Speeches

Mr President, colleagues, I absolutely want to see the full and effective application of the Medical Device Regulation, because it is extremely important for patients and for those providing their medical care to give assurance on the safety and the effectiveness of these devices. But I do not want to see a situation develop whereby there will be a shortage – or, as some fear, an unavailability – of vital products. Doctors say that they are already struggling with shortages and they are fearful that this situation will become much more serious. The slow implementation of the medical device legislation and the limited capacity of notified bodies has led to this situation. Without urgent action, this situation will only get worse and these shortages will impact on patients and on the healthcare system. So, Commissioner, I welcome your statement today that in December you’re going to bring forward clear proposals to address this situation. I would hope that this will include proposals for a targeted legislative solution that will protect those devices that are already on the market. What we need, as well, is a targeted or tailored transition period for some devices.

Madam President, I would say that COVID has really demonstrated the value of digitalisation and technologies, how important they are to our societies. We’ve seen the benefits of bringing people together, delivering services, allowing business to continue, and indeed delivering particularly our education services. But we can’t stop there. We need to do more. And I very much welcome the programme, the ‘Path to the Digital Decade’, and also the Digital Scoreboard, because I think it’s good to shine a light on individual countries and set targets and how we can improve our societies, our economies. By 2030, we want at least 80% of adults to have basic digital skills, and we must leave nobody behind. That means age, education and social background should not be a deterrent. We need to ensure that all households have gigabyte connectivity and all population areas should be covered by 5G. That’s really important. We also need to ensure that our government and our state services are delivered digitally so that we don’t leave anybody behind in this area, particularly those who are living in rural isolated areas. So the targets are there and it’s a challenge. But absolutely, as I started, COVID has demonstrated just how important this is for all our societies.

Madam President, this directive seeks to improve levels of cybersecurity across the European Union and it’s a welcome response to some of the most consequential cyberattacks which Ireland and Europe have faced in recent years, threatening our information and communications technology and supply chains. And Commissioner, as you said this morning, you’ve outlined that this is a particularly timely directive given that we’re marking 30 years of our single market, which is a key milestone for the European Union. Our digital single market is in need of protection, and this cybersecurity law will oblige more organisations and sectors to take measures and to assist in increasing the level of cybersecurity in Europe. In May 2021, the Irish health system suffered a major ransomware attack, causing all of its IT systems nationwide to shut down. It caused chaos for the systems; importantly, it was a very stressful and difficult, challenging situation for the patients. So this directive will strengthen our safeguards now and help bolster against future attacks. So this law will now protect citizens, protect businesses, and ensure that organisations protect themselves against the serious consequences of a cyberattack. And thank you to the rapporteurs for their work.

Mr President, at the world’s climate summit taking place next week or next month, it’s important that progress is made there to tackle climate change. And an international challenge such as this can only be tackled with international cooperation and collaboration. We need governments, business, the public and private sectors to be involved if we are to deliver on our targets of 1.5 degrees. It’s very important the COP27 is taking place in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, a country on a continent that is experiencing the severe impacts of climate change. Countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia have severe drought at the moment, which has led to crop failure, shortages of food and of course hunger. And the UN has predicted that more than 300 000 people in Somalia will be in famine by December of this year. So now is the time for action. I know that we will have a strong message delivered by countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia and many more nations experiencing the realities and the crisis that is climate change. Our Fit for 55 package, outlining how Europe will move to our 2020 targets, is an important message to bring. But we need more and we need leadership from Europe. We also need decisions, strong decisions taken from all players.

