Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, first of all I would like to thank the citizens of the Republic of Moldova for the proof of solidarity they have given, as have the citizens of my country, Romania, Poland, Hungary. It is clear that macro-financial assistance must be made but, Commissioner, it resulted from today's debates that these amounts were established before the war and obviously now the Republic of Moldova needs a bigger and more consistent aid, especially in the grants part, because yes, the credits will have to be given back. That's why I'd like to ask you two things. Firstly, to discuss in the Commission the possibility of increasing grants and, secondly, to bring forward the first tranche to go faster, maybe in May, because now the citizens who have opened their homes, after all, need help, and we know well that the Republic of Moldova had a problem anyway in terms of jobs, in terms of income per capita. So my call is to help the Republic of Moldova, but to help it as much as we have to and when we have to.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, any non-tariff barrier affects and strikes the smallest, in fact, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Any non-tariff barrier in any Member State affects the entire internal market. That is why, of course, I agree, Commissioner, yes, we have a new reindustrialisation strategy, we have a new strategy for SMEs, but it is essential to identify these barriers which, in fact, do not bring money to the budget, neither to the budget of the European Union nor to national budgets because, indirectly, they undermine the activity of businesses. And yes, I am glad that you have identified 24 restrictions in 13 sectors. There are still sectors where you can identify concrete restrictions, because this is how we have to go. It is good that we have a task force, SMET, but I believe that it must not only identify, but also come up with solutions when it identifies something in the market. And in the end, we have a few things that I really care about. I come from the private sector. For example, recognition of qualifications is an impediment to labour mobility. Cross-border procurement for SMEs is a problem and we must recognise it. I hope that with this change and with this proposal of ours we will be able to have a better Single Market.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course, we have a directive on the safety of toys, but it turns out that we need to change it, Commissioner, and you will get a very good text. Congratulations to all the colleagues who contributed to this proposal! The safety of toys, of course, for children is extremely important and it is hilarious that in the current directive we have a limit: there are no chemicals in toys for children up to 36 months, as if at 37 months they could not become intoxicated. And then, of course, it has been said here, we have problems with endocrine disruptors, which are not even covered by the current directive, and yes, if a study were to be carried out, we might find that we have children who have endocrine disorders, perhaps also because of toys, and we must, Commissioner, think very carefully about how we can achieve the same quality standard for toys entering the internal market from third countries. I was a customs reporter. We have a new customs union since last year. We need to have the same reporting model, the same process of checking toys. And yes, last but not least, we also have a grey market, a black market for toys, and here solutions must be found and the solution must be for all 27 states. I hope we will vote on this tomorrow!

Madam President, Commissioner, in the context in which we live, when, in many cities in Europe, citizens are on the streets, I could only choose the subject of human rights, and yes, also the rights of the child. Commissioner, I do not think that the European institutions can be happy and I do not think that they can be satisfied with the level of compliance with what we regulate. We have regulations related to human rights, we have regulations related to children's rights, but they are blatantly violated and here we are! Commissioner, I think this is a time when we all need to reflect on how we can implement what we are regulating, and I will give you one example. During the pandemic - and colleagues have spoken here - many states have disproportionately restricted, violated the regulation we voted here, and from the point of view of children's rights, children have started to be abducted by state institutions, as happened with children from Romania, Finland, Sweden, now Denmark, arrested parents. I don't think there's more love than motherly love, and I think you need to review, see what happens to these institutions and what happens to human rights. I had a minister of justice in my country who said this: ‘Human rights are a luxury’. I hope that the European Union does not adopt this dictum.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, tonight's debate shows that regulations have lagged behind technology and it was time to come up with a regulation of the online environment, and I congratulate you, Commissioner, on your proposal. Congratulations to the coordinator of this report. There are hundreds of amendments. We have to think here that it's not just about money. It's about people's lives. It is about the fact that through illegal content, through false identity, it leads to the misappropriation of fair trials, criminal trials. It's about children's lives. That's why I think voting on this new regulation for sure is a step. Not everything is solved, but we can greatly improve consumer protection from illegal content, we can also protect the right and access, because very often we are blocked without being justified why. We do not want this report to actually deprive citizens of the right to expression, but we want it to be a correctness in the content that is put. And very little has been said about copyright and related rights. With this report we can also protect copyright because very often they are used without rewarding the real authors. I want to tell you that as Vice-President I have talked to a lot of consumers and this is the result, I have to .... (The Chair interrupted the speaker).

