Speeches

Thank you very much. Point taken. Although it was not exactly a point of order according to the rules, but was anyhow very important. So we do take note of this.

Madam President, the Conference on the Future of Europe, which began under the Portuguese Presidency and closes on 9 May, was a very important exercise in participatory democracy and now it is the duty of the European political institutions to take its conclusions seriously. Citizens have made it clear. They asked us for a Europe that is more faithful to its values, closer, more democratic and more participatory, a Europe that is more social, more supportive and fairer, with less poverty and less inequality, and a stronger and more efficient Europe, with less blockage in its decision-making processes. Some of the proposals require an ever-complex revision of the treaties and must be discussed in the proper place, which is a Convention. But many others can and should move forward now, exploiting the potential available in the Lisbon Treaty and enshrining progressive reforms for a Europe that lives up to voters' expectations. That is what the citizens are asking us to do. That is what we must do without delay.

I recognise the efforts made by the rapporteur to address the issue: the concerns of smaller and medium-sized countries. But the real problem is that the mechanism proposed doesn’t solve the issue because inside even the group of medium-sized countries, of course there is a difference between those who have more population than the others. So the eligible seats will tend to go more to the countries with more population, even inside the group of the medium-sized countries. So, in the end, it remains unfair and it changes the representation of our population, of our citizens here in the European Parliament.

Mr President, the reform of the European electoral law proposed by our colleague Domènec Ruiz Devesa goes far beyond transnational lists, has many positive aspects and deserves our vote in favour. But not all proposals are so good as they might seem, and that’s the case of transnational lists. First, it would be an artificial democratic exercise to ask electors to choose between lists of foreign politicians that they simply do not know. Secondly, in a single EU-wide constituency, the eligible seats will always stand to benefit those countries with more population to the prejudice of others, no matter what safeguard mechanisms we can invent. And, thirdly, it would be absolutely misleading to create the illusion of a direct election of the President of the Commission, when we all know that the rules of the Treaty of Lisbon will remain in place, meaning that the President will be elected by secret ballot in this Chamber and under proposal of the Council. Nevertheless, as I said, the proposal as many positive aspects and as a whole, it will deserve our support. (The speaker agreed to respond to a blue-card speech)

We have already exceeded the time set for this debate. We're going to have to end our debate here. I would like to thank Mr Borrell for his cooperation and valuable presence. This Question Time is over. We shall now move to the next item on our agenda.

The next item is Question Time with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell. The topic is the EU’s security and strategic compass. I hope you can respect the topic chosen for this Question Time. Before I recall the rules, I would just like to welcome Josep Borrell to our plenary for this Question Time session.

I would remind you that we are in this sitting testing some of the recommendations of the think tank for a reform of Parliament, and one of the points is precisely the reintroduction of Question Time to the Commission. Question Time with the Vice-President will last around 60 minutes. It follows the model of the questions to the Commission that we have just used in the dialogue with the President of the Commission. Therefore, questions are not assigned to Members in advance and therefore those who wish to ask a question should register their request now by using the catch-the-eye function in their voting machine after, of course, they have inserted their voting card. There will be 1 minute to ask a question, 2 minutes for the answer, and then 30 seconds for a supplementary question, followed by 2 minutes for the final answer. These instructions have been made available in the Chamber. I would remind you that seats are free, with the exception of the first two rows which are allocated to heads of cabinet and heads of political groups. During Question Time, speaking time will be held from each speaker's seat in this Chamber and I invite all speakers to respect the allocated speaking time. Colleagues may need a few moments to record requests for questions via their voting machines. I therefore ask you again to submit your requests now and we will start immediately with the first question. I shall therefore start by giving the floor to our colleague Mr Vandenkendelaere from the PPE Group. You have the floor.

Good afternoon to all and everyone. I shall start with the procedure for approving the minutes of yesterday's sitting. Those minutes and the texts adopted have already been distributed. I wonder if there is any observation. Failing that, the minutes were approved.

The next item is the debate on the report by Ms Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, on behalf of the Committee on Development and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, on the EU Gender Action Plan III (2021/2003(INI)) (A9-0025/2022). I would like to remind Members that there will be no catch-the-eye procedures or blue card questions as usual.

In fact Robert Biedroń was the first man to ask for the floor in this debate and we have only two male Members of this Chamber in our lists of speakers for this evening.

The next item on our agenda is the topical debate under Rule 162 on ‘One Youth, One Europe’ (2022/2534(RSP)). I would like to remind the Honourable Members that in all the debates of this part-session there will be no catch-the-eye procedure and no blue card questions. In addition, remote interventions are also planned from the European Parliament Liaison Offices in the Member States. I would also like to remind you that the speeches in the Chamber will continue to be made from the central rostrum and, therefore, I invite you to follow the list of speakers and to approach the rostrum at the appropriate time.

The next item is the debate on the report by Christel Schaldemose, on behalf of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (COM(2020)0825 - C9-0418/2020 - 2020/0361(COD)) (A9-0356/2021). I would remind you that there will be no catch-the-eye procedure or blue card questions, as throughout the session, and that remote interventions are planned from our liaison offices in the Member States. Interventions in this debate will, as usual, be made from the central rostrum. I should like to congratulate the Commissioner.

MEP Roberta Metsola obtained an absolute majority of the votes cast and is the new President of the European Parliament. I would like to congratulate our colleague, Mrs Metsola, on her election and wish her every success in the exercise of her mandate. I invite the new President Roberta Metsola to take over the presidency of our work.

I have important information to give to this house of European democracy. The result of the votes for the position of President of the European Parliament is now available and is as follows: Voting Members 690 Blank or zero votes 74 Votes cast 616 Absolute majority 309 The votes were cast as follows: Roberta Metsola 458 votes Alice Kuhnke 101 votes Sira Rego 57 votes (Strong and prolonged applause)

We will now proceed with the election of the President, in accordance with the provisions of our Rules of Procedure and the instructions and modalities that everyone has received. I would like to remind you that, under Rule 16(1) of the Rules of Procedure, in order to be elected, a candidate must obtain - in the first three ballots - an absolute majority of the votes cast. Blank or null votes shall not be considered as votes cast. Since this is a secret ballot, only the names of the Members who took part in the votes will appear in the minutes. I declare the vote open until 10.15. The results will be communicated at 11 a.m. (The sitting adjourned at 9.32 a.m.)

The candidates for the position of President are presented. It will resume at 9.30 with the opening of the first ballot. (The sitting adjourned at 9.25 a.m.)

Following the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 January 2022, the elections of the President, Vice-Presidents and Quaestors of the European Parliament will be organised in a remote format, in accordance with the instructions and modalities that everyone received by email on 12 January 2022. The candidates for the office of President were announced at yesterday's sitting, but I must inform you that Mr Złotowski has informed the interim President that he is withdrawing his candidacy for the office of President. Therefore, the candidates for the post of President of the European Parliament are now: Alice Kuhnke - Roberta Metsola - Sira Rego All candidates confirmed that the applications were submitted with their agreement. Before starting the vote, I would like to give the floor for a brief speech to each candidate. Each will have 5 minutes. Let's do it in alphabetical order.

The sitting will resume tomorrow, Tuesday 18 January at 9 a.m. with the aforementioned presentation of the candidates for the election as Chair. The sitting is closed. (The sitting closed at 8 p.m.)