What Marie spoke about.

14 Sep

2022

FR Speech

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

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the situation is simple: To meet our climate commitments, it is imperative that we leave fossil fuels under the ground. However, the project we are talking about today will not only result in the emission of 33 million tonnes of CO2, i.e. twice the cumulative emissions of Uganda and Tanzania, but will also risk pollution of Lake Albert and cross…

13 Sep

2022

FR Speech

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

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I obviously want to welcome here, Commissioner, the proposal for the taxation of superprofits that is on the table. This is a matter of basic justice since everyone must have the means to warm up. But taxing these superprofits is not enough. To live up to this, we need to move away from productivist logic because history shows us that it is not because we pro…

13 Sep

2022

FR Speech

Renewable Energy Directive (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, floods are wreaking havoc in Pakistan, while forests are burning on our soil. However, for 50 years now, due to a lack of political will, we have been hesitant to really embark on renewable energy. So yes, the 45% target we are voting for today is a step forward. But it was not until Putin's war that this goal was set. If we want to comply with the Paris Agreeme…

12 Sep

2022

FR Speech

Deforestation Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we have been living unconsciously for too long. We refuse to see that the unbridled search for infinite growth in a finite world is madness. And the awakening is brutal. The awakening is brutal, as the world's forests, which absorb carbon and are home to 80% of biodiversity, are disappearing. This is the equivalent of 800 football fields that are sacrificed ever…

23 Jun

2022

FR Speech

Gas storage (debate)

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Mr President, ‘our dependence on Russian gas poses economic, social, ecological and physical risks to Europe’. This sentence is not from yesterday. It dates from the year 2000. It calls for an end to this dependence through the diversification of sources of supply and storage obligations sufficient to cover the needs of the population and limit price increases. This is 22 years old. We have been p…

7 Jun

2022

FR Speech

Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System - Social Climate Fund - Carbon border adjustment mechanism - Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation - Notification under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) (joint debate – Fit for 55 (part 1))

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Mr President, we are at a moment of truth for the European Union, and, as you can see, today the will disputes it in the comfort of habits. This week we decide whether or not to deliver on our promise – that of the Green Deal, that of saving the climate. And where are we in? Drought, floods, storms, temperatures that damage human lives and cause birds to fall from the sky, and here in the European…

19 May

2022

FR 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, it is very simple: lives are being sacrificed, lost, in Ukraine, of course, with a war financed by our fossil fuel purchases. It was therefore essential to raise our energy targets and finally launch concrete actions. We have been 40% dependent on Russian gas for no less than 22 years and say we will act. It was time. But of course, there is one, but that is not trivial. Because live…

3 May

2022

FR Speech

Question Time (Commission) Europe’s Energy Autonomy: The strategic importance of renewables and energy interconnections and efficiency

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Madam President, Commissioner, there is a popular saying in France that when it is unclear, there is a wolf. However, I heard a moment ago from one of our colleagues, Mr Roos, that the risk for the European Union is renewable energy, because it is renewable energy that condemns us to remain locked in Russian gas. Commissioner, there are fuzzy people like this who are absolutely criminal. I would h…

7 Apr

2022

FR Speech

The situation of marginalised Roma communities in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, Europe does not want Roma and travellers, so it rejects them in unworthy areas. In France, according to data collected by William Acker, travelling populations are subject to environmental nuisances: sewage treatment plants, Seveso industrial sites, such as Lubrizol in Rouen, or polluting crushing plants, such as Hellemmes-Ronchin. Just last weekend in Hellemmes-Ronchin, the reality …

5 Apr

2022

FR Speech

Trans-European energy infrastructure (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we see this even more vividly, in the light of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and the dependencies in which he was able to lock us up: how we organise, plan and finance our energy infrastructure is key. It is this that determines our ability to face the great challenges of our time: peace and, of course, the fight against climate change. Revising …

4 Apr

2022

FR Speech

Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (debate)

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Madam President, "they are suffocating the planet in the name of their vested interests and historic investments in fossil fuels. To put it simply: They are lying. Mr Vice-Commissioner, there is something to take these words from António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for us. Europe accounts for 16% of historical emissions, and Africa just under 7%. Even today, the richest …

24 Mar

2022

FR Speech

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

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Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, we are here today to talk about REPowerEU and energy prices. Indeed, there is a deep connection between the two, which have already been mentioned by several of my colleagues, since, long before the war in Ukraine, we were already seeing soaring energy prices and, to be more precise, the price of fossil fuels. Today, the ambitions are beautiful, and the wor…

23 Mar

2022

FR Speech

Debriefing of the European Council meeting in Paris on 10 March 2022 - Preparation of the European Council meeting 24-25 March 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, 18 billion is the amount we have paid Vladimir Putin over the past month, since he launched his aggression against Ukraine, for the simple purchase of fossil fuels. It's $18 billion that's financing his war. Our response must be based on an accelerated exit from fossil fuels. However, in our country, Sir, in France, an energy giant like Total still does not understand that we cann…

