What Charles spoke about.

11 Feb

2025

FR Speech

Escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (debate)

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Mr President, the problem we are discussing is not a new one. It boils down to the question of how to transform the vicious circle of exploitation of scarce resources in the face of the lust of actors from all over the world. With declaratory art, we're not going to make it. The repeated convictions have resulted in nothing, it is not clear why it would work this time. In my view, the only way to …

17 Dec

2024

FR Speech

Use of rape as weapon of war, in particular in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan (debate)

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Madam President, High Representative, our debate today is about rape as a weapon of war in Congo and Sudan. What is happening there is absolutely abominable. Other countries could have been added so as not to be limited to African countries, because at the heart of Europe we deplore the existence of the same scourge. Everything must be done to prevent this ignominy. If a country involved in a war …

22 Oct

2024

FR Speech

General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 – all sections (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, new humanitarian crises are added to those already existing, in this case open, forgotten or frozen conflicts. In order to respond to growing humanitarian needs, the Committee on Development has proposed an additional EUR 120 million for humanitarian aid for 2025. It also proposed to maintain the resources needed to finance human rights, civil society action and the ach…

21 Oct

2024

FR Speech

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the fight against poverty must manifest itself both inside and outside the European Union. However, practice seems to confirm this point. The European Union has certainly not succeeded in eradicating poverty, as each of us would like. In his defense, let us recall that his skills are insufficient to solve this problem. The resources available to the Member States, on…

18 Sep

2024

FR Speech

EU response to the Mpox outbreak and the need for continuous action (debate)

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Mr President, today we are facing a new health threat with mpox, a disease that, although long neglected, has returned in strength. This situation requires a rapid and coordinated response at European level. It reminds us that infectious diseases know no borders. We therefore need to strengthen our surveillance systems across Europe to quickly detect any outbreaks. This also requires increased inv…

24 Apr

2024

FR Speech

The proposed repeal of the law banning female genital mutilation in The Gambia

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Mr President, today's debate almost ends this parliamentary term, but it is far from an end to female genital mutilation. On the contrary, the draft resolution reminds us: 230 million women worldwide remain victims of these practices. And yet, there is no shortage of declarations of intent to put an end to it. One of two things: either the authorities of the States where such practices still exist…

13 Mar

2024

FR Speech

Guidelines for the 2025 Budget - Section III (debate)

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Mr President, thank you to the rapporteur for successfully negotiating an agreement on this part of the budget. However, let us not ask for the impossibility of the current budget in particular and the multiannual financial framework in general. The budget is the instrument that allows us to respond to priorities in the immediate, medium and long term. Given the limited funds allocated to the Euro…

12 Mar

2024

FR Speech

State of play of the corporate sustainability due diligence directive (debate)

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Madam President, the problem is complicated; otherwise, the Belgian Presidency, whose quality is indisputable, would have already come to an end. Do we want to end forced labour, child labour and inhumane practices in exploiting the resources we need at home? In that case, and that is my position, the directive in question must be adopted. It is well known that, on the substance, everyone is rathe…

28 Feb

2024

FR Speech

Deepening EU integration in view of future enlargement (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, let us take the place of Ukraine or Moldova, two countries threatened in their existence. Both candidates for EU membership know that, alone, they are lost. They aspire to be able to solve their problems of security or economic vulnerability and precariousness. They need strong, united partners who can make timely decisions. Have we already become this long-awaited a…

28 Feb

2024

FR Speech

Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2023 (debate)

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Mr President, if, during 2024, the European Union were to remain the only one willing to help Ukraine in its fight for its freedom, would we still be able to mobilise the necessary resources to that end? The crates are empty. We can scrape the drawer bottoms. That's not enough! We can ask the Member States to make an additional effort. It takes a long time. We can ask the European Union to finance…

6 Feb

2024

FR Speech

State of play of the implementation of the Global Gateway and its governance two years after its launch (debate)

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Mr President, if you had not reminded me of my age, it would not have been an insult. Thank you so much. Dear friends, the Global Gateway initiative seems to be coming out of its running-in period. Indeed, after a trial period of more than two years, we see a multitude of projects taking shape in terms of improving connectivity in the most diverse areas. In line with the principle of policy leader…

16 Jan

2024

FR Speech

Implementation of the Treaty provisions on national parliaments - Implementation of the Treaty provisions on EU citizenship (joint debate – Implementation of the Treaty provisions)

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Mr President, the role of national parliaments in European affairs is, in my view, greatly underestimated. National parliaments ratify the treaties. They have a final say over Member States’ contributions to the EU budget. National parliaments ratify directives and have control over the national executive involved in the European legislative process. Moreover, if they want to, they are involved in…

16 Jan

2024

FR Speech

Transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisations funded from the EU budget (debate)

