Speeches

The overwhelming majority of the Council members were outraged by the anti-LGBTIQ law Orbán introduced in Hungary. Rightfully so. Orbán has crossed redlines before but that was a new low. I welcome the response by most heads of state and government but it should not stop here. The Council needs to trigger Article 7 against this Hungarian Government. All legal means should be applied in order to show Orbán that he has gone too far. We are a Union of values whether Orbán likes it or not. He does not want to listen to reason, he therefore must face the consequences. The Hungarian anti-LGBTIQ law goes against everything the European Union stands for. When you are a member of the EU, you sign up to our values. It is not an ‘a la carte’ menu. We need to stand up against the deteriorating situation of LGBTIQ-rights in Hungary. We have to take action and hold the Hungarian Government accountable. This is about protecting what is most precious, the freedom of our people.

Mr President! Let me start by congratulating the rapporteurs, because the Net Zero Industry Act is a good step in the right direction. The rules of the game have changed in the new global world order, where our green European industry is fighting for market share with American and not least Chinese protectionism. Europe's green transition lacks funding, and if we want a Europe that is competitive on green technologies in ten years' time, then we need to act now. That is why, in addition to the Net Zero Industry Act, we need a long-term investment plan to help the industry transition. A plan to protect the internal market from distorted state aid. A plan to support Member States' national implementation of our entire Fit for 55 package through a money-for-reform approach. There is not much time to waste here, so I would urge the Commission – the next Commission – to deliver, also in terms of funding. So let us use what we are adopting today as a lever to ensure also an ambitious investment plan going forward.

Mr President! The electricity market reform that we will adopt later today is a big win for consumers, for green investors and for our climate goals. The reform provides better opportunities for the expansion of offshore wind on, for example, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, which have huge potentials, and it will contribute decisively to, for example, Denmark's ambitions to become what might be called Europe's wind sheikh – a nation that exports green power to the rest of Europe. It is important that we avoid fragmenting cooperation, that we strengthen cross-border cooperation, that we facilitate access to renewable energy, and that we create the framework for scaling up this expansion of offshore wind energy in general. The so-called "Transmission Access Guarantees" are an incredibly important prerequisite for enabling so-called hybrids in the entire expansion of offshore wind, and that is part of what the proposal here today contains. Of course, all this must be implemented quickly in the Member States, so that we can all benefit from the reform we are now adopting. Today is a good day for the climate and the green transition.

Mr President! We must achieve our goal of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, and we must stop financing Putin's attack on Ukraine. In fact, we can do both by adopting and implementing the building directive we are discussing here tonight. According to new calculations, the EPBD could save Europe between 21 and 44 billion cubic metres of gas per year. By comparison, total gas imports from Russia in 2023 were around 43 billion cubic metres of gas. In cash, this is equivalent to around DKK 80 billion, which the EU provides Russia's kris economy a year. The Buildings Directive is the quick way to stop sponsoring Putin's warfare while achieving our climate goals. So there's actually nothing to worry about. We are now creating the tools by adopting the EPBD tomorrow, and then it is up to the Member States to see and implement it. The sooner, the better!

Mr President! I think there is every reason to welcome the Commission's 2040 target. It is good to reduce emissions by at least 90%. It is good that the EU is at the forefront in this area. It helps inspire us, the United States, China and other continents. For the high ambitions they drive us to do everything in our power to become climate neutral by 2050. And, of course, it is crucial that these targets are implemented in the Member States. Implementation is essential for us to be able to expand with renewable energy and increase energy efficiency. I also think we need to think in new directions in relation to a pan-European economic instrument for green investments, which the Member States could get a share of if everything we have adopted in this house had been fully implemented. It could be a new positive narrative for citizens, authorities and businesses across Europe, so that we can have a common interest in implementing legislation so that we can live up to our climate goals. It's urgent.