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today I believe that we are voting on a very important report and I want to thank the Committee on Budgetary Control for entrusting me with this report. This is the resolution amending the regulation on the financial rules applicable to the budget of the European Union. In private life, we have learned that it is not enough to have a budget, it is very important how we spend it and, behold, the report started from the existing situation and from the audit that the Committee on Budgetary Control carried out in September 2021. What's going on? We currently have reporting and control and audit systems in different Member States, more than 250 systems. It is very important to synchronize them, to have the same reporting system. It is very important to increase transparency, because everything started from the idea of knowing the final beneficiary of European funds. On several occasions, we, the European Parliament, have asked the European Commission to tell us which are the top 50 final beneficiaries for all European funds, from the CAP to regional development funds, and this has not been achieved. With this proposal of ours with 41 points, I succeeded and I want to thank all the parliamentary groups for accepting the points I put forward as rapporteur. We have no amendments, but I urge you to vote on this report. Why? We ask the Commission, first of all, to amend the regulation and come up with concrete proposals through which we can find out how European funds go to the final beneficiary, because there is now in all Member States, through intermediaries, money that reaches and concentrates on certain very large companies and we are widowing small and medium-sized enterprises. We made a very clear statement there, that whoever owns at least 15% of a large company should submit to this control. Of course, it is incomprehensible why, when OLAF discovers at a company that it is not spending European money properly, why it is not blacklisted. We ask the Commission to think about this, not to be able to access other European funds. I believe that it is very important for today's vote to lead, and we ask the Commission as soon as possible after today's vote, to think about how it amends this regulation because for us and for the citizens, after all, it is very important to spend European money efficiently, and we will not be able to know this if there is no transparency.

Madam President, Commissioner, I believe that no one questions the need for an agreement between the European Union and the United States. I had a failure, from my point of view, with TTIP, I hope we don't get to the same point and I hope we learn from what happened in the TTIP negotiation. In fact, what I still see as unclear today is the harmonisation of standards, the abandonment of the principle to which the United States is very fond, ‘Buy America’. Basically, we, the European Union market, as vice-president of the internal market, say that we need the agreement with the United States. At the same time, we need fairness, we need similarity, we need the support of SMEs, and I am glad that it has been said here that you will take this into account. But I want to know what the next steps are and how you see the work with the European Parliament, because I believe that we cannot just rely on what you are discussing there not taking decisions and when, what the deadline is and what are the steps we are taking to reach such an agreement.

Mr President, Commissioner, the pandemic crisis of almost two years, of course, has done a lot of damage to the economy, but the worst is that it has caused a lot of human casualties and could have saved a lot of people, at least, I know and know very well, in my country, in Romania. There's no coherent strategy, we don't have drugs. It is not right and it is not right and it is not humane for chronic patients not to have access to hospitals, not to exist for cancer, for oncological treatment. And yet, even now, after the second year, we don't have antiviral drugs, we don't have prevention, we don't have testing, we don't have isolation. It's all on the vaccine. Do we still have a single market? No, it's fragmented. Do workers still have the right to work? No, because, directly or indirectly, they are forbidden to be present at the workplace, although the regulation we voted here clearly says: Member States should not use this Regulation as a mandatory vaccine. The Commission is going - and I am asking in this way - to carry out a country-by-country investigation. What about citizens' rights, workers' rights, free movement of citizens?

Madam President, Commissioner, I would first of all like to congratulate you on your ambition and your work. That is why I hope that this report of ours, which has been waiting for five years and, in fact, it is not us who are waiting, but the citizens, because, in the end, the money that is taken to tax havens impoverishes millions of citizens; Few become rich and many become poor. And yes, this country-by-country reporting solves. It's a first step. We solve transparency from a profit point of view: where the profit is made, there to pay tax. Obviously, it was said and I support, we still have steps to take, but I think that now, if we manage to carry it out, we will solve a good part of the inequity that now exists in the internal market of the European Union regarding the way in which the tax is paid by large companies, multinationals in relation to SMEs. The little ones pay right, the big ones don't. That is why I want to thank all the colleagues who participated in this report and to ask you, Commissioner, to support the move forward. We still have steps to take. There are still tax havens that are not yet resolved by this report.

