What Herbert spoke about.

6

Feb

2024

DE Speech

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Calling on the Council to take all necessary steps to reach an agreement on the European cross-border mechanism file and open negotiations with Parliament (debate)

Madam President, Minister, ladies and gentlemen! I very much welcome the fact that the Commission has presented an amended proposal for the mechanism to revise cross-border barriers; He also takes this house seriously. We adopted a legislative own-initiative report here in September last year – I was able to work on it together with Mr Gozi. Unfortunately, the Council has sent out the old proposal…

6

Feb

2024

DE Answer

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Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed (debate)

This question is, of course, open, and this is, I believe, also one of the important issues that the Commission has not addressed at this stage and which, I fully agree with you, must be resolved. Of course, it must be clarified, especially in the case of varieties where the varieties are just important – in viticulture, in fruit growing – whether this is then a new variety or whether the old vari…

6

Feb

2024

DE Answer

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Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed (debate)

I have seen for myself, even as research has been done in my own region, that there are indeed ways to produce more robust plants. Let me give you an example: the grapevine. We have been crossing vines for decades, receiving so-called PIWI plants. After decades, we grow less than 1% of these plants throughout the European Union, because there are problems with them, because these plants do not hav…

6

Feb

2024

DE Speech

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Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I was rapporteur for the farm-to-fork strategy here a few years ago, and the farm-to-fork strategy has internalised – and this is also part of the Green Deal – that new breeding methods can contribute to a more sustainable agriculture in the European Union. This House voted by a large majority at the time, and now it is time to implement it, and…

17

Jan

2024

DE Speech

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Improving the socio-economic situation of farmers and rural areas, ensuring fair incomes, food security as well as a just transition (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! In recent years, it has become a bit of a popular sport to criticize agriculture and farmers. Many in politics and also in civil society seem to know very well how the farmers have to cultivate their fields. By the way, most of them never got up at 5.00 in the morning to go to the stable. And they've never seen pests and diseases destroy an entire …

22

Nov

2023

DE Speech

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Revised pollinators initiative - a new deal for pollinators (debate)

Madam President, Farmers need bees and pollinators, but bees also need responsible farmers – and this is a mutual interdependence, not always conflict-free, but in the best case a profitable symbiosis, and we must also work towards this. It is also of no use at all if we simply go over agriculture and the CAP and hold them responsible for all conflicts. I myself come from a region where many apple…

21

Nov

2023

DE Speech

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Sustainable use of plant protection products (debate)

Madam President, Less chemicals in agriculture, fewer plant protection products, fewer artificial fertilisers – this is, of course, a goal that is in the interest of everyone, not least the farmers themselves. After all, these products are also cost factors. Some, even in this house, imagine things a bit too easy. Farmers don't treat their plants because they want to. Plants become ill, are attack…

20

Nov

2023

DE Speech

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Union certification framework for carbon removals

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. We have set ourselves an important goal: We want to become climate neutral in the European Union in about 25 years. If we want to achieve this goal, Commissioner, you said it, then we will not only have to emit less, we will also have to absorb more. The storage of carbon in our soils can become an important component in this project, and it can develop into a r…

19

Oct

2023

DE Speech

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Generational renewal in the EU farms of the future (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Agriculture in Europe can only have a successful future if it succeeds in attracting young people to this profession. This challenge is already great today and it will become greater. Even the age pyramid in Europe will mean that capable young people in Europe will have many opportunities in the coming years. Many sectors will rally around young pe…

19

Oct

2023

DE Speech

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European protein strategy (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Proteins are of outstanding importance for the nutrition of humans and, above all, of animals. Unfortunately, the European Union is miles away from being able to supply itself with proteins. We now import more than three quarters of the high-quality proteins mainly from North and South America, especially of course soy. The reasons are manifold.…

4

Oct

2023

DE Speech

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The proposed extension of glyphosate in the EU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! No pesticide used in agriculture has heated minds like glyphosate for years. There are reasons for this, not everyone has to do with scientific findings and scientific facts. In this House, we proposed five years ago that the active substance should only be extended under certain conditions. This includes, in particular, a clear ban on the use of t…

13

Sep

2023

DE Speech

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Amending the proposed mechanism to resolve legal and administrative obstacles in a cross-border context (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! For example, no authorisation for cross-border tram drivers, requirements and problems with cross-border mountain rescue services, ambulance transport, lengthy procedures for the recognition of professional qualifications – all examples that show where existing legislative and administrative hurdles may exist that citizens face at the border. There…

13

Sep

2023

DE Speech

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Reviewing the protection status of wolves and other large carnivores in the EU (topical debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Last 24 November, in this House, we voted by a large majority in favour of adapting the protection status of the wolf and the large predators in the European Union to the current situation. Today, there are around 20,000 wolves growing in the European Union. This is the result of 30 years of strict protection under the Natura 2000 Directive. And ev…

