Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, we have heard many speeches going in the direction of promising signs for next year. Yes, inflation in Europe is going down, inflation in the Eurozone is going down. The European Central Bank definitely has the tools to lower inflation, and evidence suggests that inflation will tangibly decline already in the second quarter of 2024, and we will also reach the cherished 2% inflation target in early 2025. This only applies to the Eurozone. This does not apply to all countries that are members of the European Union, and this is a huge distinction. That is why countries like Bulgaria have only one way, namely joining the Eurozone. Because the euro area and active monetary policy are the only way we can protect people's incomes.

Mr President, Commissioner, rose oil is one of Bulgaria's treasures. It is used in cosmetics, medicine and perfumery. Its structure and unique aroma distinguish it. Today, thanks to rose oil, Bulgaria is a world leader in the production of essential oils. It is important to note that not all essential oils are the same. Bulgarian rose oil is unique and unique. It is not only not dangerous, but on the contrary - it is extremely useful for health. This has been proven by hundreds of studies by independent organizations and is recognized by the World Health Organization and UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is of utmost importance that the amendment of the Regulation on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures ensures legal stability and regulatory predictability. We must not allow unnecessary burdens of overregulation or misregulation of sectors unique to some regions of the European Union. Therefore, I urge you to protect one of the symbols of the Union, to protect the symbol of Bulgaria.

Madam President, the realisation of the objectives of the Green Deal cannot be achieved without a change in the economic model of the European Union, but this must not be done by deepening inequalities between Member States and creating the risk that clean technology production will be concentrated only in certain, and richer, countries. A key priority of our work on the Net-Zero Industry Legislative Tank is to secure the necessary European funding, create more high-paying and sustainable jobs. This regulation must be adopted as soon as possible. The energy crisis has shown us that the development of renewable energy sources will not be enough to meet Europe's energy needs. We also need to modernize and develop basic energy sources, including nuclear ones. We must continue to develop industries in which our companies are global leaders. We're going to need a lot of highly qualified personnel. Their preparation should start from yesterday, not tomorrow.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, colleagues, in a world driven by innovation and rapid change, SMEs play a crucial role in our economy. They create jobs, they foster growth and they drive entrepreneurship. Yet they still face numerous challenges from access to finance, through access to markets to regulatory burdens. In that case, we need to do three important things. First, we need to continue providing appropriate guidance for the implementation of the existing legislative initiatives and to provide targeted policies that smoothen some of those existing regulatory burdens. Second, we need to facilitate the networking opportunities, knowledge sharing and sharing of expertise and experience among the European SMEs. Third, we need to build an SME environment with no boundaries for growth, where the European businesses have access to the global market. And, last but not least, I will take this opportunity to remind you that we should not have the startups left behind. They are as important as the SMEs to guarantee one innovative and growing European economy.

