Speeches

Madam President, I think that the sceptics who say that we should not apply this programme, on the contrary, I think that it must be accelerated procedure, have not been to see in the states where people have died, have lost their homes, have lost their small businesses too many entrepreneurs. In my country, in Romania, I was on the spot, in Spain we all saw. So, Commissioner and fellow Members, tomorrow we must vote in an accelerated procedure to get this money as quickly as possible to those who have suffered these natural disasters. Of course we need more money. Of course, the European Social Fund is insufficient. We need to think next year and in the years to come about how we are getting more money, but for now we need to help these people. I have received countless letters, there are small and medium-sized enterprises that have been shattered, their business and they have also lost the guarantees they had at the bank. So we must apply this programme, and for that I believe that the Member States must also put their shoulders to the European money that we are giving. But yes, now we need to act urgently.

Madam President, I too begin by congratulating you, Mrs Ombudsman, on your ten years of work, and you have remained and remain a benchmark for courage, a great deal of tenacity and commitment in your analysis and in the work that you have done. But I want to address the Commissioner. Commissioner, you have noticed that everyone has praised the Ombudsman and criticised the Commission. You were a critic of the Commission for its lack of transparency. I hope, Commissioner, that you will convey to the President of the Commission and support the new Ombudsman at last, that she understands that both the Ombudsman and Parliament have the right, but also the obligation, to ask the Commission for explanations when it shows a lack of transparency. It is very important that we also strengthen the European Ombudsman's link with the Member States' ombudsman. You are an example, and perhaps this report of your work should reach all the ombudsmen in the 27 states, because we need a closer link. Citizens need to have a better knowledge of the Ombudsman's work and to be able to appeal because, in the end, democratically, we need this mediator.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course, we debate children's rights every year. We are now celebrating the 35th anniversary of the UN resolution, but we are not discussing what Member States are doing in terms of institutionalising children. I have concrete examples, I have petitioned, I have written letters, mothers have written letters. We have the example of Camelia Smicala in Finland, who after 5 years recovered her children, children snatched by masked people, dragged in front of their mother. We now have the case of Mihaela Seidler, in Germany, where the little girl was taken directly from school, a 7-year-old girl, and the mother was later notified that her little girl was taken away. I don't think an institution can love more than a mother. Commissioner, we must have common rules on the institutionalisation of children. Immediately the Commission washes its hands, a petition does not fall within our competence, but the rule of law does not include this, respect for the rights of the child? That is why I ask you and I ask the new Commission to have equal rules so that children are no longer torn from their mothers' arms, and after 5 years, marked by what happened to them, only then do they return to their mothers.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that nothing is more important than protecting minors, the next generation. However, Commissioner, it is not through conferences that we are solving this problem. Do we have a strategy? I repeat, to listen, not through conferences, Commissioner, we are solving this problem. Do we have a harmonised strategy in the European Union for the destruction of criminal networks? This should be the first measure, that there is no longer an offer in the European Union market, that there is no longer anyone to attract these minors. Then, a strategy to have equally high harmonised penalties in all Member States. I'm running from one state to another. Punishments... sure, justice is a national competence, but they find refuge in a country where punishments are less. Education in schools, targeted education in schools, not conferences. Who comes to conferences? Are the criminals coming, are the children coming? Are the minors coming? So if we don't do this strategy, we will always make conferences, we will always make debates and the number of children attacked by these groups will increase.

Madam President, President von der Leyen, you have a new team. I want to wish everyone good luck. I know many of them. Best of all, obviously, Roxana Mînzatu and I want you to trust her, she is a very well-trained person. Madam President, please do not repeat the mistakes of last term. Read more about the Parliament. You said here that the single market is the asset and yet we do not have the single market, the internal market, in the name of a portfolio. I recently celebrated 30 years. If this is the cornerstone of the European Union, I think we should have had a portfolio with this name. I also want to tell you about your failure: five years you have not managed to stop the internal market being fragmented, to have Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen and maybe you can succeed now, in this new mandate. You have well-trained Commissioners, you just need to implement. You're a conductor. The orchestra plays well if the conductor gives the signal. That's why I'm asking you, Commissioner, to say, as you said... (The Chair withdrew the floor of the speaker)

