Speeches

– Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Online opinion-forming, manipulative messages, fake news and social bots – the use of artificial intelligence can indeed influence elections and votes. We have seen this happen in the case of Cambridge Analytica. The regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising aims to prevent such election manipulations in the future - good thing! But I think the rules should be equipped so that in the future we can also promote our opinion as political parties that election campaigns can take place. Here, I think, we went a little beyond the target, especially on one point: The rules apply not only to the European elections, to the federal elections, to the state elections, but also to the local elections. Local elections, for example in a small municipality with a few hundred citizens, will in future be equated, for example, with the European elections, in which 440 million people participate. I think that's just going too far. I think that we should not be subject to these strict rules at our local level, where we have a large number of volunteers. With regard to transparency, advertising does not only apply to social media, but also to all forms of offline advertising. Here, too, I think we've gone a little beyond the mark. Why do I have to comply with a wealth of transparency regulations for every future ballpoint pen I distribute? I think that's just going a little too far, and that's why I have my problems with the part of the proposal.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, Mrs Council representative, my dear colleagues! Farmers have been taking to the streets for weeks now, and rightly so: Too much is just too much. Our line in agricultural policy has always been that we make policy with farmers and not against them. We have enforced that the Pesticide Ordinance does not come. We have enforced that there are no more set-asides. And we have also enforced that residual wood can continue to be used as renewable energy. We need healthy food. We need farmers who enjoy taking care of our landscape. We have farmers who live sustainability every day. Farmers always pass on their land well-ordered from generation to generation. Our farmers deserve appreciation and no prohibitions, no regulations, no restrictions.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, Mr Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, have a good new year for all of you. And you, Mr Prime Minister, have a happy hand in your Presidency. As we have heard, the Belgian Presidency has undertaken a great deal. I think that's good. I think it's important to set the right priorities. And for me, two things are elementary: One is the fight against irregular migration. I believe the most important thing is that the migration pact, which was discussed in December last year, is concluded. And so I ask you to do everything you can to ensure that this package can really come into force and, in parallel, to do everything you can to conclude agreements with third countries that even rejected migrants who are not entitled to remain can be returned. The second important issue is to support and strengthen competitiveness in the European Union. You said that we are actually well positioned in Europe, we have the single market, we have the euro, we have our own currency, we have healthy, medium-sized companies with a high level of innovation. But, ladies and gentlemen, you know that everyone suffers from bureaucracy and excessive regulation. And this is the most important thing for me: Better to do less in this area, not to introduce new templates, requirements, reporting obligations. Less is more. We need to ease the burden on our medium-sized businesses. Incidentally, this also applies to agriculture, which also suffers from the high requirements and burdens. That, I think, is also the most important thing for the coming months. All the best again. Good luck!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I think it's wonderful that I, like all of you, will have all my health data available on my smartphone in the future. Medical reports, X-rays, medications, medication plans – everything should be available on smartphones or other digital devices in the future. That's a great thing, isn't it? If you do not want to have this, you must of course also have the opportunity to object and not have to access your data digitally. But the opportunity to have the chance to do that, I think, is great. I also think it is great that this new regulation allows us to share our data in the future, that research institutions have the opportunity to access the data, and that we also have the opportunity to build a European Health Data Space in Europe. We also want to succeed in this digital world, we want to create our data spaces in Europe, and for this we simply need data that is easily available, that can be used, that is anonymised, that is pseudonymised. There is a lot of good in the proposal to ensure that data protection is actually respected. But it is crucial that we also play a role in this data world in Europe. And I believe that with this piece of legislation, which we hope to pass tomorrow, we have made a great deal of progress. And I ask all of you, ladies and gentlemen, to carry this out to the outside world. It is a great opportunity for every consumer, every patient, to have everything digitally available here in the future, and all over Europe. I hope that tomorrow we will send the right signal here and support the proposal with a very broad vote.