Speeches

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary of State, no one is left behind. Let's not leave anyone behind. This is the motto we use in the Committee on Regional Development (REGI) of the European Parliament, but many European citizens feel left behind when faced with everyday realities. We have regions where, although they are a few kilometers from rivers, people have tap water only a few hours a day or use their own fountains. The infrastructure that needs to bring water into their homes is outdated or even doesn't exist. The climate is changing and many regions feel it every summer, when dry wells and old irrigation channels no longer bring the water they need for crops. Solutions are needed at European level, because water scarcity is a problem that concerns the whole of the European Union. It is a matter of food and health safety. Member States cannot be left to deal with each other as they can and as they know. We need a European strategy and projects for sustainable solutions.

Madam President, Commissioner Hahn, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union was created to ensure a climate of peace in Europe and, as my colleagues Eugen Tomac and Victor Negrescu said, tonight we had a terrible attack in Brussels. The European Union was created to bring economic stability and well-being to our citizens. Our policies must have as their main idea the motto of cohesion, leaving no one behind. We must apply this principle both in terms of cohesion and to all our other actions. We must ensure that it is put into practice by all Member States, including by ensuring the same rights and freedoms for European citizens, by ensuring the accession of all states that want it, including Romania and Bulgaria, Commissioner Hahn, to the Schengen area. Differences in rights and living standards are felt by citizens, seen as an injustice and used by the extremist and anti-European wave to drive people away, not only from the idea of a united Europe, but also from our democratic values.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the internet is a technology to which our children are already accustomed. They grew up with him and sail easier than many adults. In some cases, they far outperform their parents in their knowledge and use. That is why it is absolutely necessary for the school to include programmes in which children are taught to think critically about the information they can take from the internet, how they must use social networks and, last but not least, how they can protect themselves from harassment, cyberbullying, digital addiction. We need to impose rules to ensure better protection for children, but we need to teach them how to react and how to ask for help, while making this help very easy to access. Like any technology, the Internet can bring many positive things, but also many negative things. But our children need to enjoy the positive ones and to know the latter, to become aware of them and to improve them.

Mr President, Commissioner Šuica, colleagues, in the process of digitisation, with a multitude of services offered online, we need this report on contracts signed at a distance, adapted to today's demands and realities. The conditions imposed by this report ensure a high level of consumer protection with regard to distance contracts for financial services. It is important that before the conclusion of the contract, the consumer is informed, as clearly as possible, of the obligations he or she assumes, the interest and fees he or she would have to pay in order to make the best decision and not to burden himself or herself more than he or she could pay. The rules laid down in this Directive will also contribute to strengthening the single market, creating a harmonised legislative framework that can lead to the smooth functioning and development of the sector. I believe that the European Parliament has reached a balanced position that ensures consumer protection and the appropriate legal framework for economic actors.

Mr President, Secretary of State Navarro Ríos, Commissioner Lenarčič, colleagues, the Republic of Moldova has obtained the status of candidate country for the European Union following an intense campaign of democratisation, reforms, but also following the sustained effort of President Maia Sandu. The determination of our neighbors to adopt the European path is visible, even by taking over the organizational model of the national institutions and programs, and here I would like to remind the Local Action Groups that the Republic of Moldova has implemented following the model of the European Union. It is very important that these efforts continue and that the country fulfils the European acquis as soon as possible. But the European commitment must also be high and, once it is fulfilled, Moldova must be accepted as a full member of the European Union, because it would be unacceptable to be held at the gates of the Union by one or two votes in the Council, as is the case with Romania and Bulgaria regarding the Schengen area. The Republic of Moldova, the citizens of Moldova will be prepared and we must ensure that the European Union will also be prepared.

Madam President, Commissioner Schmit, ladies and gentlemen, European citizens are looking at us, at the European Parliament, and they expect us to use all the tools at our disposal to demand compliance with the Treaties, with the laws of the European Union. That is why we will have to find the best solutions so that the decisions we take here, so that our vote and that of the citizens of the European Union cannot be ignored by Member States that decide that they cannot apply the Treaties or the decisions taken democratically. We have decided to reduce energy dependence on Russia and economic relations with this country in order not to financially support Putin's war machine. However, countries such as Austria have not only not reduced economic relations, but have even increased them considerably in the last two years and, at the same time, are doing everything in its power to maintain a state of tension within the European Union through the negative vote regarding Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area. We cannot ignore this bad will and we must take action to ensure that the Treaties of the European Union are respected.

