling, as has been the case so far for gas and electricity, we also distinguish between transmission and distribution systems. This is very important for our operators. Secondly, cross-subsidisation and accrued cost allocation. The aim is to keep investment costs and the cost of using hydrogen infrastructure as low as possible. Biomethane – we also led to tariff reductions there, lowering the costs of connecting biomethane to make as many biomethane plants as possible. Another issue is support for coal regions. This is where, in line with the just transition plans, we should invest in hydrogen. Purchasing gas together. Let us remember that we have been waiting for this in the European Parliament for many years. Today we have. We exclude Russia from these joint purchases. If we aggregate our needs, it turns out that we have cheaper. And, importantly, we will also include hydrogen in this in the near future. Finally, the legal possibility for EU countries to restrict and stop importing gas, including liquefied petroleum gas. This is important for the energy security of countries or the European Union. This is the first such far-reaching solution on our European market. I wanted to say that we are moving forward decisively in protecting the climate, protecting also the opportunities for our citizens to live in dignity. Definitely, but with caution.

Mr President, thank you very much. This is a good time to take stock of how the Energy Union works, because we set it up nine years ago and for five years now we have a regulation on the governance of the Energy Union. And we all rather agree that this helped us to overcome the crisis a year ago and also gave many additional advantages and achievements that we would not have had without the Energy Union. I know that the situation is difficult, still uncertain, but you have to imagine what would happen without this union. But the union is not a state. This is a process all the time. As usual, we have two main tasks ahead of us: energy security and the fight for climate protection. As far as energy security is concerned, as you know, a year ago we adopted a regulation on gas storage. In ten weeks, the whole regulation. We have these options and we need to use them when we need them. The second issue is the platform to buy gas. We are very late here because, together with Jacques Delors, we proposed such a solution in 2010. It's a shame we're getting into this so late. But hydrogen and other critical materials for the European Union must also be included. We will have four advantages of this: security, lower prices for Europeans, an opportunity to fight against warming and finally preserve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies and European industry. That is why we have to make bold decisions, as happened to us a few years ago.

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Everything is based on budget anyway. That is why it is very important that you are in this debate, because we have a critical raw materials problem that is important for the transformation of any economic activity. I wanted to draw attention to coking coal, which raises many objections, because it has the name of coal, but really it is a raw material absolutely irreplaceable in the production of steel. And if we do not produce steel autonomously in the European Union, then, of course, we will not be able to cope with the most important challenges such as the construction of windmills, railways, and in general any investment in the European Union without steel is impossible. For now, we are not able to produce steel without coking coal and this coal should be not only a critical raw material, but also a strategic raw material. Please add the latter name to it. The second is tin and the battery industry. Without tin, we also can't do it, we can't do it, and the idea is to put tin on the list of critical raw materials.

Madam President, Commissioner! I'll do two things. Industrial emissions are a difficult, very difficult solution. I congratulate the rapporteurs for having managed to complete them. I think it is necessary to improve this solution in some way during our vote and to go in the direction of helping industry to redirect investment more strongly towards the green transition and to establish the indicative nature of environmental performance limit values. I encourage you to support these amendments. When it comes to energy efficiency, this is the most important thing at all. We all know that. But here we have reasons to be satisfied. I also asked for amendments in the committee and for the demands of the heating industry to be met. In the definitions of efficient district heating and efficient cogeneration. In my country, for example, as many as 15 million people depend on the heating industry and on a good solution related to energy efficiency.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry. I will join those voices that were before, praising the compromise. But let me add that we are voting tomorrow, exactly on the 73rd anniversary of the Schuman Plan, the first result of which was the creation of the Coal and Steel Community. Today we are going in a different direction. It's a different phase. We are moving out of fossil fuels as well as very harmful methane emissions. But we are moving out of coal production gradually, in such a way that it is consistent with national programs, agreed with the social side, with trade unions. This is crucial, because we are talking about jobs and a positive attitude towards our actions by the citizens of the European Union. I wanted to congratulate the rapporteurs, who were open to ideas, on the amendments to make this regulation look like this: we have counted emissions on the operator, we have also exchanged penalties for fees. This is really a good deal, because it gives a chance to reduce methane emissions.