Mr President, in the light of the lessons learned from COVID, one of those is prevention. Prevention is at the heart of fighting health threats. But to ensure this, we must continue to strengthen our European Health Union. Prior to the COVID—19 pandemic, national health systems were fragile and unprepared for the crisis such as the one we have faced. Now we have an opportunity to look at what we did and what we did not do in the face of the pandemic, and put in place measures to strengthen EU—level protection, prevention, preparedness and response to health emergencies. The extended European Centre for Disease Control mandate approved this week reflects a very positive step towards a more resilient, safer EU. So too the strengthened European Medicines Agency and the revised mandate for the relationship with WHO. Perhaps most importantly, the pandemic shows us that when we must tackle these crises, when we do that, we must do it together. Health hazards are not restricted by borders, and coordination and collaboration among Member States was key to rolling out vaccine programmes and, in turn, saving lives. Indeed, we must continue to support our neighbours by further strengthening the framework for joint procurement. We must not let the crisis that we are currently facing take away from our mission to learn from COVID—19, particularly as we enter the winter months. We must not be complacent. COVID has not gone away and in my country, Ireland, we have had reports this week of increased levels of hospitalisation due to COVID-19.

Madam President, a common charger for portable electronic products is a good news story. Why? Because it is a practical intervention by the European Union that empowers consumers while also doing something positive for the environment by reducing electronic waste and indeed the pressure on scarce sustainable resources. Having so many different types of chargers for our various devices is, as we know, very frustrating for consumers and it isn’t good for the environment. Consumers are always at the end of the line. They have felt frustration. Now today is a positive moment for them, where they can know they can have one single charger for frequently used small and medium portable electronic devices. Charging speeds will be harmonised for devices that support fast charging, and buyers can choose whether to purchase new devices with or without a charging device. So it’s an important development. It’s been 10 years in the making and I thank all those who have brought us to this point. It’s also an important element for our single market. The objectives of this directive would not be achieved if Member States were acting alone. That would lead to different requirements in each Member State, again making it frustrating for our consumers, but now the barriers in the single market are being reduced – administrative barriers for manufacturers, which of course will help the competitiveness of European industries. But most importantly, today is a very good day for the consumers, for European consumers, who know that they need one charger for all those small portable electronic devices.

Madam President, SMEs are the backbone, and it’s a term that we’ve used, but they actually are the backbone in our cities, towns and villages in all our communities, and it shouldn’t be overlooked, the vital role that they also provide in services to the large firms and multinationals in our sectors as well, and to their employees. They’re a really important part of our industrial and our commercial ecosystem. We all know them. They are the businesses that are innovative, that are flexible, that are responding to the needs of the communities and the markets where they operate. These businesses, many of them family businesses, have come through a very difficult time following COVID. They did receive support in my country through wage subsidies, COVID loans, grants, rate reliefs, but now at this time, they are facing a very difficult situation, a challenging situation where many of them may have to cease trading. And that is in light of the energy situation, the large bills that they are facing and the uncertainty around that. So they need help. They need support, they need direct support, and they also need support in accessing funding. And there’ll be many calls on how we can support small businesses throughout Europe. One I would call for is digitalisation. That is so important, particularly to access our single market. We need to have more emphasis on digitalisation in this area.

Mr President, I want to thank Axel Voss and the chair of the committee for bringing us to this point. We look forward to dealing with the regulation on artificial intelligence. ‘What is it and what is it about’ is a topic that has so many answers and so many approaches, but it does have so many potential benefits for our societies, for our economy and for development. Climate can be addressed there, and how we can help to meet our green targets and green ambitions, how to make more efficient decisions based on high—quality inputs. In agriculture, again, efficient approaches measuring inputs to maximise outputs, improving levels and quality of food production. In health we have seen the benefits in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, and also in appropriate care and treatments for patients. So we’ve seen much activity in areas such as the DSA and the DMA – and thanks to the Commissioner for leadership in that area – and they regulate current practices. Now we move to the opportunity to shape AI and its future so we can use it in the way that we want, which is trustworthy, if we are to gain citizens’ confidence. We need human oversight with transparency and strong regulatory bodies. We need clear standards for a human—centred approach to AI that is based on our core European ethical standards. We don’t want to stop AI, we want to use it and harnesses it for its enormous potential. Investment from public to encourage private sector in artificial intelligence needs to be encouraged. We need to send a message that Europe is a place to invest, to innovate and to know that you can do so with legal certainty, to know that there is a regulation in place in Europe that applies across the Union. The proposed AI regulation will put Europe at the forefront internationally in the area of artificial intelligence. We’d be the first to regulate it and other nations will follow. So we have done so with our leadership before and we can now do it again. So the proposed legislation would be future—proofed, which I think is really important, with the ability to react so that we’re not always coming from behind, but we are prepared to deal with this very important technology as it evolves.

