What Robert spoke about.

6

Oct

2022

SK Speech

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An EU approach for Space Traffic management - an EU contribution addressing a global challenge (debate)

Mr President, if the European Union wants to become a real leader, it really needs to further increase its investment in both science and research, as well as in space, which we need to use in cooperation with other great powers and preserve for future generations. Space-related services already account for 10% of the European Union's GDP. Space traffic, which has increased sharply in recent years…

5

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area (debate)

Mr President, the Schengen area is undoubtedly one of the core pillars and privileges of the European Union. I fully recognise the need to be extremely careful while judging the preparedness of the countries to fulfil the criteria, especially when it comes to the necessity to protect external borders. Here we have to say that Romania and Bulgaria have since 11 years met all the technical condition…

15

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Implementation of the Updated New Industrial Strategy for Europe: aligning spending to policy (debate)

, – Thank you very much for the question. I think that there is no, I would say, clear, absolute answer to your question. I think that we are not here to judge and to blame someone. I think that also the European Union has taken in the past some really politically motivated decisions which were not correct. I would maybe – and I don’t want to blame anyone, I repeat – but some decisions also taken,…

15

Sep

2022

SK Speech

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Implementation of the Updated New Industrial Strategy for Europe: aligning spending to policy (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, since the coronavirus pandemic and now since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have been talking about the need to strengthen our strategic autonomy in industrial policy and the overall resilience of our economy. Whether with recovery plans or other European funds. Our strategic autonomy must be underpinned by a competitive industrial base, strong investment in res…

13

Sep

2022

SK Speech

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EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, we have a really difficult winter ahead of us. The insolvency of many businesses, the stifling of production and also redundancies are coming. And the decline of many households to poverty. In addition to measures such as capping the prices of different energy sources or possibly limiting the revenues of some energy companies producing electricity at low production c…

6

Jul

2022

SK Speech

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Taxing windfall profits of energy companies (debate)

Mr President, we are in an unprecedented crisis. While large energy-type businesses are getting rich and generating windfall profits, more and more people are falling into energy poverty. Therefore, the European Commission's proposal to introduce this tax may contribute to raising the money needed to finance the fight against the energy crisis, but above all, it may at least partially dampen high …

5

Jul

2022

SK Speech

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Objection pursuant to Rule 111(3): Amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act (debate)

Mr President, if we were to face the situation half a year ago, when the Commission proposed extending the taxonomy to include gas and nuclear, I would support an objection to this. However, the new energy price and security challenges resulting from the war in Ukraine are forcing us to look at the whole thing from a slightly different perspective. The non-inclusion of nuclear and gas could underm…

19

May

2022

SK Speech

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The REPowerEU Plan: European solidarity and energy security in face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the recent cuts of gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria (debate)

Mr President, many of the measures proposed, Commissioner, can only be welcomed, because they make energy savings possible, especially through greater energy efficiency, but also through greater deployment of renewables. I have a few remarks. Firstly, we need to be really honest with our citizens, if we want to urgently reduce energy dependence on Russia, it will cost a lot of money, which will be…

7

Apr

2022

SK Speech

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The situation of marginalised Roma communities in the EU (debate)

Mr President, the situation of marginalised communities in the European Union is a particularly serious problem. The coronavirus pandemic has significantly contributed to further exacerbating poverty, social exclusion and the health of disadvantaged communities. In countries such as my own, Slovakia, the consequences of sanctions on energy sources from Russia may further exacerbate this poverty. W…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Trans-European energy infrastructure (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, TEN-E is a key to connect our energy infrastructure within the EU. Without robust investments into infrastructure and interconnections between Member States it will not be effectively possible to decarbonise our economy and achieve our climate and energy goals, nor decrease our dependency and increase our autonomy. If Europe wants to decrease or even cut off dependen…

23

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Roaming Regulation (recast) (debate)

Madam President, Madam Commissioner, let me thank the rapporteur Angelika Winzig for the fruitful cooperation in reaching the agreement on this revision, also to other shadow rapporteurs from other political groups. ‘Roaming like at home’ became a reality in 2017 and it changed our travelling patterns forever. After more than two years of pandemic, with the war in Ukraine, Europe is now facing eve…

9

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Batteries and waste batteries (debate)

Madam President, the war in Ukraine confirmed how vital it is for Europe to increase its resilience and strategic autonomy in all key sectors in order to increase the competitiveness of our industries and, above all, decrease our dependence on third countries, including Russia. In this context, let me mention the European Battery Alliance established by the Vice-President of the European Commissio…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Rising energy prices and market manipulation on the gas market (debate)

Mr President, today, we have to talk about both the energy prices hike and energy security. First, ETS emissions allowances. It appears that while allowances prices have fallen by a third since the start of the war in Ukraine, the gas price is rising extremely high. I think that we have seen genuine market manipulation and speculative trading in recent months. Investors have taken profits from gro…

16

Feb

2022

SK Speech

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (continuation of debate)

Madam President, we must stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who also have the right to decide their fate. The Union must continue to support Ukraine's aspirations to become a member. As soon as it is able to comply with the prescribed conditions. As soon as we as the European Union are able and ready to accept it. Therefore, let us not create false expectations that this will happen in…

14

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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A European strategy for offshore renewable energy (debate)

Madam President, the EU strategy for offshore renewable energy is an opportunity to support investments, and the EU has the potential to be a global leader in this sector. We have to make sure that the deployment and investments in offshore renewable energy will be cost effective. Member States should mobilise funds also from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and investment from Horizon Europe…

24

Nov

2021

SK Speech

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State of the Energy Union (debate)

Mr President, the cheapest energy is still the one we save and do not have to produce at all, and therefore our priority must be to increase energy efficiency. But let us be fair and admit that if the Union imports raw materials from third countries whose production does not respect our green but also our social standards, we only export emissions and contribute to increasing them elsewhere. But t…

24

Nov

2021

SK Speech

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Outcome of the COP26 in Glasgow (debate)

Mr President, the conclusions from Glasgow have not killed the hope that our planet will no longer warm as fast and intensely as it has hitherto. Europe is responsible for only 8% of greenhouse gas emissions, while our biggest competitors are China and the US far more. It is not enough that they announce ambitious targets, but we must push them through climate diplomacy to translate them into prac…

6

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

Madam President, after the unprecedented hike in energy prices, at least in some Member States, people will have to choose between heating and eating. Unbelievable! We have to do our utmost in order to avoid the deepening of energy poverty, which could soon affect up to 80 million people in Europe. The suffering people expect us to deliver very concrete measures and not to blame others for our fai…

8

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Sustained price increase of raw and construction materials in Europe (debate)

Madam President, I say to the House and the Commissioner: the post-pandemic re-opening of the economies is followed by increased demand for raw materials. Current market conditions include huge supply chain disruption and sudden price increase. And so sectorial stakeholders call upon the Member States and, especially, the Commission to proceed with the appropriate action. Some of them, I would say…

7

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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A new ERA for Research and Innovation (continuation of debate)

Mr President, one of the main lessons of this pandemic is that we need to invest in research and innovation and to increase our strategic resilience. In the light of the pandemic I welcome the ‘ERA vs Corona’ action plan that calls for a deepening of cooperation, data sharing and coordination of research and innovation and funding against the coronavirus between the Commission and the Member State…