What Gerben-Jan spoke about.

7 Oct

2026

EN Question

Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation (debate)

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Thank you, Mr Herbert Dorfmann, for your contribution. You focus a lot on the administrative costs and, of course, that's a problem in a lot of pieces of legislation. But do you agree with the general objective of this piece of law that we need – that we really need – to restore nature?…

7 Oct

2026

EN Speech

Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, there's only one European institution that is directly elected by the people, and that is this House. We call ourselves the people's Parliament. If that's the case, then it might be good to listen to the European people, and not just once every five years when there are elections, but constantly. That might be difficult, but there is a wonderful tool for that called the Eurobarometer…

7 Oct

2026

EN Speech

Urgent need for a tax on super-profits of polluters: protecting people’s health and lowering energy bills in times of the climate crisis (topical debate)

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Mr President, 'I prefer the world of disruption to the peaceful world. And this disruption gives us plenty of opportunities.' This is a quote from the CEO of TotalEnergies in yesterday's newspaper, and I think it's very difficult to find one single European citizen who could agree with this cynical philosophy. These so-called 'opportunities', and consequently the super-profits, are not the result …

6 Oct

2026

NL Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 15-16 October 2026 (debate)

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Well, I just explained that to you. We are not at all opposed to a substantial increase in this budget. That is why D66 also voted in favour of the position of the European Parliament in our vision of the European budget. So I don't know where you got that from. A prime minister speaks on behalf of an entire cabinet. I speak on behalf of D66.…

6 Oct

2026

NL Answer

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 15-16 October 2026 (debate)

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Thanks for the question, Mr. Van Lanschot. You see that all wrong. Because if you listen carefully to my party, then we are absolutely not stingy. What D66 wants is an exchange between a higher budget and certainly a very strong reform of the current budget. We need to focus on tomorrow's challenges, not yesterday's. These reforms and an exchange for a higher budget, that is what we are focusing o…

6 Oct

2026

EN Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 15-16 October 2026 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Council, the last time we met in this chamber, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was among us. He talked about Europe and Canada being much stronger together, together with the other middle powers, to preserve a world order based on our values – an order that served us so well and gave us prosperity. Mark Carney emphasised the strength of togetherness, not what could …

5 Oct

2026

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, at the United Nations General Assembly two weeks ago, President Donald Trump again launched an attack on the International Criminal Court. Last year, he invoked sanctions on individual officials of this same court, including nine of the eighteen judges. And that already was unacceptable, but this time, he is focusing his attack on the whole institution of the ICC. I am adamant tha…

16 Sep

2026

EN Answer

State of the Union (debate)

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I don't think that was really a question, but only a stronger Europe can also make our industry stronger. By joining European forces, we can have cheaper energy. We cannot do that alone in our Member States. So I think we completely agree: the only thing is that Member States still have too many national reflexes and they hamper the path towards a really united, stronger, faster Europe. And that i…

16 Sep

2026

EN Speech

State of the Union (debate)

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Madam President, I should like to thank President von der Leyen for her powerful speech and her leadership. President von der Leyen, you show how to deal with a world that is changing at a dizzying speed, as you said, by building that independent Europe that has the power to act, together with friends like Canada. That is also exactly what Europeans want. People want a stronger Europe. People unde…

15 Sep

2026

NL Question

Devastating heatwaves, wildfires and droughts in Europe: lessons from summer 2026 (debate)

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Mrs Van Leeuwen, you are abusing a debate about terrible drought, forest fires, tens of thousands of deaths in Europe and so on, to complain about Dutch nitrogen policy. But do you agree with me that the biggest threat to the peasantry in Europe is climate change itself, and that it is therefore important that we all do something about it? Do you agree with me?…

15 Sep

2026

EN Question

Devastating heatwaves, wildfires and droughts in Europe: lessons from summer 2026 (debate)

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I fully agree with what you are saying about the importance of farmers. But at the same time, farmers are the biggest victims of climate change. Do you agree with me that, if we want to protect farmers, the most important thing is that we try to avoid future climate change and that we need ambitious climate policies in order to protect these same farmers?…

15 Sep

2026

NL Speech

Devastating heatwaves, wildfires and droughts in Europe: lessons from summer 2026 (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, this summer has given us a glimpse into the future. Tens of thousands dead. More than 600 000 hectares burned – that is almost three times the country of Luxembourg. Misharvests. Decommissioned nuclear power plants and an economic damage estimated at EUR 180 billion – that is more than what the three Baltic States earn every year. The liv…

8 Jul

2026

NL Answer

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 18-19 June 2026 (debate)