Madam President, at the outset I would like to thank our rapporteur, Mr Hojsík, for his cooperation and for bringing us all together. And we have, I hope, a balanced report tomorrow that will get the approval of this House, as persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, are carbon-based compounds that remain in the environment for a long time, toxic organic compounds, and because of their very slow breakdown properties, they’re known as ‘forever chemicals’. They can be transported long distance, cross-border, by air, by water, ending up in the food chain and ultimately accumulating in human tissue. They can be passed from one generation to the next, even if they are no longer required or used, they still persist in our environment. And one of the risks of POPs is that whilst they are no longer required, they can still be present in waste streams such as construction waste, packaging and plastics, electronic waste, among others. No country or Union can manage these elements unless we have cooperation internationally, so it’s essential for the Aarhus Protocol, the Stockholm Convention, to find the restrictions necessary for such pollutants. These revisions that we have today will seek to minimise, eliminate where possible, the releases of these POPs – well, I think they should be consistently called persistent organic pollutants – and to regulate the waste containing or contaminated by such chemicals. And I believe that this ambitious proposal will contribute to better management of these toxic wastes and to their removal or to their destruction. The objective of my work and that of my colleagues I know has always been to protect human health and the environment from these polluting substances. And I believe that we are going a long way to doing that here. So this report attempts to strike a balance with our Green Deal ambitions relating to toxic-free material cycles, recycling and circularity and reducing greenhouse emissions. So I’d encourage us all to support this tomorrow and to give us the mandate to move forward to the trilogues.

Mr President, as we discuss mental health it is so important that we take time to reflect on the Ukrainian people at this time and the horrendous experiences that they’re going through, experiences that will leave them both young and old, severely traumatised. And I say to the Commissioner: you’ve outlined how we can help in this area through effective strategies that require political leadership, coordination and cooperation across organisations and, of course, sufficient resources to implement these strategies. We must be aware that these people will suffer for years to come. And, of course this year, 2022, is the European Year of Youth. And our young people, I believe, have had an enormous burden to bear over the last number of years, and their mental health most definitely has suffered: lack of engagement and socialising with their peers, gaps in their education that some may never be able to fill or get the opportunity to close, unemployment at a time when they should be advancing and building experiences and isolation that nobody should ever have to suffer at a time when they most need engagement and interaction for social development. We must be prepared for the impact of this amongst our young people, some who may have had difficulties previously that would have been accentuated during COVID and others find themselves unable to cope now in this new world to them. So we must support them, keep them to the fore and recognise that, as one of our previous speakers has said, we know the solutions and we need now to engage and support.

Madam President, this week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted that we need to reduce emissions now across all sectors. We need to make the ambitions of the circular economy a reality. That means ensuring that products last longer and can be repaired. Consumers, of course, want to be empowered to make decisions based on the environmental and the overall cost of a product. We've all experienced the frustrating scenarios whereby the spare parts are not available or they are too expensive and the recommendation is to buy a new item, where the screen or the battery of our phone or iPad or electronic product can’t be replaced and, again, the advice is to purchase a new product. It's frustrating, it's costly and, in today's environmentally challenged world, it’s not good enough. And there is a demand from consumers, we all know of the polling, such reports like this we have from numerous results; they want more information when purchasing – information on the durability, the ability to repair and the environmental impact of the production, use and disposal of the product. And these questions can and they will be addressed, through the supply chains, more innovative design and the wide availability of spare parts, similar items to local repair businesses. But this won't happen without effective legislation and now, following the closing of Commission’s public consultation, we look forward to that legislation and the introduction of the right to repair over the coming months.

