Speeches

–According to the EU Treaties, the Union’s objective is to strengthen and support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the principles of international law. However, this is a rhetoric without the right tools to promote these goals. By imposing sanctions on members of regimes that trample on human rights, the EU is able to promote its values and show that the EU does not tolerate trampling on human rights, the rule of law and democracy. However, the work is not yet complete. The sanctions regime bears the name of Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison under unclear circumstances after investigating corruption in the Russian regime. At the moment, however, corruption is not a reason to impose sanctions. Corruption poses a significant threat to the rule of law and it would therefore be important that in the future also those responsible for corruption could be subject to sanctions. The role of Parliament in the preparation of sanctions should also be strengthened. In addition, it would be important for the effectiveness of sanctions to ensure that sanctions for violations of sanctions work. The Commission should therefore play an active role in ensuring that sanctions are not circumvented through various loopholes and that they achieve their objectives. When sanctions are effective and proportionate, a deterrent effect in itself can act as a deterrent to human rights violations.

Madam President, honourable Members, today the Commission adopted the Digital Networks Act. This proposal is strategic for Europe's place in the world. At a time of geopolitical tensions and rapid technological development, connectivity is no longer just about faster networks. It's about our competitiveness, our resilience and our sovereignty. The Draghi, Letta and Niinistö reports all stressed the need to simplify and harmonise our legislation, allowing European companies to scale up, invest and innovate. Today's proposal aims to deliver on this – more harmonisation, more competitiveness and more simplification, leading to more investments, security and resilience. First, to achieve these goals, we need to move decisively. This is why we proposed a regulation rather than a directive. A regulation will allow us rules to apply directly and uniformly across our Union. The DNA merges four existing legal acts into one single, modernised rulebook for telecoms. Second, we need to strengthen the single market for connectivity. Europe cannot lead the digital economy if our network operators are facing 27 different regulatory regimes. The DNA now introduces harmonised and simple rules for facilitating the provision of cross-border networks and also services, enabling providers to grow and scale up. We propose here a single passport for operators active in several Member States, with harmonised rules for general authorisation. Also, we are proposing stronger coordination in spectrum, both in spectrum planning and release and how it is designed. Also, we are proposing an EU-level authorisation for satellite connectivity that ensures a level playing field among all satellite players, enabling European companies to scale, innovate and compete globally. Third, we need a competitive connectivity infrastructure based on future-proof, advanced networks, so that all citizens and businesses are connected to high-performance gigabit networks. To this end, the DNA accelerates the transition to full-fibre infrastructure by setting a harmonised framework for copper switch-off. We ensure that the phase-out of copper networks is sustainable and secures the best possible outcome for consumers and operators. The copper switch-off should start by 2030 based on national transition-to-fibre plans presented by Member States in 2029. Copper will be switched off only once fibre coverage and affordable conditions are met in that area. After 2035, the copper-switch off should be mandated in all areas, with the exception of areas where fibre deployment is economically not viable. Importantly, the proposal also includes safeguards to ensure that consumers are protected throughout this process. In addition to supporting fibre uptake, access rules will become more focused, while at the same time maintaining the ability of the regulators to act quickly if competition is under threat. The DNA also sets conditions for spectrum management that increase investment in the sector and bring innovation. With unlimited licence duration, streamlined licence renewals and the obligation to share spectrum, we will increase predictability and unlock also investments. Fourth, the DNA is also about simplification. It reduces administrative burden and reporting obligations across all its provisions, thus freeing resources for investments and innovation. Overall, it also provides an upgraded governance system, renaming the BEREC Office as an office of digital networks with broader competences. This ensures that the new rules are applied coherently throughout our single market. BEREC will also help with simplification through common reporting templates. Fifth, we need to also reinforce our security and resilience. Connectivity has become a strategic asset. Recent crises have shown how vulnerable our infrastructure can be, either to geopolitical shocks, cyberthreats or physical disruptions. Connectivity networks are critical infrastructure and Europe must be able to protect them and to ensure communication continuity in all circumstances. The DNA will introduce resilience and security as cross-cutting horizontal objectives. It will establish an EU-level preparedness plan, which will strengthen Europe's capacity to prepare for, prevent and respond to incidents and cyberattacks. Regarding harmful interference from third countries, the DNA also sets a stronger framework to react. Moreover, it also adds new obligations to help tackle fraud. It also introduces, as a condition for the right to provide electronic communications networks and services, an obligation to comply with the cybersecurity supply chain obligations of the Cybersecurity Act, which we proposed yesterday. Failure to comply with those requirements may lead to withdrawal of the authorisation. Finally, we need to boost innovation in a broader digital ecosystem. The DNA proposal preserves open-internet principles and empowers the Commission to provide more legal clarity regarding innovative services, such as network slicing. It also encourages voluntary ecosystem cooperation, contributing to more efficient and reliable traffic management. Let me finish by saying that the DNA reflects our broader vision of Europe as a confident digital power – a power that shapes global standards, invests in its own capabilities, and sees digital infrastructure not only as an economic asset but as a geopolitical one. The DNA is a very clear signal that Europe is ready to act, ready to invest and ready to lead, making Europe a true AI continent.