Madam President, Commissioner, I believe that tonight's topic has been discussed before. Without freedom of the press and freedom of expression, we cannot say that we have a democracy. But we all know that in the crisis the pressure on the press is even greater, and here we are, two years ago, since we are in this crisis of the pandemic, if you analyze state by state, you will see that many journalists have suffered. They are not allowed to express, for example, and show to the citizens - because in the end the press informs the citizens - cases of illness or certain documentaries, documentary films from specialists coming from other states. It is an example from my country and we have to say, yes, there is subsidiarity, the Member States have regulated the functioning of the press through institutions like we have the National Audiovisual Council, but fines are given every day, every week, to abandon. That means "fist in the mouth" and I believe, Commissioner, that we, Parliament, have now done our duty. I think it is appropriate to come up with a proposal for a unitary regulation at European Union level because, after all, journalism is done cross-border.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are, I think, in a first-of-its-kind situation: a member state - and here we are not talking about the internal policy of Poland, but we must talk about the policy of the European Union -, a member state of the European Union now has on its border a human war, after all. We know, not since yesterday, that Lukashenko has a certain policy. We must take, Commissioner, and I would like you, in your reply, to tell us what steps have been taken. European citizens are worried. Security is the responsibility of the European institutions. We have a health crisis, we have an economic crisis, now there's a crisis - no, I wouldn't call it a migration crisis, it's a war with a human shield. Commissioner, I have learned that prevention is more important and faster and has no effect than repair. What did I do to prevent this fire from appearing? He couldn't have come at once. How did these people get there? I, as a diplomat and MEP, am connected and corrected and controlled at all borders. I have now entered Germany, and although I did boardingThey once again checked all my documents. How did these people get to the Polish border? The number one priority, Commissioner, is to defend the borders of the European Union, and therefore not only of Poland, of the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, today's debate is of particular importance for the citizens of the European Union, because, after all, it has a great deal to do with citizens' lives. Of course, it has been a long way, it has been said here, to debate the amendment of Directive 2009/103 on its efficiency and coherence. The European Commission itself has identified four points that we, in the work done and in the outcome of the trialogue, have covered. These are the minimum amounts insured, the compensation of the injured parties following an accident in case of insolvency. There are many cases, I have even recently a case, in my country, of an insolvent insurance company and citizens cannot recover their money. It is also about consumer protection. Obviously, the use of claims history statements - it is very important that when a company becomes insolvent, with the help of this data history, it can be taken over by another company and not suffer, in the end, the injured party or the citizen who was involved in an accident. Of course, I want, in addition to these four areas, liability in the event of an accident involving a trailer towed by a vehicle to be included in the future directive by way of amendment. There are many accidents in such cases. It is obvious that for the functioning of the insurance system it is necessary to have a transmission of data, an integrated system in the European Union, in order for the Member States to be able to transmit their information. The same checks should be carried out on all vehicles, without discrimination, because, after all, they must have the same driving conditions. Of course, it is important to ensure that people involved, injured or involved in an accident get their money back quickly. Insurance undertakings should treat an attestation from another Member State in the same way as they treat a domestic attestation, foreigners should not be treated differently. That is why, Commissioner, I hope that, nevertheless, the directive will build on the work done here in Parliament and on the outcome of the trilogue, and we will have a directive that serves ... (The Chair withdrew the floor of the speaker)

Madam President, Commissioner, we are in a real energy crisis on the brink of winter. You cannot take measures to close, as happened in my country, the Hunedoara Energy Complex without having alternative measures. Utilities are not a luxury for citizens, they are natural necessities, we learned this from Maslow. We cannot have millions of citizens who, now, in my country and in other states, cannot pay their bills, cannot pay their energy and heating, and entire families will be in the cold this winter. That is why, Commissioner, you must recognise that urgent action must be taken because the energy strategy has failed, and we must have action now, not in a month, not in two. We need to understand that the transition to green energy must be made at the rate at which alternative energy can be provided. Otherwise, we are mocking citizens and it is impossible not to think about the health and life of citizens, but also about the economy, because, of course, SMEs are suffering and will not be able to pay their bills. I am waiting for your answer to give us the concrete measures you want to take.