10 Mar

2022

FR Speech

The need for an ambitious EU Strategy for sustainable textiles (debate)

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Madam President, I want to talk to you about Barsa. Barsa, who died in the ruins of Rana Plaza after spending his life producing cheap clothes for a few cents, being exposed to more than 8,000 toxic substances – chlorinated derivatives, dyes, phthalates or pesticides. Like Barsa, 60 million workers are exposed to toxic and dangerous chemicals every day. I say workers because 80% of textile workers…

8 Mar

2022

FR Speech

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

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Mr President, in the face of Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, Europe has shown a firm, united and determined face. And yet, we continue to fund the Russian war effort to the tune of €700 million a day because we have tied our hands to Russian gas. The irony is that it is now Putin himself who is threatening to shut down the European gas tap Nord Stream 1. Our imperative for lasting peace, for…

24 Nov

2021

FR Speech

State of the Energy Union (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, thank you very much for this presentation, for the progress made and for your work. But there is an urgent need – as we have seen, we are talking about – to stop fuelling our dependence on fossil fuels. What a tragedy to see, in this regard, the gas and nuclear lobbies fighting together such a battle to figure in the taxonomy that should devote gre…

24 Nov

2021

FR Speech

Outcome of the COP26 in Glasgow (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, six years ago, the countries of the world agreed on the 1.5-degree target. We're a long way from that. We're going straight to +2.6 degrees. This COP, in the end, was one of injustice, one that welcomed more than 500 representatives of the oil and gas industries and barely two from Vanuatu, a country that will soon be swallowed up by water. A COP w…

10 Nov

2021

FR Speech

Strengthening democracy, media freedom and pluralism in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost I would like to congratulate the co-rapporteurs and thank them for the collective work we have done on this text, because the subject we are dealing with, namely SLAPPs, is a serious one. Since the Paris Agreement, for the past six years, 1,5 people have been murdered for defending the Earth. And at COP26, sixty journalists fr…

20 Oct

2021

FR Speech

UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the UK (COP26) (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, today we learn – and it is confirmed to us today, in 2021 – that one of the largest European companies, I named Total, knew and was aware of the climatic consequences of its actions since 1971. 1971: We have known for 50 years, that our companies know, and that we are working hard and fast towards the abyss. We are also learning today, on the same …

19 Oct

2021

FR Speech

The Right to a Healthy Environment (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the UN Human Rights Council has indeed called for universal recognition of the right to a healthy environment. It was time and it is a strong signal: a signal that, no, the laws of the economy are not above the laws of nature and that, yes, ecological and social justice issues are one and the same fight. So I hear us here saying that asserting t…

19 Oct

2021

FR Speech

Climate, Energy and Environmental State aid guidelines (“CEEAG”) (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, I have listened to you well. Here we tell the story of a Europe that promises to get out of its dependence on fossil fuels, while still planning to accept state aid for fossil-fuelled gas. We are also starving when we promise a Europe that would accelerate the development of renewable energy, while we are still planning state aid for nuclear energy…

6 Oct

2021

FR 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, ladies and gentlemen, our promise was the transition without leaving anyone behind, it was the Green Deal in social justice. But in the face of rising gas prices, what are we going to do? Gas, behind electricity, the price of books, the price of bread and even the price of toilet paper, is exploding in Europe and each of these increases is the de facto result of an e…

5 Oct

2021

FR Speech

The Arctic: opportunities, concerns and security challenges (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot come here, sit down and talk about preserving the Arctic without planning to put an immediate end to the exploitation of fossil fuels. The Arctic is a unique ecosystem in the world, with endangered marine species. The Arctic is an air conditioner for the planet. Unfortunately, the Arctic is also the target of profit-hungry companies th…

7 Jul

2021

FR Speech

General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (debate)

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Mr President, this 8th Environment Action Programme must put a stop to endangering the safety of the planet. Climate, oceans, biodiversity: at international level, as here in Europe, four of the nine planetary boundaries are exceeded. The warning sounded by scientists has certainly led us to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, but the race for infinite GDP growth on a finite planet remains th…

6 Jul

2021

FR Speech

Connecting Europe Facility - Streamlining measures for the realisation of the TEN-T - Railway safety and signalling: Assessing the state of play of the ERTMS deployment (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in history, a city, Lytton in Canada, has been completely wiped off the map as a result of climate change, the origins of which are human activities, in particular the exploitation of fossil fuels. The next day, it was the ocean itself that caught fire off the Gulf of Mexico, following a gas leak whose exploitation we would have to stop if we …