Madam President! It is a great pleasure to be here today to discuss a report on geothermal energy. It was not a given thing that we could get it done, but we have succeeded, and we should be happy about that, because there are so many positive elements and consequences and perspectives in this form of energy. And it has been completely overlooked, and it is therefore good that we have it on the agenda. With geothermal energy, we can increase our independence from Russian gas. It's persistent, it's constant, it's accessible, low impact on the environment, minimal use of land, it's easy to integrate into the landscape, so "what's not to like?" as the English would say. Let's get started. Investments are needed. Modernisation of district heating systems, access to data and faster permitting for this promising form of energy are needed. This report today is a huge step forward for the dissemination of geothermal energy, so let us call on the Commission, in the next term of office – whoever the Commissioner may be – to really boost this. This is the right way to go in terms of climate change and independence from Putin's gas.

Mr. President! We in the European Parliament had the opportunity, among other things, to meet representatives of small island states at the Dubai Summit and they could tell us, in all their horrors, how their societies are simply disappearing. How rising sea levels are causing incredible damage to their communities, and they are undergoing some really fiercely difficult reflections because climate change is as fierce as it is. It was a difficult COP. However, there is every reason to rejoice at some of the positive things that happened. For example, we must now move away from fossil fuels, we must triple the amount of renewable energy, we must double energy efficiency. So it is in many ways positive things that succeeded in the final phase, not least through strong EU action. But it also highlights the importance of delivering. We owe it to the small, fragile island states. We owe it to our children. It is urgent to fight climate change. Let us make sure that this summit was the start of the phase-out of fossil fuels.

Madam President! We are looking into a new worldview, a new world order, geopolitically, security-politically and indeed also industrially, and this requires us to react from the European side, and this Net Zero Industry Act is a good example of this, and there are plenty of good measures in what we have on the table today, such as the whole issue of permits, so-called 'permittings'. And a very concrete example of why it is important is what is happening in the European wind industry, in the European wind sector. If we are going to have such a thing in just 10 or 20 years, well, it requires that we put in and do something like what is set out in this agenda. We must avoid unfair competition from China. We must not make the same mistakes as we have made in the past by being overly dependent on suppliers and individual countries. It requires an even greater European independence and that we formulate a smart green European industrial policy so that we also have green production in Europe in ten years' time. The Net-Zero Industry Act is a good answer to that.

Madam President! The world is heading for catastrophic temperature rises, which is why it is of course an incredibly important climate summit that we are looking into. How extreme weather phenomena are unfortunately becoming everyday, and where research indicates that water levels will rise for hundreds of years to come, so it is the question of the extent of the disaster that we are discussing now. This climate summit is incredibly important because now is what we are discussing, how to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement. This, of course, requires a higher pace. This is known as the "loss and damage find". It is incredibly important that we triple the share of renewable energy, that we double the amount of energy efficiency and that we phase out fossil fuels. We have a lot to be proud of from the European side, but it is incredibly important that we from the European side, by the way, now sit down in order to persuade Chinese, Indian, Americans to follow up on this, so that we reach the goal of the Paris Agreement, and to be able to fight the climate change that threatens the planet's future.

Mr President! The annual progress report on our European Energy Union is an important tool in the fight against climate change and our dependence on fossil fuels and, not least, Putin's gas. The bad news is that 2023 is set to be the warmest year ever measured on Earth. The good news is that we know what it takes to fight climate change. We need more renewable energy in our grid. More energy efficiency is needed. We need to speed up the green transition. We know what it takes, but we lack the will to do what is necessary. We must have ambitions in the building directive we are negotiating. We must ensure a common European electricity grid that can integrate more green power from wind turbines at sea and on land. This requires enormous investment, transparency and predictability, and a helping hand for an ailing European wind industry. We need to stop fossil fuel subsidies. So let us take the necessary and ambitious decisions to be taken for the remainder of the parliamentary term.

