Speeches

The next item is the brief presentation of the report by Anna Cavazzini on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (A10-0021/2024).

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement entitled ‘European legislation for innovation: Reducing the cost of innovation in Europe’ (2024/2996(RSP)).

Madam President, I would like to make a few remarks at the end of this debate. First, I have heard that there is some contradiction between cohesion objectives and emergency responses. I have always said, and I repeat: we had this same debate during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is a rather absurd dichotomy, because it is impossible, Commissioner, to pursue long-term objectives if we do not immediately respond to the devastation and impacts of crises, whether we are talking about health crises or natural disasters. Secondly, let us not forget that the very purpose of political action is to respond to people’s concrete problems and to respond to situations of absolute distress in the event of a climate disaster. And I believe that our cohesion policy rises and rises to a very virtuous level when we provide very concrete answers to regions, territories, citizens who are hit by a natural disaster. Finally, I would point out that some time ago, when we were talking about natural disasters in this European Parliament, we were talking about the ACP countries. But as we go along, we see that natural disasters also affect European regions, because we are all facing the consequences of climate change. These disorders are manifesting themselves on a global scale, and today we have to face them. And it is not the theoretical debates that will solve the problems. Problems must be solved by our ability to prevent and anticipate, otherwise all European policies, not just cohesion policy, will lose their effectiveness, their power and their ability to achieve their objectives. That is why we will have to go further by creating a climate change adaptation fund, and regions, I know, are the relevant level for that.

Madam President, Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto, this weekend a cyclone hit Mayotte on a scale not seen in ninety years, and, as you have heard, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has expressed on behalf of our entire institution the solidarity of the European Parliament. The package we are going to adopt tomorrow will also help Mayotte in an unprecedented way, as it will help the reconstruction of the Valencia region and all the regions of Central and Eastern Europe that were devastated by recent floods in 2024, as well as allow us to cover the natural disasters that would occur in 2025. The European Social Fund will finance the distribution of emergency food aid, but also direct aid to SMEs and short-time work measures. The European Regional Development Fund will finance the construction of the affected infrastructure. Never in the European Union have we developed such a comprehensive and rapid system. I have been calling for us to go beyond the EUSF for many years – especially when I was chair of the REGI committee – and I am very happy to bring this Restore regulation to the European Parliament, which will be a game-changer on the ground and will allow the European Union to be present immediately and concretely on the ground, with citizens, in the regions. Often, I say, there can be no economic, social or territorial cohesion where territories and citizens are abandoned without the means to rebuild. The names of the devastating storms follow one another – DANA, Boris, Kirk, Daniel, Ciarán, Bernd – and this is a new deal ahead of us, a new deal to which we must adapt. Mayotte, Spain, Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, France, Belgium, Germany, the Baltic countries, Italy, Greece, Finland and so many others... In the last three years alone, we have had a succession of natural disasters, which are shaking up all our policies, and in particular regional policy and development policies inscribed in the territories. Climate change is a new deal. It has entered a race that all our efforts will not change in a few years, and we must now adapt our response to these disasters. EU regional policy cannot remain the weapon at its feet, without moving, doing nothing, helping, and continuing as before. This is not possible. We have to completely change the prism. We said here in the plenary of the European Parliament that the EUSF had become totally inadequate and that it needed to be reformed because it was ill-adapted, insufficiently endowed, too slow to deploy. We have said this and repeated it many times. This is why the Restore Regulation is welcome, as it now gives the ability to act immediately and concretely after the occurrence of a natural disaster. Tomorrow, I have no doubt, the European Parliament will be at the rendezvous of urgency and solidarity.

The next meeting will take place tomorrow, Thursday 28 November 2024 at 9 a.m. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament's website.

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 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.