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. In Europe, the mountains of rubbish are getting bigger and bigger. This is also due to packaging waste. Packaging alone accounts for 40% of plastics used in the European Union and 50% of paper. We must do something about it, and that is precisely the purpose of the new proposal on the Packaging Regulation. I think this proposal is good, firstly, that all packaging must be recyclable by 2030. I am pleased with this proposal, secondly, that return and deposit systems are being set up in all European Member States. And thirdly, I think it is good that the recycled content in plastic packaging must also be increased successively. What does not fit are the many bans on individual packaging formats. It has been said of the sugar bag, of the coffee cream capsules and the like. It also makes no sense to specify empty space quotas for beer crates or labelling requirements for beer bottles; This has been corrected. But I think it is important above all that the systems that are established in some Member States and that serve the circular economy, especially in the field of recycling, can remain in place. For many years and decades, circular systems have been built there, and this work must not be counteracted.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen. The reduction of bureaucracy, of the excessive regulatory burden on our businesses, our companies, must be a central concern of the Commission until the end of its mandate. I welcome the fact that concrete proposals are now on the table. When implementing the Sustainability Reporting Directive, the rules for each sector will now only come two years later. That's good. Finally, digitalisation is also being used to facilitate the posting of workers to other Member States. Maybe we'll finally get rid of this awkward A1 certificate. I think that is also a good suggestion. But, my dear colleagues, much, much more needs to happen. The Commission has only now scrutinised the 2023 legislation and the upcoming proposals for 2024 with a view to de-bureaucratisation. But what about all the legislation and regulation that was built up the years before? In the years 2020 to 2022 alone, 129 projects were launched by the Commission. This also results in many requirements, many documentation and registration obligations for companies. You have to fight there, too. Small and medium-sized enterprises suffer from high energy prices and inflation and the shortage of skilled workers and urgently need to be relieved. If the ESG standards were to be harmonised once, this would be a huge step forward, a huge simplification. Taxonomy, sustainability reporting, deforestation regulation. Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, Circular Economy Rules, Ecodesign Ordinance, and, and. Even the entrepreneur who wants to fulfill everything has little chance of getting through this thicket of regulation. I really urge you to relieve our businesses.

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission! You said today, we have to deliver today and prepare for tomorrow. In particular, we also need to strengthen our competitiveness. I can only agree with you, and I would also like to thank you for your appreciation and appreciation of our farmers today. There is, of course, a need for reform in the European Union. The figures in the economy are clear, the economy is weakening. Investment is being held back and households also have less and less room for manoeuvre. We must do everything we can to strengthen our position and, above all, ensure that value creation takes place here in Europe, in the Member States. We need deregulation, as many colleagues have mentioned. Discharge is the order of the day. We need to get out of the regulatory frenzy. And I'm really waiting for the concrete proposals that are coming in October. And one last thing: We also need to take care of our own safety. We need a common European vision for areas such as space, maritime, critical infrastructure and cyber. This is the lesson we must learn from the terrible war in Ukraine.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about the emissions trading system. The European Emissions Trading System is rightly at the heart of the Fit for 55 package. Every CO2 tonne emitted is priced. This creates the incentives we need to invest more in climate protection. I think this is the most important tool we have to achieve the climate goals. It makes sense not to ban, not to regulate, but to incentivise investment in new technologies. With the compromise we have found, we show that we want to shape the fight against climate change with people and with companies, not against them. And how do we do that? The revised emissions trading scheme is ambitious, but I believe it also leaves enough room for breathing, especially for industry. We still have many energy-intensive industries with us in Europe: Steel, aluminum, chemistry, paper, glass. All of these energy-intensive industries have an enormous electricity demand and are now bearing the double burden – on the one hand higher electricity prices and on the other hand additional costs due to CO2 pricing. I think it is right that this compromise now foresees that indirect electricity price compensation is still possible. Equally important to me is that the free allocations for companies only expire once the border adjustment mechanism has proven that it actually works. I think we owe that to our industrial base in Europe.