Mr President, honourable Members, I want to thank everybody for your comments and contributions. With the Pact on Migration and Asylum coming into force this June, we are at the beginning of a crucial year of migration management. So, this is the right time for a new European asylum and migration management strategy, which we will present very soon. The proposed return regulation, the anti‑smuggling directive, the visa strategy and our migration diplomacy all go in the same direction: to effectively manage migration in a way that fulfils our obligations to those in need of protection; protects our citizens and our borders; and also supports our economic competitiveness.

Mr President, honourable Members, the EU has turned a corner on migration policy. Irregular border crossings at the EU's external borders fell by 26 % last year. The number of persons detected ‑ 178 000 ‑ is at the lowest level since 2021. And this is not happening by chance. It is the result of policy changes by the EU and the Member states. It is the result of growing trust and solidarity among our Member States, and it is also because of strengthened cooperation with the partner countries along key migration routes. And now we must continue this good work. There are still far too many people in the EU who have no right to stay, and only 1 in 4 of them leave the Union today. So we must increase the effectiveness of returns. Improving the return rate is also what citizens expect. The proposed return regulation will help us to do that by creating a common European system for returns, by closing loopholes and making procedures faster. That is why we ask you to continue advancing in your work, so that the negotiations with the Council can start without delay. Doing our homework inside the EU is one side of the work, but this must be matched with equal investment in enhancing our cooperation on readmission and migration management. Cooperation with third countries has helped us to achieve good results we must build on. We need our international partners to play a role in a whole of road approach. To do this, we will further strengthen partnerships with countries of origin and transit, for example in fighting migrant smuggling. Last month, at the Global Alliance Against Migrant Smuggling, we received commitments from over 50 international partners, sending a very powerful signal to the smugglers that their business model will no longer work. We must also make better use of migration diplomacy, linking our migration priorities to international cooperation, trade and investments. Visa-free travel is another powerful geopolitical tool we can use in our migration diplomacy. Article 25a of the Visa Code already links visa policy with cooperation on returns and readmissions of their own nationals illegally staying in the EU. Under our upcoming visa strategy we will propose to strengthen the role of article 25a in promoting our values and interests, and at the same time, the new visa strategy will convey a clear message, the EU's visa policy needs to become a core strategic tool supporting our security and our global influence, and equally our economy and competitiveness on the global stage. This takes me to the importance of legal pathways as a part of our migration strategy. Maintaining our competitiveness and prosperity will depend on our ability to attract the best skills and talent from everywhere in the world. And to remain a world leader in innovation, Europe must become a destination of choice for the world's most skilled and creative individuals. For this purpose, the Commission will present alongside the visa strategy, also a recommendation to Member States on attracting talent for innovation. To make this happen, we must maintain the trust of our citizens and show them that the EU is in control of migration. Not the migrant smugglers, not the traffickers, not the third countries who try to weaponise migration against us. So these are the essential points under our forthcoming European migration and asylum management strategy. So first, preventing illegal migration, breaking the business model of criminal smuggling networks, protecting people fleeing war and encouraging talent to come to the EU and make our economy more competitive. In other words, a migration and asylum policy that is fair and firm, defending our interests and also true to our values. Honourable Members, our migration policy has reached a turning point. We have a solid international legal framework with the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which Member States need to implement this year. We made progress in our work with our partners. We cut irregular migration and we are now stepping up legal pathways. Let us continue this progress together.