Commissioner, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let me first express my sympathy to the victims in Cuba and say that yes, solidarity must not be within the national borders of a state or of the European Union, solidarity must not have a political colour. But we need to look at what we, the European Union, could do about what is happening in Latin America, in Cuba - here is this resolution, coming after another resolution of 10 June 2021. I agree with what was said in the resolution. The problem is that it does not end with some means and measures that we could take, which we have, after all, based on the status of the European Union, as possibilities for intervention. I will never agree to make this embargo against a particular state and the citizens suffer - in addition to the bad things done by the dictatorial governments of that state - to suffer also through this trade embargo. That is why we need to think about how to make a political negotiation, as far as our status allows, and help the citizens of Cuba. I would no longer like the double standard and I think this resolution is unprepared, I think we had to discuss the situation in all the states of Latin America and have solutions already, and then make resolutions, because it does not help us to come up with resolutions after resolutions without having concrete measures. I believe that the same must be done within the European Union, because, unfortunately, we also have breaches of the rule of law in the Member States of the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, as Vice-President of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, I am very pleased that today we are debating an extremely important subject, namely building materials, the lack of building materials, and I congratulate the Commission, and I congratulate you, Commissioner, on the fact that you mentioned in your speech that we have this plan for reindustrialisation, for the industrialisation of the European Union since May, and we also have the plan for scarce raw materials. This includes raw materials and building materials. After all, it is important for us to take into account, and when I say we think of the Commission, obviously Parliament and the Council, the fact that these scarce raw materials, which we now import from third countries, must be produced in the internal market, we must think that we also have a regulation related to the conditions for harmonising quality standards, because we cannot help but think of consumer protection, even of the final consumer, the citizen. We know that we have a backlog here, we also had a resolution – I was rapporteur on this year’s resolution of 10 March 2021 – where, I think we can integrate it, Commissioner, into the programmes you mentioned. I believe very much that we need raw materials and innovative materials also in this area, but let's not forget that these innovative materials must also be subject to quality standards. Obviously, here the national authorities have their responsibility to control the materials and I recall, on this occasion, that since March this year, the customs regulation has come into operation and I would like to see a verification of the materials coming on the value chain from third countries, because we have non-harmonisation problems and I think that for SMEs in the European Union it is really a problem if we do not supervise the internal market. I hope that the implementation of the industrialisation programme of the European Union together with that plan for scarce raw materials will succeed in creating this value chain and quality control of construction materials.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, protecting the budget of the European Union is an essential obligation of all European and national institutions. After all, the European Union budget means citizens' money and that is why it must be protected, but let us not forget that the European Commission has the lever, Commissioner, and that is why I believe that the Commission must monitor breaches of the principles of the rule of law in all Member States according to the same indicators and make a qualitative, objective, impartial, fair assessment that takes into account relevant information from that state. And of course we have to protect the final beneficiaries. If officials in a state violate the principles of the rule of law, the final beneficiaries must not suffer and citizens must not suffer. In cases of corruption, nepotism, systematic fraud, conflicts of interest, the Commission needs to analyse case by case in a transparent manner and see if payments can be continued. I support the establishment of an effective online one-stop shop where citizens can report cases of fraud and the Commission comes before Parliament at least twice a year to report to us.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we are analysing a very important report. The European Investment Bank, as we know, is of particular importance in financing, especially now, after the pandemic crisis. However, I must express my dissatisfaction and I am surprised that the President of the EIB, in his speech, has shown that he is satisfied with how much he has financed SMEs, or in the report it is very clear that out of the total financing fund only 40% has been allocated to SMEs, and we have 98% SMEs in the European Union. So, Mr President, I support increasing capital so that we have adequate capital at the EIB, but, please, focus more on SMEs, on those that have the least resistance to the crisis, and we also need to see how we can increase the pace with the guarantee fund because the pace is very slow. We have more than a year in which SMEs, HoReCa, tourism are suffering and only the first funds were approved at the end of 2020. I would also like to stress that I believe that the EIB needs to review its lending policy in the field of transport. We all know how important transport is as a component in the cost of products, as important for tourism, as important in the Green Deal. That is why I hope that in 2021 we will have adequate funds for this area of transport. I cannot help but say that we have not achieved what we are all hoping for through investment, namely the elimination of major imbalances. We still have regions and states where social cohesion has not been achieved, and I hope, Commissioner, that you will explain to us how you think the response has been coordinated, when we know well that each country, in this year of pandemic, has acted differently in terms of access to the internal market.