Speeches

Madam President, 2021 was indeed a difficult year, with multiple pandemic crises. The European Investment Bank has played an important role in supporting the supply of vaccines, health infrastructure and, of course, companies that have been severely affected. The crises, obviously, are not over, but on the contrary, have multiplied and that is why we still need the EIB to be at the forefront to support the European economy and, obviously, the green and digital transition. And, of course, we also need the EIB to continue and fulfil its traditional role as an investor in the infrastructure and cohesion of the Union. For all this, I believe it is necessary for the European Investment Bank to further develop technical assistance in the regions most in need, also to continue prioritising investments in health infrastructure to reduce inequalities between countries, to support investments in energy transition and autonomy, both in the European Union and in candidate countries facing major problems, such as the Republic of Moldova, to invest in food security, agriculture and rural areas. These are areas that are often forgotten and, of course, ensure a level of transparency and ethics in all areas.

Mr President, Austria's veto against Romania's accession to Schengen has created a wave of shock and frustration in my country. A shock to the monument of injustice done and a frustration because the European Union, in which they trusted, allowed such a thing. Unanimity is an anachronistic reminiscent of the beginnings of the Union that cannot function in 27 countries. Or, more specifically, it cannot work for the benefit of the Union, but for the benefit of populists and blackmailers. Because, yes, to be clear, unanimity means that the agenda of the Union is held hostage by the least interested in our common interest, as we have seen lately. There's no way we can tolerate this anymore. Unanimity is not democracy. Democracy is majority. Let us amend the Treaties to eliminate this abuse of the veto that the Union is sick of.

Mr President, the title of this report is very well chosen: "Let's join forces to improve legislation". I believe that in order to have better laws, we must first join forces with the citizens. And, rightly, it is no longer enough to involve citizens only once every 5 years, when there are elections. I think it is time to create a mechanism for permanent consultation with citizens that is part of the process of preparing the European Commission's work programme.

Madam President, it has already been said here, the last few years have been difficult and the European Investment Bank has done its duty to help combat the effects of the pandemic and now the war. The bank invested in finding vaccines and anti-Covid treatments, but also in keeping the economy on, say, the waterline. And thank you for that, Mr. Hoyer. However, there are a few areas where there is clearly room for improvement. We need more investment by the Bank in agriculture and rural development to ensure food security and the transition to green agriculture. We also need the bank to ensure a high level of transparency and ethics by adopting a transparency register and proactive measures to prevent conflicts of interest.

Madam President, 2020 has been a year of many challenges, including for the institutions and agencies whose work we are looking at today. The vast majority knew very well how to adapt to the pandemic and help Europeans, each in their own field. Problems have persisted and continue to persist. One that I would say is widespread is that of major geographical and gender imbalances at staff level, especially in management positions. We have this situation in several institutions, from the Commission, to Parliament or to the European External Action Service. I hope that this issue will be taken more seriously in the future and that the situation will be improved at the next discharge.

Madam President, there was a lot of excitement in this hemicycle a few days ago, when the conclusions of the conference were adopted. People hugged and congratulated each other after a year of work. A mother came with her baby a few months ago and told us about the future of Europe. It is precisely the emotion we need to give Europe a new soul and breath. For me, there are two lessons to be learned from this exercise in participatory democracy. The first is that it is time to make this direct consultation exercise with citizens permanent. The second is that we have a duty now: implement these conclusions of the Conference, including by immediately triggering a Convention.

Mr President, Commissioner, a few months ago I visited the high school I graduated from. Do you know what the students told me? They told me that they feel under immense pressure, because of the false standards that social media imposes, that they feel alone, because they have been too isolated in their homes because of the pandemic. We have known for some time that the age of speed in which we live, but also social media, comes along with stress and anxiety, with consequences for our mental health. But the pandemic and now the war have made them even worse. We need to take these issues very seriously before it's too late. Otherwise, we run the risk of having generations with chronic anxiety problems and social maladjustment. We need a European plan for mental health as soon as possible, which will help young Europeans in particular, but also Ukrainians fleeing in terror of war.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, European farmers are worried about fuel, fertiliser or feed prices, and citizens are rightly worried about food prices. At times like these, we realise how important it is to have a common agricultural policy that ensures our food security. We now have a duty to use all these tools at our disposal at European level and to support our farmers, not only to produce food for the Union, but also for other regions dependent on exports from war zones. We need to activate the crisis reserve to help farmers access fertilisers at a reasonable price; we need to grow every hectare left unused to replace exports from Ukraine and Russia; and last but not least, we need to help Ukraine with financial, logistical support and the establishment of alternative transport corridors.