Madam President, honourable Members, thank you very much for your contributions and also for the very positive feedback and strong support we have in this House. I think that we all very much agree that this proposal comes at a time where Europe is facing the most severe security threats for generations, we can say, and the complex geopolitical context and very rapid uptake of emerging technologies calls for our united and decisive action. With this Cybersecurity Act, we are really covering all our critical fields now – even though we focused quite a lot on 5G in our discussion, because there we have been already working several years, so we have had this voluntary toolbox in place already from 2020, although all the Member States haven't implemented it yet. There we have already a lot of experience, and now we are proposing making this 5G framework mandatory, but we are also proposing that we start to carry out Union-level coordinated security risk assessments on different sectors which are defined in our NIS 2 Directive – critical sectors like energy, transport, water, healthcare. We are already carrying out that kind of risk assessment, where we are really also identifying the key assets in the ICT supply chain, and we are also proposing targeted mitigating measures to address these identified risks. Of course, this also comes with careful impact assessment when we propose these mitigating measures. The Commission will also provide a catalogue of high-risk suppliers, so it will be very clear which are the high-risk suppliers in different critical sectors after that. I very much want to thank you for all the strong support I heard today, because I see that, now more than ever, we need to really equip ourselves with robust and efficient cybersecurity tools, tools that allow for seamless cooperation across the EU. As it was said here – we are only as strong as our weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity, because we see that the cyber threat to one Member State is really a threat to all Member States – that is why it's important that we are acting now together.

Madam President, honourable Members, today we adopted a new cybersecurity package, a proposal for a revised Cybersecurity Act and a set of simplification measures. This is what Europe needs now. Almost daily, we see cyberattacks against our critical infrastructure – on hospitals, energy, water management, transport or public administration infrastructure. These operations are often part of a wider hybrid campaign linking to espionage, prepositioning ransomware and also disruptive operations. With today's proposal, we adapt our cybersecurity policy to this new reality. First, by ensuring that we have a strong EU agency for cyber security, ENISA. Second, by ensuring that we de-risk our ICT supply chain. Third, by amending the European cybersecurity certification framework to make it efficient. And fourth, by amending the NIS2 Directive, simplifying our cybersecurity rules, making it easy for businesses to comply. We are making sure that ENISA is equipped to carry out its tasks and can properly assist Member States. In practice, this means: producing early alerts of cyber threats and incidents; providing a help desk to support companies in responding and recovering from ransomware attacks, a threat that is expected to occur every two seconds over the next five years; developing a common EU vulnerability management service capacity, a key feature for more sovereign and resilient cybersecurity ecosystem; and developing a single entry point for incident reporting, as proposed in the digital Omnibus. ENISA will also continue to play a key role in ensuring that we have workforce skilled at cybersecurity through the Cybersecurity Skills Academy and the first ever EU-wide skills attestation scheme for cybersecurity professionals. Our proposal is about protecting EU citizens and businesses by securing the ICT supply chains that support the critical sectors of our economy and society. In today's reality, every link in our complex and digitised supply chain is a potential target for exploitation by malicious actors and with potentially devastating consequences for our economy. So that is why we must now address this seriously. We can no longer be naive about threat actors' capacity to switch off the ICT systems running our critical infrastructure. This is a clear threat to our society, economy and defence readiness. Today, I am proposing to make the 5G toolbox mandatory, as was recommended by the Draghi and Letta reports. Secure and trusted 5G is an essential element in our security architecture. We need to finalise what many Member States have already done when it comes to de-risking 5G networks from high risk suppliers. But telecom networks are not the only area where we have concerns. In the joint communication on strengthening EU's economic security, we have highlighted many areas where dependencies on a single or very limited number of suppliers could pose a significant security risk – for instance, detection equipment at EU borders or solar inverters. This is why I also propose today a new framework for de-risking the ICT supply chain in our EU critical infrastructures. It is a risk-based approach, proportionate and targeted. It takes into account what we have tried and tested already with the 5G cybersecurity toolbox. The approach is about working together with our Member States and ensuring that any action is based on true assessment – not only assessing security risks, but also considering market implications, economic costs and impact on the supply of services in the internal market. We are also proposing further simplification measures complementing the digital omnibus proposal. These changes to the NIS2 Directive will be improving legal clarity and removing compliance burden from almost 30 000 companies, including more than 6 000 micro and small-sized enterprises. We are also introducing a new category of small mid-cap enterprises that will reduce the compliance costs for 22 000 companies. And finally, we propose also to simplify and streamline the cybersecurity certification framework so that cybersecurity certification can be quicker and also more effective. Honourable Members, thank you for your contribution. Now, I am very much looking forward to also hearing your thoughts about this new proposal we have on the table.

