What Anna spoke about.

12 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Marking the World Day against Child Labour (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, annually, 50 billion worth of imported goods are made with child labour. And an estimated 160 million children are engaged in child labour. Children such as Nina, a 13-year-old working in the mica mine in Madagascar for our cosmetics, paints and electronics. Or Sandy who picks potatoes, extracts onions and digs up lettuce on a hillside in the Dominican Republic. To i…

9 May

2023

DE Speech

Empowering consumers for the green transition (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, More and more consumers are attaching importance to sustainability. They want to participate in the green transition, in the transition to a circular economy. The law we are voting on this week is the framework for that. An example: A new update slows down the functions of my smartphone to a point where it is simply no longer usable. This is not only expensiv…

17 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Deforestation Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, the world forests are at the brink of an abyss, and for years the EU was a major driver of imported deforestation. And this regulation on deforestation—free supply chains is a game changer. We are making sure that products like soy or beef placed on the EU single market will not anymore fuel disastrous deforestation elsewhere. And this is not only good for global bio…

29 Mar

2023

DE Speech

General Product Safety Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! High product standards in the EU single market – that is at the core of our Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. We are working hard on this every day, and therefore once again thank you to the rapporteur Dita Charanzová and to all the shadow rapporteurs who have done a great job on this dossier. High product standards – people…

15 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Conclusions of the Special European Council meeting of 9 February and preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 March 2023 (debate)

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Madam President, the global net—zero race is on, and for the EU to lead it, we need to speed up the Green Deal. Clear and predictable rules as well as adequate financing are key to boost the transition of our industry. And two things I find crucial in this debate: we also need to create a market for our green products. And that is why I very much welcome the Commission’s proposal on green procurem…

14 Mar

2023

EN 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, the announcement of the Windsor framework was a relief, and I can only join the colleagues who congratulated Mr Šefčovič. Thank you very much for the past years of your very patient negotiations. I think all of us remember the last two years of political attacks against the protocol by those who negotiated and signed it on the UK side, and we lost so much time and trust. What is n…

15 Feb

2023

EN Speech

A Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, the EU Green Deal is a success story, and so successful that other continents are following suit. Finally, the global race for climate technology and net—zero industry is on. And one way to react to this race is to attempt to solve today’s problems with outdated solutions from the past, like some in this House who seriously want to pause the Green Deal and to mass…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

The storming of the Brazilian democratic institutions

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Mr President, dear colleagues, if you play with fire next to a haystack, don’t be surprised if the thing catches fire. If you spread lies for months and months about the electoral system that is broken and the elections that will be stolen, don’t act like you’re surprised if those democratic institutions are literally catching fire. So I say to you, Jair Bolsonaro, that the storming of the democra…

16 Jan

2023

EN Speech

30th Anniversary of the Single Market (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, we are celebrating the 30—year anniversary of the single market. I already looked back at the achievements in my first speech, and now I think it is really important that we also look forward in this debate, that we look at the next 30 years. And we also did this with the hearing and the resolution in the IMCO Committee. So, thanks to all the colleagues who also cont…

16 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Formal sitting – Ceremony on the 30th Anniversary of the Single Market

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. – Madam President, I think it’s great that we have such a female line up at this ceremony. Dear President, dear Minister, dear Vice-President, dear colleagues, 30 years of the EU’s single market means 30 years of living, working and studying in other EU Member States. It means more prosperity and opportunities for our businesses. Market integration has led to European integration, to citizens gr…

14 Dec

2022

DE Speech

Tackle the cost of living crisis: increase pay, tax profits, stop speculation (topical debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Minister! The energy crisis and the cost of living crisis affect people differently. Many colleagues have already said this today. Consumers who find it particularly difficult, who are particularly vulnerable, are most affected. And even if many measures have already been taken by the Commission, by the Member States: Electricity and heating costs are becoming pricel…

21 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Situation of human rights in the context of the FIFA world cup in Qatar (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, of course, Qatar’s government has made some reforms, has put some efforts into reforming its labour laws and this also shows that international pressure is working. But serious labour laws violations remain. Forced labour and other forms of abuse continue. And so many workers died. And a lot of these cases are not being investigated. Hundreds of thousands of migra…

9 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Outcome of the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the absolute urgency of moving away from fossil fuels is now finally visible to everyone. I say the Energy Charter Treaty is the most problematic example of a structure that keeps us locked into fossil fuels, that makes us slow down the urgently—needed transition. Dear Commissioner, even under the reformed ECT, three private arbitrators will still …

