What Marit spoke about.

12

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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Social and employment aspects of restructuring processes: the need to protect jobs and workers’ rights (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, industry in the European Union is in dire straits. Factories are closing, and this is reported daily in the news. A recent example is the closure of the Audi factory in Brussels two weeks ago, which we visited. There we spoke to employees who had good ideas about the future of the factory. But often they are not listened to. Millions of jobs are under pressure in Europe…

12

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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Union of Skills: striving for more and better opportunities to study, train or work in the EU and to bring our talents back home (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, they isolate our houses, they build our windmills, they take care of our people, they repair our trains and build our roads. They help us in our stores. People with practical skills are indispensable. They are essential professions and yet we often do not value them. A secondary vocational education student receives a bouquet of flowers or a book voucher during an – unp…

11

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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Roadmap for Women`s Rights (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, we are celebrating International Women's Day this year, as we see the deterioration of women's rights and gender equality. Young men find violence against women more often than older generations. More women have died unnecessarily in the EU because of restrictions on abortion opportunities. Women still earn 13% less than men for the same job. Also, one in ten men is fin…

10

Mar

2025

NL Speech

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European Social Fund Plus post-2027 (short presentation)

Mr President, every night more than 900 people in the European Union do not have a roof over their heads: They sleep on the street or in shelters. 15% of young people are unemployed. Too many women end up in poverty, often after a divorce. As many as one in four children in the European Union grow up in poverty. Child poverty is not decreasing, but increasing. Te veel mensen komen niet mee en hebb…

12

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and the suspension of US development and humanitarian aid (debate)

Madam President, together with 60 Members of the European Parliament, I wrote a letter to you, Commissioner Lahbib, your colleague Commissioner Síkela and the Polish presidency. The decision of the administration of Trump to freeze billions of development assistance does not only have an impact on vulnerable populations and on aid workers worldwide. It also directly threatens the values that we ho…

11

Feb

2025

NL Speech

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

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, a month ago Goma fell. We have already talked about this: More than 3,000 people were killed in the city. Five hundred thousand people are on the run, five hundred thousand people on top of the seven million people who are already on the run in Goma. Sexual violence is used as a weapon in warfare. All this because M23, supported by the Rwandan government, has …

11

Feb

2025

NL Speech

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The need to address urgent labour shortages and ensure quality jobs in the health care sector (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, in the Netherlands, the shortage of people in care has risen to 50,000 over the past year. In ten years' time, there will be 190,000. For the people of Amsterdam among us, for the Dutch among us: That's four times a full Amsterdam ArenA. This has consequences for the quality of care and for the employees in the care sector. The pressure on employees is too high. These p…

22

Jan

2025

NL Speech

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Case of Jean-Jacques Wondo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr President, the case of Jean-Jacques Wondo, who was not given a fair trial and was sentenced to death along with 36 others, was discussed. The European Parliament must speak out against this and advocate the swift release of this Belgian Congolese/Congolese Belgian. Parliament must work hard to ensure that human rights defenders, journalists and other experts have free speech and can speak and s…

21

Jan

2025

NL Speech

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Humanitarian crisis in Sudan (debate)

Mr President, the situation in Sudan is rapidly deteriorating. 3.5 million people have fled the country and 11.5 million people have been displaced within the country. That is half a million more than three months ago, when we also talked about Sudan. Half of the country is at risk of acute hunger. Hunger, as the Commissioner said, is used as a weapon of war, as well as sexual violence, particular…

18

Dec

2024

NL Answer

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Tackling abusive subcontracting and labour market intermediaries (debate)

Mr President, that is a very good point, because you see that many workers who, for example, work in the industries that I have just appointed, are brought to the Netherlands from Eastern European or Central European countries under false pretexts by temporary employment agencies that they imagine everything and anything that is not true, and that they then work under working conditions and with s…

18

Dec

2024

NL Speech

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Tackling abusive subcontracting and labour market intermediaries (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner. In the Netherlands, 9000 distribution centres are spread over 40 million square meters. And in those distribution centers, Christmas packages are now being sorted. That sounds very nice. And that would also be nice if the companies behind it do not hide behind chains of subcontracting and cut down on working conditions and the salary of the workers who work there, of…

