Speeches

The next item is the debate on the European Cultural Compass as a driving force for economic competitiveness and resilience (2025/2600(RSP)).

Mr. President! Commissioner! Europe is the world's best place to be a consumer. This is due to decades of struggle for strong rights and good protection. But we must not rest on our laurels. Although there is much to be proud of, we must never take our results for granted. Consumer protection is a constant struggle and every day new threats arise that need to be addressed. And right now, we are failing especially the youngest of our consumers when they are online. They encounter illegal content, they are manipulated, they are commercially exploited, and they become addicted. The tech giants have had their chance to take responsibility. They know that their services do harm to young people, and yet they continue to do so. That is why we must act. We must ensure that young people do not become a commodity exploited for profit. That's why we shouldn't stop here. We must continue to fight for the enforcement of the rules we have and, if necessary, for more rules so that we can protect the youngest consumers. We must continue to fight for European consumer rights, even in a world that places different demands on us. It's about safety for all of our 440 million consumers.

Colleagues, please calm down. Please. No, I have closed the microphone. I will ask my colleagues to remember that you have the blue-card option very soon, so you have a chance to ask questions for your colleagues. And when you don't have the blue card, please let people speak quietly. Please, colleagues. Thank you. So now we are here where I open up for the blue-card option. We always do that after the first round of speakers on behalf of the political groups. And we ended that.

Thank you very much, colleagues. Just to be very transparent: there are a couple of groups who did not get speaking time, but that was because I had no indications of people wanting to take the floor during the catch-the-eye procedure.

Madam President! The world has changed. It's a less secure planet we have today than just a few weeks ago. That is why the EU must also change. The EU must take responsibility for its own security. We've been too slow to do that. Ukraine is our litmus test of whether we want to and if we can. Unfortunately, the trend is clear: The longer an EU country is from Ukraine, the less support is given. It's no good. This is not how we show that we can take responsibility for Europe's security. We say that everyone in Europe must stand together, but not everyone acts accordingly. We must therefore increase that support for Ukraine, and it must be now. And, of course, we also need to build our own European defence capabilities. The war in Ukraine is simply the test that shows whether we in Europe can stand together against threats from outside. We need all countries to understand that this is not really just about Ukraine. It is also about ourselves. Let's get started. Let us show that we can defend Europe on our own.

The minutes of this sitting will be submitted to Parliament for its approval at the beginning of the next sitting. If there are no objections, I will forward the resolutions adopted at today's sitting to the persons and bodies named in the resolutions.

The last explanation of vote is on the motion for a resolution on the escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on cross‑border recognition of civil status documents of same‑sex couples and their children within the territory of the EU (2025/2557(RSP)).

The next item is a Commission statement on the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and the suspension of US development and humanitarian aid (2025/2527(RSP)).

Before I give the floor to the Commissioner, I know that there are more speakers who have asked for catch-the-eye, but we have to follow the timetable. We had five minutes and I gave the floor to five speakers. I know it's irritating for some of you who would like to speak, but unfortunately that's how it is today.

The next item is the debate on Council and Commission statements on the need for targeted support to EU regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (2025/2532(RSP)).

The ECR Group has notified the President of decisions relating to changes to appointments within committees. These decisions will be set out in the minutes of today's sitting and take effect on the date of this announcement.