Reviewing the ETS system to support European competitiveness (topical debate)
Madam President, thank you very much. The world is facing the worst energy crisis in history. That's what the International Energy Agency said the other day. Yet, in the midst of that crisis, the Swedish government chooses to introduce broad tax cuts on petrol and diesel that increase demand for oil, instead of directing support to conversion and to those who really need it. It's all wrong. You can choose a different path. In France, for example, €10 billion a year is now being spent on making the country less dependent on oil and gas. And that is what we need – more ambitious policies that support households and businesses in the transition. And at European level, we also need to do more. One of our most important tools is the Emissions Trading System (ETS), which has reduced emissions by 50% since its introduction, and more than that. And it seems really worrying that some countries now want to weaken that system. It can't happen. On the contrary. We need to further increase our ambition – for the climate, but also for our independence and security.
The multiannual plan for the Baltic Sea and ways forward (debate)
Madam President, thank you very much. Dear colleagues, I love the Baltic Sea and I know I'm not alone. Along the coasts of our eight Member States surrounding the Baltic Sea, millions of people want a healthy and vibrant sea. A sea where we can swim in the summers without algal blooms. A sea of fish stocks that feeds us, a sea that creates the conditions for thriving coastal communities with all that it means for our culture, our traditions, our jobs and our economies. Everyone benefits from a healthy ocean. The Baltic Sea report on which we are going to vote on Thursday lays the foundations for just that. If Parliament adopts the report, it will be the strongest position the European Parliament has ever taken for the Baltic Sea. And with it, we send a clear signal to the European Commission and the Member States. Time for business as usual is over. We want you to fish for food on your plate, not for feed for animal factories. And that is why we are calling for a break for industrial trawling until the recovery is clear and lasting. We want a reconstruction plan that requires new scientific advice to build viable stocks and that takes into account the whole ecosystem, not just one species and one stock at a time, the whole ecosystem. We demand greater safety margins, transparency about the risk we take when deciding on quotas, and automatic measures that come in when stocks fall below critical levels. Now the responsibility is ours. Each of us has to choose a path. Either we do what is necessary for the Baltic Sea, or we continue the path that will continue to lead to ecological, economic and social collapse. Thursday's vote is about what legacy we want to leave behind. If we want to be the generation that watched the collapse of the Baltic Sea or the generation that showed the power to act. The choice is ours.
The multiannual plan for the Baltic Sea and ways forward (debate)
Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, my political journey began almost 20 years ago when I wrote a book called Silent Seas about how overfishing, political failure and industrial fishing devastated the Baltic Sea. Sadly, the warnings from back then, 20 years ago, were not enough. Today, the situation is even more alarming. Cod stocks have tragically collapsed only a few years ago. Herring populations are at historically low levels. The Baltic Sea is suffering from eutrophication, plastic pollution, chemicals, PCBs, dioxins, PFAS, invasive species and the accelerating impacts of climate change. The sea has already warmed by two degrees, placing enormous pressure on an ecosystem that is approaching its limits. Dear colleagues, I'm really proud of the report that we, the pro-European forces in this House, negotiated and that was adopted by the PECH Committee. And I want to thank my shadow rapporteurs for all their work. The compromise before us today sends a strong and clear message to the Commission and to Member States that the Baltic Sea cannot afford business as usual any longer. We need a new direction. We need to see the Baltic Sea as an ecosystem. We need to rebuild the ecosystem rather than exploit it to its limits. However, I regret very much that attempts have been made by some to weaken the text – to not change the course, but to preserve the very policies that have led the two Baltic cod stocks to collapse and with them thousands of jobs, making us dependent on imports from Russia. Cod from the Barents Sea instead of the plentiful Baltic cod that we just had a few decades ago. Now, the remaining herring and sprat stocks are under severe pressure. Around 90 % of their biomass is gone. Scientists warn us that these stocks are at real risk of collapse, threatening not only marine ecosystems but also coastal communities, traditions, livelihoods built over generations. And for what? So that a handful of large industrial trawlers can continue fishing primarily for animal feed – not even for human consumption, but for feed? I don't think our citizens will ever forgive us if we let that happen. So I call on everyone: please help protect the compromise. Please understand the value of every single vote in this Parliament. Because the Baltic Sea cannot afford to wait anymore. It cannot afford that this report will be weakened. Almost 20 years ago, when I wrote Silent Seas, I could never have imagined that one day I would stand here in this House so close to helping pass what could be the strongest report this Parliament has ever adopted on the Baltic. The Commission has stated in the Ocean Pact that the Baltic Sea is an urgent priority. No one debates the seriousness of the status of the Baltic Sea and that actions cannot wait. So when we vote on Thursday, it's our best and maybe also our last chance to change the course of the Baltic. Let's do that. Let's do it together. Very, very few people have the power to actually change the course of the Baltic Sea. But you have. We have. So I urge you to take this chance: support the crucial compromises. Let's do it. I think our citizens will thank us.