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It's always wonderful to have national politics in the European Parliament. Food security: You may have recently read the report that states that the Netherlands is an importer of food. Not because of human consumption, but because of the enormous amount of animal feed that we have to import to keep our head of water afloat to animal production. If you are really, really involved in Europe's food …

8 Jul

2026

EN Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 18-19 June 2026 (debate)

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Madam President, the European economy will experience long-lasting damage from the Hormuz crisis, and that's a fact. When fossil fuel is expensive, European industry suffers deeply – that is also a fact. When sea levels rise, my country, the Netherlands, must build expensive infrastructure or it will drown – also a fact. In short, our fossil fuel addiction is becoming very, very expensive. We have…

15 Jun

2026

EN Answer

Time for European economic independence (debate)

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Well, thank you very much for that question. I think the most important message of Draghi regarding energy is that we should become independent and produce our own energy, and that, per definition, is clean energy. It is either fully renewable or nuclear and I think that is that is very clear because we do not have oil, we do not have sufficient gas and coal is obviously out of the question if we …

15 Jun

2026

EN Speech

Time for European economic independence (debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, what do high energy prices, Chinese clean tech, US weapons and digital services, and critical raw materials have in common? Well, they all add up to European dependency. And let's be honest, we are dependent on others, otherwise we would not be having this debate. As a liberal and a democrat, my political mission is that people have their own fate in their own hands, and …

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Reviewing the ETS system to support European competitiveness (topical debate)

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Mr President, I just want to make a point of order. We have a topical debate. This hall is totally empty. Even the one who initiated the debate is not here to listen to the Commission. This is not only offensive to a Commissioner, but also to this institution, the European Parliament. This is not a place like a press room, where you have your statement for cameras and then you leave. This is a pol…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Reviewing the ETS system to support European competitiveness (topical debate)

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Madam President, since I fundamentally believe that these kind of debates should allow for blue cards, I'll react to a few of my colleagues. First of all, Mr Procaccini, who already left, he called climate policy being ideological, but spending more than EUR 500 billion annually on fossil fuels, is that ideological or factual? And that Member States who have the lowest investments in clean energy,…

18 May

2026

NL Speech

Order of business

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Mr President, I too am basing myself on Rule 10 of our Rules of Procedure. Last week, among other things, in Loosdrecht, in the Netherlands, it was again shown how strong and unfortunately also dangerous words can be from politicians. Violence has been used in protests against asylum seekers' centres, against asylum seekers themselves and their escorts, and also against the police and the fire bri…

29 Apr

2026

EN Speech

EU strategy in response to the ongoing Middle East crisis, its implications on energy prices and the availability of fertilizers (joint debate)

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Mr President, energy is the most essential building block of our economy. When energy prices go up, people suffer, businesses suffer. Why? Because we do not control our own energy prices. Others do. Events do. The good news is we have already insulated ourselves from the worst shocks, quite literally, with all the homes we have insulated – boring but important work. And because we are generating m…

28 Apr

2026

EN Speech

Joint debate - Discharge 2024 (joint debate)

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Madam President, let me start by thanking the Court of Auditors, the Commission and the Council for this debate. But most of all, my colleagues here in this House, not so many are left, but still, I want to thank them. And I'm honestly grateful for their very strong words on transparency, the need for transparency, the need to protect public money, and also the important need to be accountable. Bu…

28 Apr

2026

EN Speech

Joint debate - Discharge 2024 (joint debate)

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Mr President, colleagues, Commissioner, this discharge procedure is perhaps the most important parliamentary tool that we have. And you see it attracts huge crowds also in this plenary. It's where this House exercises genuine democratic power and it makes the EU institutions accountable to the EU citizens. I had the honour of reporting on Parliament's discharge, and it concerns a huge sum – in 202…

27 Apr

2026

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, I refer to Rule 44 that is about Parliament's right to the access of documents. This is about the fact that the European Commission most probably will publish a report later this week on the simplification of the deforestation law, the EUDR. We all know that the EUDR was postponed with one year due to IT problems. I requested five months ago certain documents. I am waiting now for…

25 Mar

2026

NL Speech

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 March 2026 (debate)

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This will be a repeat of moves, Mr. Smith. The only thing that really helps is what was in the Green Deal – but you do not take it seriously – namely energy efficiency. Energy saving is the most important thing to prevent this type of shock. As long as the European Union remains so dependent on fossil fuels coming from outside Europe, no emergency measure will structurally help. So join me, …

25 Mar

2026

NL Answer

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 19 March 2026 (debate)

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Thank you for this question, especially since it comes from someone whose party was in the cabinet in the past period, so a cabinet that has only been in office for four weeks is not responsible for empty gas stocks. That is the previous cabinet, in which your party was in, and it makes no sense at all to take all kinds of compensatory measures at the pump now. As you know, the rich ben…