Madam President, Vice-President of the Commission, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen! Finally, finally, the competitiveness of our companies in the European Union is a priority for the Commission and also for the Member States. We, the European People's Party, have been calling for this for years. We can only achieve our ambitious climate protection goals if we make technological progress. We need to incentivise investment in new, clean technologies. Prohibitions do not take us further, only lead to relocations of companies, to relocations of production abroad. That is what we are already seeing today, and that is why the proposals which have now been put forward by the Commission to support the competitiveness of our businesses are a good thing. We need to reduce bureaucracy, we need to reduce regulation, we need to speed up and simplify processes. And again: I think the proposals are good, but we must also put the existing rules to the test. Taxonomy, for example, ladies and gentlemen, is omitted. Medical Devices Regulation – there has been some modification; We also have homework to do in this regard. We in this House too, I believe, are called upon to act on legislative proposals – I only call the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act , that we take a reasonable approach here. Lastly: We need to think in value chains. The law on critical raw materials is good, but here in Europe, for example, we also need the chemical industry. We also need the pharmaceutical industry, we need strong craft businesses. Especially when we expel the chemical industry, dear colleagues, from the country, then we simply cannot implement everything we do in terms of climate protection. For top layers of wind turbines, for rotor blades, for chips, for everything we want, we need chemical industry. That's why I'm advocating to finally take a look at the chemical industry and not just clean technology.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, We live in a time when data is the new currency. But a large part of our data treasure remains untouched so far. As of today, 80% of industrial data is never used. I believe it is really time for us to break up the data silos that we still have in the European Union. The Data Act is an important milestone for this. It finally regulates access to data from networked devices, machines, I say, from the refrigerator to the aircraft turbines. This data law will make data more easily accessible, usable and valuable for citizens in the European Union, for administrations, for businesses, for society as such. The big challenge with the data law was finding the right balance between the different interests. I think, ladies and gentlemen, that we have actually succeeded quite well, especially since we will also have our own legal framework for individual data rooms, such as the health data room. Citizens use smart devices. For me, it was important that data protection also applies in the same way in the area that the citizen decides who does what with his data. Secondly, it was of course important to give small, medium-sized companies and start-ups in particular easier access to industrial and machine data in the future. We have also succeeded in doing so. On the other hand, we have also ensured that trade secrets continue to be safeguarded. It is important in the data world that we create trusting environments. I believe that we have succeeded in doing so with this legislative act, with the Data Act. I would also like to say a heartfelt thank you to our rapporteur, Pilar del Castillo, and to all the colleagues from the political groups who have worked very hard on this dossier. I believe that we have really taken a good step towards building a data economy and a data society.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! Of course, the building sector must contribute to achieving our climate protection goals. The Commission estimates that the building sector accounts for 40% of all CO2 emissions. So the question is not whether we are decarbonising the building stock, but how we are doing it. And since, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we are really on the wrong track with the Building Energy Efficiency Directive, which we are now voting on here tomorrow. Forced renovations, prohibitions, that is the proposal that the Commission has put on the table, and what has been decided in Parliament, including in the Committee on Industry, goes even further. I believe that we must not do climate protection against the interests of citizens, but we must take people with us. We must not use coercion and prohibition to try to address society in the fight against climate change, but I believe we need smarter solutions. Let's see what happens in the United States right now. Inflation Reduction Act I believe that this is the far better way to convince people, people, citizens, citizens to invest in energy efficiency here than the way we do it. Let me say one more thing: I often hear in the discussion that I am against climate protection if I do not speak out in favour of this directive. No, on the contrary. We have decided on emissions trading and have foreseen that the building sector will also be included in emissions trading, so that energy in the building sector will be more expensive. We already have an energy efficiency directive. And, ladies and gentlemen, everyone knows how much energy prices have skyrocketed in recent months. I don't think we really need to convince our citizens that it makes sense to invest here in the insulation, in the insulation of their homes, their residential properties. That settles on its own. I don't think we should add pressure here with forced renovations. That is why I am very, very critical of this directive, which we will decide on tomorrow.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! The crises of recent years should have taught us one thing: Europe needs to become more resilient. This means that we need to reduce our dependencies and raise our domestic resources. Parliament’s report on the 2021 Raw Materials Strategy highlights: We set ambitious climate targets, but we are massively dependent on the import of critical raw materials. Only 1 % of raw materials for wind turbines, less than 1 % of lithium batteries, less than 1 % of fuel cells, only 2 % of raw materials relevant for robotics and only 1 % of silicon photovoltaic assemblies are produced in Europe. It is time for an intelligent raw materials policy. From my point of view, this includes two things: On the one hand, we need to expand domestic sourcing of critical raw materials. Sustainable mining in Europe would stand for compliance with the highest environmental and social standards. In addition, we could expand the global offer. This will be necessary because demand for critical raw materials will increase in the coming decades. And secondly: Importing critical raw materials will continue to be important. Critical raw materials must therefore also be a core element of European trade policy. We also need to diversify our supply chains and reduce dependencies.