Madam President, honourable Members, presidency, I want to thank you all for your very important contributions, and I share your concerns. We need to work together further to ensure that, in the age of AI, the EU remains a safe and secure place, especially for our children. The spread of non-consensual intimate images and sexualised deepfakes reminds us that new technologies come with new forms of risks – risks that demand swift action and effective legal protection. Sexualised deepfakes are not a marginal or abstract problem. We know that they are a very serious form of digital violence. We need to coordinate a very strong enforcement of our existing rules across different platforms, providers and deployers of AI systems and general-purpose AI models. Like I said, I see that we have a very strong legal toolbox, and now our responsibility is to apply it fully in line with our fundamental values. But we will also carefully assess your proposals to make the unacceptable nature of these practices more legally certain. We will also consider whether explicit prohibitions are needed also in the AI Act.

Madam President, honourable Members, Presidency, sharing of non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material is horrendous. It is a violation of fundamental rights, including human dignity, privacy and children's rights. These horrible practices are not new, but what is new is the scale and the speed with which artificial intelligence is now amplifying them. With AI, anyone with very minimal technical expertise can create very realistic sexual images and videos of people without their consent. Once created, such material can be shared instantly online without the victim's knowledge or control, leading to non-consensual sexualisation, gender-based violence and also harassment, psychological and reputational harm. This harm is very real and personal. At the EU level, we can respond to such risks through our comprehensive digital rulebook with platform governance, data protection, the AI Act and criminal law. The Digital Services Act tackles the spread of AI-generated content on online platforms. It requires very large online platforms to identify, assess and mitigate systematic risks linked to the amplification of illegal content and gender-based violence, including also non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material. The platforms must assess the risks created by new features likely to pose systematic risks, such as generative AI, and put in place mitigating measures. Recent instances, including the creation and dissemination of non-consensual sexual images of women and children on X through the AI tool Grok are completely unacceptable. We take this matter very seriously in our enforcement work under the DSA. In December, we took the first non-compliance decision under the DSA, finding X in breach of three key provisions on data access, advertising transparency and dark patterns, and, based on this, levied a fine of EUR 120 million. In addition, we have been very closely monitoring the developments on Grok. We have issued a request for information to X concerning Grok, and we have ordered the platform to retain all internal documents and data related to it until the end of this year. At the Commission, we have been very vocal about the fact that this feature is totally unacceptable and needs to be urgently removed. As a result, X has taken steps to limit the possibility of creating such content in the EU. We are now examining to what extent X may, in any case, be in violation of the DSA, and we will not hesitate to take further action if the evidence so suggests. Let me now turn to the AI Act. The AI Act plays a key role in tackling harmful AI-generated deepfakes. While enforcement of the AI Act is yet to begin in August this year, it can already have an impact in different ways. First, the prohibition of harmful AI practices could be relevant for addressing non-consensual sexual deepfakes and child sexual abuse material. This depends on the type of harm they cause. When deepfakes do not count as prohibited practices, transparency rules are also playing a role here. We are currently preparing a code of practice on marking and labelling AI-generated content. The code is a voluntary tool for providers of generative AI systems to demonstrate compliance with the AI Act's obligations, also addressing the labelling of deepfakes and moreover the general purpose AI models with systematic risks. The AI Act requires providers to assess and mitigate the systematic risk posed by their model; this can include risks linked to the sharing of illegal, false or discriminatory content. In our criminal law, we have tools as well. The child sexual abuse directive makes the production and dissemination of child sexual material, including AI-generated material, a criminal offence. The proposed child sexual abuse regulation, requiring online service providers to prevent and combat the spread of child sexual abuse material, is in the final stages of negotiations. Moreover, under the directive of combating violence against women, Member States will have to ensure that producing and sharing sexually explicit deepfakes is punishable as a criminal offence. Lastly, our upcoming action plan against cyberbullying will also improve prevention, awareness and support measures to protect users from such emerging forms of online abuse. Let me underline that we will remain, and we are remaining, fully committed to the effective implementation and enforcement of our rules to protect EU citizens, especially our children.

