Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to the European idea after almost 32 years of working in this house. As one of the first to come to this Parliament from behind the Iron Curtain, it is now time to say goodbye. I would like to thank all of you, all of you who have accompanied me on this journey over a shorter or longer period of time, my colleagues, my staff, the administration, all of you who have helped keep this European idea going, the services of those who work in the restaurant, who are responsible for the cleanliness of the offices that drive us from A to B, who organise the journeys, all of you - thank you very much! First and foremost, don't forget the interpreters! I will leave Parliament but carry on the European idea in my heart. I wish you all every success in this work.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear Younous! I would like to use the last two official minutes of speaking time in this House to thank you for allowing me to stand here at this last plenary session and to be your rapporteur for the future cohesion policy. I would like to thank you for the really long-standing cooperation with colleagues, with the Commission, with the Commissioner, dear Elisa, thank you very much! I would like to thank the many staff who have accompanied me in this House for years, almost 32 years, and have supported me in my work, in the secretariats of the political groups, in the committees for support. I think we have shown that it is good to have a mix of young Members of this Parliament and a little more experienced Members of this Parliament. I hope that you all have a lot of success in the further work on European cohesion policy, on European regional policy. Perhaps we will meet again at one point or another to discuss together and give new impetus to this European idea – this common idea that people here are entitled to equal living conditions, equal living conditions, that we are entitled to experience and overcome the challenges of our time with cohesion policy and that together we can make it happen that we simply become a better Europe. Thank you very much, and I wish you every success in your further work!

Madam President, Commissioner, dear Elisa, ladies and gentlemen! The eighth Cohesion Report is a first position of the European Parliament on what future European regional policy should look like after 2027. We are facing major challenges and much still needs to be discussed in detail over the next two or even three years. We do not yet know how the current funding period will be implemented at all, because it has not really started yet. We do not yet know what challenges we face with the ongoing war against Ukraine. We don't know how to deal with the energy crisis and what to do about it. We also don't know what new challenges there will be. But we are on our way to really activating cohesion policy in a modern way for the next funding period and making initial proposals. As rapporteur, I have put forward these proposals. They were adopted by the Committee on Regional Development and will be debated in plenary tomorrow. At the heart of it is that we propose that there be a new – a new – Just Transition Fund This is part of the general regulation and includes, for example, the partnership principle. It should be broader than its predecessor and accessible to regions that have industry in transition – i.e. not only coal regions, but also, for example, regions that produce steel or aluminium or other industries affected by it. Secondly: The so-called middle income trap regions to receive additional funding from the European Social Fund to give them a push to get out of stagnation and move forward. Thirdly: Rural development must be given greater importance than just agriculture. That is why we want to integrate the Rural Development Fund more into structural policy. Fourthly: The Solidarity Fund will be reformed and funds will also be made available for climate adaptation and for responding to crises caused by climate change. There is a huge need for action here. And fifthly: Climate change should be brought more into focus, even more so than it is already the case. And climate protection and climate adaptation measures should be clearly separated, so that it is really visible what can be done in which areas. However, one thing must also apply in the future: European regional policy must be usable by all, and we must make it modern and flexible, without forgetting the Treaty mandate, the cohesion policy mandate for the cohesion of the regions. European regional policy must not be reduced as an emergency reserve for emerging crises, but must really fulfil its mission. This is the task we must face in order to serve European citizens and help them to support developments in the regions. Not to forget: We also need to simplify. And that is also a very important goal.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! My group will unanimously support the proposal, the Commission's second proposal to support Ukrainian refugees here in the European Union. We want to help the cities and communities and the many volunteers and welcome the refugees from Ukraine. We want them to get support, housing, food, medical care, education and everything they need. This should be done as unbureaucratically as possible and with 100% pre-financing, and I have a request to the Member States: Please take advantage of this opportunity, which is made possible by a high level of pre-financing from the European Union, and pass the money on to the cities and municipalities that are currently working hard and doing enormous things. But they also need our financial support. That is why it is so important that we adopt the proposal today. I also have a request to the Commission or, in fact, a request to the Commission: The refugees will not be able to return in a few days or a few weeks. This means that we have to prepare ourselves for the need to support cities and municipalities, Member States and regions in the longer term. Please consider how it is possible that unused European cohesion policy funds from 2022 can also be used to support refugees seeking refuge in the European Union. And I hope that we will soon have a third CARE++ proposal on the table to discuss this together.

. – Madam President, Commissioner! First of all, I would like to take this opportunity of course to pledge my support to the Commission when it comes to proposals that we support cities and communities hosting refugees from Ukraine, from the war zone. I believe that in recent years the European Parliament has not only demonstrated that we can work quickly and flexibly when it comes to taking on new challenges. We showed this in the coronavirus pandemic when it came to adopting CRII and CRII+, when it came to inventing and formally confirming REACT-EU. This was also the case when we worked quickly to process and then adopt the Just Transition Fund. However, there are also challenges that we can only overcome together and where there is a bit of catching up at the moment. We are writing March 2022. The funding period for the European cohesion policy should actually already be working for a good year. Of course, we have been delayed in the negotiations due to the pandemic and it took us until February 2021 to adopt the trilogues. Looking back, for example, we have to say that we were not able to do a single trilogue during the Croatian Presidency in spring 2020. It was corona-related. But now – and that is why I really want to take the opportunity to appeal here – we are in the situation where very few partnership agreements, very few operational programmes have been submitted. But the regions, the cities and the municipalities, the citizens are waiting for them to be able to start with the European cohesion projects, because they are projects other than those that can be financed, for example, with the RRF. And they are waiting for us to be able to face the challenges of the Green Deal, digitalisation or improving the situation of structurally weak regions and actually implement the projects. That is why I am using the debate to appeal not only to the Commission to support the Member States in getting the programmes off the ground soon, but also to call on the Member States themselves to do their work, to submit the Partnership Agreements as soon as possible and the Operational Programmes as well. I think citizens expect this from us, and they need this support in these difficult times.