Speeches

Thank you very much, dear colleague, for your question, which shows that this debate is coming at the right time. In a few weeks we will have the hearings of the Commissioners and, in both the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Regional Development, we will have to affirm the position – which seems to be unanimous, almost unanimous here in the European Parliament – that cohesion policy must be strengthened, that it must remain a regional policy and that we reject the proposals that seem to come from DG BUDG. But we are obviously waiting for guarantees in this respect.

Mr President, we are not opposed to a far-reaching reform of cohesion policy. But I say it bluntly: Cohesion policy is a regional policy. Thus refocusing, renationalising European cohesion funds would be a profound mistake. In front of our European Parliament, President von der Leyen made a commitment, she even made a double commitment: firstly for a stronger cohesion policy, then for a cohesion policy that puts the regions at the centre – and I have no doubt that this commitment made in plenary will be honoured. This means, for us, maintaining regional programmes negotiated directly between the European Commission and the regional authorities and implemented by the regions. Refocusing would be, Mr President, with the rise of far-right parties all over Europe, a huge risk for democracy, a huge risk for Europe. As you know, the regions of Europe are the heart and breath of European democracy.

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the conclusions of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the Polish abortion law (2024/2867(RSP)).

The next item is the presentation of the annual report of the Court of Auditors – 2023 (2024/2784(RSP)). To this end, we are pleased to welcome the President of the European Court of Auditors, Tony Murphy, to our Parliament this afternoon.

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758 by the People’s Republic of China, and its constant military provocations around Taiwan (2024/2891(RSP)).

Ladies and gentlemen, pursuant to Rule 136(2) of the Rules of Procedure, I have received seven motions for resolutions to close this debate. The debate is closed. The vote will take place on Thursday.

Before concluding this debate definitively, I would like to give the floor for a minute to Mrme Maria Zacharia, who had made a request to intervene at the request arriving late on the set. You have the floor.

Thank you very much, you have abused your speaking time to a great extent. We have come to the end of the debate. I thank all those who participated in it, making it very lively, and I give the floor to the Commissioner, underlining, and you have noted, that Azerbaijan’s condemnation is unanimous among the speakers who have spoken.

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the situation in Azerbaijan, the violation of human rights and international law, and relations with Armenia (2024/2890(RSP)).

I would like to make an announcement under Rule 251(4) of the Rules of Procedure to inform you that there was no request for a vote on the nine corrigenda announced in plenary yesterday at the opening of the sitting. Corrigenda are therefore deemed to have been approved.

The next item is the debate on the report by Victor Negrescu and Niclas Herbst, on behalf of the Committee on Budgets, on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 – all sections (12084/2024 - C10-0099/2024 - 2024/0176(BUD)) (A10-0008/2024).

The following vote is taken on the second report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section II: European Council and Council (see paragraph 9.6 of the Minutes).

The following vote concerns the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: application EGF/2024/001 BE/Match-Smatch (see paragraph 9.5 of the Minutes).

The following vote is taken on Draft amending budget No 4 to the general budget 2024: update of revenue (own resources) and adjustments for certain decentralised agencies (see item 9.4 of the minutes).

The following vote is taken on Draft amending budget No 2 to the general budget 2024: budgeting of the 2023 surplus (see para. 9.3 of the Minutes).

The next meeting will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 9 October 2024, at 9 a.m. The agenda has been published. It is available on the European Parliament's website.