Mr President, honourable Members, rapporteurs and shadows, thank you for all your work. And also thank you for this very timely debate. It very clearly shows a very strong commitment to deliver on European defence readiness by 2030, a commitment for Europe to step up, to invest in defence and also to be ready to defend itself. It is also good to hear your support for the EU‑wide military mobility area by 2027, to ensure a seamless movement of troops, equipment and military assets across the European Union. As we know, these are dual‑use projects, so it means that everyday these investments are also helping our citizens and creating a better single market. And let me assure you that in the Commission, we are now in full implementation mode to deliver on these objectives, and also with our clear milestone and flagship projects, we are reinforcing Europe's ability to deter and defend across land, air, sea, cyber and space, while contributing directly to NATO capability targets. But we need your support. We look forward to working very closely with this House to adopt the proposed legislation as soon as possible. You also play a very important key role in delivering on the next MFF, where we have proposed a fivefold increase in defence spending and also ten times more funding for military mobility projects. Honourable Members, to be ready by 2030, we need to move now, we need to move fast and we need to move together.

Mr President, honourable Members, I want to thank everybody who contributed to this discussion for your very valuable inputs. Why are we proposing this package? You are very well aware about the Draghi report and the innovation gap we are facing. We are very committed as a Commission to make Europe faster and easier and simpler for businesses, especially our start-ups and SMEs, to make sure that Europe is the place to innovate and invest and scale up businesses. But the discussion today also highlights the importance of maintaining a fair balance between practical action and protection of our safeguards here. I believe that this digital package strikes this right balance. I count on your support in advancing the proposed legislative files, the digital omnibus and the European business wallet as well. And I would also like to stress that this is the first set of urgent measures. These immediate actions are needed to bring a breath of fresh air to our businesses and the EU's competitiveness. But this is not the last step when we speak about simplification. In my confirmation hearing one year ago at the European Parliament, I already announced a digital fitness check for our entire digital rulebook, and we launched this process in the last week. Wide consultations are ongoing, so we are collecting feedback and input from our stakeholders as to how we can simplify our digital rulebook in the future. Together, let's make it easier to innovate and invest in Europe while staying true to our values.