Thank you very much, Mr President! Above all, I would like to thank the Commissioner for her plans for energy storage. This is absolutely crucial for our entire energy and industrial transition. Security of energy supply, security and storage are always connected. Last year we did a big thing: thanks to the urgency procedure, we have adopted a storage regulation for natural gas. We saved ourselves from winter. As head of the negotiating team, I would like to thank my colleagues for their efforts in this regard. The Council has also prepared a model for action. Remember, we have to do it again this year. We need to fill the warehouses. This is short-term energy storage. That's what we remember. Safety, first of all. We have the Fit for 55 package on the table today. This means that renewable energy sources are the most important, and they are unstable. So renewable energy sources and energy storage are absolutely interrelated. We are building a Europe where we will only have electricity and hydrogen in the future, because we can store hydrogen and also electricity directly. The European Battery Alliance, led by Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, must continue. But not everything can be done with electricity. Hydrogen is also needed for certain industries, for heavy transport and, above all, for storage. What bothers us the most when it comes to storing energy in the form of hydrogen, electricity, electricity from renewable sources? We are hindered by the low efficiency of the process from current – hydrogen, from hydrogen – current: this is now 30-40%, but there are already solutions that offer a 60-70% chance. And this is our future in the most general terms. So let's remember: Hydrogen, electricity first and hydrogen is our future.

Mr President, thank you very much. Mr. Commissioner, I'm sorry. First of all, I wanted to congratulate my colleagues, the rapporteurs of this package, because we really managed to strike a balance. The environment and climate are of course the most important, but equally crucial are: economic development, jobs and protection of the poorest consumers. A just transition is absolutely crucial. I will briefly address five issues. All revenues from CO2 auctions going to national budgets will be spent on climate objectives. That's really good: more renewable energy sources, energy renovation of buildings or a just transition. But it has to be controlled. It's very important that we check it out. Secondly, an additional 30% of free allowances for district heating. For countries such as Poland, it is crucial to also provide heat bills within some limits. Thirdly, the maximum price cap in the ETS 2. This is crucial for poor Europeans. Fourthly, improving transparency in the ETS market. Avoiding manipulation so that prices correspond to the real needs of market control when it comes to combating emissions. And finally, the CBAM, the carbon border mechanism. I also say on behalf of Mr Adam Jarubas, who was the shadow rapporteur of the EPP Group: greenhouse gas emissions, jobs – we must not allow them to leave Europe. We have put in place good, uniform rules and uniform governance of the mechanism and strong anti-circumvention rules. It is also very important that companies covered by the CBAM will gradually lose their free allowances under the ETS. We must not allow them to lose their competitiveness. You have to watch it, monitor it. Especially since in the United States they are following our path and also fighting for the climate. This is our great success. Oh, congratulations!

Madam President, I'm sorry. I congratulate the rapporteur on a good report and very well done. I also congratulate the European Commission and President Timmermans, because this project, the REPowerEU plan, was the best possible response to the deep crisis that exists. Let us remember that one of the main causes of our crisis was too little renewable energy, not too much. We were also dependent on fossil fuels from the east, instead of spending more and more money on renewable energy. But for me today are the four most important things. Firstly, the recognition of RES-E projects as being in the overriding public interest. Chodzi o nasze zdrowie, chodzi o życie i unikanie przedwczesnych śmierci, chodzi o nasze poczucie bezpieczeństwa i także o rachunki za prąd, żeby były jak najniższe. For every road, we make difficult decisions, because some citizens may lose out, but the public interest is gaining. Pamiętajmy także o przyspieszeniu instalowania pomp, o ocieplaniu budynków, o biogazowniach, a także o magazynowaniu energii. Batteries and green hydrogen are our future.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I'm sorry. Exactly ten years ago, the European Commission presented a communication on the launch of the internal energy market. I was the rapporteur on this at the time. We adopted the report by a large majority. We called on EU countries to urgently implement the market, including through investments in infrastructure, especially cross-border connections for gas, such as backlinks, which were not there before. Today, a decade later, we have the biggest energy crisis in history caused by the Russian war and a drop in supplies from this direction from 40 to nine percent. Nevertheless, we have full gas storage facilities in the European Union. If it hadn't been for the fact that we don't have cross-border connections, e.g. Spain, France, our citizens could be even safer, because these vulnerable audiences are very secure in the Union. Lessons for the future – in the context of my current work on extending the EU energy market to green gases as well as hydrogen. Firstly, security of supply and diversification are crucial. Without it, prices collapse. A binding target for the diversification of energy supplies from third countries is therefore necessary. And the second conclusion, there will be no diversification without infrastructure. It is therefore important to define clear targets here in order to safeguard the main hydrogen corridors and make them operational in the European Union, as set out in the REPowerEU plan. Without such corridors, there will be no development of a new energy field and energy security in Europe.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry. The development of renewable energy is the most important task for environmental and climate protection, lowering the price of energy, but above all for our security. We need to replace fossil fuels from Russia with something, which is why the 45% target is absolutely justified. But it is important to remove all barriers to the development of renewable energy. That's the way it is in my country. The Distance Act is unacceptable for wind energy. The permitting of RES needs to be improved and, very importantly, the potential of biomethane needs to be unleashed. I would also like to thank the rapporteur for taking into account my amendment allowing heat generated from green electricity to be counted towards the RES target in heating.