Yes, dear fellow Conservatives, I know you have an election campaign in Poland. Very good. You've taken me as your target. But wouldn't you really address the right person? I'm from the Renew Europe family. But maybe you don't know my beliefs and you haven't followed my votes either. It's very good. You're campaigning, but maybe you shouldn't use this hemicycle for that.

Madam President, Commissioner Schmit, ladies and gentlemen, the last four years have brought about major changes and crises that the European Union has never faced before: the health crisis, the inflationary crisis, the energy crisis and, of course, the war in Ukraine. All these changes are felt in the economy of the Member States and, above all, are felt by European citizens, who have seen their incomes greatly affected, job opportunities diminished and prices rising. We all voted for the recovery and resilience programme, which must lead to economic growth felt by every single European. And yet, we see that this is not happening. European citizens are in an increasingly precarious economic situation. Prices continue to rise and there are Member States that fail to implement the proposed projects and reforms at an appropriate pace. It is time to invest in the European economy, because only a sound economy can have the effect of increasing the well-being of European citizens, but also our safety and security as a Union. (The speaker agreed to answer a question raised under the ‘blue card’ procedure)

Mr President, Commissioner Jourová, honourable colleagues, it is books that have led to the development of society, they are one of the cornerstones of our culture and civilization. However, the sector has so far been left to fend for itself, with too few sources of funding, innovations and technologies that make it increasingly competitive. This sector needs not only our attention, but also financial instruments to support all parties involved in the production of books, starting from an enabling framework to legislation suitable for publishers, printers and horizontal industries. It is not enough to have the Erasmus programme. The book sector must also be eligible under other funding programmes to modernise and digitise its production and promotion methods. We need books and we need programmes that encourage young people to read, because we can only have a developed Europe if we have people who read and love books.

Mr President, dear colleagues, rapporteur Gozi, the European Union has value as long as citizens feel the benefits in their daily lives. I come from a border region that could be much better developed if closer cooperation were possible, if people could have access to social, medical services in either of the two neighboring states. Economic partnerships between border regions would bring economic growth. The region they come from, Arad County, Romania, is all the more special and needs real change, real integration, all the more so as Romania is not a member of the Schengen area, and cross-border workers find themselves having to wait two hours a day in long queues to be able to go to work and return home. The European Union is a union for people, where their freedoms and well-being must come first. I hope that, when the Commission makes the proposal for the new framework for cooperation, as soon as possible, Romanian and Bulgarian citizens in border regions will no longer have this real problem.

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission! First of all, I want to thank you as a Romanian, as an MEP, but also as a proud European. Thank you for explaining again today that the project "Romania and Bulgaria in the Schengen area" continues. But I would like to remind you that Jean-Claude Juncker, in his speech in this room in 2017, State of the Union This is exactly what supported. Six years have passed since then, and unfortunately our citizens in Romania and Bulgaria are losing faith in this goal on a daily basis. Ms von der Leyen, Romania and Bulgaria must become members of the Schengen area by the end of this year. Otherwise, it will be too late – for them, but also for all of us who still have faith and work tirelessly every day for this project, for the European Union.

Madam President, the last four years have shown us that there are cases where we need to take swift decisions to respond to different crises, and you, Commissioner Breton, have been one of the hosts who have taken such decisions. We have done this as a Union, we have learned to use the tools we have more efficiently, to adapt them so that we can find solutions in a timely manner. We have seen what works and what needs to be improved, and this directive brings the changes that different legislations need to better respond to crises. The internal market must be prepared for the challenges ahead of us, and I must thank the rapporteurs, and in particular rapporteur Schwab and colleagues, for the good work they have done. As a personal note, I cannot help but notice that we want to protect the internal market, to ensure the free movement of goods, services and people throughout the European Union while we still have countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, which do not enjoy these freedoms conferred by the European Treaties because they are not in the Schengen area, and I hope that this will be resolved as soon as possible, starting this year.