4 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Radio Equipment Directive: common charger for electronic devices (debate)

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Madam President, One for all, a cable that can be used to charge all devices – this has been the wish of many consumers here in the European Union for years. And now this wish is finally becoming a reality. In the future, you will no longer have to take three different cables with you for three different devices when you travel. In the future, you will no longer have cable clutter in your drawers.…

12 Sep

2022

EN Speech

Deforestation Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, soy fields are everywhere as far as the eye can see. One truck after the other is passing by on the, the soy highway, to get the soy to ports, and huge ships loaded with the grain are going down the Amazon River, transporting the load to Europe or China. This is what I saw when I visited the Amazon recently. Deforestation rates are skyrocketing in Brazi…

6 Jul

2022

EN Speech

The situation of indigenous and environmental defenders in Brazil, including the killing of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

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Madam President, Dom Phillips, Bruno Pereira, Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, Maria da Luz Benício, Paulo Paulino Guajajara and many more: all killed in Brazil simply because they defended their home against destruction, against deforestation, against mining, or wanted to write about it, like Dom Phillips. Brazil is the fourth most dangerous place in the world for environmental defenders, and this high number…

22 Jun

2022

EN Speech

Future of EU international investment policy (short presentation)

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Madam President, the Netherlands are being sued by a foreign investor in front of an international tribunal just because they are exiting dirty coal. The EU itself is being sued by Nord Stream 2, of all companies, just because we regulated our gas market. It becomes clear that we have a problem. The international community has created in the last years a system that has got out of hand. Via invest…

9 Jun

2022

EN Speech

A new trade instrument to ban products made by forced labour (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, I do not want to buy products made by Uyghurs in detention camps. I do not want to see products made by workers in debt bondage in Malaysia on the EU single market. And the European Parliament is united and clear: the EU needs to act. Forced labour must be banned and consumers must know they are not buying products of modern slavery. And for that i…

8 Jun

2022

EN Speech

International procurement instrument (debate)

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Madam President, we Greens are happy that the international procurement instrument has the strength to ensure that third—country operators cannot get favoured when they use unfair practices, like, for example, in the case with China. A lot of colleagues said it already: the instrument is an important piece of the toolbox to rebalance economic relations with countries like China in a way that benef…

7 Apr

2022

EN Speech

Right to repair (debate)

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Madam President, not even three years – that is the average amount of time we, as consumers, use a mobile phone. There is rare earth in the phone, silicon and plastics, 60 different kinds of metals dug in faraway mines and shipped around the world. Some of them even come from Russia, where we painfully feel now how bad such a dependency can be. All smart phones together in Europe are responsible f…

24 Mar

2022

EN Speech

Update from the Commission and Council on the state of play of the Energy Charter Treaty modernisation exercise (debate)

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Mr President, I think the absolute urgency of moving away from fossil fuels is finally visible to all. We realise how much we need the policy sphere, public money and strategic private investment to make the shift away from fossil fuels to renewable happen. Yet, the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is keeping us back, and I think we have a big, big unity on that in the European Union. And it’s good. Mi…

10 Mar

2022

DE Speech

The need for an ambitious EU Strategy for sustainable textiles (debate)

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. – Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Many of us probably have mountains of clothes at home that we sometimes don't even use anymore. But what happens to these clothes? The numbers are really damning. Worldwide, less than 1% of clothing is recycled, but more and more is produced, sold, bought. And this is really interesting: We are no longer talking about fast fashion, but from …

9 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Batteries and waste batteries (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, The decarbonisation of our economy, the phasing out of fossil fuels and the massive expansion of renewable energies – since Putin’s terrible war of aggression against Ukraine has become, I believe, also clear to the latter that we need the green transformation not only for our climate, but also for our strategic sovereignty. And batteries are th…

15 Feb

2022

DE Speech

EU-Africa relations (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Borrell, ladies and gentlemen. Of course, when we talk about EU-Africa relations, we have to talk about the unfair distribution of vaccines. While people in Europe are fortunately triple vaccinated, so far only 12% of people in Africa have been vaccinated – 12%. And rightly so, the African states are calling for the temporary suspension of vaccination patents on the occasion of…

20 Jan

2022

EN Speech

Second voting session

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Mr President, indeed, I hereby request the referral back of the Digital Service Act file to the committee for starting interinstitutional negotiations according to Rule 59(4).