Mr President, thank you very much. The Commission sets the highest environmental standards for new investments in nuclear and gas. Such gas investments will have to switch to hydrogen or green gas by 2035, and Member States must set a date for the exit from coal. These are good proposals, in line with our European Deal. It is also difficult to accuse the Commission and the European Parliament of favouring Russia. Since the beginning of the war, we have been supporting Ukraine and opposing Russia's barbaric war. It was Parliament – I was one of the authors of this amendment – that advocated a complete ban on energy imports from Russia. And in June, for the first time in the Union's history, imports of liquefied natural gas from the US surpassed those from Russia. This is the result of our parliamentary negotiations with Congress and the Obama administration in 2015. Finally, an important note for us. The Ukrainian government in its official position is asking us, MPs, to support the taxonomy tomorrow. That obliges us.

Mr President, thank you very much. Thank you, Vice-President of the Commission, for a well-prepared text. I wanted to tell you that today is 23 June – that is exactly three months after the Commission put this regulation on the table, which is a record. I wanted to congratulate and thank my colleagues in the negotiating team, because the negotiations were truly an example of solidarity and cooperation. That's why I want to congratulate you. We managed to bring it to an end. Most importantly, we have regulation that is robust. First of all, market mechanisms in gas filling, but also the possibility of joint purchases, which has always been a dream of the European Parliament. One hundred percent reduction in tariffs for liquefied gas from gasoports, certification of warehouses so that they are not in dangerous hands. Finally, the countries of the Eastern Partnership, the countries of the Energy Community, especially Ukraine, which is what we care about. Unfortunately, we have not been able to do one thing – I am talking about limiting the filling of Russian gas. But this is only one shortcoming of such a complex regulation. Thank you very much. Congratulations to all my colleagues. Of course, I encourage you to vote in favour.

Thank you very much, Mr President, for being here with us. Ready for 55. We certainly need to protect the environment and the climate, we certainly need to emerge from the post-pandemic recession and we need to protect ourselves against imports of raw materials from Russia. These are the three main objectives of the package. But we also want the Fit for 55 package to give growth to our economy, to ensure that citizens support what we do in the Union. Five points about the ETS, because it is the most important one. Firstly, free allowances for the steel, fertilizer, cement industries should be until the CBAM works and certain benchmarks should also reward business for low-carbon investments. We should limit the role of financial institutions in the ETS, even if we disagree on this, let's do it because it's very important. Increasing the Modernisation Fund by 2.5% for twelve European countries is a very important issue. Municipal waste incineration plants should be outside the SDS system, this is very important for our local governments. Finally, heat. If we want to fight smog, we need to have support for district heating, but we really need to fight for the climate and the environment.