Madam President, Commissioner, it is very good that you have informed us about the outcome of the G20 summit, and it is very good that we have discussed a topic that we also frequently discuss here - how to combat poverty? Because, yes, globally there are populations in poverty, but also in us, in the European Union, we have from children in poverty to adults, elderly people. It's good that an agreement has been reached, but when do we apply it? About this taxation, which is controversial, some say that we must not tax wealth, others say ‘Yes, we must tax it’. I think we need social justice. I believe that we must also see how these riches are made, because very often wealth accumulates through evasion, through non-compliance with the rules and that is why we must find solutions. And you said, Commissioner, that the European Union is the biggest contributor. If it is the biggest contributor, then it must also impose some rules in the global market, in the global world, in the global economy.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course we are debating, it is an important day, the International Day for Combating Violence against Women. But are we progressing? Every year, we look at this. There are many non-governmental organizations in the country, in all states, that analyze, but are we progressing? We need not only statistics, but also measures. And here, I'm going to say three concrete ones. We must go hand in hand with uniform education to combat violence from schools in all Member States, because yes, we have freedom of movement. We must go with dedicated money for shelters, because women who suffer domestic violence have nowhere to go, at least in the newer Member States in the European Union, in the East, we do not have enough shelters and we leave them there in vain. That's why they don't even have the courage to say it. And of course we still have a problem with the level of punishment. The punishment is very small, he stays a month or two, he leaves. Women, they're exposed further. Yes, Commissioner, I would like by next year to have a statistic of what has happened to the measures we have taken to combat violence.

Madam President, Commissioner, we are not discussing a new subject. For a very long time we have noticed that we have skills gaps in the European Union. The problem is, Commissioner, if you find the right methods, if they apply. We have many programs: retraining, skills programmes, adjustment mechanisms, but what is the result? We see that we are failing to close this competence gap. Why? Education must be superimposed on the demands of the economy. We now have a reindustrialization strategy. What skills do we need? We don't just need diplomas, we need qualified personnel. SMEs – 4 out of 5 – cannot find qualified people. Other companies don't have the courage to invest either because they don't have qualified personnel. That is why, Commissioner, I hope that the new Commission will think when it invests whether it also has an investment result, namely to close this gap in competences within the European Union and between the Member States, but also in relation to the global market.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that, more than ever, we now need to fight against the centralisation of funds. We have a slogan, Commissioner: Let no one be left behind. And we want to think about everything now. (A few words you can't hear) That we have problems in smaller towns, but also in communes. Obviously we have problems, but let's think about models of targeted, direct financing, on health, on schools, on transport in that locality and, why not, on crafts, on the development of rural tourism. We have the possibility to finance directly, but for this we have to think about how to make these financings, how to help local administrations, which do not have the same administrative capacity as big cities or big capitals, but we have to go to finance directly, because otherwise rural areas, especially, are depopulated. Areas, small towns will not have and citizens do not have the same chance and it is unfair because this is the slogan of the European Union: Let no one be left behind.

Dear colleague, migration is a problem, indeed, but you said that you do not agree with what has been debated and you would have liked us to debate concretely how to make illegal migration stop and, at the same time, help those who leave for economic reasons. Tell me, what would have been or what are your views? What concrete measures do you have for the migration pact?

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about consumer protection and fair competition in the market, Commissioner. Of course, we have debated today and we are debating online commerce. We have a lot of rules, you've listed them. I ask: Can a citizen, a consumer who has purchased a product online defend himself if the product is defective, if he gets sick, if the product is not compliant? We have regulations from labelling to the right to repair products. However, in the internal market there are very many non-compliant products from third countries and – I certainly do not give you a novelty, I think – also in online trade we have products from third countries because the agreements are not well made commercially. Compliance with product standards, European standards, is not emphasized, and then the question is: how do we apply them? Customs reform – for the first time we will have a European Customs Authority. The problem is enforcement, not regulation. We are lagging behind with implementation and I think that here we need to put emphasis together with the Member States, obviously, in order to really protect consumers.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, for ten years I have been on the Committee on Transport and we have been debating the need to improve the Single European Sky. Transportation by air is extremely important. I was talking earlier at Mr Letta's report about connectivity, about free movement. Commissioner, I have four flights a week – it is not only because of weather conditions that there are delays. Delays, as you said, are also common for other reasons: Lack of organization, sitting on the tarmac waiting for you not to have a flight path. This means that we need to apply this regulation and I support it, because work has been done on it, it improves the Single European Sky, and I believe that we need reformed transport also on aviation for, of course, economic efficiency in the internal market and, why not, for the protection of passenger rights. Prices don't change when you're late, but you arrive very late at your destination and sometimes you practically miss the appointments you've scheduled.