Mr President! A journey through Europe, starting in Lisbon and ending in Tallinn, takes about 44 hours by car across the European continent. Such a journey is possible without stopping and showing passports at a single border because of our Schengen cooperation. It has created a sense of freedom and cohesion, which is, of course, at the heart of our European project. But the increased freedom also means that we must be good at protecting our external borders, which is why, among other things, this new regulation makes it harder to forge Schengen visas. This should make it easier for Denmark – and Austria in general – to stop their border controls, and it should make it easier for the Council to stop blocking Romania and Bulgaria from joining Schengen. Schengen gives us freedom, it gives us security, it gives us prosperity, but it can only be preserved if we work actively to preserve it. So I welcome the new regulation on the table here and, at the same time, I would also like to call on the Commission to ensure that it maintains EU legislation in this area.

Mr. President! We have again received a highly alarming IPCC report underlining the disastrous consequences of extreme weather events. Natural and human systems are being pushed beyond their ability to adapt, and the report reports on influences so profound that it is already too late to reverse. And that only underlines the need for faster action to reduce our emissions and, not least, to increase our energy efficiency. We can and must do something about this, and at a faster pace than we have managed to do so far. After all, it is good that we in this house this week have managed to adopt key parts of the Fit for 55 legislative package. But there is a responsibility on all of us to keep that pace for the rest of this mandate, because there is plenty we can do to speed it up. We can and must use these results to inspire countries outside the European Union to create momentum. There will be a climate summit in November. We need to use those results, and we need to use the high ambitions and more commitment from the fact that time is actually running out.

Madam President! Buildings account for 40% of European energy consumption. Energy efficient buildings are therefore crucial for combating climate change. And after Putin's vile attacks on innocent people in Ukraine, it is even more urgent to free Europe from Putin's gas. When we vote tomorrow on something as technical as a building directive, we are not just voting for the green. We are also voting against the dictator Putin. Experts say we can save as much as 47 billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year in our buildings if we vote for the position we have adopted in the Energy Committee. This is equivalent to 30% of the gas we imported from Russia before the war. We need to reach our climate goals. We must stop sponsoring Putin's war by helping citizens to energy renovate their homes. The Building Directive is a test of how serious we are about European energy security, citizens' energy bills and, not least, climate change. I hope for a large majority tomorrow.

Madam President! Organised fraud and humbug cost us €5.4 billion in 2021, according to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, EPPO. And it is, after all, a monstrous amount of money, which only shows the importance of having a European Public Prosecutor's Office dedicated to detecting cross-border fraud. There is every reason to increase the budget of the prosecution service and extend its powers. Organised cross-border crime is constantly growing and European cooperation simply needs to keep up. Crime should not be worth it. Unfortunately, countries such as Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Ireland and my own country, Denmark, do not participate in EPPO cooperation around the European Public Prosecutor's Office. And it only serves to make life easier for criminal fraudsters. That is why I call on these Member States to join the EPPO as soon as possible. If we are to secure Europe effectively against cross-border crime, everyone must participate wholeheartedly in cooperation. Thank you.

Madam President! We need much more green electricity in Europe and we need to become much better at saving energy. We must do so in order to achieve our climate goals, and we must do so in order to free ourselves from Putin's iron grip on European energy supply. And in this way, renewable energy and energy efficiency have become security policies from the top shelf, and therefore we need faster permits to be able to build out. There are plenty of people who would like to start building on the North Sea and on the Baltic Sea. There are investors and consortia who stand and trip to get started, and it requires permissions to be able to build out. That's why it's good to go-to areas. It is important to say that "go-to areas" should not mean that everything else is "no-go-to areas". Time limits are good, so these are good things we are doing here today and we can do even more. So let today also be the start for us to negotiate a really good building directive, in order to save energy and free ourselves from Putin's gas. It's a good day. These are important steps in the green transition.

