Speeches

At first glance, this is not a bad report. It stresses the importance of biodiversity for human health, rural development, fisheries, agriculture, etc. Land grabbing, deforestation, degradation of marine ecosystems and the like must be avoided. However, I must say that Parliament is failing when it comes to solutions. More financial support for developing countries, more control over land grabbing in trade negotiations and eating less meat, that really won't make the difference. We'll have to swipe in front of our own door first: Stop using biomass, which causes massive deforestation. Stop building huge wind farms in the sea, because they disturb the birds and the fish (and therefore the biodiversity) and destroy the local fishing. Stop diabolizing meat, because it's better to grow your own meat than imported soy. The legalisation of the discussion - by making a human right of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment - also offers no solution. We should not make the judge responsible, but make the right choices ourselves.

Europe is impoverished. Here in this House it is pretending to be a natural phenomenon, a kind of hurricane that is happening to us. That is not the case. Bad policy is the cause. Bad policy, often made here. I say it loudly: the established parties – you – are responsible for that – greens, socialists, liberals, Christian Democrats. What people know very well at home, politicians do not know: You can only spend a dollar once. Choosing something means not choosing something else. Politicians here chose to open the borders and then do nothing about the mass influx of hopeless immigrants. So money went to them, not to our people. And politicians chose to give up our reliable energy. It all had to be renewable, the climate had to be saved. So energy became more expensive, leaving people with less. Two deliberate policy choices: They lead to our impoverishment and to the loss of our identity. The good news is: This is not a hurricane, it is not a natural phenomenon. It could be different if we vote for change in June.

Mr President, the European citizen is trapped in a prison, in the climate dungeon of Frans Timmermans and Diederik Samsom. Chained up. “The Green Deal is a framework from which European citizens can no longer escape.” These last words are not mine, but from Greenpeace militant and Green-Deal Cabinet Chief Diederik Samsom. I quote Samson: “I had to put the package together in such a way that it became politically inevitable. With the Green Deal, we created a framework from which you cannot escape.” End of quote. Samsom said earlier: “For 40 years, we have paid too little for our energy and food. We have to pay more!’ And so it happened. Energy and food became much more expensive. The result: companies are leaving, people are getting poorer, power outages are imminent, our reliable fuel cars are being banned. As the European Commission builds castles in the air, people and businesses are falling victim to this policy. Vote for change. Vote for a patriotic, conservative party. Vote for a party that removes the Green Deal and frees Europe from climate chains.

Mr President, disinformation, the latest stop word from the left-liberal establishment. Originally, this was about the fight against foreign interference. Now it is about fighting against the unwelcome opinions of its own citizens. Do you notice that the population composition in Europe has changed quite a bit over the past fifty years? Disinformation. Do you notice that spending thousands of billions of euros on climate policy does not even have a measurable effect? Disinformation. The left-liberal toolbox is full of such terms. There is always one-way traffic. It is not about real disinformation, but about combating everything that goes against one's own worldview. Censorship, then. Now, the European Commission is threatening to use the Orwellian Digital Services Act to overturn Elon Musk's platform X. But when that happens, our democracy is the biggest victim. Freedom of speech is not only a right, it is a duty and a necessity for our healthy democracy. Those who claim to protect democracy are bearing her to the grave.

Mr President, the farmers' protests are continuing everywhere in Europe. That's right. With the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans has tried to make the work impossible for farmers in Europe. The crowning glory of his work was the law of nature restoration. The Netherlands-on-slot law. Now the farmers are taking to the streets, and the Christian Democrats are waking up, because the elections are coming. Soon, an anti-farmer proposal goes into the fridge. The type of proposal they supported here for five years. That's not enough. Farmers need to be rewarded and rewarded. Food security is a matter of national security. The European Union should not stand in the way of farmers with more and more rules, but instead give them space. That's why we need to get rid of this terrible law of nature restoration. The effects are disastrous. Farmers across Europe are going to notice this. As a Parliament, we would have taken the sting out of it. Many of my proposals for the farmers had been accepted here, but to my great surprise I saw that all my improvements were simply scrapped out later. Now the only conclusion can be: If the EPP really wants to stand up for the farmers, it will vote down the Nature Restoration Law.