Mr President, Honourable Members, last week, the Commission adopted the first digital simplification package. Our goal is very clear: making life easier for our companies – especially the smallest ones – and for consumers, while remaining true to our values and our high standards. In Europe, we have all it takes to succeed – we have talent, we have infrastructure, and we have a large single market where businesses should be able to scale up. But our companies, especially our start-ups and small businesses, are often held back. This package is our immediate answer to calls to reduce burdens and encourage innovation. We are doing so through three measures. Firstly, we presented the Data Union Strategy to fuel the digital economy, which is an essential resource, with-high quality data for our AI development. Secondly, the European Business Wallets offer an easy digital solution for businesses to interact with authorities and other businesses across our Europe. Finally, the Digital Omnibus simplifies our rules in the areas of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data. This does not mean we are in any way undermining our existing digital rulebook. We can be very proud of the rules we have, which were adopted together with this House during the last mandates. Let me underline that we remain very committed to the implementation and enforcement of these rules. The Digital Package firmly supports our high standards for privacy, fairness and security. EU regulation is a global trust mark for businesses that respect fundamental rights. This should not be a burden, but a competitive advantage for our companies. For this, we should get rid of regulatory clutter, where there is any, and we should instead focus on clear and predictable rules and solid enforcement. The Digital Package does this firstly by cutting unnecessary administrative costs for businesses by at least EUR 5 billion by 2029 through the Digital Omnibus, and by saving companies at least EUR 150 billion per year with our European Business Wallets. We cut bureaucratic obligations, in particular for SMEs and small mid-caps, and built digital solutions to cut all duplications in incident reporting. Then, on the AI Act, we made adjustments to ensure effective application. This is not about backing down from these rules, but making sure that the support tools, like standards, specifications and guidelines, are in place before high-risk rules apply. Finally, we are stimulating innovation. We propose targeted amendments to the GDPR that aim to facilitate compliance and support technological innovation in the EU, while continuing to ensure a high level of data protection. We are simplifying certain requirements, such as data breach notifications and information obligations, which will particularly help our SMEs. We are ensuring that AI development is encouraged in Europe and clearly framed by our rules. We are also clarifying rules in the context of recent judgments from the Court of Justice of the EU and opinions from the European Data Protection Board. These targeted amendments do not lower the level of data protection across the EU. They harmonise, simplify and clarify the application of our rules. In the Data Union Strategy, we are also proposing measures for scaling up the availability of high-quality data for AI development in the EU, and we are strengthening our approach to international data flows – stronger data sharing within the EU, while being more careful with data leakage of trade secrets to unsafe third countries. These measures should not only help our businesses, but also our consumers. We are finally now addressing the cookie banner fatigue. I think we can all agree that we have spent quite enough time accepting or rejecting cookies every time we visit a website, and at the same time, it is very important that users stay in control. Honourable Members, our proposal is a result of broad engagement with European businesses, including our SMEs, civil society and beyond. We all know very well that very big global companies can deal with administrative burden and fragmented markets; smaller businesses cannot. We are doing this package for Europe. I count on open discussion and cooperation with you to take this package forward so that we can encourage innovation in Europe, while always protecting our fundamental rights.

Madam President, Honourable Members, rapporteur and all the shadow rapporteurs, I want to thank you very much for your work. As President von der Leyen has repeatedly stated, the protection of minors online is an absolute priority for the Commission, and we know that this is also a high priority across our Member States, as well as in this House, as your report very clearly shows. Therefore, at the EU level, we have already taken many steps to protect and empower children and youth online. Because the online world is a part of our everyday life, and children have the right to take part in it safely – to safely seek information, learn and be connected to their peers, develop their digital skills and be engaged members of society. The Digital Services Act is our landmark legislation for protecting minors online. It is because of the DSA that the protection of minors was taken seriously by the online platforms. Immediately on day one, when the DSA was in place, the Commission asked for measures that online platforms have set to protect minors. Since then, we have strongly enforced the DSA. We have opened cases against four adult platforms, as well as against TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, focusing on age assurance and protecting minors from addiction and health risks. We also stopped the launch of TikTok Lite in the EU. The DSA minor protection guidelines we have now have also very clearly and concretely identified measures that the platforms need to take to protect children from online risks, such as grooming, harmful content, problematic and addictive behaviours, as well as cyberbullying and harmful commercial practices. It is very relevant that we now have these guidelines. It is very relevant for our DSA investigations, because now we have clear benchmarks to work with. The requests for information we recently sent to Snapchat, YouTube, Apple Store and Google Play show that we are already making concrete use of these guidelines. We also work with the national authorities to make sure that the smaller platforms also follow the guidelines as well. We have also published a blueprint now for an EU age verification app, and this is an open-source standard on how age verification can be done effectively and in full respect of privacy and data protection. This app is currently being tested by several Member States, platforms and end users as well, and it can set a global standard for age checks without requiring anyone to give their information to online platforms. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive is also key in protecting minors from harmful content. It applies to all the visual media service providers, including video sharing platforms. We are currently now evaluating the Directive and will update it in next year. We are also implementing the AI Act. It clearly prohibits AI that manipulates children or exploits their vulnerabilities in a harmful manner. It provides safeguards for high-risk AI systems and ensures transparency for AI interacting with people, including children. We have also proposed a regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse in order to better protect children from these horrible crimes. Also, the proposed revision of the Criminal Law Directive against child sexual abuse aims to combat new threats, such as AI-generated child sexual abuse material or paedophile manuals. The Terrorist Content Online regulation is another important tool for Member States to prevent children from being exposed to terrorist material online. Furthermore, to address the specific needs of children who are increasingly exposed to online requirements, radicalisation, grooming and child sexual abuse and other threats, we are now preparing an action plan on the protection of children against crime. Building on consultations with over 6 000 children, we will launch an action plan against cyberbullying early next year. This plan will present an EU-wide response to better prevent and act on this devastating threat. We will present a Digital Fairness Act to address remaining gaps in consumer protection in the digital environment, paying particular attention to children as young consumers, while ensuring alignment with our existing laws. Finally, let me recall that under the strategy for a Better Internet for Kids, we have for many years supported the incredible work of the national Safer Internet Centres with very concrete support for children and families all over the Member States. However, being frontrunners on protecting minors online does not mean that we should not do more. Our President has called for experts to advise her on the best approach for Europe with regards to possible social media restrictions. In this process, we will hear all perspectives, from children to parents, and international partners. All these listed measures show how the EU is at the forefront of securing children's well-being in the digital era. But we could not do this without your support. We will continue to work with this House to make sure that our children are safe and empowered online.