Madam President, this act will unlock the potential of data. It is so important to do so, but we must also protect individual rights and that’s the balance that this act will facilitate. We need to establish structures within which you can share data, both personal and non—personal. Data has a real value and not just a monetary value, but a value in that it can solve problems and the challenges in medicine, in health care, in industry, in tackling climate change and in delivering better and more effective public services. And trust is so important – trust from our citizens that their identities would be protected and that the data will be used in an effort to further enhance society’s needs. And that trust will come from the legal certainty that this act brings, from the Data Innovation Board and the safe transfer of data across borders. Make data sharing easier and remove the silos, and make it available to individual sectors. As a member of the recent BECA Committee, that recently produced its report on the healthcare area and on tackling cancer, the need to have access to data and to share data in a de-anonymised fashion came up time and time again, and that’s reflected in the report. So, this is a positive step for that sector, and I think it’s an act that we can all be proud of.

Mr President, we need to ensure that toys sold in the EU are safe and they’re manufactured to strict standards. We need to prevent illegal, counterfeit and dangerous products being offered for sale online and in our retail outlets. The Toy Safety Directive in place attempts to do this, but an evaluation report considered that it does have shortcomings, particularly when it comes to health and safety objectives. So we cannot ignore these findings and we need to ensure that the current directive is revised. We need better surveillance and oversight of the market to make sure that only safe and EU-certified toys circulate in the EU. It’s concerning, the amount of unsafe and counterfeit toys that are circulating. It’s not good enough and we need to do more. Online marketplaces need to play a stronger role. They need to know the business that they’re engaging with. They need to ensure that all the products that they sell are safe. We need more cooperation also in our Member States to coordinate surveillance, to share information and to equip competent authorities with the resources they need to do an effective job: both human, financial and technical resources. We can use technologies such as artificial intelligence, that are evolving, to provide greater detection. Connected toys can create new vulnerabilities and pose a risk to children’s safety, their privacy and, importantly, their mental health. So we need to introduce safety mechanisms to protect our children. And I welcome the fact that we look forward to a revision of this directive to ensure that our children are safe when they play with their toys.

Madam President, the fundamental objective of the EU’s external actions is to advance democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedom across the world. In this, our annual report, we look at how we fulfil that obligation. We look at the advances and the deterioration in human rights and outline how we can improve and where we need to improve our actions. To this point, the report calls for the EU and its Member States to better coordinate their efforts to work together with like-minded parties such as the US and the UN. Europe must lead by example in promoting and protecting human rights. We can do this through dialogue, through trade and development policies, by supporting democratic institutions and supporting free and fair elections and protecting human rights defenders and journalists. We must be more creative in the use of all tools in different areas and with the use of qualified majority voting when it comes to human rights. We see the pandemic has had a disproportionate and negative impact on some areas and particularly the most vulnerable have been hit hardest and/or women and girls. So it is critically important that we continue to support and demand recognition of the rights of women and girls globally. Unfortunately, our annual report outlines deep concerns – obstacles to human rights and freedom have happened in 2021 and as the High Commissioner has outlined, again starting in 2022. We need to continue to raise the flag, to act, to support and to give voice to human rights violations.