There is change in the air. Everyone in this House knows: In June, people will vote for change. For more money in the wallet, for Fort Europe and for more sovereignty. The majority for radical climate policy is evaporating. For five years, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals have followed the Greens, but that will come to an end after June. The polls don't lie. People don't want more climate policy, people want more purchasing power. That is why the European Commission is still trying to push through a radical climate requirement: 90% CO2 reduction by 2040. We are already spending thousands of billions to change the weather. Not the climate, but climate policy is the problem. Europe is impoverished. We are losing our industry, our earning capacity, our purchasing power. It's unattainable and priceless. Instead of reflection, the Commission wants to speed up. Even more climate demands, even more poverty. We have elections in June. The moment for the people to pull the emergency brake. My message? Vote them out.

Mr President, farmers are protesting all over Europe. The reason is different. In the Netherlands it is nitrogen, in Germany higher excise duties, but the reason lies deeper and is the same everywhere. In Brussels and in our capitals, regents have decided that we are living wrong and that everything must be different. A huge gap has emerged between the vast majority and the urban academic regent class. That class controls politics, but does not value farmers, while farmers feed us every day. The regent class wants to make our farmers disappear, rule by rule, and then conclude trade agreements with the whole world. From now on we will fly in apples from Vietnam. In the name of climate, of course. Members of the European Parliament should look in the mirror. The mass peasant protests are about you. You're responsible for this. Stop forcing people to live differently. Stop making the work impossible for the farmers. We need our farmers. Food security is also a matter of national security. No farmers, no fruit, no future.

Mr President, in life there are three things for sure: You're going to die, You pay taxes, The EU always wants more power and money, like a Caterpillar Never Enough. Belgium has been President of the European Union for six months. Immediately Prime Minister De Croo shot in the typical euro reflex – more money. He wants to increase the EU budget even further by raising taxes. How strange are you when you think people can miss that money? Do you think people want more instead of less? The polls don't lie. Now Brussels wants to receive more money through new EU-wide CO2 taxes. What in practice means: Letting citizens pay even more with the illusion that we will improve it again. An unsatisfactory plan that will further accelerate the impoverishment and deindustrialisation of our continent. We don't have to go that way. That Caterpillar Never Enough has already eaten far too much. What is needed: a lower EU budget, lower taxes and fewer rules, so that citizens and businesses can regain their space. Finally, a comment on the lack of respect for democracy in this Parliament. This House wants to remove the right to vote from the democratically elected government in Hungary. This only happens in dictatorships. Please, let's not go that way.

– Mr President, in the EU you often hear terms that are contradictory. This debate is about non-governmental organisations funded from the EU budget. That doesn't exist. Organizations that are financially dependent on government subsidies are not non-governmental. No, they're the long arm of that government. The European Union gives hundreds of millions of euros of taxpayers’ money to organisations in the field of immigration, climate or gender. Almost always left-wing hobbies, so the citizen pays for clubs that promote policies that are at odds with what the citizen wants and are often not transparent at all. Governments simulate democratic participation by sitting at the table with so-called NGOs paid by those same governments. But these clubs do not have any democratic mandate. They have nothing to look for at that table. A true civil society comes from the people and therefore does not need public support at all. My call today is: Stop using taxpayers' money to evade democracy. Turn the NGO-cracy back into a democracy.

Mr President, the Netherlands is in the middle of the elections to the House of Representatives, but today the EU is in the process of eroding the power of that House of Representatives. Because the vast majority in this House wants to revise the Treaties of the European Union. In no less than 65 policy areas, it demands the abolition of national veto rights, not only on foreign policy, but also on taxation and EU budgets. Funest for the Netherlands: We are already the largest net contributor per capita. Furthermore, climate policy would become an exclusive competence of the European Union. The Netherlands would lose all control over this. We get caught up in a network of rules. We're going to be a province of a superstate. But it's not too late. Now we still have our right of veto over taxation, foreign policy and Treaty changes. Now that we still have that veto, the new cabinet must do everything it can to prevent another brutal EU power grab. So vote for a party that defends the Dutch veto. Vote for a party that opposes these Treaty changes.