– Madam, I hope you have listened to me well; Your question is easy to answer. The question is: How do we make the transport sector cleaner, how do we manage to reduce CO2 emissions in transport as well? And I fully agree that we are relying on new technologies here – and this is not just a technology, this is not just electromobility; the production of an electric car also requires more energy – then we definitely have the better solution. The aim is to make the stock of land, the stock of fleets, more CO2-neutral. And that's why we can't just focus on electromobility. That is why we need alternative fuels, biofuels, and we also need to rely on hydrogen technology. Just being blind in one eye just can't do that. I am deeply convinced that we also need the diversity of technologies here.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen. I think it is wrong to ban internal combustion engines. For our industrial location, this is a slap in the face. Without a doubt: Electric cars have a bright future. This is especially true if the infrastructure is expanded. If we have nationwide charging infrastructure, then an electric car is a self-propelled vehicle. But, it's never been right to just rely on one technology. Technology neutrality is the order of the day: Alternative fuels, synthetic fuels, hydrogen technology also have huge potential. And on the subject of climate protection, allow me to say: We must also aim to make the cars that are on the road today cleaner, and that is only possible with alternative fuels. In Germany, more than 67 million cars currently drive on the roads; This is where we have to start. It can't be that everyone has to buy a new electric vehicle quickly in the next few years. An end to the combustion engine is antisocial and does not help climate protection, because no one needs to believe that cars with internal combustion engines will not continue to be produced outside Europe. What we are doing is weakening our own industry, driving our companies out of Europe. This is truly a disastrous industrial policy. (The speaker agreed to respond to an intervention under the blue card procedure)

– Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Online opinion-forming, manipulative messages, fake news and social bots – the use of artificial intelligence can indeed influence elections and votes. We have seen this in the case of Cambridge Analytica. The Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising aims to prevent such election manipulations in the future. However, the rules should be designed in such a way that election campaigns can also take place in the future, and I would like to make one critical point: I think the rules should not apply to local elections. Local elections, for example in a small municipality with a few hundred citizens, will in future be equated with, for example, the European elections, which affect 440 million people. In future, the new rules will have to be followed in every election of mayors, local councillors, district councillors and district councils. I think that's just not good. Local politicians are mostly volunteers and will probably not be the target of election manipulation. Therefore, they should actually be relieved of bureaucratic requirements.

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, Madam Minister, my dear colleagues! 30 years of the Single Market: What a great success story for the European Union! What we haven't achieved in these 30 years: Barriers to trade have been removed, there are no more import or export tariffs for trade in goods within the European Union, craftsmen from my home region can offer their services throughout the European Union. A master's degree obtained in Germany is also recognised in all other Member States. Erasmus is a success story, giving many young people the opportunity to complete part of their education or studies in another European country. There are no roaming charges anymore. Smaller milestones have also been achieved: SOLVIT provides assistance in cross-border disputes. A one-stop shop for businesses has been introduced to ensure that VAT only has to be declared once in the European Union. And, and, and. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! It's really a great achievement. But of course there is still a lot to do. This is because the Member States are extremely inventive in setting up new barriers to trade, and we must take action against this. Finally, I would like to mention another major milestone in the single market that we are celebrating this year: For 20 years, ladies and gentlemen, we have worked together to obtain a unitary patent and a unitary patent court in Europe. Now, on April 1st, this will finally be realized, this will be possible: an application, an examination, a grant, a legal proceeding for patents in the European Union. I think this is another, very, very great milestone, of which we in the European Parliament can also be particularly proud, because over many, many years many colleagues have repeatedly urged that the Member States finally implement this accordingly.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen. The energy transition can only succeed if we expand massively renewable energy. Why isn't it moving faster? Approval procedures take too long. This is where we have to start. The directive we are now adopting this week can do just that, speeding up procedures. I would like to thank our rapporteur, Markus Pieper, and all those who have helped to get this directive off the ground. When we talk about renewable energy, what are we talking about? Are we talking about wind and solar? No, I think that's wrong. Especially in times when, as now, we have an offer of energy. Renewable energy is not only wind and solar, but also biomass, hydropower and geothermal energy. We must not discriminate against any kind of renewable energy. There must be no first- and second-class renewable energy. Hydropower and biomass are permanently available, cost-effective and versatile. We need to take them into account in Europe's energy transition, as well as solar and wind energy.