Speeches

Mr President! The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a major European achievement, because it is also promoting the necessary investments for the digital and green transformation that we need so urgently. The war in Europe and the energy crisis must not endanger these investments, because we in Europe want to become independent of dictators and fossil energy. And no, despite the positive points of REPowerEU, it makes no sense to use the new chapter in the RRF plans to waste taxpayers' money and put money into long-term fossil projects. In the case of the new investments, we must maintain the integrity of the emissions trading system and precisely not generate financial resources through the auctioning of additional pollution certificates. A long-term carbon price signal is particularly important in these times of crisis for the ecological-social transformation, for decarbonisation, for a future of Europe in which sustainability and competitiveness of companies merge. (The speaker agreed to respond to an intervention under the blue card procedure)

Mr President! In space, there is the Wild West. What we don't have there is space traffic management, although that's obvious. The war in Europe demonstrates the importance of a strong satellite system for global exchange. At the same time, we have new industrial trends and a strong commercial use of space. As a result, the challenges for management and sustainability have risen enormously. An EU space law with a view to a uniform global regulation must now meet these challenges. And that also raises the question: What measures does the Commission plan to take during this period? For many years, satellites and debris have been gathering in orbit, we are sending high technology into space, into space, which burns up after functional end or remains there. However, sustainability in the space sector is possible, see Hubble telescope. That is why it is now so important that very concrete measures are presented by the Commission on sustainability in the aerospace industry, restoration and life extension through design plus research funding. This is because European industry now needs answers to these open questions about its competitiveness.

Madam President, The future of green industrial policy should be shaped in Europe. Energy security and energy affordability, that is the topic of these days for small and medium-sized enterprises, for industry, for start-ups and for crafts. It is about competitiveness and survival, about many, many jobs and about the lives of many people in Europe. This is precisely why we need a strategy for European industry that will continue to function in the long term in the coming years and decades. This means: sustainable and sustainable, in line with the Green Deal and without fossil and nuclear energy. Nuclear energy in the form of small modular reactors has not become part of the EU industrial strategy. That's what we decided together. In times of war in Europe, when a nuclear power plant is being shelled, we know all the more: Only sustainable and efficient energy supply makes us independent and competitive in Europe in the long term. We call for climate protection agreements, i.e. Carbon Contracts for Difference, to support industry, and also the supply of batteries and semiconductors to industry will be crucial for Europe, see forthcoming Chips Act. We need investments in digital infrastructure, and we also need critical raw materials for pushing green technologies. But it is an illusion to assume that mining for critical raw materials can be 100% sustainable. We must therefore also establish a functioning recycling market. Resource efficiency, research and innovation will be important for the substitution of critical raw materials, and this must include a law on critical raw materials in Europe. The future of green industrial policy lies in Europe. Therefore: Let's go!

Mr President! The EU taxonomy now has the chance to become a true EU gold standard, a bar par excellence for sustainable investment. We need a taxonomy that is really credible, a label that shows: Where it is sustainable, it is also sustainable. Nuclear power and fossil energy are not sustainable. Every euro spent on electricity and gas consolidates structures that we do not want in the long term, and we are lacking in sun, wind and water. In times of war in Europe, we see all the more clearly in which mess natural gas and atom bring us. The nuclear power plants in the midst of the crisis areas are enormously dangerous, and Putin uses the gas supply as a political instrument against Europe. We do not want dependence on energy imports from Russia, neither on fossil gas, nor on uranium, nor on nuclear fuel rods. What we want is massive investments in renewable energy and financial markets that really have an appetite to support the energy transition with credible standards. Therefore, it can only mean: Yes to a taxonomy without nuclear and fossil energy.

Mr President! Gas storage could become the political buzzword of 2022. Gas storage levels in Europe are historically low, Putin is waging a war of aggression against Europe, and while Gazprom is throttling gas supplies, gas prices are exploding. It is clear: First, we must become independent of Russian natural gas. This means that the EU Member States need to diversify their supply chains – and not just Germany – with a clear view of human rights. And secondly, the goal is to become independent of natural gas and gas imports at all – in order to achieve our Paris climate targets. This is the only way to protect Europe's citizens and industry from exploding gas prices. We need to invest heavily in renewable energy and energy efficiency. We need the Green Deal now. Every single solar cell, every single wind turbine means energy security, geostrategic independence and decisive action against energy poverty. In the long term, the best gas storage facilities in Europe are not the ones that are filled, but the ones that no longer exist because of a successful energy transition – with 100% renewable energy instead of fossil energy. And this is exactly what we have to do here in the European Parliament.