Mr President, Commissioner Breton, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union has shown that it can bring stability and prosperity to all Europeans. The solutions we have found together to the challenges we have gone through over time and the last three years, and even more so, the way we negotiate and find solutions are clear signs that when we want something, when we need to react, we can be successful if we work together. But there are times when some Member States do not want to act for the good of us, of all European citizens, when they are tempted to put populism before complying with the laws and rules established by all of us together. For such cases, as the one of keeping Romania and Bulgaria outside the Schengen area, we must find solutions, because the European treaties must be respected, whether it suits a party, an interior minister or a chancellor. We must show European citizens that they can rely on us, that we can guarantee compliance with European law here, in the European Parliament, but also in the other European institutions.

Mr President, Commissioner Simson, Mrs Konečná, colleagues, I am very glad that we have this debate in the plenary of the European Parliament and I wish there were a lot more colleagues in the room, because the citizens of our countries, all over the European Union, need to see that the European institutions are focused on the issues that they are pressing. I am very glad that this directive makes it clear, in addition to all the arguments that other colleagues have brought, that interest rates must be very clear and transparently explained to the customer and no more hidden taxes will be introduced. And, Commissioner, I have one simple piece of advice for you: once we pass this directive through the European Parliament, you put pressure on the Member States to implement it.

Mr Vice-President, Minister Navarro Ríos, Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, before debating how European laws should support the middle class, it is necessary to know who is included in this middle class. From my point of view, the middle class includes all those who work, who strive to provide for themselves, who pay their taxes and support the European Union's economy, whether they are in cities or villages, in richer or poorer regions. It is the middle class that has been most affected by the multiple crises of recent years, the Covid-19 health crisis, the ensuing economic crisis, rising prices, the restrictions we impose, perhaps sometimes through the European Green Deal, because this middle class does not enjoy subsidies, preferential policies, tax exemptions or priority to European funds. And yet, all European laws should be aimed at them, to protect their interests and to support them. Because without a prosperous middle class, our European Union cannot exist.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Albania tends towards a stable political regime and is a European democracy. There are still issues to be addressed and improvements to be made, but it is clear that the country is committed to becoming a strong democracy. Of course, a greater opening of the electoral process is needed to allow small political parties access to decision-making. In this way, the citizens of the country will be encouraged to get involved, to contribute to the modernization of Albania. There is also a need for a free press that can signal deviations from democratic values without fear of consequences. All this, however, is not such as to prevent us from recognizing that it is time for Albania to be a member of the European Union. We must overcome the moment when the European Union seems to be frozen by the fears of extremist parties, which reject any openness and any new adhesion. We have started an accession process that both sides must respect and I firmly believe that it is time for Albania to be part of our great family of the European Union.

Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Schinas, we have decided to set up a special committee and draw up a report on an extremely difficult subject, which has divided our society more than anything in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic. The very particular situation, the lack of experience of all in dealing with a pandemic that has caused too many victims, both at European and global level. It is normal to debate the situation, to try to draw some lessons and to be better prepared for future challenges, but we must take action and take care not to divide society again, not to allow extremist groups to manipulate the population still frightened by the effects of the virus and the restrictions imposed at national level. Let us show political maturity, dear colleagues, let us keep in mind the interest of the citizens, let us not allow ourselves to be carried away by our personal passions and let us not ideologize the tragedy that a whole world and our European Union have gone through.

Madam Vice-President, Commissioner, I would like to congratulate you on your introductory analysis. Colleagues, it is very good that we have this debate here in the plenary of the European Parliament. We are facing a crisis in recent years, a water crisis from severe droughts, above-average temperatures, dry soils in some regions, to rising water levels and flooding in other regions. We cannot just see that there is a problem and warn the Member States. We need a strategy for water management at European Union level. Moreover, we need short-, medium- and long-term solutions that we apply tailored to each region. Maybe in the short term some constraints can work, but in agriculture, where water is essential, this does not work, and in the medium and long term there is a need for viable solutions for which to provide the necessary funds. Fortunately, scientific data shows that not all European regions are facing this problem at the moment, so the pressure is not on the whole European Union, but all the data shows that the problem is expanding. That is why it is important to act now, as long as we can stop or slow down this process of enlargement, because this problem of the water crisis in the European Union must interest all local, regional, national decision-makers, but also us, the European ones.