The impact of the implementation of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive 2014/89/EU on fisheries in selected fishing areas and sea basins (debate)
Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. The EU’s objective was to achieve good environmental status for the seas by 2020, and this has not happened. Instead, we have seen a continued deterioration. Reducing fish stocks, increasing amounts of plastics and environmental toxins. The Baltic Sea is the clearest example, where cod has collapsed and the entire ecosystem is squeezed by everything from eutrophication to climate change and underwater noise. This is not a one-off problem. This is a general failure in the way we manage our oceans. We need to change course. Maritime spatial planning must be based on the boundaries of ecosystems. Not short-term interests. Not sectoral targets. All offshore activities need to be adapted accordingly. fishing as well. And I can't agree that fishing should trump all other interests. Protected sea areas are working. They need to be more and prioritized. And there is a need for a coordinated maritime policy at EU level. A shift from exploitation to recovery. This is why an EU-level maritime law is needed, more than ever. A law that sets binding overall targets for all maritime policies.
Mr President, colleagues, High Representative, Europe can no longer pretend this is normal. We can no longer try to flatter our way out of this situation. Try to please the American president like he was a difficult child. Donald Trump is in the process of completely dismantling the world order we have built since the Second World War. Now we must be very clear on one thing. The United States under Trump is not a friend of the EU. Friends do not threaten each other. Friends do not blackmail each other. Now the EU's response must be resolute. The trade agreement with the US must be halted immediately. The EU must stand fully behind Denmark and Greenland in this crisis. Greenland is not for sale. Greenland sovereignty is non-negotiable and we must stand fully behind them. If we give in now, we signal that threats and violence are acceptable methods in international politics, and that, colleagues, we must never accept.
Recent peace agreement in the Middle East and the role of the EU (debate)
Madam President, thank you very much. On 9 October, a ceasefire entered into force in Gaza. It would be the beginning of peace for a people who have been through hell on earth for two years. But the ceasefire did not turn out as planned, because since then Israel has killed almost 100 Palestinians and injured over 200. On Friday, 11 people from the same family, seven of them children, were killed when a bus was hit by an Israeli grenade. They were on their way to see what was left of their home where they lived before the genocide began. At the same time, we see that emergency aid to the civilian population is still being stopped. This is against humanitarian principles. That is totally unacceptable! This is not peace. It's not security. The ceasefire must be respected and the EU must act with action, not just words, to put pressure on Israel so that civilians can start rebuilding their lives – finally, again. Emergency aid must be provided, sanctions must be imposed and Israel must be held financially responsible for the reconstruction of Gaza. The two-state solution is the only one possible, and the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination.
Outcome of the Conference on the Financing for Development in Seville (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner, thank you very much. Something serious is happening to Europe's traditional right. We have always thought different, my group and the Conservatives, but one thing has been given: human rights. When Parliament was preparing its position for the UN Aid Conference, we saw clear signs that this is changing, because then a simple wording that business must respect human rights became a red line for the Moderates and the Christian Democrats. It was the drop that caused them to vote down the whole of Parliament's position. It's amazing. As amazing as the fact that Parliament's largest group is not even here now listening to this debate. When I mention this in the media, the right-wing responded that it was naive to think that they should accept environmental partisan development policy. But I wonder: When did respect for human rights become environmentalist naivety and when did the right end up standing up for fundamental rights? U.S. cuts in aid are expected to result in 14 million more deaths. The eyes of the world are now on Europe and we must stand up for a policy of solidarity in aid.
Madam President, thank you very much. It's easy to take the ocean for granted. We have fished, discarded plastic and dumped toxins and bathed and vacationed and the sea has just given us everything: produced fish and oxygen, hidden debris, absorbed heat and carbon dioxide. But soon it will no longer be able to, it is about to collapse and it is we who are responsible. That is why I welcome the new EU Ocean Pact and the Ocean AcThat's what the Green Party is pushing for. It can be a turning point, but only if we turn it into more than fine words. We need a coordinated and binding maritime policy with a maritime law that actually has teeth. We want to give the seas, not least the Baltic Sea, a chance to recover, and then we need a new order, a plan with a clear timeline: in the short term, a substantial reduction in fishing quotas and, in the long term, sharp measures along the entire chain from land to sea. Above all, we have to break with the old. That different activities at sea are managed separately. We need a holistic approach and the courage to ban destructive practices such as bottom trawling. It's not just about fish stocks, it's about viable ecosystems, about seas that can breathe, about our own future. We have a choice to act or to passively watch when the seas die and when the Baltic Sea is destroyed. I know the choice we have to make.
Amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism (debate)
Mr President, thank you very much. We often hear from right-wing climate skeptics that it doesn't matter what we do here at home, because China is releasing so much more. And yes, the emissions there are large, but that does not mean that we are small or powerless, that we can just as well do what the Swedish government is doing right now, throwing in the towel and increasing their emissions. We can and must take responsibility. We can drive our own climate transition while pushing the rest of the world to do the same. The EU's climate tariffs are one of the best tools we have for just that. With them we say: You can sell in our market, but then you should follow our climate requirements. Otherwise it will be really expensive." We are thus forcing the major emitters in other parts of the world to take climate responsibility. I am very pleased that we have now simplified the introduction of tariffs, and now they also need to be broadened to cover new sectors. This must be the EU's most important tool for influencing emissions around us. We're going to implement climate policy here at home and we're going to push the rest of the world to do the same.
A unified EU response to unjustified US trade measures and global trade opportunities for the EU (debate)
Mr President, thank you very much. Donald Trump's tariffs are harmful to the entire world, not least to the poorest, to the Americans themselves. They are based on numbers that are taken completely out of the air. The aim seems to be to destabilise the world and challenge the rules-based international order. But people all over the world don't want that. It also shows the recent elections in Canada and Australia. In both countries, parties that clearly said no to division won. Instead, they have chosen leaders who stand up for cooperation and who stand up for the rules of the international world order and fair trade relations. These are important signals and it is a reminder that another path is possible. This is precisely the path we must follow.The EU must continue to strengthen ties with like-minded countries. In a trade war, there are no winners, only ordinary people who pay more for less. Therefore, the EU must stand up for the reasonableness and accountability that the Trump administration lacks.
Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the oceans pact is our chance – maybe our last chance – to save the ocean. The EU has had many policies in place for many, many decades, but still the state of the ocean is only getting worse. We should have had a good environmental status five years ago, so we need to do something differently to create sustainable jobs, provide healthy food, but also because our citizens are demanding it, because they see with their own eyes the consequences of failed policies. They see hundreds of tonnes of dead fish floating in Greece, poisonous algal blooms in the Baltic Sea, plastic litter all along the shores of the North Sea, empty nets for our small‑scale fishermen, huge industrial trawlers that are emptying our sea not for human consumption, but to make fish meal for animals, the collapse of cod, and starving seals. Our citizens are watching us and they are demanding action now. Colleagues, we are policy‑makers, and I'm convinced that we can never achieve our goals for a healthy and thriving ocean without a legally binding governance framework, ensuring policy coherence and real implementation of the goals set out in existing legislation, such as the CFP and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. This is what our citizens need from us. The oceans pact is our chance to act. Commissioner, will we have an oceans pact?
Accelerating the phase-out of Russian gas and other Russian energy commodities in the EU (debate)
Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner Jørgensen! EUR 206 billion. More than SEK 2,300 billion. This is how much Russia has benefited from exporting fossil fuels to the EU since the start of the war. The EU countries have thus contributed more to Putin's war fund than we have provided Ukraine with financial support. Calling it a scandal is an understatement. The EU must throttle the cranes immediately. We need to implement the green transition as quickly as possible and invest in renewable energy. It's not just about the climate. It is about security and it is about peace in Europe. Because with one hand, we are currently in the process of a historic refurbishment. With the other hand, we give money directly to the enemy and increase the threat to ourselves. That must be enough for now. Three years into the war, we still cannot guarantee that EU money will not go to bomb schools in Ukraine. The import of Russian energy must stop immediately. Anything else is self-harm.
US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and the suspension of US development and humanitarian aid (debate)
Madam President, leaving the Paris Agreement, the WHO, and closing down the world's biggest aid organisation from one day to another. What kind of world does Donald Trump really want? Is it a planet in climate disarray with firestorms, floodings and hurricanes where people die, where homes are destroyed. A world where we lose the fight against malaria, HIV, cholera, where children die in diseases we should have eradicated, a world where girls die giving birth to babies they never chose to have, where more pandemics paralyse our societies. What we're now seeing is nothing else but a frontal attack against global cooperation. Our planet and our shared humanity. The Trump presidency has only begun. We already can see that the attack on the rules-based world order is creating global insecurity and costing the poorest their lives. We, the EU, now need to show leadership more than ever. We are now the hope for the world's poorest, for everyone believing in democracy and solidarity. And it's our moral obligation to live up to their expectations.