Madam President, They now deliver new images of horror. For many, many years, China has been committing massive human rights violations against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities as well as Tibetans. The EU, the Member States and European companies must now draw the consequences, because human rights are universal and not a private matter for China. Consequences are a clear designation of human rights violations, a new EU sanctions package and further action by the Council, G7 and G20 Member States. We do not want products from Chinese forced labour in Europe, nor do we want products from Chinese companies that have been forced to produce. As a consequence, companies such as BASF and VW have a clear mandate to withdraw from Xinjiang, as well as an increasing decoupling of Europe from the Chinese market. European industry needs to review its supply chains and find new ways not to rely on raw materials from China. We now need to take this into account in the EU industrial and raw materials strategy. In no other city in Europe do so many Uighurs live as in Munich, where I come from. We cannot and must not tolerate human rights violations in Xinjiang in Europe.

Mr President! This is about something big today: the EU climate package, the “” package. Achieving the Paris climate goals is vital to our planet's survival. And in times of war in Europe, we still need energy security and a massive expansion of renewable energies. We need a green European pact with industry. The pricing of emissions of imported goods and a carbon offset in parallel with the collection of free pollution certificates is a positive incentive for change, for decarbonisation. We are calling for climate protection agreements in order to get new technologies off the ground as quickly as possible. And it is clear: A transformation of the economy can only take place in a socially just manner with a just transition. The Social Climate Fund is now investing structurally and directly in energy and mobility poverty, where it is particularly hurting people in Europe and especially when the emissions trading system is extended to the buildings and transport sectors. Climate justice, green industrial policy and social justice must go hand in hand. Only in this way can we achieve the best for the climate and the people of Europe.

Madam President, Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine makes the green transformation of European industry more urgent than ever. Of course, this also has implications for research and innovation, for the Horizon Europe work programme and for international cooperation. The shift away from fossil and nuclear energy – a green industrial strategy – is now, of course, also an urgent geopolitical mandate. We need to focus on new industrial production technologies, on circular economy, on recycling technology, also to respond to the need for critical raw materials. We now want to support the production of semiconductors in Europe with the European Chips Act, and the USA now also wants to do so with the US Chips Act. This is precisely why we need research and innovation cooperation forums such as the TTC, with the explicit direct involvement of the European Parliament, Commissioner Gabriel, in order to promote a competitive EU semiconductor industry. Only in the best possible cooperation can we achieve strategic autonomy for the EU with a sustainable and competitive industrial policy.

Madam President, Putin's attack on Ukraine is once again a particularly drastic reminder of how problematic the supply of energy and raw materials in Europe can be. This makes substitution and a circular economy with functioning markets for recycled critical raw materials all the more urgent in Europe. The battery regulation is now an important step in the right direction. The right to repair, sustainability criteria, battery due diligence, the value chain with a clear view of social and environmental standards and a mandatory share for recycled raw materials such as lithium are a real success in the European Parliament’s call, and critical raw materials can contribute to reducing greenhouse gases in green technologies. We all know the much-discussed example of electric vehicles, which of course also need batteries with lithium. The Battery Regulation will now help us to develop alternatives to the increasing environmentally harmful extraction of raw materials in Europe. A European industry with green production technologies, embedded in a circular economy, is possible, and a circular economy is the order of the day from an industrial policy point of view, from a climate and environmental policy point of view and now also from a geopolitical point of view in view of the war in Europe.

Mr President! The EU needs a new energy policy. After Putin's brutal attack on Ukraine, including the nuclear reactors, this is more urgent than ever. People suffer from high energy prices, and companies worry about their competitiveness, about their existence. Ultimately, we want Europe to be completely independent from imports of fossil fuels. Such imports make us vulnerable and not sovereign. We know: Energy policy is security policy. We need to reduce our energy needs. We need more energy efficiency and 100% renewable energy as soon as possible. Now to invest in indirect electrification and green production technologies, in energy efficiency to directly save gas imports: This is the path of competitive industry. We are now finally calling on the Commission to take more measures for energy efficiency, to withdraw the taxonomy delegated act and, above all, to draw up a contingency plan for a rapid energy transition. We need a strong European framework for carbon contracts for difference and more speed and ambition for a sustainable energy policy. Because this is good for our safety, for the climate and for the environment.