Mr President, this regulation for a net-zero industry is a plaster on a stinking wound. Why is this new legislation being introduced? Because European competitiveness is being destroyed by Frans Timmermans' Green Deal. Since its introduction, we have seen deindustrialisation in European countries. Towering energy prices mean that companies in Europe can no longer compete with the rest of the world. By suffocating regulations with coercion and urge, there is only the illusion of a free market. Why does the European Commission live with the idea that innovation comes from more legislation and more bureaucracy? If Europe wants to participate economically with the rest of the world in ten years' time, then we should not make more rules, we should delete rules. Set realistic goals, but let the free market do the work again. This net-zero patch is not a long-term solution. The real problem is not solved by making a few exceptions for green cloud sectors. If the European Union is to remain economically relevant, we must stop the Green Deal. That is the only real solution.

Mr President, former climate pope Frans Timmermans has sabotaged nuclear power here for four years. In the Netherlands he is going to talk with a strangely high voice when it comes to nuclear energy. He then says that there are no studies that prove that nuclear energy is profitable. There are. I had one done by myself. This study has been peer reviewed by climate economist and Nobel Prize winner Professor William Nordhaus, among others. The conclusion? Especially in a small country like the Netherlands, nuclear energy is profitable. But Timmermans never wanted to receive this report. In fact, this is a sign of the EU's energy policy as a whole. Those who profess dogmas do not dare to face the facts. But for anyone outside the radical climate bubble, the facts are clear. For the whole EU, a transition to nuclear energy would be excellent. This way we can make life affordable again. That's what people need. Now that Timmermans is finally gone, the EU can make the turn. Opt for nuclear power. It's high time.

Mr President, today we are talking about the Sustainable Development Goals and I do not understand that. Terror is raging in Western Europe. Due to the skyrocketing inflation, people can no longer afford the groceries. An energy crisis created by the EU puts SMEs in need. Our competitiveness is evaporating and our industry is disappearing. People have lost faith in the institutions. Not surprising when you see that they create more problems than they solve. But now it is about the SDGs, the seventeen goals that all sound noble, but actually erode democracy and transfer power to unelected institutions, such as multinationals, banks and NGOs. The left-liberal majority in this Parliament apparently attaches great importance to these woke SDGs. Not me. We have to get rid of it. Politics must be concerned with solving the real problems. Improving people's quality of life: less immigration, affordable energy, security back, less taxation, fewer rules for entrepreneurs. That's what we need.

Mr President, I am optimistic. Last year I was full of pessimism. Towering energy prices due to the ill-considered energy transition, disrupted supply chains due to senseless lockdowns, wokism to undermine our Western values and hyperinflation by the ECB's money press. But the shore turned the ship. People are making themselves heard. It can't be like this any longer. The polls are changing. Realism is gaining ground here, too. Not only the electorate, but also the EPP has turned away from the left in terms of tone. The German economy is going very badly, and then the rest of Europe always follows. And now we are on the eve of the European elections. Anyone who sees what is happening in society understands that a big change is coming. It is my fervent hope that after 9 June 2024, a new era will begin, an era in which the realistic forces in this Parliament will form a new majority, in which the EU will do what it was once meant to do – improve people’s lives – in which we will work to restore democracy. Mr President, I am optimistic.

Mr President, this law imposes requirements on countries for more wind turbines, solar panels and biomass. ‘To save the planet’, of course. But trees absorb CO2 and create a living environment for biodiversity. Biomass destroys it. Complete forests are being burned. In addition, more toxins and more CO2 are released than during the combustion of coal. Why does this law promote biomass? Wind turbines disrupt marine life. Why does this law promote wind turbines in the sea? Renewable energy is not so sustainable. Nuclear power does not release CO2 or air pollution. In addition, nuclear energy provides constant energy, so that no fossil back-up is needed. Let me be very clear. In any case, I am not in favour of an EU that imposes on countries what energy sources they can use. But if you do, there must be a level playing field for nuclear energy. It's not too late. I appeal to you: vote against this directive and in favour of nuclear energy. This is the only source of energy of the future.

