Speeches

Mr President, Vice-Presidents, ladies and gentlemen. We can feel it: It's time to wake up. Cyber warfare increasingly dominates our everyday lives. Cyberattacks are not just against countries at war. So far, 40 Russian cyberattacks have been registered: against the electricity grid, drinking water supply, water supply systems, military coordination facilities and critical infrastructure in many other countries. This is why we need a common EU cyber defence. I stand for a common cyber-DefenceUnity of the EU. And in order to be able to act consistently and quickly against hybrid attacks and illegal content, the European Union needs to increase its competence in this area, strengthen the capacities of Europol's European Cybercrime Centre and improve cooperation between national security and intelligence services. At the same time, we need to invest more in the education and digital skills of our citizens. It's about learning from an early age to independently assess whether or not information is trustworthy. We have a lot to do – together.

Madam President, dear Europeans! We will not let the outcome of the Conference on the Future of Europe be overstated. It is encouraging: 325 concrete proposals for a more actionable, digital, social, independent, future-proof and stronger European Union. The proposals are a tailwind for all of us who want to change the European Union forward: Yes to ending the undemocratic unanimity principle. Yes to liberal democracy. No to blackmail and blockade. Yes to the right of initiative of the European Parliament. Yes to budget sovereignty. Yes to transnational lists. Yes to European citizenship. Yes to the Energy, Health and Social Union. Yes to the Security and Defence Union. Yes to more cooperation among European citizens. We are willing to make the future our future. And I say very clearly: Now it is a matter of implementation; The work is not done. The European Parliament will become the firm, transparent advocate of all 325 proposals. The European Parliament will take the initiative for a Convention on the necessary Treaty reforms. The European Parliament will show transparently what happened to each individual proposal when. Citizens understand that we will keep our word.

We will first vote on the request for urgent consultation on the transitional provisions for the packaging and labelling of veterinary medicinal products. Does anyone in the Chamber wish to speak in favour of or against the request for urgent deliberation? That is not the case. I shall put the motion to the vote. (Parliament decided on the urgency.)* The vote will take place on Thursday 5 May at 12 noon. The deadline for tabling amendments was 7 p.m. on 3 May. The deadline for requesting split and separate votes is tomorrow 4 May at 4 p.m. _______________ * More details: see Minutes.

The President. – Before we get to the vote, Mr Fest asked for the floor. I would ask him to name the Rule of Procedure and not to exceed one minute.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Axel Voss, on behalf of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age, on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (2020/2266(INI)) (A9-0088/2022). I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, with the exception of the first two rows, which are reserved for the group presidents, there is a free choice of seats and therefore all colleagues can move close to the speaker. You can use your voting device to request spontaneous interventions and insert blue cards after inserting your voting card. I therefore ask you to always bring your voting card with you. Instructions are available in the Chamber. If you wish to register for a spontaneous intervention, I would ask you to do so now and not to wait for the end of the debate. In line with the recommendations of the Focus Group, the speaking time for all interventions during the key debate is at least two minutes. The same applies to spontaneous speeches. I would also like to point out that blue cards can also be held up for a short speech and that a follow-up question is allowed thereafter. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern. However, this does not apply to spontaneous interventions, blue cards and interventions on the Rules of Procedure. I would therefore ask you to keep an eye on the list of speakers and to go to the lectern shortly before the start of your speaking time. I had to say this because these are innovations about the focus group and because, secondly, of course, not all of our colleagues in this House have been able to live up to these practices already, because we have two years of pandemic and special regulations behind us.

The meeting closed and resumed tomorrow, Thursday 7 April 2022 at 9 a.m. The agenda was published as known and is available on the European Parliament's website.

The meeting is therefore closed in its entirety and will resume tomorrow, Thursday 10 March 2022, at 9 a.m. as announced, with the announcement of the results of today's second voting session. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament's website.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Yana Toom, on behalf of the Committee on Petitions, on the 2020 Citizenship Report: Strengthening citizens’ participation and protecting citizens’ rights (2021/2099(INI)) (A9-0019/2022). As you already know, this debate takes place under a changed framework.

I have a message to send you now. The Renew Group sent the President a decision to change appointments to a delegation. This decision will be published in the minutes of today's meeting and will enter into force on the day of this announcement.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Pedro Marques, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, on a European withholding tax framework (2021/2097(INI)) (A9-0011/2022).

I am now opening today's second round of voting. The dossiers on which we are voting can be found on the agenda. The voting session will take place from 8 p.m. to 9.15 p.m. The voting procedure is the same as in previous voting rounds. All votes are roll call votes. I hereby declare the second round of voting open. The results will be announced tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Mr Niedermayer, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, with recommendations to the Commission on fair and simple taxation in support of the recovery strategy (European Parliament's follow-up to the Commission action plan presented in July and to the Commission's 25 initiatives in the fields of VAT, business taxation and individual taxation) (2020/2254(INL)) (A9-0024/2022). The debate will take place under the same changed framework conditions as you already know.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, A successful future for Europe depends on the will to cooperate, including economic, social, fiscal and security cooperation. Closer coordination is essential, not only when there is war in Europe, but also when we look at the new challenges and global developments in order to achieve the best results in order to do more for healthy households, innovation, investment, growth, employment, competitiveness and social cohesion. We have €25 billion a year lying fallow, which we can lift immediately – only through fiscal cooperation and stronger coordination. However, the massive investments in the future that are necessary must also go hand in hand with consistent structural reforms, because our money and taxpayers' money should not finance wrong developments of the past, should not go into dark channels, into nepotism and corruption. We have air upstairs. More than 50 percent of all recommendations on what we can do better are not implemented by the Member States. For sustainable development and social cohesion, and less poverty and inequality and more employment, we need more cooperation.