Madam President, Inflation hits people in Europe at the heart of their wallets and also hits industry, small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups. Inflation stood at 5.1% in January and the European Central Bank expects inflation to remain high in the short term. One of the main causes of inflation is higher energy prices, which of course also affect the prices of goods and services. And it is clear: The ECB’s monetary policy has no direct influence on the rise in prices and supply bottlenecks in the energy sector. On the contrary: Too fast and too strong an increase in key interest rates can put the recovery and jobs at risk, as happened in 2011 during the euro crisis. It is good that the ECB is now not hastily bowing to the call and pressure from outside for interest rate hikes. Instead, we need the right solutions, namely more speed and more energy, more ambition for an energy transition and for green transformation in Europe. This is the right way to act independently of external price shocks that are brought to us in Europe. And it is precisely within the scope of its mandate that the ECB can actively contribute to climate protection. And in this sense, it is Strategy Review 2021 The ECB is taking the right step in the right direction. Thank you very much, Madame Lagarde.

Mr President, tell me what you spend your money on and I will tell you who you are. We all know that government spending reveals what politics stand for, and this is true at EU level as well. In times of the challenging COVID crisis, we have to fight against climate change and for biodiversity. Therefore our Green priorities for the EU 2022 budget are climate protection, biodiversity, and research and development. Many of our priority programmes received top—ups against a Council who wanted to cut many programmes in this area. The final level of commitment appropriations negotiated for the 2022 budget is set at close to EUR 170 billion. This means that, for 2022, we as the European Parliament were able to achieve close to EUR 480 million more than proposed by the Commission, and for our Green number-one priority, the climate and biodiversity programme LIFE, we achieved an EUR 47.5 million top—up. For the research programme Horizon Europe, we secured an increase of EUR 100 million to boost innovation and to facilitate green transition. We have good results as well on COVAX and our targeted programmes like Erasmus+, EU4Health, Creative Europe, Daphne and the foreign policy programme NDICI. As parliamentarians, we can be proud of our compromises. Nevertheless, it’s clear that we have to fight even more ambitiously for the climate and the environment in the 2023 EU budget. The money we spend in the EU shows very clearly how seriously we take the Green Deal and the Paris climate goals.

Mr President! Europe needs raw materials for the transition to a climate-neutral economy. The use of critical raw materials in green technologies also has positive effects on the environment. Lithium and cobalt in batteries, for example, enable electromobility and thus contribute to the turnaround in transport. But we also know: Mining for the extraction of raw materials is a risk for local people, for biodiversity and for the climate. A blind call for more mining in Europe is wrong. The European Commission knows this, and so do my colleagues in the European Parliament. The quantities of critical raw materials needed for the green transformation in Europe are often exaggerated and also assume false basic assumptions. Green technologies are responsible for the increased demand for only six out of a total of 30 critical raw materials, and the digitalisation of the economy, defence and aviation industries are also major buyers. Artificially high forecasts for the production volume of critical raw materials often lead to incorrect conclusions. This is fatal for our industrial strategy, but also for achieving our climate, environmental and social goals. And if we now promote raw materials in Natura 2000 and other protected areas, the EU's environmental protection under the Green Deal leads ad absurdum. We need sustainable practices that are applied in a socially responsible manner. We need to move towards a circular economy and substitution and a functioning market for recycled raw materials. Green innovation in industry, new production technologies, resource conservation and resource efficiency – this is the right path for a transition to a climate-neutral economy.