Mr President, my beautiful country, the Netherlands, has been represented in the European Council for 13 years by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. This book will be closed soon. I respect the commitment and optimism with which Prime Minister Rutte did his work every day. But the Netherlands and Europe are worse off after these thirteen years, not better. Unfortunately, that is the harsh reality. Who will be his successor is still uncertain. But it is my wish that it is someone who understands that it can no longer be so. That mass immigration must stop because the water is on our lips. That the ill-considered climate policy plunges us into poverty and that ever further transfer of power to Brussels erodes our prosperity, but also our democracy. The Netherlands deserves better and Europe deserves better. I hope that everyone will vote and I hope that everyone will do so wisely.

Mr President, COVID has led to the greatest restriction of fundamental rights in over 70 years. If we think lightly of this, our rights are at risk of eroding. All seems forgotten, but political reflection remains necessary because a crisis is the ultimate stress—test for democracy and the rule of law. Only when they are under pressure do we see their true strength. But the European Commission has consistently sabotaged the most elementary forms of transparency: no access to the vaccine contracts worth EUR 71 billion. No transparency regarding Ursula von der Leyen’s secret text messages with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and no presence by von der Leyen at any committee hearing. Due to this complete lack of transparency, the Commission has made me unable to scrutinise their activities, which is my main role as a Member of this House. Therefore I will obviously vote against this whitewash report and I urge everyone to vote in favour of my alternative proposal.

Mr President, no poverty, no hunger, clean water: You can't be against that, can you? This is the marketing behind the 17 SDGs that the United Nations wants to impose on countries and companies. The objectives sound good in themselves. However, the policy that is linked to this is controversial. For example, SDG 13 on climate action leads to radical climate policy, SDG 10 on less inequality anchors mass immigration to Europe and SDG 5 on gender equality makes gender ideology a public policy. Whether you are for or against it; In a democracy, there should be a real debate about it. This should not be implemented through a shadowy circuit of international organisations, NGOs, large companies and philanthropists. However, this is exactly what is happening and it is undermining democracy. Although it is implemented through the normal democratic process, the policy does not stem from the will of the people. It comes from the machinery of power. I therefore ask you to reject this. Those representing the interests of the population vote against the SDGs.

Mr President, ensuring food security in the long term. Strengthen the agricultural sector in the long term. It is the title of this debate and it sounds like music to my ears. Unfortunately, it also goes completely against the policy of the European Commission, because that European Commission urged the Dutch government to reduce livestock in particular. To turn our farmland into a death house construction. The same European Commission does not want to contribute to the reduction or reduction of Natura 2000 sites in the Netherlands. And now Commissioner Timmermans comes up with the so-called ‘Nature Restoration Act’. In the back rooms, he blackmailed the law to ram it through. How can we talk about strengthening the agricultural sector when the laws of this European Commission destroy the agricultural sector? The Netherlands has a beautiful agricultural sector, the second most productive in the world, the most innovative, the most animal-friendly. It really does ensure food security. It really needs to be strengthened. Before that ... (The President interrupted the speaker) We need to get rid of the law of nature restoration. This can be done on Thursday in the Committee on the Environment. I'm counting on it.

Mr President, farmers belong to Europe, farmers belong to the Netherlands. For centuries it has been farmers who produce our food. Companies often go from father to son, from mother to daughter. It's not just a profession: It's a tradition, a way of life. But if it is up to the EU and the UN, this will soon be a thing of the past. Trade agreements are flooding our market with products from half the world, but at the same time we are turning our backs on our own farmers with legislation on climate and on nitrogen. These Great Food Reset leads to harrowing scenes in the Netherlands. Every year, 20 to 30 farmers commit suicide, and without farmers, hunger lurks. Look at Sri Lanka, where a perfect implementation of the environmental social governance It led to famine and chaos. Stop this inhumane policy. Stop the Nature Restoration Act. Stop the 2030 Agenda that destroys farmers for the ideal of a CO2-free welfare state. Let's protect and cherish our farmers again, because: No farmers, no food, no future.