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Doctors, hospitals and manufacturers of medical devices have been sounding the alarm for over a year now: Important medical devices go out, are no longer manufactured, are withdrawn from the market. For example, balloon catheters for children's hearts are currently hardly available in Europe, and children with congenital heart defects can no longer be operated on. What happened? In 2017, we adopted the new version of the Medical Devices Regulation. At that time, the goal was to achieve more patient safety. The trigger for the revision of the Medical Devices Regulation at the time was the breast implant scandal in Germany and France. With the recast, we wanted stricter requirements for the certification of medical devices. Today, however, we unfortunately have to state that many medical devices are simply not re-certified, because the financial and bureaucratic effort is simply too high, especially for many medium-sized medical device manufacturers; This applies in particular to niche products. Therefore, I believe that something urgent needs to happen now, given the current difficult supply situation with some vital medical devices. The Commission must finally come forward with a proposal to amend the Medical Devices Regulation. We have been calling on the Commission to do so for months. So far, nothing has happened, at least according to what I see, and I actually think it is a scandal. I would therefore like to address three questions to the Commission today. Firstly: How does the Commission intend to ensure that medical devices remain available, especially in hospitals, so that patients who urgently need them can survive? Secondly: I suggest that certificates already issued remain valid at least until the examination of a recertification application has been completed. Question to the Commission: Is this a consideration that is shared? And thirdly: Is the Commission considering amending the Medical Devices Regulation to eliminate the need for recertification, at least for niche products that have already been certified under the old regime? I am very curious to see how the Commission responds to these three questions.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! Equality is an endless story – unfortunately. Twelve years ago, our former EPP Commissioner Viviane Reding Women's on-boardsThe directive was launched twelve years ago, laying the foundations for legislation on equality between men and women in companies in many Member States. Equality between men and women is still not self-sufficient today. There are still more men than women on boards, and when you look at the floor of the boards, the air is very thin, it is very manageable – the number of female boards. Quotas are door openers. I think they make sense to break up long-standing structures that have been established for decades, and that is why it is good that we finally adopt this directive today. But in addition to quotas, it is also important that companies have the right mindset. Diversity must not only take place on paper, it is not enough just to adopt this directive here, but diversity must be lived in companies. Let me also point out that I am deeply convinced that if we have a balanced representation of women and men in leadership positions in companies, this will also be a win-win for many companies: Many studies indicate that a significant representation of women in management positions can also be a success factor for corporate sales. I am pleased that this directive will be adopted today.

Madam President, Vice-President of the European Commission! Colleagues! First of all, a heartfelt thank you to our rapporteur Bart Groothuis for his excellent report and also to the colleagues in the political groups who have all worked on this dossier. The importance of cybersecurity is currently demonstrated by Russia's hybrid warfare with computer attacks and massive disinformation campaigns. We need to protect our critical infrastructure and better support our businesses, both small and large, so that they can also defend themselves against cyber-attacks, sabotage and espionage. It is good that we in the European Union have a strategy against cyberattacks. And the directive on which we are going to vote this afternoon is a very important building block in this strategy. Cybersecurity is a community task. We can only be better and more efficient if we work together – companies, administrations, security authorities. This is what we want to achieve with this directive. I welcome the fact that with the directive we are introducing a new reporting obligation for cyber-attacks, that there is a tight deadline of 24 hours within which it must be notified that a cyber-attack has occurred. Only by working closely together at European level will we really have a chance to guarantee cybersecurity for our citizens and our businesses. Thank you to everyone who helped us get this legislation off the ground today.