Mr President! TTC – the Trade and Technology Council – is a building block for a transatlantic alliance for climate neutrality. When it comes to climate protection, the US and the EU are looking in the same direction. We were able to discuss and see this in detail with the Industry Committee in Washington, D.C. last week, but we need much more concrete targets for decarbonisation on both sides. We also need to think globally and work well together on energy justice, the just transition and the involvement of the people affected by the transformation. And the TTC should serve as a forum for the supply of raw materials, for sustainable and resilient supply chains, for the creation of markets, for secondary raw materials and the exchange of know-how on green technology. Semiconductors are important for digitalization and climate protection. We want to build European capacities as partners and fair competition, in which we have to take into account competences and markets. And for global data flows in line with fundamental rights, we need trustworthy partners, including the US. There's a lot to do. It's best together.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Many thanks to the rapporteurs for the 2022 EU draft budget and special thanks to my wonderful colleagues from S&D, Renew and Left. Together, we have made this budget not only greener, but also more forward-looking. The 2022 EU budget is the second budget of the Multiannual Financial Framework, for which it is clear that: By 2030 at the latest, we want to achieve at least the Paris climate targets. We need more speed, more ambition and clear decisions on how to invest taxpayers' money in the right places because we know: Where there is money, there is politics. We Greens have three priorities for the 2022 EU budget: climate, biodiversity and research and development. Because it is clear: We need strong research and innovation for green technology, for the decarbonisation of the economy and for an ecological-social transformation for a strong European business location. We have now launched a 2022 EU budget with large increases for key programmes, with a total of more than €1.64 billion in addition to the draft budget. In concrete terms, this means: More than 450 million euros are spent on climate and biodiversity programmes – my personal highlight is the increase of 171 million euros for LIFE – and more than 430 million euros are now spent on research and development. We also have €760 million for other priorities such as humanitarian aid, EU4Health, rights and values and Erasmus+, and that's a wonderful thing. So we can go well into the trilogue on an EU budget 2022 with a strong position of Parliament that has understood what the future means.

Mr President, the United States is one of the EU’s closest partners and our transatlantic partnership is founded on shared values, such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and now we share the fight against climate change. We have to cut emissions, we have to decarbonise and reach climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. We have to green our industries to achieve that. In the EU, we have the Just Transition Mechanism and, in the US, the Build Back Better plan. Let’s create a transatlantic alliance for climate neutrality. Let’s build a transatlantic trading zone for climate neutrality. We also need an EU—US strategic partnership on raw materials that could expand the green approaches on alternatives to mining and allow both sides to exchange know-how and best practices on green technologies in creating resistant secondary raw materials markets. That is key to achieving the transition to climate-neutral and digitalised economies. Let’s create a transatlantic parliamentary working group to implement the Green Deal. There are so many options to save the planet together, and let’s do that.

Mr President! The coronavirus crisis has not supplanted the climate crisis, and a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 at the very latest – and at its core – is now at the heart of our European policy. Of course, this applies to our investments, our industrial strategy and also our handling of raw materials. The construction sector is one of the most resource-intensive sectors. First and foremost, therefore, we need resource-efficient and low-carbon construction, especially in public spaces, infrastructure and roads. Construction and demolition waste is also the largest waste item in the EU, accounting for around one third of all waste, and we know: As a valuable stockpile of raw materials, building materials are ideally suited for recycling with great untapped potential for a circular economy. We must seize this opportunity, also for the creation of new products and new materials. The recycling rate of construction and demolition waste in the EU varies. In some countries this is 10%, in some it is over 90%, and of course we need to change and adjust that. We need to find cost-effective solutions for recycling and create circularity and material cycles in the construction sector. And one more thing: Now to threaten the shortage and the price increase of building materials with EU export restrictions and to fight against the free movement of goods in the EU, that is populist. But that's not a solution. We need resource conservation and efficiency, recycling and the circular economy, sustainable, diversified supply chains and innovations for zero-emission building materials. This is precisely what we should not leave to other parts of the world, but create together in Europe.

Mr President, with financing of over EUR 60 billion per year, the European Investment Bank is a key player in putting EU policy into action. At the core of EU policy stands the Green Deal to decarbonise our economy and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Therefore, we demand full alignment of the EIB with at least the goals of the Paris Agreement. This seems to be logical, but apparently it’s not. When we Greens look at the annual report of the EIB we think that it doesn’t fit together that the EIB claims to be a climate bank when half of its investments still go to heavy polluters. We in the European Parliament call for decarbonisation plans to be in place for EIB counterparties, with clear timelines and targets based on science. For the public sector loan facility, where the EIB will be the main finance partner, the standards do indeed help the Just Transition. But for a real ecological, social transition in Europe, we need an EIB that is more courageous than ever to support the right investments. We have to fight against climate change by being ambitious.