Mr President, honourable Members, special thanks to the rapporteur and to all other Members who have been working with this BEFIT file. We all agree on one thing in this very complex geopolitical environment: Europe must strengthen our competitiveness, productivity and economic resilience. BEFIT is an important instrument to achieve that. As we speak, multinational companies face a complex tax environment in the EU. Businesses operating in more than one Member State need to manage numerous different tax systems. In practice, they still face challenges of 27 tax systems, and this creates complexity and compliance costs. This complexity creates an uneven playing field and also increases tax uncertainty. It also discourages cross-border investments. On top of this, large companies face an additional layer of tax rules if they are subject to the Pillar Two directive and compute their minimum effective tax rate. BEFIT addresses these challenges. It will simplify the landscape, make life easier for companies active in the EU, and make the EU a more attractive place for doing business. First, BEFIT will provide companies that are in its scope with one single and simplified set of corporate taxation rules across the EU, replacing the Member States' rules for computing corporate tax base. Second, BEFIT contains streamlined and centralised procedures. At the same time, BEFIT builds on the Pillar Two legal framework, and factors in what is already in place for the global minimum tax, and it is designed to be as close to Pillar Two as possible. This will ensure that the compliance burden for companies is significantly reduced. Third, BEFIT does not overburden smaller companies or SME groups operating across several Member States. It will only be mandatory for large companies that are already in the scope of Pillar Two and indirectly familiar with it. Companies not in the scope can, under certain conditions, opt to apply BEFIT rules. This will allow them to spend less time dealing with different corporate tax systems. Honourable Members, the Commission conducted a comprehensive impact assessment report when preparing this BEFIT. The report concludes that there is significant potential for compliance cost savings for businesses up to 65 %. Having said this, the reality is that BEFIT is a unique tax system with no precedent, and data is limited, so it's hard to accurately estimate its possible impact. This is why Commission services encourage Member States and businesses to provide more granular data. Let me end by stressing once again the significance of BEFIT. It's an initial but important step towards a more integrated internal market, that makes it easier for companies to start, grow and also succeed in the EU. There will be a real long-term benefits, and it will make the EU a more attractive market to invest in. We want to make BEFIT a true success. The support from this House is key in this. Cutting red tape will be an important element of our success, so let's work together to make BEFIT a model for reducing unnecessary compliance costs and administrative burden for businesses. Let's also join forces to build momentum amongst Member States and businesses to make BEFIT a reality soon. We know that Member States are currently focusing their efforts to stabilise Pillar Two, and businesses are putting in significant efforts to be compliant with Pillar Two. We fully understand that they need time to carefully assess the rules and their impact, and we need to be patient, while at the same time keeping this file on the table at the Council.