Member of the Commission. - Mr President, first of all, I would like to congratulate my fellow Members in the Committee on Petitions on the proposed resolution. Yes, once again the European Parliament recognises that Bulgaria and Romania have the full right to be part of the Schengen area. The two countries have met all the technical criteria for more than 10 years, yet we have been at the gates of Schengen for over a decade. It is clear that the membership of Bulgaria and Romania is blocked for domestic political reasons and has nothing to do with the fulfilment of the technical criteria. However, this ignores European security interests, economic benefits and, most importantly, the freedom and ability of all European citizens to move freely within the Union. We are equal in terms of requirements and obligations, but not in terms of results achieved. This double standard should not exist. I am convinced that the Spanish Presidency will make every effort to end this discriminatory treatment of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens once and for all.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, you’ve all mentioned that investments and reforms are incentivised. Here, I would just ask, how would we define strategic reforms? Are they going to be green or are they going to be social? What’s going to be the focus? And how are we finding to strike the balance among Member States? The worry we all have is, some of the rich Member States would be capable of investing more, which is going to increase the discrepancies among Member States and it contradicts with the main policy of the EU: cohesion. And the second part, what are the rules going to be on the reforms? We have the lessons from the RRF. Europe is basically sitting on money at the moment. The conditionality and the complexity is affecting the efficient investment of this money. It’s probably no more than one third of the money from the RRF that has been properly put to use. And we should not allow this to happen – because then we are risking the growth and the sustainability of our economy.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear Members, we’ve seen the rise of the energy prices across all the Member States in the last 18 months. The only lesson we’ve learned is that the best security of supply is our own domestic production. So hence the trend is clear. We are going towards the electrification of many sectors in our economy. It is clear that the renewable energy is the cheapest one. However, it’s also the most volatile one and it’s difficult and expensive to be stored. That’s why to balance and to ensure a safe and balanced electricity system, we need baseload power such as nuclear. We need to find a balance between investment in renewables, investment in baseload and investment in innovation for storage capacity and inventions. In that sense, we welcome the latest effort of the Commission to boost investments in the entire value chain of battery manufacturing in the EU, because this is also the only way to ensure that we’re going to have sustainable energy resources for our economy. This is also going to be a crucial part in our net zero industry act, which is another important piece of legislation to be worked on in this House.

Mr President, it is superfluous to say how important bees are. We've heard it enough in this debate. I will focus attention in three concrete proposals on what and how we should do. First of all, in order to really help beekeepers and for them to be able to produce quality bee products, the strictest measures should be taken to ban all pesticides that have proven to have a negative impact on bee health. Secondly, it is time to change the philosophy of European programmes supporting beekeepers. They should be aimed not at large producers, but at individual farmers and small family productions. And thirdly, but not least, let us ensure adequate purchase prices for honey and fight against unregulated imports of poor quality bee products from third countries. Our beekeepers deserve their work to be supported and adequately paid.

Madam President, Commissioner, it was very interesting and a good overview that you have presented to us. I just want to bring attention to two things. The first one is the fact that the banks that have collapsed have significant investments in start-up and technology companies, which of course is going to have a serious impact on the sector. So hence, I’m calling for a more stable regulatory environment when we speak about the EU market that protects start-ups and facilitates the protection of investors and capital going in that direction. That’s the first point. And the second point is based on something that you have said that we should be careful and more diligent when we are applying stricter rules when it comes to banks operating in the EU market, but they originate from abroad. Based on that, I urge you to have a look at our relationship with the UK and to strike a deal there because the financial sector is quite significantly dependent. The European financial sector is dependent on the UK one and we need a proper deal and regulation there.

Madam President, dear Commissioner Breton, dear colleagues, data has become one of the most valuable resources in today’s world. In an environment where the technology is all around us, data is the key asset that can drive innovation and growth in the economy and that can upscale businesses and enhance customer driven solutions. The EU has proven once again that it can lead and pave the way when it comes to providing the right legislative framework. The Data Act sets clear goals to achieve the digital transition. It will foster the EU data market where the allocation of IoT data is fair and just for the benefit of the consumers and the businesses. It will allow for more opportunities for growth, even for the smallest players in our economy, for the SMEs and for the startups. And, last but not least, it will incentivise innovation. This is the first time when we can actually have data as a measurable asset in our economy and we should be proud of that.

Madam President, dear Commissioner Simson, dear colleagues, the directive on energy performance of buildings is probably one of the most relatable legislation from the Fit for 55 package to our citizens. We all know how the energy bills skyrocketed last year, and we do all understand that if we consume less, we’re going to save more. For countries where the energy and heating bills take the majority of the monthly expenses, any improvement in the building efficiency will lead to more money saved for any other needs. This is why we have to support the EPBD. It paves the way for the reduction of our energy consumption and our bills. It focuses on lifting our households from energy poverty. It also insists on the Member States to ring-fence dedicated funds for renovation, and at the same time it gives flexibility to the Member States to adapt the targets depending on their economic and social situation. It also offers flexibility for derogation when it comes to the labour workers, to the construction sector, but at the same time it keeps the ambitious goals of reaching the climate targets we have set and protecting from energy poverty our citizens. It imposes no penalties on the European citizens and households, and it insists that the vulnerable households should be supported so they bear no cost for renovations. I urge you to support the EPBD tomorrow.