Madam President! The energy crisis that we are in the middle of shows very clearly how much we need a genuine internal energy market, precisely in order to reduce our dependence and to increase our energy security. Europe is already perhaps the largest connected market with more than 400 interconnectors. However, the Member States have much more to do in order to achieve the 70% target that we jointly agreed in the last mandate. May I remind you that we adopted the Electricity Market Regulation in the last mandate, where the ambition was that 70% of existing capacity could be used to exchange energy across borders. We have a long way to go before we are where we need to be. May I remind you that the European Energy Agency, ACER, which we also chose to strengthen in the last term of office, would indeed like to have the muscles to enforce this objective. And their reports show very clearly that the Member States are reluctant to open their borders with regard to the exchange of electricity. And that's bad. We need more enforcement of the rules that we have already adopted. In addition to the obvious need to invest large sums in relation to getting more interconnectors etc. It remains that we can only do this together. We need to step up cooperation and increase cross-border cooperation in order to have a single market. We need to boost offshore energy, as the Commissioner also says. We need to get hold of this with permits, because it will all give us lower prices and greater security, and thus also the integration of renewable energy. It's all about getting started.

Mr. President! Climate change is raging, and Putin's attacks on Ukraine show us that we can no longer or must no longer rely on Putin's gas. This is why the development of renewable energy is so important. It has now become a security policy. And yes, the production of renewable energy is local, and it can thus be made independent of Putin's gas, but we need to do it faster than we do today. It is good to have even higher ambitions in the directive, because there is huge potential in Europe. In the offshore wind sector, Europe is the world leader. We should be able to keep calling ourselves that, but this requires that we do not let the Chinese outperform us in this important industry, and it all requires faster permits to build out renewable energy – that is, at sea and, to a large extent, on land – because in this way we can become independent of Putin’s gas and at the same time fight climate change. It can only be too slow.

Mr President! Putin's attack on Ukraine challenges us all, demands common answers and demands solidarity among member states. And the grotesque thing is that we Europeans have basically sponsored the building of Putin's war machine for decades by buying his gas. It has to end and it has to end now. That's why yesterday was a good day. And I would like to acknowledge the fine proposals that were put on the table yesterday, all of which clearly point in the right direction, namely to get rid of Putin's gas. It can only be too slow. It requires higher speed, it requires more green power at sea, and it requires more green power on land and on the sun. And then we come back to the starting point: the issue of permits. Therefore, it was incredibly gratifying and is gratifying that we can now really work to bring down the deadlines that make it possible for us to produce all the green power that makes it possible for us to become truly independent. Now we have to deliver. It makes great demands on all of us, even in this house.

Madam President! The war in Ukraine has been started by Putin, but basically paid for by ourselves, because we have become accustomed to using Russian gas. Not just last year, but for decades. In this way, we in Europe are almost like drug addicts who have to go to rehab now. I'm old enough to remember the oil crisis back in 1973, when I remember playing football on the streets of Copenhagen without cars, without traffic. We need the same power of action today. What do you need? We need to save energy – in industry and in our buildings – from lowering the temperatures in our living rooms to perhaps putting on an extra sweater. And we should do big campaigns to make citizens aware of the big benefits of saving energy. We need to build with renewable energy. We have to do that at sea. We will do this on land with wind and sun. Because what is new is that these energy sources are in Europe's strategic interest. The point is that we can if we want to! We need to prepare for Putin to shut down the gas today or maybe tomorrow. From the Renew Group, we look forward to working with the European Commission to make ourselves independent from Putin. And it can only be too slow! The Council of Ministers should also take part in this. And we need to be ready here in the European Parliament to deliver faster and higher targets for the green transition. It's urgent!