18

Dec

2024

NL Speech

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Promoting social dialogue and collective bargaining and the right to strike in the EU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, a collective agreement, a collective bargaining agreement, protects workers. Employees know what their salary is. They know what the working hours are. They know how much pension they are accruing. But that legal protection can be crumbled in turbulent times, with a lot of pressure from the right – as we have already heard here. And that while the minimum wage directive…

17

Dec

2024

NL Speech

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

Mr President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, sexual violence against women, rape, is being used as a means of war. Women and girls are used as a means of warfare. With these women and girls, entire communities are being punished, humiliated and disrupted. Sexual violence in conflict is a war crime and women and girls are disproportionately affected. 95% of registered cases concern wome…

16

Dec

2024

NL Speech

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Regional Emergency Support: RESTORE (debate)

Mr President, rapporteurs, thank you for your contribution. Mr President, 2024 has the dubious honour of perhaps becoming another year of natural disasters. We have just seen it again in Mayotte and all the support for the population there and for the victims. The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly clear. We also see them here in Europe. The terrible floods recently in Valenc…

26

Nov

2024

EN Speech

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Political and humanitarian situation in Mozambique (debate)

Mr President, Commission, despite Mozambique's abundant natural resources, 73 % of the population lives in poverty; 670 000 people are displaced by armed conflict. Young Mozambicans calling for change are met with violence and human rights violations. Forty people have died in the post-election violence. Internet restrictions, including blockades of social media platforms, constitute violations of…

25

Nov

2024

NL Speech

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International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (debate)

Madam President, every woman knows a woman who has experienced violence, another woman or she has experienced it herself. One in three women in Europe experience violence against women and sexual violence. That's 75 million women. Only one in eight report this. Why is that? This also illustrates the way in which we in society deal with this. We ask women the question: “Did you say no? Why didn't y…

13

Nov

2024

NL Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, while the number of people living in extreme poverty is only increasing – by millions – the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation of the PVV, Mrs Klever, announced a halving of the budget: A total of EUR 2.4 billion will be cut. This chilling billion-dollar austerity in the Netherlands does not stand alone. For example, future President Trump with his Project 2025 puts the knife…

24

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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Closing the EU skills gap: supporting people in the digital and green transitions to ensure inclusive growth and competitiveness in line with the Draghi report (debate)

Mr President, Commission, "skills, skills, skills", that is the mantra we see in the new Commission. The word "skills" is even in the title of the new Commissioner who should actually be about social rights and social policy, while the terms "social rights" and "social policy" have disappeared from her title. Reskilling and upskilling workers to best prepare for the green and digital transitions i…

22

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, when we talk about our labour market and employment, it is strikingly often only about competitiveness, skills and also about how companies with as few people as possible can make as much profit as possible. Everyone should benefit from this profit. Yet it appears that companies, employers and their shareholders in particular benefit from it. We need to get rid of this …

8

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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Situation in Sudan (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, one of the greatest human rights violations of our time is now taking place in Sudan. Many, many Sudanese are victims of crimes against humanity. Children cannot go to school. Sexual violence against women and girls is endemic and millions of people are at risk of starvation. There is not enough international aid and – as you mentioned – part of th…

8

Oct

2024

NL Speech

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The crisis facing the EU’s automotive industry, potential plant closures and the need to enhance competitiveness and maintain jobs in Europe (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the industry needs clarity. The automotive industry also needs clarity. Sustainability is the clear direction we need to take. Mop policy or going back again as some here suggest is not a good direction and offers no certainty. Not for the industry and certainly not for the workers who work in that industry. Because the automotive industry is under pressure because of t…

18

Sep

2024

NL Speech

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

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya are severely affected by the mpox virus. This year alone, more than 700 people have died from the virus in 15 countries, most of them children. The World Health Organization calls the outbreak an international health crisis and calls for international solidarity. Of the 10 million vaccines …

17

Sep

2024

NL Speech

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Outcome of G20 ministerial meeting in Rio-de-Janeiro and fighting inequality (debate)

(NL) Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, more than 700 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty and, after decades of successful fight against extreme poverty, it is now increasing again. At a time when the European Union and member states such as the Netherlands are skimping on relations with other countries, the presidency of Brazil of the G20 shows how things should be don…