Madam President, we need raw materials to reach the goals of the green transition in Europe. Without the secured supply, we would not be able to deliver our plans for net carbon neutrality. At the moment, at the next plenary session, we’re about to approve the Parliament's position on the Energy Performance for Building Directive, which aims to renovate the EU building stock. This directive will create thousands of jobs. However, these jobs will depend on whether a supply of raw materials is available so we can ramp up the domestic production and make the renovation of the building stock possible. Our industry needs the predictability so it can invest in the upcoming transformation. We should also guarantee the safety of our citizens with access to compatible, crucial raw materials. We see how many problems our countries are having with recently access to the fuel for their nuclear power plants. Safety and affordability should be the main focus when we are making our choices for predictable supplies in the future.

Mr President, the single market has marked the beginning of real economic and social unification in Europe. The European Union plays a key role in international trade relations and has become a leader in areas such as energy, the protection of consumer rights and environmental protection. We demand and encourage other countries to meet the same high standards. We have become a leader in building a competitive market where small and medium-sized enterprises can reach their peaks. Today, the single market is the most visible unification in Europe, but it is far from the only one. The Schengen area and the euro area are the next strongest level of social and economic integration and unification, and therefore we should not keep countries like Bulgaria and Romania that meet all the criteria and want to complete their European integration outside these structures.

Mr President, what are the Netherlands and Austria saying with their veto positions that they are abandoning the results of the two expert missions and that they do not recognise the position of the European Commission, that they do not agree with the positions of the European Parliament, that they do not recognise the position of another 25 Member States. The Netherlands and Austria did not name real reasons for their veto, apparently they are rooted in domestic political processes and serve the governments in both countries, and this is not a European position, this is not useful for the whole European Union. We must not allow such discriminatory treatment of the rights of a group of European citizens, and it must not be tolerated, it must be condemned by institutions such as ours, and that is why I thank my colleagues and all the institutions that have taken these right positions. I have a question to Minister Balas and Commissioner Johansson about the concrete steps that the Council and the Commission will take to ensure that Bulgaria and Romania join together as soon as possible?

Madam President, the REPowerEU plan was an extremely necessary measure to ensure the stability and predictability of European citizens and businesses. In the negotiations on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, we immediately created an article to allow for a faster permitting process for domestic photovoltaic installations. European citizens have only one question for us at the moment: how do we reduce their energy bills? This can only happen if we build a balanced energy system that relies on both renewables and baseload capacities, which also includes nuclear energy. We must not go to any extremes, but follow the best technical solutions so that we can actually reduce bills and meet the demands and needs of European citizens and European industry.

Madam President, dear Commissioner Breton, dear rapporteur, colleagues, strengthening the strategic digital capacity and deployment of advanced technologies will support our businesses, benefit our citizens and definitely ensure Europe’s digital autonomy. Proper implementation of Europe’s digital decade policy programme will provide citizens with better jobs, better healthcare and better public services. Digital progress is crucial if we want to achieve our climate neutral, fair and green social goals. However, we still have to guarantee four important things. First, better digital infrastructure and connectivity across Europe. Second, enhance partnership between Member States. Third, better digital skills. And fourth, effective public services across all the Member States. All these objectives are crucial if we want to achieve our goals for 2030 digital targets. Europe has the capacity to be a global digital leader where technological advancement, fair and green economic growth, social inclusion and business competitiveness are all equally respected.