12

Sep

2023

DE Speech

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Ukrainian grain exports after Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. The Solidarity Lanes should actually serve to bring grain and oil fruits from Ukraine by EU land route to where they are needed: Africa and the Middle East. I was about a year ago on the border of Ukraine with Poland and Romania and even then it was clear that this cannot work. In the penultimate week, Commissioner, you reported in our Committee on Agricultur…

11

Jul

2023

DE Answer

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Nature restoration (debate)

Mrs. Colleague! In the context of the long debate on the common agricultural policy, I have been very active in ensuring that the CAP includes elements of sustainability, that we incorporate eco-schemes, that we support the agri-environmental programme. We now spend around a third of the total Common Agricultural Policy money on sustainability programmes each year. I think we should continue along…

11

Jul

2023

DE Speech

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Nature restoration (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I believe that whenever we make new legislation here in this House, we should ask ourselves a central question: Does this legislation add value and respect subsidiarity? With regard to the Nature Restoration Regulation, the answer is very clear: No. Our states, regions and municipalities are responsible for the protection of the landscape. A genera…

10

Jul

2023

DE Speech

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Industrial Emissions Directive - Industrial Emissions Portal - Deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure - Sustainable maritime fuels (FuelEU Maritime Initiative) - Energy efficiency (recast) (joint debate - Fit for 55 and Industrial Emissions)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! This Directive mixes industrial emissions with emissions from agriculture, which in itself is quite peculiar. But what is more, the Commission wants to make farms industrial farms, which in many Member States are quite normal family farms. This is especially true for cattle breeding. Of course, emissions from agriculture can also be problematic.…

14

Jun

2023

DE Speech

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Lessons learnt from the Pandora Papers and other revelations (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! The Pandora Papers have revealed a construct of over 29 000 tax avoidance and tax evasion accounts. And the goal is clear: It is about avoiding taxes, enriching oneself at the expense of the states and thus the general public and thus simply stealing money that would be due to the people of Europe. That can only be condemned, and that is what we…

13

Jun

2023

DE Speech

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Ensuring food security and the long-term resilience of EU agriculture (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! This European Union has also been set up to provide people in Europe with a safe diet. Over the decades, we have forgotten a bit about this mission and, unfortunately, a war in the middle of Europe had to intervene to remind us once again that we also have a responsibility to provide our citizens in the Union with sufficient safe food on a daily ba…

31

May

2023

DE Speech

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Geographical Indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. Food with geographical designations of origin is a cultural asset of our Union, of the regions and, above all, of the people who produce it. Of course, these foods are also important from an economic point of view. Every year in the European Union, we produce food with geographical indications of origin worth around 75 million euros, and the trend is increasi…

31

May

2023

IT Speech

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Social and economic costs of climate change in light of the floods in Emilia Romagna, Marche and Toscana and the urgent need for European solidarity (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed and unfortunately are witnessing in Emilia-Romagna a catastrophe that has destroyed lives, families, well-being, homes and agricultural land and has taken away the livelihoods of thousands of people. I want to express first of all my solidarity with the people affected, and we too should do here, in Brussels, what we can do to activate all the …

10

May

2023

DE Speech

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Ukrainian cereals on the European market (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues! The solidarity lanes, these solidarity corridors, have in reality never existed, and they do not exist to this day. Or it was only in the Commission's imagination and communication. By definition, a corridor starts somewhere, for example in Ukraine, and ends somewhere, for example in Egypt, Lebanon or even Spain. In reality, however, only the bo…

10

May

2023

DE Speech

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The role of farmers as enablers of the green transition and a resilient agricultural sector (continuation of debate)

Mr President, Mr Minister, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Sustainability is a term that we now use all the time and everywhere. It actually comes from agriculture and forestry, and rightly so. I think there is no industry in which the principle of getting, managing, passing on from the ancestors is lived in the same way as in agriculture. You really just have to look at it. We just need to lo…

8

May

2023

EN Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, colleagues, it was the EPP Group that insisted last week on a key debate on agriculture. Our proposal was to stress the need to listen and to respect farmers in shaping EU policies. But, The Left group as well as the Renew Group could not accept the concept of listening and respect farmers. As a result, the title of the key debate on agriculture as it now stands on the agenda, ris…

16

Mar

2023

DE Speech

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European Citizens’ Initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment" (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! The European Citizens' Initiatives are an instrument of direct democracy and, in principle, I think it is commendable for citizens to speak out. I also know how difficult it is to get the necessary signatures – one million – on paper. I myself have been at the forefront of a citizens' initiative in the past. The protection of bees, of insects as…