What Helmut spoke about.

12

Sep

2023

DE Speech

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Relations with Belarus (debate)

Madam President, Today it is exactly 29 years, one month and 23 days that Alexander Lukashenko rules over the people of Belarus. Thousands of opposition activists, trade unionists, media and cultural workers and members of various minorities have since been threatened, locked up, tortured, disappeared or expelled from the country. The fact that the still applicable death penalty now also applies t…

11

Sep

2023

DE Speech

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Amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure with a view to strengthening integrity, independence and accountability (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Many thanks also to the rapporteur Gabi Bischoff! The draft report adopted by the Committee after long and comprehensive negotiations is a clear step in the right direction. Qatar Gate has seriously damaged the image of the House, which is why we as Parliament here in July committed ourselves to translate the 14-point plan into concrete action as soon as poss…

13

Jun

2023

DE Speech

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Humanitarian and environmental consequences of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam - Sustainable reconstruction and integration of Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic community (debate)

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, dear Presidency of the Council! Let us be honest, ladies and gentlemen, when people in Ukraine can once again live in peace and security, unfortunately no one can say today. Every new day of war demands new suffering, new destruction, and the dam breach of Nowa Kachowka is another sad example of the fact that the civilian population in particular is suffering from …

12

Jun

2023

DE Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, I can only join my previous speaker. The last time we talked about the EU-Mercosur agreement here was in 2019, and a lot has happened since then. And because the Additional Protocol has already been addressed: It is not known to this day. So we don't really know: Are the concerns and questions that have just been raised by the Brazilian and Argentine Governments really lifted in t…

10

May

2023

DE Speech

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New Oil Drilling in Alaska – impact on the global climate crisis and the rights of indigenous peoples (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples established the principle of free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples residing in an area. Without this approval, oil production should not even be started. Donald Trump ignored the United Nations when he launched the project. We expected President Biden and Vice President Harris to gove…

15

Feb

2023

DE Speech

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Access to strategic critical raw materials (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister! When the Commission presents its legislative proposal on the handling of critical raw materials in three weeks' time, I ask you not to follow the Swedish mining industry's dream. Do not oblige Member States to build up large stocks of critical raw materials! The global impact on prices would be dramatic. Many countries would be cut off from access by the pr…

18

Jan

2023

DE Speech

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An EU strategy to boost industrial competitiveness, trade and quality jobs (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, good advice! The Americans invest with their American workers first promotion policy in future technologies, in the revitalization of their production facilities, in the modernization of the ailing infrastructure and in jobs. China is also investing huge sums of money. For far too long, however, the EU remained paralyzed by the reverberation of neoliberal allergies a…

14

Dec

2022

DE Speech

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Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister! I often have to think about how the Moria refugee camp went up in flames and how German conservative politicians still put forward the excuse for a European solution, solely in order to evade national responsibility for European politics. Since then, nothing has really happened. And without the abolition of the veto of individual Member States, there will neve…

14

Dec

2022

DE Speech

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EU response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (debate)

Madam President, Madam Vice-President! Contrary to many opinions here or in European industry, which see an economic war coming up and are somehow deeply disappointed by the US government, I mean: We should pay tribute to the legislative package on industrial policy renewal adopted in September 2022, although I find the principle of ‘America first!’ more than questionable. What is it about? The De…

13

Dec

2022

DE Speech

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ASEAN relations ahead of the EU-ASEAN summit in December 2022 (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner! I would like to start my speech before the ASEAN Summit with a clear message: Don't let the people of Myanmar down! The brutal military coup of 1 February 2021 is no longer present in our media. The war against one's own people continues with great severity. What does the ASEAN community do about it? What role does this play at the EU summit? What help are we providi…

13

Dec

2022

DE Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - “Protection of strategic infrastructure from China's influence”

I'm moving away from the critical port economy, including infrastructure. You also spoke of lithium, of a critical raw material partnership, which I think is very important. But even there we have to think about it: How do we ensure that the investments we make there are in our interest and in the interest of the recipients of investments, and how is the recipient involved in determining the direc…

13

Dec

2022

DE Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - “Protection of strategic infrastructure from China's influence”

Mr President! Madam Vice-President, I come back to your introductory remarks on the past. It was the financial crisis of 2009/2010, when conservative parties and many states within the EU called on Greece to sell the port, privatize it. And at the same time, they asked China to support the eurozone countries. Today, this is always presented as if China is buying all the ports here, so to speak, wi…