Madam President, Commissioner, the exceptional times we are living in call for exceptional measures. Firstly, no euro from the European Union budget should reach beneficiaries from Russia or Belarus. That is why we must establish a general ban on European money, including from cohesion policy, being able to reach companies or other beneficiaries in these countries in any form. Secondly, we already have hundreds of thousands of refugees in the Union and this number will rise to several million. We need to temporarily extend the eligibility of cohesion funds for projects to assist Ukrainian citizens, based on the rights conferred by the Temporary Protection Directive. Looking to the future, Ukraine will need reconstruction. We must support the creation of a reconstruction fund for Ukraine, including some of the resources of the Interreg cross-border cooperation programme.

Mr President, Commissioner, I believe that if we think about the future of agriculture, we must have three main objectives in mind: how we reduce emissions and pollution, how we produce healthier food, how we regenerate the countryside. The agreement on the new common agricultural policy that we have on the table is not perfect, but it responds satisfactorily to these challenges. Firstly, we have the greenest common agricultural policy in history with a 25% allocation for eco-schemes and an improved system of environmental and social conditionalities. Second, alignment with the strategy Farm to Fork It ensures that we produce healthier food by practicing less intensive farming. And here I want to emphasize one important thing. The key to healthy food is for the small farmers we have a duty to help more. We need to make more use of local products and develop short supply chains around small farmers, and the new CAP offers these opportunities. Thirdly, perhaps the biggest problem in the medium and long term is the ageing and depopulation of villages, and here I am glad that we have a 3% increase in support for young farmers, which I think is useful but not sufficient. That's why we need to invest more in rural and agricultural infrastructure, in public services to make villages and agriculture... (The president interrupted the speaker)...for young people.

Madam President, we throw away almost 100 million tonnes of food a year, while millions of people cannot afford a decent meal. We produce food per tonne, in intensive farms, while local farmers struggle to sell their products. We are constantly pushing the boundaries of the environment as we wonder why we have more and more fires or droughts. I think it is time to get out of this hypocrisy and accept that this Farm to Fork Strategy is not a fad, but an economic, climate and health necessity. We need to eat healthier, not more. We need to return agriculture to its natural environment, to environmentally friendly farms, while using the advantages of technology. We need to give more support to real farmers and small local producers. We must base future legislative proposals, Commissioner, on serious impact assessments and adapt future targets to the huge differences that exist between Member States in terms of pesticide or antibiotic consumption.

Madam President, we are in a period of reflection on the future of Europe, and I would like to say one thing to you: The Europe of the future does not have to be an ATM where you extract money without giving anything in return. European citizens expect something different from us, they expect us to build a Europe based on values, respect for democracy and the rule of law. That is why this respect for values must be a precondition, including for accessing European money or approving recovery and resilience plans. And our citizens expect one more thing: expects support to go through the big changes that will take place in the coming years. The green and digital transformation may sound good here in Strasbourg or Brussels, but in our villages and cities, it is causing unrest. That is why the Recovery and Resilience Facility must be about reforms and not about money. We must use the recovery and resilience plans to make the reforms we need, to make tomorrow's Europe better prepared for crises, for tomorrow's Europe to embrace these transformations of the economy and society, but leaving no one behind. I trust, Commissioner, that you will pursue these objectives both in approving the plans and in implementing them.

President Hoyer, we need the European Investment Bank to help Europe successfully go through the green and digital transitions, and we also need the EIB to continue to play its traditional role as an investor in the infrastructure and cohesion of the Union, and I believe that these two roles do not contradict each other, but must go hand in hand. And this is very clear when we talk about the Just Transition Mechanism, for which the bank has a great responsibility to assume. We must not leave mining areas behind, and for this we need the EIB both to ensure funding flows in this sector, but also to proactively help these regions through specialised technical assistance. Our farmers also need more attention. We see very clearly that the agricultural sector unfortunately has one of the lowest project success rates. But if we want agriculture to contribute to the ecological transition, if we want young people to return to rural areas, if we want healthy and affordable food, then we also need more support from the Bank for agricultural SMEs or young farmers to have access to funding and assistance, for example by extending the mandate of the Advisory Hub, including to agriculture and rural development.