Speeches

Mr President, thank you very much. Dear Commissioner, It's a late debate, but an incredibly important one. The single market is at the heart of European cooperation. For Sweden, an export-dependent country in the north, it is absolutely crucial. It allows our companies to sell around Europe and create jobs both at home and across the Union. It also allows our consumers to feel safe wherever in the EU we shop, because the requirements are just as high. But the single market cannot be taken for granted. Today, it is under threat from various quarters. Some are threatened by the US tariffs and some are threatened by the wave of low-priced Chinese products that are currently shattering the bones of our fair companies here at home. At the same time, more and more consumers are facing online fraud, as AI technologies are misused for fake ads and tech giants flee their responsibilities. When the EU sets its consumer policy for 2030, it is not. business as usual. To protect our market and our citizens from cheating, fraud and unfair competition, Europe must be one step ahead. We cannot count on the goodwill of foreign tech giants to respect our rules and put our citizens first. We have to do that in this house. My demands on consumer policy for 2030 are therefore simple: Europe must have a high level of protection. Equal rules should apply to everyone. The same rules apply whether you are online or offline. And now it is time for us and the Commission to deliver to protect the good companies and our citizens around the Union.

Madam President, thank you very much. Today we have an important debate. A debate that hopefully leads us to make a historic decision tomorrow. A historic decision that will lead us in the right direction where we will protect our children and young people on social media. A little over a year ago, I was here in my first debate in Parliament. Then I talked about this very issue, about how too many children get hurt online and get stuck in endless scrolling in front of the screen. I'm talking about my own kids and many other kids out there, who are worried about the world they face on their phones. The powerlessness you feel as a parent when you can't protect them. Our children's lives should not be governed by profit-making algorithms from Silicon Valley or Beijing. I worked hard with my party. We had an election promise that we would take back control and set an age limit on social media. Even though we parents have a big responsibility, we can't stand alone against the world's largest tech companies. Our children are not profit machines.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. Dear Minister of Finance from a fairly good country, I would say as Swedish. Tomorrow is the time to vote for this year's budget 2026. As politicians, it is incredibly important that we protect our common tax resources. It is about respect for all the people who get up every day, go to work and contribute to our common Europe. Sometimes it is necessary to take out a loan, just as we did during the COVID-19 pandemic. But you also need to know that loans come with a cost. EU interest costs have risen sharply in recent years. Last week, the European Court of Auditors warned that interest payments could soon double. Yet, like last year, we are once again seeing a draft budget in which, instead of prioritising and perhaps reprioritising, the EU wants to use our common emergency funds to finance runaway interest rates. The final bill will land with the taxpayers. It's not responsible. Nor is it long-term. It is time for Europe to go back to the drawing board, to come up with a new plan on how to pay off its debts before asking for new funds from our dear taxpayers.

Madam President, thank you very much. Decisions about the future of Europe should be made in Europe, not in Beijing, not in Washington and not in Moscow. I wish I could have stayed there – because it should be self-evident – but more recently it has become increasingly clear that European autonomy is not something we can take for granted. We see our European sovereignty under threat time and time again, not only in the airspace and at sea, but also in the digital world. We have to be honest: Europe has become too dependent on the American and Chinese tech giants. As we move forward to strengthen the protection of children on social media, we must ensure that children's health is the number one priority. It must take precedence over profit-making algorithms and the profits of tech giants; then the dominance of platforms is used as a weapon to threaten the EU with tariffs. It can't be that way. We need to seriously secure our digital sovereignty. Europe must be united. Europe needs to change, because this is an issue that is bigger than what future industries we should have. It is a question of Europe alone deciding on the future of Europe.

Madam President, thank you very much. Commissioner, thank you very much. Nearly one in four jobs in Sweden is dependent on exports. This includes everything from fitters at Volvo to foresters in Småland. Three quarters of Swedish goods exports go to the EU. It is no exaggeration to say that the EU's internal market is directly crucial for the Swedish economy. At a time when trade has become a political bat and Trump's tariffs threaten Swedish jobs and European jobs, the EU must take its responsibility. We cannot always control an unpredictable world. But when our own regulations are unpredictable, then we have to do our homework. Today we are taking an important step on the way to improving these very rules of the game, and we are doing that for entrepreneurship across Europe. Swedish companies should not be hindered by regulatory complexity, but have good opportunities to grow in the fantastic internal market that we have. But then we must also have a level playing field, a clear rule book, not a rule forest of 27 different national solutions. A level playing field will apply to companies operating in Munich as well as at home in Mölndal. Another part is about simplifying, removing unnecessary bureaucracy that steals time and energy from small businesses and employees in everyday life. But we also need to be clear. Simplification is not the same as deregulation. One should not lower ambitions, weaken the protection of people and the environment. We Democrats want to see clear rules of the game that we also want to improve. We want smarter rules, not worse. When I look at Sweden, it is not low ambitions that have made us one of the world's most innovative economies. On the contrary, it is high standards, fair working conditions, long-term rules of the game, long-term investments and strong safety nets that have made us where we are as a country. The same should apply to the EU. It is time to act. In turbulent times, lack of action costs more than just time. These are lost businesses, jobs and the economy. In short: less hassle, more trade, the same fair terms. This is how we strengthen our common Europe.

Mr President, thank you very much. Welcome, Commissioner, to this incredibly important debate. Last year, 12 million small packages were sent to the EU a day from foreign operators. It's a sick lot. Nine out of ten of these packages come from China, from low-cost companies like Shein and Temu. Not only was it a new record in e-commerce, it was also a new record in the number of dangerous products landing on our market. Take the example of toys. Eight out of ten toys sold online violate EU safety requirements and can thus be directly harmful to our children. We can't have that. Foreign low-cost operators should not be able to squash the bones of our serious companies by dumping dangerous goods on our market. Cheating platforms with unscrupulous business models should not be able to threaten our Swedish jobs. In the EU, the same rules apply to everyone, including the Chinese online giants. With this report, we are sending a strong signal to the Commission from this House as to which direction we want to go. It's time to close the loopholes. It is time to take responsibility. It is time to take responsibility for our jobs, for our citizens and for our children.

