What Jens spoke about.

23 Nov

2022

DE Speech

A truly interconnected Energy Single Market to keep bills down and companies competitive (topical debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Minister Bek, ladies and gentlemen! Since Russia used energy as a weapon, a new question has arisen: How does the energy supply, especially with natural gas, work for the few years until sufficient renewable energy will be available? Yes, there will have to be additional gas infrastructure in the short term, and unfinished business is now falling to our feet in the E…

19 Oct

2022

DE Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Vice-President, Mr Minister! Let's bring the bills down. Let's get the bills down. This should be the title of the next Council meeting. What helps? Measures to reduce prices and contain speculation. Yes, alternative benchmarks are a start, but by themselves hardly suitable for achieving sustainable price reductions. We need to decouple the prices of gas and electricity, at lea…

14 Sep

2022

DE Speech

State of the Union (debate)

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Madam President, Mrs von der Leyen! I would like to thank you for your proposals against the energy price crisis. Closing prices, siphoning off excess profits – that's all right. Separating the price of electricity from the price of gas, at least temporarily, is also a very good idea. And who knows, maybe we can think of something that works better even in peacetime. And the most important thing i…

13 Sep

2022

DE Speech

EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

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Madam President, We as the EU are not at war, but the European economy operates under conditions that are determined by war. If I look at the situation on the energy markets, then we probably agree quite broadly here that nothing is normal here anymore. The prices are so high, ladies and gentlemen, that anyone who has an oven has to think about whether they will get their money's worth by turning …

19 May

2022

DE Speech

The REPowerEU Plan: European solidarity and energy security in face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the recent cuts of gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria (debate)

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Mr President! Commissioner Simson, thank you very much for the proposal that has been made. I very much welcome this. It is high time that we start doing the unfinished homework in the European Union. The one unfinished task is a lack of diversification of energy supply. Believe me, as a German, I know what I'm talking about. The second is to take action against price developments. We urgently nee…

6 Apr

2022

DE Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 March 2022: including the latest developments of the war against Ukraine and the EU sanctions against Russia and their implementation (debate)

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Madam President, High Representative Borrell, Vice-President Šefčovič! We are discussing the depressing situation in Ukraine this morning. The horrific images from Butsha – many have spoken about it – fill us all with dismay, despair and anger and, yes, also with determination, not least to punish those responsible for these crimes. Putin, I am very sure, did not expect this determination. And in …

24 Mar

2022

DE Speech

The Power of the EU – Joint European Action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy (debate)

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Madam President, Vice-President Dombrovskis, Minister Beaune, ladies and gentlemen! Yes, it is right to make Europe independent of fossil fuels – now, first and foremost, of those from Russia. That is the right demand. This is the political task of the hour. Let's do everything we can to speed up the transformation of energy supply. Now the mistakes that have been made in the past become obvious. …

8 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Rising energy prices and market manipulation on the gas market (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Today we are discussing a question for Parliament's oral answer to the Commission, which asks, among other things, what measures could be taken to deal with the political pressure in this difficult, crisis-ridden political situation with the exploding energy prices. Colleagues have already addressed many, many different aspects. I want to focus on …

1 Mar

2022

DE Speech

Russian aggression against Ukraine (continuation of debate)

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Mr President! I am grateful for this special session because it gives the opportunity to express what the political message of this day must be: We condemn the violation of international law committed by President Putin with his order to attack a peaceful neighbouring country, Ukraine. That is why the members of the SPD in this Parliament will give their full support to the resolution that has bee…

15 Dec

2021

DE Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 16-17 December 2021 - The EU's response to the global resurgence of Covid-19 and the new emerging Covid variants (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. EUCO is facing a whole package of problems. Many of them are serious and urgent at the same time. It is time for the new German government to give a new impetus. One of these issues is the continuing high and volatile energy prices. We now know from the European agencies that there has apparently been no market manipulation. But this actually incre…

24 Nov

2021

DE Speech

State of the Energy Union (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! I believe that the report that the Commission is presenting to us shows several things at the same time. On the one hand, it shows that we, as the European Union, are on the right track in terms of energy supply, the substitution of fossil fuels with new ones, and that to this day we have come a successful way when it comes to decarbonisation. Howe…

20 Oct

2021

DE Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 21-22 October 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Minister, Commissioner! I actually intended to talk about energy prices again this morning, like many colleagues, but I decided to make a few remarks after the debate on the course here. I have heard a lot of criticism from the right side of the House this morning about the state of the EU and the steep thesis that it – the EU – and its mistakes of the last 30 years are to blam…

6 Oct

2021

DE Speech

European solutions to the rise of energy prices for businesses and consumers: the role of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the need to tackle energy poverty (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Minister! Mrs. Simson, you said that prices will remain high this winter. But ‘heating or eating’ must not be the alternative for people in Europe this winter. Yes, last year gas prices were very low, but that's no consolation today if we see a partly rapid increase since May 2020. Commissioner, your authority's actions are urgently needed, they are actually overdue.…

15 Sep

2021

DE Speech

State of the Union (debate)

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Madam President, Madam President von der Leyen! I do not want to repeat what my group's colleagues have said about the social dimension, migration policy and the rule of law. I think that the Commission's proposals come too late or are not ambitious enough. As I said, I don't have to repeat that. Please do not let us be too late in addressing the challenges of industrial policy. Thirty years ago, …