Madam President, Commissioner Simpson, Minister Beck, there is only one solution to deal with the many crises. We need to act united and fast. We must act as one in order to protect the most vulnerable in our societies now and immediately. Concrete measures are needed to address the challenges of the energy crisis: in the short term, changing electricity pricing to reduce citizens’ and industry’s bills. Energy saving and a clear definition of energy poor households in order to channel public resources and efforts towards them; in the medium term, work towards a common supply of energy raw materials and investments in energy efficiency; in the long term, we need to continue to develop new technologies and infrastructure in order to build a truly connected European energy market. We need to invest more in renewable energy sources and basic energy capacities such as nuclear energy. Only in this way will we ensure a lasting reduction in household and industry bills.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, Minister Beck, the European Parliament has always supported the full Schengen membership of Bulgaria and Romania, and today we reaffirm this position. All technical requirements have been met and this has been confirmed by the interior ministers of the Union, but nevertheless for more than a decade the two countries have been at the door of Schengen. We are equal in terms of requirements and obligations, but not in terms of results achieved. Isn't that a double standard? Bulgarian membership is blocked due to political objections of certain member states in the Council. Objections that have nothing to do with Schengen, and this is disappointing for all European citizens. In the midst of so many crises, Bulgaria is spending a scarce public resource to maintain internal border controls with Romania and Greece, rather than redirecting this resource to the busy external European border with Turkey. The Council must reconsider its position and give the immediate green light for Bulgaria and Romania's Schengen membership, with all borders at the same time – air, water and land.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, with no doubt our Union should strive for a further promotion and development of the accessibility in all the EU countries and institutions. The key to ensuring a more inclusive society in Europe is the collective efforts and cooperation among all the stakeholders. They have to share successful good practices and projects. Our role in this Parliament is to enforce the EU commitment to safeguard the rights of the people with disabilities. We shall ensure a better quality of life and adequate accessibility to goods and services. Five key priorities for the S&D Group and Parliament took an integral part of this report. The first one, need for stronger involvement in effective participation of all stakeholders. Second, adequate financial funding and human resources in ensuring the good organisation and functioning of those centres. Third, establishing of national accessibility hubs. Fourth, further implementation and building on already existing policies – and I am putting a strong emphasis here, because there are many policies, it has already been mentioned by the rapporteur, but they are not properly implemented to be effective. And fifth, a possible establishment of an agency. We call for a strong AccessibleEU Centre by identifying to help and overcome the gaps and inconsistencies in the current accessibility legislation. Establishing the AccessibleEU Centre is a step in the right direction to increase the coherence in accessibility policies, to share good practices, and to create a more accessible and inclusive Europe.

Madam President, my remarks would be more or less in line with what the rapporteur just said. We saw during the COVID pandemic that cohesion funds could be crucial to help our citizens in crisis situations. However, we have to be careful not to turn the cohesion funds into a common pool where everyone could just take out money for various projects. This is not the case now. The Cohesion’s Action for Refugees and the following flexible assistance to territories are very needed instruments because they’re the only way we could show real, measurable European solidarity to people fleeing war at the moment. They show this not only with words, but with specific and concrete actions. It is crucial that this proposal be adopted as soon as possible, because otherwise our local and regional authorities and civil society organisations cannot get the funding quickly enough. In that case we would be risking to jeopardise our help and increase the disparities within the Union.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, the SME sector accounts for the majority of businesses in Europe. It employs more than 100 million Europeans and represents more than 50% of the EU’s gross domestic product. However, the pandemic hit the sector, as every other sector in our economy was highly affected. High energy costs and lack of materials are posing a great danger to the ability of the SME sector to recover. High prices for energy, high prices for commodities, the shortage of supply, the imbalances in the transport services are putting the SMEs on the brink of survival. Thus we need targeted policies towards the cost management and the measures to improve the energy market prices. The SME relief package and the foreseen revision of the Late Payment Directive that was just announced yesterday in this room are crucial and a step in the right direction. So we have to ensure their quick implementation.

