What Angelika spoke about.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, First of all, I would like to congratulate our rapporteur on her excellent report. There is so much inside, dear Dolors Montserrat, you could go into a lot of things. I think it is great that the report is written from the patient's point of view, that patient organisations have their say, that the topic of European Health Data Space is an issue – so much that could be addressed. I want to focus on good news and bad news. I'll start with the bad news. Many of my colleagues have mentioned it: We depend on the global production of medicines in other regions of the world. But the good news is that with a successful and good pharmaceutical strategy, I think we can do something about it. We can be strategically different. I think our motto must be: Diversify, support, protect. We need to diversify supply chains. On the one hand, we should be careful not only to obtain critical medicines from one or a few producers, but also to produce or stock up more ourselves in Europe. Secondly: We need to take small and medium-sized businesses by the hand. They are our engines of innovation, and they need advice. They need little bureaucracy, but support, especially when it comes to clinical trial financing. Last, but not least: Patents for medicines are essential. They provide incentives for companies to conduct ambitious research and development. It cannot be done without patent protection; This has just been seen in the biotech companies and classic medium-sized companies such as BioNTech.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I quote from Mrs Bentele's report: 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. On the other hand, we set ourselves the most ambitious climate protection goals. I believe it is obvious that we need an intelligent raw materials policy. Two issues are of particular importance to me. On the one hand, we need to ramp up domestic procurement of critical raw materials. In Europe, we have a unique opportunity to operate sustainable mining in a process that meets the highest environmental and social standards in the world. I don't think we should oppose that. Second, Of course, we will have to continue to source critical raw materials from third countries. Therefore, critical raw materials must also become a core element of any trade relationship, any trade partnership.

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, After the election of Joe Biden, there were high expectations that the transatlantic relationship would improve quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, these expectations have not yet been met: AUKUS, uncoordinated withdrawal from Afghanistan, no progress in reducing tariffs. It is true that the US is our most important strategic partner. But partnership requires trust. And I think both we as the European Union and the United States are called for here. We have common interests, and we should focus on them, especially with regard to cooperation on the newly created Technology and Trade Council. For example, in semiconductor production: We have gaps in supply chains. I believe it is very, very important to work together here to close the gaps in the supply chain, to ramp up production. Example of digitalisation: create new rules together – for AI, for platform economy and the like. And, of course, our relationship with China: Here, too, I think we need to work much more closely together strategically. Last but not least – Mr Sikorski referred to it: I think now is the time, the hour, to work on a common European defence union.

Mr President, Madam President of the Commission, Mr Council representative, my dear colleagues! I would like to make two comments on the state of the Union: Firstly, on COVID-19 crisis management and what the European Union has done in this difficult and challenging time. I think it has not gone badly, Madam President of the Commission. You mentioned youth in your speech, and I think that's great. I think that's really good because I think we talked far too little about the young people during the pandemic period, about what we asked them to do during that time. I am pleased that the ALMA programme has been launched, that we are investing in the education, training, further education and training of our young people and that we are doing everything we can to enable our young people to exchange and meet in the European Union. My second comment is about the geopolitical role of the European Union, the European Commission. That was also one of your core concerns, Madam President, when you took over the role of Commission President, and you mentioned Afghanistan, for example. I ask: If not now, when should we strengthen the European pillar in NATO? If not now, when should we develop and build the Common Foreign and Security Policy? We are required. And what is really important here is to put all the political will and strength into it if we want to be taken seriously globally, and not just as a strong economic power. If we take our own security seriously, then we need to get there. And that is our great task, even in the next two and a half years, to make real progress here and to give our citizens the security they deserve.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr Council representatives, ladies and gentlemen! I think it is good that the Fit for 55 package is finally on the table and we can discuss it. The bad flood disasters in the summertime, especially in my home country, in my home country, in Belgium, in the Netherlands, have shown the urgent need for action. I would like to make two comments on this package. On the one hand: Climate protection does not exist at a zero rate. But energy must of course remain affordable, on the one hand for our citizens. I am thinking in particular of heating and driving. This must remain affordable. But industrial electricity prices must also be competitive for our industry. Otherwise, we will only sell our companies from Europe to other regions of the world. Secondly: I think we need to go to the market and we need to focus on innovation. We can't make bans. To call bans a driver of innovation, I think, is completely wrong. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! I was just last week at the IAA Mobility in Munich, one of the major mobility fairs, and I was able to convince myself how much innovative power there is in our medium-sized companies, in our start-ups, in our companies. This is what we need to focus on: that innovative solutions, innovative new technologies come to the market, with which we also show other regions in the world that we can cope with climate change.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I have to go straight to my previous speaker: Mr Botenga, it was not the big pharma industry that developed the COVID-19 vaccine here, it was a start-up. It was a 100-man operation. And this company, thank God, has been supported with European funding. Otherwise, if this support and these small, medium-sized start-ups did not exist, we would probably still be carrying out our parliamentary work from our offices above exclusively in the home office. So just push in on the pharmaceutical industry, so you make it a bit too easy for yourself. Of course, there is still room for improvement in European research policy. I am particularly interested in three issues. Firstly: Hundreds of billions of euros are being spent on European research. But if we compare these sums with investments in the US and China, then of course we are still lagging far behind in Europe. I believe that it is important that we not only invest public funds in research and innovation, but also to re-incentivise private investment in research and development. Secondly: We need to bring companies, our companies, even better together with universities, with universities, with research institutions. This is the only way to create opportunities for our SMEs to grow into innovative business areas for our start-ups. Thirdly: European research policy has been a success story for many years. I think we need to tell this story to our citizens over and over again. Our citizens know the freedom to travel, they know roaming, the abolition of roaming charges, the common market. But joint research in Europe is also a success story worth telling.