Madam President, from COVID-19, the EU has proven that it can work as a collective in coordinating and collaborating when it comes to providing healthcare services, and we can do the same when it comes to dealing with cancer. We can share information, we can develop a code against cancer, developing standards that are for all across Europe, regardless of your address. Prevention can and does reduce the incidence of cancer, and we can all learn from the recommendations in this report. Today is International Childhood Cancer Day, and it’s so appropriate that in this report we outline how we can work for better treatments and care for children, for adolescents and for young adults who are fighting cancer. We can collaborate with healthcare professionals, researchers from academia and industry and patient representatives from across Europe to help those young people. And when these young people recover from cancer, we want to assure them that their battle with cancer is over when their doctor says that they are recovered and that they won’t face obstacles in the workplace or when trying to access financial products. We want to see the right to be forgotten in place for all cancer survivors in Europe. This is a plan supported by EUR 4 billion. The challenge for us all now, for here in this Parliament, for the Council and importantly, as you know Commissioner, is to make this plan happen.

Mr President, the growth of digital services and their companies has been phenomenal. Nobody could have predicted 20 years ago, when the e-commerce directive was put in place, that such services and providers would have become so widespread in their presence, that literally they are household names on a worldwide basis. Whilst these new rules we are discussing today are focused on controlling and providing more oversight and laying down what can and cannot happen, it is important, I think, to recognise and to acknowledge the enormous benefit for consumers, for business, for general communication. But there is also a very real concern about the enormous power and influence that these companies have, the concern that illegal goods and services are promoted, concern about the circulation of illegal content, concern regarding manipulation, concern regarding the misuse of personal data, and major concern that all of these issues can occur without any form of redress. This legislation will change that. With today’s vote, we will move to make the online space a safer place for consumers. Consumers purchasing online will know that there are checks in place to ensure compliance with EU consumer protection rules. They will know that they will not be exposed to illegal content. They will know that fundamental rights are protected. And they will also know that there was more oversight and that they will have more information as regards to how and where their data is being used and who is pitching advertising to them. They will also know that they can turn off those ads. For small companies who want to avail of the single market and want to trade in a digital way, they will now know that there can be a level playing field for them and that they are not competing with illegal content, and that they can focus their advertising to those who want to know of their products and their services. It is important too for these companies that there would be an EU approach to this, that the providers of these services will know that there is one set of rules for the 27 Member States. European law for European services to those citizens. So today, as our rapporteur has said, we are going to take back control and I look forward to the next stage of the process.

Mr President, Commissioners, I would like to thank Andreas Schwab and his fellow shadows for bringing us to this point. We want to make our markets more open, more fair and more contestable, for businesses and for consumers. And that means, that those defined as gatekeepers due to their strong presence in the single market cannot abuse that dominant position they now hold. They cannot favour their own products or services over those of their dependent users. Then they cannot keep data relevant for those users and use it to compete against them. For businesses dependent on these large platforms, they can now operate in a fair environment, allowing them to compete and in turn provide more choice for our consumers. And of course, innovation can now flourish not just with the gatekeepers, but with so many of the EU European companies that we need to encourage. I welcome the fact that regulatory dialogue has been included in the proposal. I think that’s important, we must recognize that some very valuable products and services are available from these gatekeepers. And we must ensure that there aren’t negative consequences of our actions. But scrutiny is very important, and I look forward to following the trialogues and the next steps.

Mr President, the deal agreed in Glasgow is not perfect. Compromises never are, but it is a positive step forward, so much better than no deal, and the next COP27 will bring further opportunities. The targeted reduction in fossil fuel usage and increased funding for developing countries are really welcome, and to quote Alok Sharma, the President of COP, we have action on ‘coal, cash, cars and trees’. It kept the Paris Climate Agreement alive, and we now have a pathway to reducing climate impact and keeping global warming to less than 1.5 degrees; that is, to protect the lives and the livelihoods of those that are on the frontline of climate change. There won’t be immediate changes, but we will influence how government action will transfer into real changes and we do need to change. Standing still is not an option. We will see fundamental changes in how we live, how we operate and how we consume. And we need to bring people with us. Communication is going to be so important on this journey and we need to listen. Otherwise, there will be difficult times ahead for us in implementing the challenges of reducing our climate impact on our economies and our lives and on our livelihoods.