Mr President, let me start out by saying that, from Renew Europe’s side, we are quite happy with the Commission’s proposal on Joint European action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy that was communicated this afternoon. I think it is fair to say that Renew Europe is happy to repower Europe. We still need to go through the text in detail, but I think we all find that the Commission is sending a strong message in the very right direction, namely addressing the urgency swiftly with concrete measures. We all know that the European Union relies heavily on Russia for about 40% of our gas demands and that 27% of extra—EU crude oil imports come from Russia. It is also clear to all of us that this can no longer be the case. In the past two weeks we have been forced to re-evaluate, adapt and react but, most importantly, to find a way to protect the EU and prevent future crises. We welcome these short and medium-term plans with the aim to be independent from Russian gas, and we want to work with the Commission in order to see also a concrete 10-year plan for Europe to achieve full security of energy supply, diversification and independence, by working both on demand and on supply. We are happy to see this materialising now. I think it’s important to say that we all need to support these efforts and this House has a very important role to play, obviously, in endorsing the Fit for 55 Package and speeding up this work, in raising these ambitions that are on the table right now. Obviously, Member States and Council would have to agree to this as well, which is not a given still. Let me finally further emphasise the important issue of permitting, and the Commission touched upon it very well. I think we all need to address this very efficiently, and we are looking forward to the Commission’s recommendations, but we need more concrete measures on this in order to tackle it and to facilitate the deployment of renewables. We are happy to work with you, Commissioner.

Madam President! Thank you, colleagues, thank you, Commissioner Simpson. Thank you for the debate tonight. I am pleased that there has been such broad support, such broad political grounding, for this important issue. Because it is incredibly important that there really is a broad-based ownership to it by turbo-boosting the expansion of offshore wind. A few comments from the debate: I think the Commissioner is quite right in describing the fact that the EU is indeed the world leader in this area, that it is a 'powerhouse'. And I think it is important that we also underline the industrial perspectives associated with this in terms of job creation in Europe, if we continue to hold on to the benefits that we really do have in this area. But it does require us to act. It requires that we not just rest on our laurels. Much needs to be done, I think the Commissioner said. I would like to do that for my words as well. Then it was a common feature of the debate that the pace should be up, that we simply need to increase our ambitions if we are to live up to our own action plans and strategies in this area. That means, then, that we must now concentrate on implementing into legislation all the words and remarks that have fallen here this evening and that the report expresses. May I add, incidentally, that I also think that many of the rapporteurs had a very good grasp of the comments on the subject of autonomy, that if we succeed in building out renewable energy at the pace we would like, then we will increase our autonomy. Then we will be independent of the sheikhs in the Middle East and Putin's iron grip on using energy as a weapon. So what's not to like? It's about getting started. Let's expand with renewable energy. Let us increase energy efficiency. This makes Europe more independent from the outside world, when in this way we can reduce imports from third countries. And finally: I look forward to implementing the strategy. It's urgent.

Madam President! Offshore wind is key to achieving our climate goals. If we are to achieve our climate goals in any way, it requires more renewable energy - much more. In fact, we're so busy, it's hard to believe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has told us that it is urgent and that, even if all countries' climate pledges are met, global emissions will still rise more than the Paris Agreement requires. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has told us that there is a path to climate neutrality by 2050. But that path is narrow, and for every day that goes by without action, it gets harder, and the path gets narrower. We simply need to raise our climate ambitions. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are crucial in the green transition. We need to roll out all available, clean and efficient technologies as soon as possible, not least offshore wind. The potential is huge. We have good conditions in Europe. In fact, Europe and European companies are world leaders in offshore wind. These years we see energy islands being turned from desks and science fiction plans into concrete action. We like to say in my country, Denmark - I like to brag about the world's first energy islands - now they make us in Belgium rank stubborn. It's a good race because we're busy if we're going to make it. The report we are discussing this evening has three main areas. First of all, infrastructure. The infrastructure needs to be expanded and improved to take into account the increased production of green electricity at sea and inland. The infrastructure challenges also require Member States to step up their cooperation in planning and expanding offshore wind, not to mention across borders. Secondly, we need a well-functioning electricity market in the EU - a genuine internal market. We don't have that today. Here we can see that the exchange of electricity is stalling across national borders. We'll need to look at market design to make sure developers have the right incentives to build out in a hurry. Finally, thirdly, we have the incredibly difficult, complicated issue of permits. It simply takes too long today, and if we do not do it differently and faster, then we will not get there. Quite simply. I think it can be said that what has brought us here will not take us where we want to be by 2030. That is why the report proposes the introduction of time limits in relation to the granting of permits. That is, when all documents had to be filed, one could imagine a back edge, a time limit, so that developers know what they are dealing with. It was perhaps the most difficult part of the report to get the important and sensitive part in place. I'm glad I succeeded. The maritime plans, the so-called MSPs, must be coordinated with the national energy and climate plans of the Member States so that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing and to avoid delays in everything related to permits. Let me conclude by thanking the rapporteurs from the political groups. I would like to say that it has been a pleasure to work with all the groups on such an important issue. I look forward to the debate here one late evening in Strasbourg and I look forward to implementing the strategy with you.