Madam President, Commissioner, Mr Letta, I also greet you this week. I'd say a lot. First of all, congratulations: is an accurate X-ray, but not only an X-ray, there are also concrete measures. I would ask you, do you estimate how much of this report will apply? Because, behold, the new committee does not have a Commissioner, there is no portfolio for the internal market. Who is in charge of the internal market? How do we proceed with the concrete measures you have said? You said that the single market unites us; Is it a single market now? I agree that we have the fifth freedom of movement, but at least one freedom of movement is lacking now, Mr Letta. Do you know how much a country that has not been in the Schengen area for 17 years and has transport costs has lost? How much did my country's economy lose? Then, we now have, when we speak, the border restriction within the Schengen area. So we must – the whole single market, it is true, you said it unites us – but we must take measures with pragmatism that lead to results and a better life for people.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of course, we are debating on World Day for Combating Mental Illness, the possibility of having a strategy. Is that enough? No, it's not! We need to reassure citizens that we will have this strategy, and the strategy must go to the causes, not look at the effects. Prevention is very important and it is necessary to have budgets to do prevention. What are the causes? Obviously, poverty, lifestyle, isolation, bullying that starts in schools. How do we prevent these things? Sure, through targeted programs, health care. There are states that don't have enough doctors on either psychology or psychiatry. So, Commissioner, let us not remain in a debate, because citizens are tired of debating and not reaching concrete measures. Let go of a strategy and surely the Member States must also have their own strategy here. We need mental health. Data show that what is happening in the European Union with the high percentage of citizens with mental illness is already dangerous.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about ensuring decent housing throughout the European Union, especially for young people. Of course I don't want it to remain a slogan. We have to think about how we do this, because it's not enough to want. We have a commissioner on the house, it's very good. We cannot talk about demographic growth as long as young people cannot have a decent home and if they get married, they avoid having children because they cannot raise them there. So everything is connected and we have to think from the possibility of building, from the possibility of taxing construction works to the fact that a young person must have a certain income in order to be able to purchase a home. We can't talk about health, improving health. The human resource is very important because it creates the others. That is why I call, Commissioner, for it to come concretely. What kind of schedule does the Housing Commissioner come up with? Because yes, of course, it is subsidiarity, Member States also need to be concerned, but if we had a solidarity fund for housing construction, we would probably solve it faster.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I do not think anyone can think that the Republic of Moldova does not need support. It has a special year now, referendum and elections. And I think, Commissioner, you said a certain amount, more money is needed, but they need something else. I know the Republic of Moldova very well, I am in the delegation for three mandates, I know what is there, they need officials to support them and to train with officials from state institutions. You know that there are still problems in the judiciary, and Madam President, rightly so, President Maia Sandu said that she does not have enough human resources prepared for the institutions of the Republic of Moldova. So I think the European Union needs to mobilise. At the same time, an appeal to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova: we can help you, but you must mobilize, not to let the pro-Russians interfere in the elections and to choose pro-Europeans, because this is the place of the Republic of Moldova, of course, next to my country, Romania, but here and with all the support, go to vote and support the European path.

Mr President, Commissioner, I think you agree with me that an economy without industry has no future. You have just been nominated for a portfolio in the economy and I believe very strongly, Commissioner, that when a decision is made, deadlines are set for the industry, as was the case with the automotive industry, an important pillar which has 14 million jobs and has a positive balance. When a decision is made and deadlines are set, an impact assessment is carried out, but not as the Commission does, questioning a hundred people. The car industry is necessary for the European Union, but for that, I think we need to think about how we are helping the car industry to achieve what has been proposed here, and I think, Commissioner, that it is not enough just to have money. Of course we need money, but it also takes time. That is why I believe, as a man who has worked in the industry for 36 years, that it is no mistake to restore our deadlines if we believe that we are bankrupting European industry. And just as America has First America, I would be happy to have First Europe.

Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, very important words have been used here: competitiveness, innovative industry, jobs, raising living standards. I hope that next week's Council is not like that, just to tick the Draghi report and talk about competitiveness. How can we do, Commissioner, how can we do, Minister, with energy that is three times more expensive than in the United States? How can we have the same equality that was talked about here, in the single market, for which we no longer even have a portfolio? For the first time, the Commission does not have a portfolio for the Single Market, when we have a fragmented Single Market. Besides the costs we have with energy, entrepreneurs in my country also have costs with the state for hours at the border, because we are not in Schengen. Do you propose, Minister, by the end of the mandate, to discuss this issue as well, that we no longer have two spaces in the European Union, Schengen and non-Schengen? Do you propose not to introduce border controls in the countries that are now in Schengen? This is what we can talk about in order to have competitiveness, to have economic growth, to have secure jobs and, of course, to have an increase in living standards.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this is possible! If we act, we can. This Apple penalty is an example that we have to go down this path, to recover the money, tax evasion. I voted for a lot of things here: profit to be taxed at large companies, where they do it, to pursue tax havens, not to kill SMEs, because when we protect these tax evasions at large companies, obviously we no longer have, as you said, Commissioner, equal ground in the internal market. I want to congratulate the Commissioner, who managed, at the end of her mandate, to do this extremely good thing, which can also be taken so that, if you want, a prevention for others, to stop doing these things. And yes, maybe the money we are recovering now, during this period – we also have the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, we also have OLAF – from evasion, should go to, look, the people who are now suffering from calamities.

Mr President, Commissioner, first of all, let me express my condolences to the families of Romania and other Eastern countries who have lost loved ones and sympathy for those who are now standing in the water and in the rain and without homes. Commissioner, you said, among other things, that we need to make an assessment of the impact on farmers and reduce the effects of floods. I ask you, after five years, do you think that everything has been done to put into practice concrete measures to adapt to climate change? You believe that the common agricultural policy, which I have asked many times to be changed, to be fair - the farmers in my country have another subsidy - is not a common agricultural policy, and I ask you specifically, Commissioner, you have probably heard that in Romania animals, sheep, because of diseases, the answer I received from the AGRI Committee was that we do not have a vaccine, we do not have solutions. What shall we say? I'm going to meet the farmers tomorrow. Tell them what? Leave something for the next commissioner?

Mr President, Commissioner, we have discussed here and there have been pros and cons on the issue of the Hungarian card and the Schengen area. I'm not going to add anything. I will relate to what a colleague said: "the biggest conquest is the Schengen area" and on this statement I will put a question to the Commission and a question to the Minister. Commissioner, I know that it is not you who should give the answer, but this House has voted seven resolutions for my country, Romania, to be in the Schengen area. If this is the greatest conquest, then why are Romanians, millions of Romanians and Bulgarians, kept out of space? Maybe the Schengen area is safer if they come... (The President interrupted the speaker) I have a question for the Minister I just met today. Minister, all the states that have held the presidency, at least since 2014, since I have been here, have committed in plenary that yes, until the end of the mandate, Romania will be in Schengen. What can you tell us from this point of view? What can I say to the people of my country?

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I can only begin by offering my condolences to the families who have lost their lives in the countries of the East. There are 8 dead in my country. It is a disaster if one doubts the magnitude of the disaster. Look at the pictures: children who remove mud from school; soldiers, gendarmes, volunteers work to take people out on their arms. Commissioner, maybe you are listening to me, it is important not to call for solidarity, but to do it by deeds. That is why I believe that funds must be allocated immediately, not as much as we have in the budget, but as much as we need, because nothing is more important than people's lives. They can't stand in the cold, in the rain, in tents. Commissioner, and I challenge you, tell the President, let us all show solidarity. Donate your allowance for a month. We calculated and we would make 1,000 houses if we all donated the allowance for a month. People also need support through deeds and to increase confidence that we are not only debating and apologizing or praying for them here, but making concrete helpers. Not every single country will be able to cope on its own, and you must immediately give the money.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about a subject that is extremely important, because on energy, you know, Commissioner, competitiveness depends, the possibility of reindustrialisation depends and, in the end, people's lives depend. That's why I allow myself to say something from the Draghi report. Mr Draghi tells us here that Europe's fundamental values are prosperity, fairness, freedom and peace. If we take them in a row, we don't really have them, because if the cost of energy is two or three times higher in Europe than in the United States, in my country, in the east, than in the west, we don't really have the possibility of prosperity for very many citizens. We have no equity, we have no freedom, because poor people, from my point of view, cannot be free, and there is no peace. What do I think, as an engineer and former industrialist? Commissioner, the pace at which we are moving from conventional to green energy must be managed in such a way that we can invest, as Mr Mario Draghi said, to be able to change technologies. No, we're not tearing down the house until we build another one. Then, I would ask a concrete question: you said ‘50 % of carbon-free sources’; we have reached 50% of carbon-free sources, but then why is energy more expensive? And we must stop having two Europes, as Mr Macron wanted, we must have a single energy market.