President of the meeting, Executive Vice-President Vestager, colleagues, artificial intelligence is a tool that can bring benefits in many sectors of activity. That's why it's important to encourage its development and make sure it's used for people's well-being, just like any other tool. We need to regulate areas where there are major risks in terms of respect for human rights, safety, but we need to maintain a balance between regulation and development, because the European Union is not the only one developing artificial intelligence, and at this point Europe is already lagging behind other states in terms of progress in the field. We cannot impose drastic conditions and unnecessary limitations where this is not the case. Another important aspect for the benefits that artificial intelligence can bring to all our citizens is to ensure that education adapts to new realities, across the European Union, in all our Member States and that no one is left behind.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the events of recent years have shown us very clearly that only united we are stronger, united we can overcome challenges that we have not thought of, for which we have not prepared many times. If we want this, united, we in the European institutions must find the fastest and best solutions to take concrete steps towards this unity. We can no longer wait more than 15 years to take important decisions, such as Romania's accession to the Schengen area or the accession of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union, when these states have fulfilled the conditions. If we want the European Union to be seen as a global force, we need to find ways in which one Member State, whatever it is, can no longer hold back the whole of the Union. We need to move forward. We need to be more united in finding and implementing solutions for our citizens, because it is not normal for some to have more rights than others.

Mr President, the European Union is evolving. We here in the European Parliament are doing everything in our power to adapt to change and challenges. We improve the way we work when needed, change policy lines to respond to successive health, inflation and security crises, and the European Commission is working with us to find solutions. This adaptation takes us forward, but we are hitting a populist wall in many aspects when it comes to working with the Council of the European Union. This wall still stands in the way of the free movement of European citizens, it still stands in the way of the implementation of the legal rights of all citizens, regardless of their Member State of origin. Dear colleagues, Commissioner, we must find solutions so that in the Council of the European Union it is no longer considered normal that out of national interests the rights of European citizens are violated. The free movement of Romanians in European states must become a reality as soon as possible, and for this Romania and Romanians must be members of the Schengen area.

Madam President, dear Minister Roswell, Commissioner Wojciechowski, Romanian farmers, like farmers throughout the European Union, including in Poland, in your country, must comply with strict rules in cultivating the land, in the quantities of chemicals used or in increasing biodiversity. With the Green Deal, these standards will become even stricter. Sure, they will probably lead to increased quality safety for European consumers, to a lower impact on the environment, but all these rules bring with them higher prices, which cannot compete with those of cereals coming from Ukraine, where the conditions and rules are not so strict. That is why we, as a Union, have decided to help Ukrainian goods reach traditional customers, but we are now faced with the fact that these grains remain on the European market. There is an urgent need for collaboration, with rapid results, between the European Commission and the Member States to stop speculation, Commissioner, that you would have had a somewhat delayed reaction, and to ensure that all Ukrainian grain transiting through the European Union will not remain here.

Madam President, all children have the right to healthy nutrition, and I support that. We voted for this, but at the same time we have to keep in mind that not all children can eat dairy products and not everyone likes the same fruits and vegetables. We can't even out children's tastes, and I hope we don't want that either. That is why we will have to be very careful and give this social support only to those who need it and in the way they need it. A healthy economy, dear colleagues, is one where parents can afford to buy healthy food and the population has the knowledge to eat healthy. Such an economy is created with investments in education, industry, agriculture and legislation to encourage and support initiatives that can bring added value to the economy. Of course, until we reach the level of well-being we need, we must support those who need help by creating targeted, effective programs. Otherwise, we are simply wasting the resources of the European Union and the Member States.

Madam President, dear colleagues, I voted for this report because we all know how important an independent press that respects the criteria of professional ethics is. The procedures for appointing national media regulators must ensure independent and impartial leadership - especially politically but also economically. Unfortunately, this is not the case in several European countries, where the authorities are trying to control and drastically limit the freedom of the press. Unfortunately, we have come to the situation where we see fake news and disinformation promoted on the main TV channels themselves. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive (this report that we voted on today) must be implemented as soon as possible, respecting the principles of media independence, because this independence is vital to have an informed society, a society that can cope with the cyber war that we all have been experiencing in recent years.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I voted for this report because, although it seems drastic, the effects of methane emissions on human health and on climate change are worrying. Of course we have entire regions that depend on methane gas for energy production. There are regions where this is a better solution for the environment than what is being used now. However, we need to consider the possibilities of investing in new technologies to produce energy in a much greener way. This report imposes certain rules aimed at improving the quality and technology used in the energy sector and at reducing gas and methane emissions. All sectors must contribute to reducing pollution and slowing down global warming, which affects us all and we unfortunately see it every day.