Mr President! First of all, I think it is important to say that it is incredibly important that we discuss the state of the Energy Union here in Parliament once a year in order, like taking stock of this incredibly important project. And, of course, it is gratifying to see how, for the first time, renewable energy surpassed fossil fuels as the most important energy source in Europe in 2020. On the other hand, it is rather sad to see that the EU's dependence on external energy imports is increasing. Indeed, it was precisely the opposite that was intended to create the Energy Union, namely that we should become independent and free from Putin's gas and the Sheikhs' oil from the Middle East. And how do we do that? Yes, of course we do this by expanding renewable energy even faster than we have managed to do so far. And, of course, we're doing it by being even better at saving energy than we've been able to do so far. What does it require? It requires permits to expand with sun and with wind. We see how difficult it is all over Europe to obtain the necessary permits to build out by wind, whether on land or at sea. We see how the Member States are holding back when it comes to implementing what we have already adopted. Especially in terms of energy efficiency. We need to get better at that. Finally, we must ensure that we have a real internal market in which electricity can also flow freely and across national borders. It doesn't do that today. In this way, we can create a real energy union.

Mr President! The day after the Glasgow Climate Summit ended, the BBC brought a story that the air in India's capital Delhi is so polluted that schoolchildren must stay home indefinitely. Imagine that children can't go to school because the air around them is so dangerous to health. It shows something about the challenge we face. And frankly, that makes it almost incomprehensible that countries like China and India, in the final phase of the summit, oppose a real phase-out of coal and instead talk about phasing it down. Glasgow also leaves a mixed impression in many ways. It is fine to complete the so-called ‘rule book’ from Paris, which gives us a chance to limit warming to one and a half degrees Celsius – a chance! For the first time, we are talking about moving away from coal. But that we can't agree to phase it out, and instead call it phase down, that's sad. So yes, there was important progress in Glasgow. It is a good thing that countries are already coming forward next year with new and hopefully more ambitious plans for how they will deliver on the climate target. I think there is every reason to commend Europe's role in what happened in Glasgow. I think it was a great effort, showing that Europe is ready to take responsibility, because it is not possible for there to be a growing gap between ambition and reality, between promises and what is delivered on. It's not gonna work. And that makes demands on ourselves in this house. We have to deliver, also on "fit for 55".

Mr President! The United Nations has recently calculated that even if all countries' current climate promises were met, global emissions would still rise, corresponding to temperatures rising by as much as 2.7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. And that's catastrophic. Nothing less. Reducing global emissions to zero by 2050 is the only way forward. But it's too slow. We simply need to raise our climate ambitions. Renewable energy, energy efficiency, this is crucial in the green transition. We need to roll out all available, clean and efficient technologies as soon as possible. And here in the European Parliament, we have a huge task ahead of us in implementing the European Green Deal. It can only be too slow, and the climate must and must be mainstreamed into all EU policies. Ladies and gentlemen, the Glasgow Climate Summit is the most important climate summit in recent times. This is where we can and should raise our ambitions. And this is where the EU really has to take the lead.