Speeches

They had much more than a minute. The rules are clear: blue card – 30 seconds question, 30 seconds answer. Yeah, but I can't. I was just distracted, otherwise it wouldn't have been that long.

Colleague, unfortunately I had my attendance to something else. We have clear rules. Blue card, 30 seconds question, 30 seconds answer. And you complained after 42 seconds. Yes.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Commission statement on the lack of legislative action by the Commission following the PEGA Committee of Inquiry resolution (2023/2988(RSP)).

All speakers should take into account that the very good capacities of the interpreters have some limitations and we do not want to introduce like in basketball the effective playing time.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Siegfried Mureşan and Nils Ušakovs, on behalf of the European Parliament delegation to the Conciliation Committee on Budgetary Questions, on the Council position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 (11565/2023 – C9-0422/2023 – 2023/0264(BUD)) (A9-0362/2023).

The EPP Group and the Renew Europe Group have sent the President decisions to change appointments in committees. These decisions will be recorded in the minutes of today's meeting and will enter into force on the day of this announcement.

The minutes of this meeting will be submitted to Parliament for approval at the beginning of the next meeting. If there are no objections, I will forward the resolutions adopted at today's sitting to the persons and bodies referred to in those resolutions.

The next item on the agenda is the explanations of vote. And I might as well explain: The explanations of vote at the very end are made in person and go to the minutes, and it is also quite natural that the large audience is no longer there. And since we will have 10 to 15 explanations of vote, in the end it will be the case that there is only one colleague left, namely the one who has the last explanation of vote. But that's not a scandal, it's all normal.

We have now come to the end of this debate, and before the Commissioner gets the floor, I would like to make another comment. Normally, I am here to maintain neutrality, and I respect that, and I do not think that I am violating neutrality either, but I would like to take up the remark made by a speaker here this afternoon. I notice that the campaign fever is already heating up a bit eight months before the election. It's all right, even if someone messes with the tone. But I already notice that especially with those who complain about the lack of presence here, a separate behavior is still to be noticed. Firstly: This debate on Thursday afternoon, it has its function. Many are already gone. There are good reasons for us to do this anyway, even though colleagues leave on Thursdays, and I am grateful to every colleague for being here. But that you get your cheap applause outside as a populist by saying that there are only so many colleagues here and it is a shame that we do not pay more attention to the topic, and then this colleague is exactly the one who is not there. Of the twelve colleagues who took the floor here, ten are still there to listen to the Commissioner's reply. And exactly the one who made the cheap point, exactly the one is not there. And I think you should take note of that.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Commission statement on the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on the development of the social economy environment (2023/2908(RSP)).

Thank you very much, Secretary of State Samblás. This is exactly what the President will do now, namely to convene the Conciliation Committee under Article 314(4)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The next item on the agenda is the votes. Let's start with the vote on the budget. I would point out that we need a qualified majority of the House, 353 votes, for all the motions.

As regards the decisions of several committees to enter into interinstitutional negotiations under Rule 71(1) of the Rules of Procedure, announced at the opening of the meeting on Monday 16 October 2023, the President did not receive a request for a vote in Parliament from Members or one or more political groups reaching at least the medium threshold. The committees can therefore start negotiations.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on the urgent need for a coordinated European response and a legal framework on highly intrusive spyware based on the recommendations of the PEGA Committee of Inquiry (2023/2910(RSP)).