Mr President, thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner, for the RepowerEU proposal. But today we are also talking about Poland and Bulgaria. Both countries, let's be honest, can feel safe today, completely different than they did in 2006 and 2009. Why is this so? Because we have a common energy market, we have a regulation on the security of gas supply and energy solidarity has been raised to the rank of legal force. This is an extremely new situation. Also today, an agreement was signed between the institutions on gas storage, less than two weeks after it appeared on the table in the European Parliament. This is a record and a new historic opportunity for us now in the European Union to act quickly and efficiently in response to crises. This was also the case for COVID-19. Let's remember. So let's learn what's important. It is also important that during gas storage – which is so important for the Union and for our security – we do not use gas sources from third-country suppliers that are not robust and use gas as an energy weapon.

Madam President, I would like to thank the Commissioner for being with us. You are probably completely tired after two hours of heavy discussion, but it’s a very important discussion. Let me say, last month we voted in this House almost unanimously a full ban of Russian fossil fuels. And now the main responsibility in this House is the security of gas supply for our citizens, for our small and medium businesses. And as a matter of fact, we discussed the issue all the time – two hours almost, and we mentioned, which is very important, a simplified permission procedure for renewables – absolutely crucial for us, and also some infrastructure projects like interconnectors, maybe Spain, Germany, also Bulgaria and Greece, important, we feel it. But my question is on LNG terminals, because we need three or four of them to feel really secure. How do you see that – in the Netherlands, maybe, in Germany? So how do you see this possibility – within a REPowerEU proposal, maybe?

Madam President, as coordinator of the European Parliament’s negotiating team on the gas storage proposal, and on behalf of all colleagues from the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), I would like to request to refer this file back to the ITRE Committee for negotiations.

Mr President, thank you very much. I thank the rapporteur, Prof. Krasnodębski, and the other rapporteurs. This report must be accepted as the result of a compromise and is absolutely acceptable for today. Let's remember: Green hydrogen awaits us. That's the most important thing. Renewable energy, the European Green Deal are our goals. But today we also have another goal - a dramatic one that we did not anticipate - to immediately cut off fossil fuels from Russia. However, this temporarily requires a different attitude of our actions. Let's remember that. In addition, I ask the European Commission to prepare - as soon as possible so that we can build a common market, so that we have security of supply and lower energy charges - a list of missing gas storage facilities, missing liquefied gas terminals, interconnectors between countries. We must also have simplified procedures for investments in this case, financial support from the Union and a clear signal for producers of ships carrying liquid methane. Ladies and gentlemen, we must ensure security of supply for today and cut off fuel from Russia! The Green Deal is our great future and we will never forget it.

Madam President, I'm sorry. Mr President, thank you very much. We are accelerating the energy transition to deprive Putin's war machine of EU money for any fuel. I support the ambitious goal of reducing gas imports this year by two-thirds, and perhaps more. We need to diversify supplies and financially support investments such as liquefied gas terminals, collectors. The Commission should do everything in this regard. But before the next winter, the most important thing is to introduce the obligation to provide warehouses. As head of Parliament's negotiating team on this issue, I say that we are determined to meet this legislative condition within a few months. It is important that countries are ready to buy gas together. In Parliament, I proposed this in 2010 with Jacques Delors, and I am very pleased that the Member States are finally maturing.

Madam President, I'm sorry. I also thank the Commissioner for speaking on behalf of the Commission, but first of all I congratulate my colleague Morten Petersen for a very good report on a truly crucial issue for the European Union for two reasons. Firstly, we have the following objectives: 55% by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050 together with energy security. The wind is our own energy resource. Therefore, the full potential of all European seas should be exploited. I am glad that the Baltic Sea was also mentioned. There are eight EU countries on this sea. Secondly, a sustainable blue economy, i.e. offshore energy, green reindustrialisation, is very important. In some sectors of the economy, energy-intensive industries cannot reduce emissions without clean hydrogen, and a sufficient amount of clean hydrogen will certainly not be without offshore installations. Innovation and new technologies, framework programmes, money of course – €800 billion at EU level – and equal treatment of all investors in the Member States are therefore needed. The latter aspect is very important. Without transparent and non-discriminatory rules of the game for everyone, we will not fully exploit the potential of offshore renewable energy and, above all, we will not reduce energy bills for our citizens.