Mr President, in times of monster inflation, the European Union wants to increase the CO2 tax. There's a lot to be said about that. For example, about the fact that this will affect poor citizens. Or about the immeasurably small effect this has on the climate. But today I want to talk about the damage to our competitiveness. It has only been two months since we expressed our concerns in this House. But that sense of reality has now been replaced by ideology. The CO2 tax damages our earning capacity, our purchasing power and therefore our prosperity. As an entrepreneur, I know: Not the best company survives, but the company that can adapt the best. The ideology within the EU blinds this adaptability. Because despite the monster inflation, despite the skyrocketing energy prices that seep into everything, despite a war on our continent, the European Union is continuing along the same path. More taxes, more bureaucracy and therefore less prosperity. This is not what citizens and businesses need. Therefore, reject this proposal.

Mr President, on 9 February ITRE adopted its position on the European digital identity. ITRE also adopted a mandate to enter into interinstitutional negotiations. This means the digital identity would go straight to the trilogue without a plenary vote. The European digital identity is controversial in many Member States. People are worried about data protection and privacy rights, and I think this level of public attention merits a plenary vote. We may have different opinions about the European digital identity, which is great. Democracy is all about differences in opinion, but if we take ourselves seriously as a democratic institution, we should at least hold a vote on contentious subjects like the digital identity in all openness in the full presence of the plenary. That way, democracy shines brightest. Therefore, I would like to ask all of you to vote against the mandate given by ITRE Committee so that we will have a plenary vote on the digital identity.

Mr President, in this debate there is always a false contradiction. As if it would be harsh to want border protection. As if it were humane to continue allowing mass human smuggling to Europe. This is both completely untrue. Borders are necessary to protect the prosperity and security of the people in our countries. Mass smuggling is inhumane. Because the only reason people sit on rickety boats is that they hope that NGOs take them with them and that they can stay in Europe for the rest of their lives. The solution is simple and everyone knows it. Let Frontex protect the borders. Asylum applications can now be made from third countries. Anyone who comes to Europe illegally will be sent back and will never have access to Europe again. This policy will protect our countries and save lives. And I repeat the words of my colleague Rooken. Illegal immigration laundering, by allowing the same people to come in legally from now on, is not a solution to the problem.

Mr President, in the real world, more and more people are unable to pay the bill. Inflation is driving people into poverty. People are trying to survive. But the thinking world of the EU – I call it Planet Strasbourg – looks very different. The Commission passes one coercive law after another. Take the Nature Restoration Act, which threatens Dutch industry and employment. Or take the new building codes, which oblige homeowners to hunt for their homes at a cost “Timmermans-proof’ to make. And take the ban on the combustion engine, which hopefully will be blocked, but otherwise makes driving unaffordable for millions of people. These are all laws that no one has asked for. In fact, it makes people poor, deprives them of freedom and creates bureaucracy. It's getting too much. It doesn't help people. Stop this climate coercion. Stop creating problems. Start troubleshooting. And most importantly: Start thinking about people's interests. In short, colleagues, come from Planet Strasbourg and return to Earth.

Mr President, if I want to renovate my house, I first look at what materials I need. Whether it is for sale and affordable. And what risks there are. Only then will I cut the knot. The EU is doing it backwards. First, a grand plan is put into effect. Only then are feasibility, affordability and risk assessed. Until 2010, EU countries produced more gas than Russia exported. But all reliable energy sources have since been exchanged for unreliable renewable energy sources. This created the current energy crisis and made us completely dependent on Russian gas. And now we have to make the entire fleet electric from 2035. The established parties voted in favour. We are becoming even more dependent on China for raw materials. And only now are we going to look at how we can find an alternative to that. That's putting the horse behind the chariot. I am in favour of strategic autonomy and I think it is good to work together on this. But next time, let's have the feasibility and risks in order. People at home expect politics to prevent problems, not that politics is trying to solve problems it has caused itself.