Madam President, our industrial strategy had to be updated several times in the past three years but the trends we identified at the beginning of our work have become even more visible now in the situation we are currently in. I will just underline four main things we have to focus on when we are speaking about the industrial strategy of Europe. First of all, our main goal should be to ensure energy security of supply. This is in order to maintain the competitiveness of the whole European economy. Second, we have to take measures to normalise energy prices because our small and medium enterprises will not be able to sustain their work if the price of energy keeps on going up or even stays at the level it is now. Third, the whole of the EU must strengthen its strategic autonomy and we should start producing as much as possible of the energy we need, the goods we need and the services we need, domestically. And finally, Europe needs to invest more in research and development and innovation. We need to do our best to keep high-quality jobs and industrial production within the EU. I am glad we managed to implement all those in the reports because our citizens and industry expect this pragmatic view from our point.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, dear rapporteurs, we are all aware how important the cohesion policy is for reducing the gaps between the Member States and for helping the most vulnerable regions. The unused resources from the previous programming period were put to great use when we were dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. Our quick response mobilised additional funding, made the crisis response eligible and allowed higher cofinancing rates. However, we should avoid using the very well filled buckets from the cohesion funds for other potential gaps in other parts of the EU budget. This 8th Cohesion Report concludes that in 2023, the GDP per capita in less-developed regions would be 26% higher due to the 2014-2020 support from the cohesion policy. We need the current programming period to also be successful if we want to overcome the current consequences of the energy and economic crisis we are facing. I urge the Commission and the Member States to speed up the adoption of the partnership agreements in the programmes so that our citizens have the support they deserve. Last but not least, let me thank our coordinator, Constanze Krehl, for the hard work she has done on this report. This is one of the last and most memorable pieces of work she’s probably going to do in this Parliament, as she’s retiring. I just want to thank you for your commitment and for the more than 30 years’ work you have put into this institution. I’m sure all of us here and all of our colleagues appreciate and respect your work.

Mr President, colleagues, not only three weeks before the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, we are discussing the arrest of former Prime Minister Borissov. The assessment of today's debate is unequivocal - abuse by the EPP and GERB of the authority and powers of the European Parliament, unacceptable attempts to suggest and interfere in the political processes in an independent Member State during an election campaign. On 8 October 2020, in its resolution, the European Parliament eloquently and categorically told the truth about Borisov's vicious governance model. This debunked the last myth of European support for the then ruling of GERB, which fell from power seven months later. The symbol of this government remains precisely the lack of rule of law, photos with gold bars and drawers filled with euros, illegal wiretaps, bought vote and corruption. The absence of convictions from investigations into corruption and misuse of public funds from that period is also reflected in another report of this institution. The report from the Committee on Budgetary Control is eloquent. No investigations, no convictions. Yes, there is a decision of the Bulgarian court for the illegal arrest of Borisov, but this decision is based on formalistic and procedural reasons, and not on substance. Let the European Parliament not be used to deceive citizens and institutions that there are effective investigations into corruption during GERB's governance, there are none. You are making a ridiculous attempt to use the European institution to rehabilitate a political person for election purposes. This is, to put it mildly, unacceptable and Mr Weber, today the crowded hall of the European Parliament booed you precisely because of this, because for 10 years you have been turning a blind eye to Borisov and Orban.

Mr President, the past six months have shown us that energy efficiency is a matter of national security. Every kilowatt—hour we save can reduce our dependency on outside suppliers. Working on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, I can assure you that the importance of the use of some of the transitional fuels is crucial for us to be able to achieve the climate goals by 2050. I appreciate that the rapporteur on the Energy Efficiency Directive, Mr Fuglsang, took a pragmatic and realistic approach, combining the strong goals of energy efficiency and, at the same time, allowing for some of the transitional fuels to be used in the short term. We need a realistic assessment of the situation in order to protect the best interests of our citizens. We should never put the consumers in a situation where they have to choose between heating their houses or buying food. The Green Deal is more ambitious than ever and more needed than ever now, but we should offer solutions which reduce prices and guarantee energy efficiency in Europe.