Mr President, those who survive cancer must not be punished twice. Insurance companies or banks should not deny cancer survivors who have beaten the disease access to financial services such as mortgages, or ask for additional and higher insurance premiums. Cancer survivors deserve the right to be forgotten. We must ensure that the right to be forgotten for cancer survivors is embedded into EU legislation to prevent discrimination and to improve the access of cancer survivors to financial services. It is time for Europe to act on this issue and resolve it once and for all so that European cancer survivors, no matter their postcode, are not discriminated against.

Mr President, my thanks to the rapporteur and our team for bringing us to this point today, which is a revision of the Motor Insurance Directive last revised in 2019, and that was a major advancement allowing EU residents to travel anywhere in the EU without the need for further insurance. So it’s a very important measure today for the single market, for provision of services, for those offering business across the European Union and for our constituents, for consumers and for citizens across Europe. The most important is the protection of victims in the case of an accident and today is an important day for those victims. This revision will be welcomed by consumers that are protected in the event of the insurer becoming insolvent. Member States now have to make sure that a body is in place to deal with such cases. A very important consumer protection measure and that compensation will now come from the Member States and those Member states will pursue the insurer. A previous speaker mentioned Setanta Insurance Company and the situation that occurred in Ireland. Those who were insured at the time with that company were asked to go to their solicitors to pursue their claims. That no longer will be the case now. Also, for uninsured victims, or uninsured vehicles or untraceable vehicleswill now not be a burden for victims, as Member States would have to create the funds to compensate those victims. And when moving around, across borders, citizens can bring their no claims bonus with them, and that’s very much to be welcomed. E-scooters, Segways, E-bikes are outside the scope of this Motor Insurance Directive now, and I welcome that. I think it’s a practical, common sense measure. There’s no EU requirement now to have motor insurance for these items, but it is a matter for the Member States, and I would urge them to take it up. There are concerns from citizens, but that can best be done locally in the Member States and I would encourage them to do so.

Madam President, the UN Human Rights Council has been mentioned here and it made a very important statement recently, recognising that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right. We all know that there’s a very strong correlation between environment and human health. Emissions from the vehicles we drive, particulate matter in our air, pollutants in our drinking water, pollutants in our soil, hazardous chemicals, noise, all have an effect on our health, the health of our citizens. Climate change, heatwaves, floods, changes in the distribution of our airborne diseases and how they are distributed have an effect on our health, and some of our citizens are more vulnerable than others, as we know – the elderly, young people and those with underlying conditions. The Aarhus Convention recently was another very positive step – and we agreed it in this Parliament – for allowing individuals and NGOs the right to information on their environment and importantly, the right of access to courts. Science will provide us with the solutions on how to solve the effect that human activities are having on our environment. We need to invest in science and we need to follow the science.

Madam President, I thank the rapporteur for their report. We are all well aware of the prevalence of cyberattacks now and their potential implications, and the digitalisation of our economy and cybersecurity, they need to be developed in tandem. The data economy can only flourish when we have full trust and confidence in our products, our applications and our infrastructure and we need to do what we can to guarantee that. Cyberattacks may also include disinformation and attempts to interfere with our electoral processes, and those who attack our critical infrastructure of our society also attack our society and our way of life. So EU values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law are now under threat. So we need to look forward and to develop a strong cybersecurity roadmap in the interests of consumer well—being, protecting our critical services and safeguarding our businesses and our economies. It’s important that all interconnected infrastructure and products in the EU are secure by design, that they’re resilient to cyber incidents and they can be quickly fixed when vulnerabilities are discovered. They’re the practical implications, and we need to have a better coordination between our governments, since cybersecurity to a large extent can be a national competence, but there is a cross—border element there. So to help achieve this, we should strengthen the role of the European Network and Information Security Agency. And we need to end fragmented approach in our national laws on cybersecurity, for infrastructure and for connected products and services.