23

Nov

2022

DE Speech

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Amending Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 as regards the establishment of a diversified funding strategy as a general borrowing method - 'Macro-Financial Assistance+' instrument for providing support to Ukraine for 2023 (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Presidency of the Council! Ukraine was forced into a terrible war by order of Vladimir Putin. The destruction is catastrophic. The suffering of the population increases with each day of the beginning of winter. A political-diplomatic solution and ending of the war is not in sight. Against this background, it is perfectly clear that the Group of the Left in the European …

22

Nov

2022

DE Speech

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EU-China relations (debate)

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen! Henry Kissinger and Walden Bello, two very different politicians, far from us here, predict the war between the United States and China. Open strategic autonomy, Mr Borrell, must therefore formulate independent capacity to act in order to resolve issues, not to decouple from other actors. So what is Europe's current interest in relations wi…

19

Oct

2022

DE Speech

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Outcome of the first meeting of the European Political Community (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister! According to Petr Fiala, the EPG offers a special opportunity for states that are destined to live together but usually do not get the opportunity to speak. Here I agree. We need formats to enable political dialogue, the search for solutions to the many complicated tasks ahead. For this we now need political foresight and perhaps even more political courage…

5

Oct

2022

DE Speech

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Outcome of the Commission’s review of the 15-point action plan on trade and sustainable development (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner! The head of the WTO, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, wrote to us and to the EU only last week that it is our most urgent, up-to-date task to ensure access to food and energy for all people. Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 is therefore a top priority, including through EU foreign trade policy. Some in the Commission have understood quite well, and their e…

15

Sep

2022

DE Speech

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Ecological Disaster in the Oder River (debate)

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen! We are all affected again – again! And the extinction of fish on the Oder River is an ecological disaster. Experts have named toxic algae as the cause that arises when rivers are polluted and salted by industrial wastewater. Nearly 300 illegal drainage pipes have so far been discovered on the Oder River, such as an illegal drain pipe in …

15

Sep

2022

DE Speech

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Statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (debate)

Madam President, Vice-President Jourová! For years, European political parties and foundations have been actively participating in the shaping of European democracy. The challenges against which our political decisions must be measured are great. It is therefore all the more important that the institutional framework, which we fill with political content, is equipped with the trust of European cit…

14

Sep

2022

DE Speech

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Violations of human rights in Uganda and Tanzania linked to the investments in fossil fuels projects

Madam President, Commissioner! Only recently in June, with my report on EU-Africa trade relations, our House clearly called for a rethinking of economic relations. The planned exploitation of Uganda's oil reserves by the companies Total from France and China's CNOOC is a mockery. It is an unworthy project of the old style. It does not bring economic progress to East Africa. The transport of crude …

7

Jul

2022

DE Speech

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Better regulation: joining forces to make better laws (debate)

Mr President, Mr Vice-President! First of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur for his good work on this very supportable report. I see a broad agreement with the far-reaching positions and views that we, as a Constitutional Committee, bring to the work on the further development of the important EU legislation that needs to be made transparent. The longest opinion AFCO has ever given on a re…

22

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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Future of EU-Africa trade relations (debate)

Thank you, Madam President, thank you, Commissioner, thank you to colleagues for the very different weighting of the discussion. I agree with many things, not at all with some. But our report - and I would like to emphasise this once again - is not blind to the hunger and hardship of large parts of Africa's population. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has dramatically exacerbated the …

22

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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Future of EU-Africa trade relations (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, I would like to thank the shadow rapporteurs. We had a very good and, above all, constructive cooperation, and I am proud of the joint result we have now achieved. The content of our report grew out of intensive cooperation with renowned African experts who shared with us in a hearing and a series of workshops their idea of the fut…

9

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen! What do a car, a T-shirt, a computer and a banana have in common? All of them are likely to show traces of forced labour. People's suffering is hidden in the opaqueness of global supply chains. Worldwide, it has been said, 25 million people are forced to produce certain products and goods; Many of these goods are also sold here in the EU. H…

9

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

I believe that Article 48(2) is exactly the way to discuss this issue. Personally, I can imagine a federal Europe. For example, we have a debate in our party about the Republic of Europe. Twenty years ago, we discussed Europe of the regions, without the nation states. We talked about a Europe of citizens. So there are very different ideas. I believe that the Convention is exactly the right way to …

9

Jun

2022

DE Speech

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The call for a Convention for the revision of the Treaties (debate)

Mr President, Madam Vice-President! Let me start with a quote: “The moment has come to throw the outdated ballast overboard and to be ready for the coming upheaval, which is so very different from what was imagined. The path that awaits us will be neither convenient nor safe. However, we must walk on it, and we will do so’ (Spinelli and Rossi, 1941). Yes, our task now is to open the way further, t…