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Sustainability reporting makes sense, not only for the climate and the environment, but also from the perspective of companies that can demonstrate that they operate sustainably. However, abdominal pain gives me two circumstances. Firstly: Especially our medium-sized companies are currently really overwhelmed: Taxonomy, Deforestation Ordinance, Sustainability Reporting, Supply Chain Act. All these well-intentioned proposals entail new bureaucratic requirements. Companies need to document, prove, prove, inform, especially at a time when every business is being challenged by energy price increases, inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and shortages of skilled workers. This is almost impossible for businesses. I therefore urge the Commission, Commissioner, to take the principle of proportionality seriously and not impose a disproportionate burden on small and medium-sized enterprises in the standards that are now being developed for sustainability reporting. When it comes to reporting obligations, a medium-sized company simply cannot be equated with a large corporation.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, Mr Minister, ladies and gentlemen! Since the beginning of Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, the question has accompanied us: What measures can we take to ensure that energy remains affordable in Europe and that houses do not get cold in the coming winter? I think our people and businesses expect concrete answers from us. I am pleased that the Commission's proposals on this matter are finally on the table to relieve the burden on consumers and households. However, some of these measures are long overdue, such as the proposal for joint purchasing of gas. He is finally here – ultimately eight months too late. But if we want to prevent over-competition in the purchase of gas among the Member States, then we need joint action at European level. The same applies to the cap on the gas price. But what still has to come quite, very urgently is to relieve our companies. Competitiveness should be strengthened. The President of the Commission has today made one or the other proposal on this subject. I think it's important to put everything to the test. We are now in a situation where we live in a kind of war economy, and that is why it is important to do the important things first and perhaps not tackle one or the other dossier and issue until next year. Prioritizing is what is necessary. We've already lost enough time, and I think again: Our people deserve answers from us.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, honourable representatives of the Council, ladies and gentlemen! Winter is just around the corner. Many households and businesses are asking themselves: How can I still pay my electricity and gas bills? How do I cope with the high cost of living? It has already been said by many colleagues: Valuable time has been wasted. But now we finally have Commission proposals on the table – late, but, as I said, there is something on the table: Solidarabgabe, revenue levies on electricity, gas price brake, joint purchase of gas, new benchmark for FFT, so a lot is now on the table. I would like to use my speaking time today to call on the Member States to finally take action here, and also to ask once again in the direction of the Council Presidency to finally pat the Member States on the fingers. So far, every country, every Member State, has done its thing. We are far from having a European internal energy market, ladies and gentlemen. But if we want to tackle the problems, then we have to act together, which also means that we have to use all the available resources that we have in the country to produce energy.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. The turn of the tide in Europe is also a special turn of the tide for European space travel. Russia is known to have terminated cooperation in space with Europe at the end of February 2022. Of course, this also has a serious impact on us in Europe. I think it is really time for us to be resilient and future-proof in this area. There are more and more companies in the field of New spaceThose who have great potential. Many young and still small companies in Germany, but also in all other European countries, are making a name for themselves on an international level. Alone in New spaceThe market is estimated to grow to as much as 2,700 million by 2040. I think it is therefore urgent that we support these small and medium-sized enterprises massively at European level. As the European Union, our ambition should be to play a central role in global competition and, above all, to ensure secure, autonomous access to and use of space. I would therefore like to ask the Commission today – and Commissioner has already said a lot about this: How will the Commission develop the Space traffic management Above all, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, so that in the future the competitiveness of these companies in particular and also of the major players here in this market, which are based in Europe, will be maintained?

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr Council representatives, ladies and gentlemen! Russian partial mobilization, nuclear saber-rattling, illegal annexation of the occupied territories: Putin is waging an increasingly aggressive war of aggression. Ukraine defends itself bravely, fights for itself, but also for our interests and needs our full support. I welcome the fact that an eighth package of sanctions is now being worked on. But the war also hits us massively in the European Union. We must do everything we can to control the exploding energy prices. Households can no longer pay their bills, the horrendous electricity and gas prices are driving our businesses into insolvency. I welcome the emergency measures adopted by the energy ministers. They are an important first step, but they must now also be implemented quickly and unbureaucratically, and further measures must follow. Firstly, we need a gas price brake without jeopardising security of supply. The gas price brake does not solve all problems, but it creates air to boost the supply here a bit. Secondly, we need a joint purchase of gas and liquefied petroleum gas, and we need to revise our electricity price index system, as the current situation has shown.