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Mr President, an NGO is by definition a non-governmental organisation. It should therefore not be reduced to the role of parrot of a government or administration. It is a separate entity whose objectives may be different from those pursued by the official policy of the country that supports it financially. This reduces, in addition to co-financing its activities, the role of political institutions…

12 Dec

2023

FR Speech

Implementation of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (A9-0374/2023 - Tomas Tobé, Pedro Marques, Charles Goerens, Michael Gahler) (vote)

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Madam President, in this Parliament we spend a great deal of time on subjects on which the Treaty does not provide for competence, and when we have competence, we sometimes refuse the debate. Indeed, the European Parliament did not consider it useful to plan a debate on the evaluation of NDICI-Global Europe funding. This is a pity, because the instrument for financing the European Union's external…

11 Dec

2023

FR Speech

The European Elections 2024 (debate)

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Madam President, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on his excellent work and I would like to stress only one point: the role of European political parties and foundations in the campaign, which is set to last and will be extremely important. We are currently still dependent on the application of a regulation dating from 2014 which is a real administrative straitjacket that stifles any in…

21 Nov

2023

FR Speech

Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

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Mr President, is there a single colleague in this House who can say that the European Union still has an impact on the international scene? Is there only one of us who can honestly claim that the situation will be better when we are at 30, 32, 35, without having first adopted our institutional mode of operation? Is there only one of us who believes that China, India, Brazil and Russia will give us…

18 Oct

2023

FR Speech

Outcome of the SDGs Summit (18-19 September 2023, New York) – transformative and accelerated actions leading up to 2030 and beyond (debate)

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Madam President, everything invites us to restore the Sustainable Development Goals to their rightful place in the public debate. This is first of all a promise made in 2015. To achieve them, by 2030, there are only six years left. The economic, political and security context makes it much more difficult to achieve them. As a result, rising interest rates are exploding the debt of poor countries, …

3 Oct

2023

FR Speech

Interim report on the proposal for a mid-term revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 (debate)

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Madam President, in this multi-annual funding period, we have, so to speak, experienced only crises. The fact that the budgetary crisis in most of our Member States and a new euro crisis have been spared us so far is due to the fact that the European Union had the wisdom to have a recovery plan worth some EUR 800 billion. This inspires me to make two observations. First, all the frugals and radish…

12 Sep

2023

FR Speech

Question Time (VPC/HR) - Situation in West and Central Africa in the light of the recent coups d’état

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Mr President, we have just had a very interesting debate. The questions that have been asked are very relevant. I'm still hungry. Together with several colleagues, we have seen that you have allowed some of our colleagues to ask two questions. May I make a suggestion to you: in the future, maybe let several colleagues intervene and let them ask a question? That is a question. I'm a little hungry. …

11 Jul

2023

FR Speech

Financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2022 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2022 (joint debate - European Investment Bank)

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Mr President, I would first like to pay a warm tribute to the work of Werner Hoyer during his presidency of the European Investment Bank. Today, the EIB has twice the weight of the World Bank. It became the first climate bank. She leads the dance in many construction sites, both in the periphery of the European Union and in the wider world. Werner Hoyer was able to help make the European Investmen…

14 Jun

2023

FR Speech

Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (debate)

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Madam President, we need an additional $4.200 billion to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, according to the United Nations. Official development assistance accounts for barely 10% of this amount. This is a titanic task. The European Union and its Member States, the G7, the G20 and the United Nations: Everyone is challenged, everyone must assume their responsibilities. All these institutio…

13 Jun

2023

FR Speech

Negotiations on the European Electoral Law (debate)

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Madam President, I subscribe to the general approach advocated by most of those who preceded me on this rostrum. We know how difficult it is to bring Europe closer to the citizen. For the 2024 elections, as for all other elections, the choice of voters will be based on ideas, people and parties. Every voter would like his or her vote to be taken into account. However, the will of the European Parl…

19 Apr

2023

FR Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel (debate)

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Madam President, allow me to begin with a quote from our friend Philippe Lamberts by addressing to you, Prime Minister, a warm "Gudde moien" to you and your team. One wonders about the added value of a small country in a world where everything seems to be reduced to a balance of power: China-USA, aggressor countries against oppressed countries, authoritarian regimes against liberal democracies... …

14 Mar

2023

FR Speech

Implementation report on the Agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU - The Windsor Framework (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the implementation report is both an assessment of how the United Kingdom and the European Union have come to terms with their separation, and an absurd demonstration of a situation in which the populists have manipulated us. Clearly, the report confirms the lose-lose situation created by Brexit. The European Parliament was right from the very beginning to opt for a …

16 Feb

2023

FR Speech

Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

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Madam Speaker, the cost of inputs to agriculture has become a real headache. Fertiliser price volatility no longer has anything to do with the seasonal fluctuations to which we have been accustomed. Farmers work in the long term: Predictability has therefore become existential for them. Among the political priorities, I will mention only three, the three most important. First, to aim for a lasting…