Escalation of gang violence in Sweden and strengthening the fight against organised crime (debate)
Madam President, I would like to thank you for your The beginning of this year has been extremely difficult for Sweden. Already over 30 gang-related blasts, and last week: The deadliest mass shooting in Swedish history. It's hard to stand here now without thinking about those victims and their families. This violence is nothing more than a symptom of a society that is not doing well. Now Sweden must come together. Schools, health care, public authorities, business, civil society – all of us citizens. We must work together to give every individual in our country a meaningful life, where violence never has a place. We elected politicians have a special responsibility to make this happen, but also to be role models and to lead our societies with dignity and decency. We have to think about how we talk about each other, how we look at each other. Do not widen divisions, but continue to strive to create safe societies where we can live side by side, in peace and with respect for each other's similarities and differences.
Failure of the negotiations in Busan for a UN plastic treaty and the urgent need to tackle plastic pollution at international and Union level (debate)
Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Commissioner, I would like to thank you. In the Pacific, a gigantic accumulation of plastic floats around. Every day, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch gets bigger. In seven years, this contingent of plastic has grown from about three kilograms of plastic per square kilometre to 14 kilograms per square kilometre. It's unbelievable. At the end of last year, the world's countries gathered to negotiate a binding global agreement on plastics. The need for this is urgent, but the negotiations are coming up against obstacles. Oil countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia blocked important parts of the deal. Now with Trump at the White House openly advocating more oil drilling, the future of these negotiations has become even more uncertain. Yes, Commissioner, I think it is a good idea for us to put a stop to countries being able to have a veto when microplastics have invaded not only all parts of this planet, but even our own bloodstream. We need a global plastics agreement in place as soon as possible. The countries of the world must return to the negotiating table, and the EU has a crucial role to play in pushing for this to become a reality.
Mr President, thank you very much. The crisis in Sudan is indeed a complete tragedy and the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world ever. There are reports of overcrowded refugee camps, ethnic cleansing, killing of civilians, sexual abuse and a rapidly approaching famine. The UN warns of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The internal refugee crisis is the largest in the world with over 10 million people displaced. At the same time, the World Food Programme has observed famine in Darfur and more than 25 million people are suffering from acute famine. Yet the crisis in Sudan has not received the same media attention as other crises. It is indeed a forgotten crisis, but it does not make it any less real. We must give our support to the civilian population in Sudan. The EU must do more to protect civilians and impose sanctions on individuals and groups who have committed serious human rights violations. We must force countries that break the arms embargo to stop arms deliveries to warring parties, increase support for victims of sexual violence and support the ICC investigation into war crimes.
Need to detect and to counter sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet, damaging critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea (debate)
Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. In mid-December, one ship belonging to the Russian shadow fleet was broken off in the middle, and another went aground in the Black Sea. 3,000 tons of oil spilled into the sea. We now know that the Russian shadow fleet has destroyed underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. We must also be aware that at any time an oil disaster similar to the one in the Black Sea can also happen in the Baltic Sea. The situation in our beloved inland sea is catastrophic already as it is now. We have overfishing, eutrophication, acidification, environmental toxins, plastic pollution. The last thing we need is an oil spill. Around 25 vessels from the Russian shadow fleet now operate in the Baltic Sea. Ships are often old, scrap-ready, they lack insurance. In other words, they are ticking environmental bombs. Environmental disasters can strike at any time. If we put a stop to Putin's ships on the Baltic Sea, we will also cut off the financing of the war in Ukraine. The EU must put an end to the shadow fleet immediately for the sake of peace, but also for the sake of our beloved inland sea.
Toppling of the Syrian regime, its geopolitical implications and the humanitarian situation in the region (debate)
Mr President, I would like to thank you. After the Assad family's stranglehold for 50 years, the regime has finally fallen. A great joy for the world's Syrians, but also a great concern. Since the outbreak of the civil war, Syrians have taken refuge in Europe. Many have been established here for almost 15 years. You have jobs, children who go to school, friends, a safe everyday life. Leaving that life for an uncertain future in a country where Islamists can take over power is too many unthinkable. At the same time, there are those who want to return to rebuild the country and democracy, who have lived in Europe for many years and understood and experienced what it means to live in freedom and who could contribute to the same in Syria. We Greens therefore want the Syrian refugees who are now going back to Syria not to lose their residence permits in Europe, so that they dare to take the step of contributing, even if the situation today is uncertain. The EU has the chance to contribute to a strong democracy movement in Syria now. Money can also strengthen the country, but it is people who build democracy. Give people the security they need.