Mr President, thank you very much. The NATO summit in The Hague agreed that 5% of GDP would be invested in our common defence by 2035. It is necessary to equip the whole of Europe and make it strong, but it requires tough priorities. Each Member State must assume its responsibilities. That is why we need to review our common tools that we have at EU level. The European Investment Bank is therefore important for us to be able to invest in common infrastructure and research, which in turn are part of equipping our common defence and making it stronger. As Mr Draghi points out, it is high time to review the investment policy of the Investment Bank. In these times, it is important that we use all the tools to build a stronger Europe, a more resilient Europe. I want this to happen as soon as possible and thank you for that.

Madam President, thank you very much. The EU Recovery Fund following the coronavirus pandemic was a historic response to a historic crisis. The EU's rapid action with joint loans allowed us to cope with the crisis better than we would otherwise have done. But it was also an exception. Loans are not a long-term solution; on the other hand, they are sound public finances. In practice, loans we take today are a debt to future generations and, as all households know, who struggled with high interest costs during the cost crisis, loans are also not free. That is why it is crucial that we now take responsibility within the EU and repay our joint loans according to plan. Otherwise, we will be less prepared when the next crisis comes. For me, it's about taking responsibility for taxpayers but also for my children. Ensuring that what we hand over to the next generation is a strong economy and strong preparedness in tough times, not expensive interest costs. To be strong tomorrow, we need to take responsibility today.

Madam President, dear colleagues, one year ago, Europeans went to the polls in order to vote for their representation in this Chamber. One issue stood out in what motivated them when asked, 'Why did you go and vote? The issue was rising prices and the cost of living. In the past three years, retail food prices have increased by 30 %. Today, still, prices are painfully high. For millions of European families, putting food on the table has become a critical issue. Parents are skipping meals and turning to short-term loans just to feed their children. This is the reality we were elected to change. But what has happened since then? So far, very little. Yet some party groups have actively tried to stop the discussion today. This says something about the priorities of a large share of this Chamber. For millions of Europeans, this is not a political battle. It's a daily struggle. Let me be clear: for the S&D Group, tackling the cost of food is a top priority. And I would urge and hope that it will be a top priority for the other groups also.

Madam President, thank you very much. I would like to begin by thanking Mrs Lara for her good cooperation on this report. At the moment, the cost crisis is putting pressure on European households. While many families struggle to afford to eat their fill, food giants are making record profits. It is clear that there is something wrong with competition in the internal market. This requires us to act. We know that lack of or unfair competition exacerbates the situation for the EU and its consumers and risks leading to unreasonably high prices. I am therefore pleased that we can agree that the European Union needs a new competition tool that can address precisely these structural competition problems in the internal market. It is not only in the food sector that we have problems. We see that we need to review competition also in the banking sector, where many banks have been able to increase their margins even during the inflation years. Only in Sweden have they made record profits when it comes to this. We need a new competitive tool. It would empower the EU to act against entire markets, not just against individual players. This means a shift from reacting to abuse to being able to prevent it. With this tool, we can break market concentration, protect the interests of consumers and consumers, and ultimately contribute to lower prices.

Mr President, I would like to thank you. We really do live in strange times, but I'll try to keep it short. The central banks must do their part to lower inflation and safeguard price stability. But if it is something that the cost crisis of recent years has shown that we politicians must do our part. High inflation hits households that have the toughest conditions and have the least margins. Despite the fact that inflation is now falling back, many households are still having a very tough time because of the cost crisis, not least because of the high food prices. Part of the increase is obviously due to high energy prices and geopolitical uncertainty, but the ECB itself also shows that part of the explanation is higher profits. Here, monetary policy has no tools or mandate to support households that are in the toughest situation. Interest rates are a blunt tool. Therefore, other measures are needed. Not least, the EU needs to sharpen its tools to ensure effective competition, especially in the food market. When monetary policy is tied back, a heavy responsibility rests on us politicians to work for a policy for ordinary people.

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Commissioner! Cryptocurrency, which was once very niche, has quickly made an impact throughout the world. It is also a digital revolution that has opened up new opportunities in other sectors. There is great potential in blockchain technology that can bring benefits to, for example, the public sector, for more robust and efficient systems. At home, for example, we are currently investigating how to use this technology in healthcare, in order to be able to more safely manage and share personal health data. It is important that we promote new technology when it comes, but at the same time it is important that the new technology has some control. Technology must not be used to harm consumers, for terrorist financing, for money laundering and so on. Here, the EU has taken the lead in regulating crypto. But crypto exists on a global scale and hence we need standards on a global scale, so that we can take advantage of the potential, not inhibit it, and make sure that the technology is used properly and not used by suspicious nations to harm consumers and our systems that we hold so dear.

Mr President, I would like to thank you. Social media is here to stay. A newspaper in Sweden previously conducted a survey among children and young people, in which they were asked what they are exposed to when they are out scrolling. The answers you could get were war, rape, violence, weight, weapons and a lot of other nasty things. I'm not just a legislator. I am also the parent of two little girls, now nine and seven years old. I see how they are affected by the algorithms that exist in these systems. We need a strong Europe. We need parents who take responsibility. But we also need to work together to overcome these different algorithms. That is why my simple question to the Commission is: What do we do next to ensure that our children and young people are doing well? And to make sure that our future is not ruined by a lot of strange things going on on social media.