Speeches

Madam President, dear President von der Leyen, first I welcome your recognition that Romania and Bulgaria are part of Schengen. Let us say that today is the day for a commitment to Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen by the end of this mandate. (Applause) Second, you mentioned the important role of the European regions. Therefore, it is crucial to have a strong cohesion policy, strong cohesion funding, to ensure the convergence of all the regions within the European Union. Third, to continue addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow, a timely agreement on all the components of the MFF revisions is absolutely necessary. The Parliament is working hard and is committed to having a revised MFF in place on 1 January 2024, and we call on President Charles Michel to put the MFF on the European Council’s October agenda. We count on your support and leadership.

Mr President, Commissioner, of course we are talking about the need to finance the European Union budget sustainably, which requires a diversified and extensive set of own resources, because our needs are also very large, from securing energy supplies to ensuring that people have enough food, from countering the effects of the war on the border with the European Union to ensuring the strategic autonomy of the European Union, leaving no one behind. To do all this, we need investments, sustainable investments that take into account the social dimension and what is important for us is to fight against the social inequalities that exist at the societal level in the European Union. We need to come up with the right solutions that have a high distributional value and lead to this rise in inequality in the European Union.

Mr President, dear Vice-President Timmermans, dear colleagues, first of all, allow me to congratulate Ms Polfjärd for the report and also the cooperation during the negotiations. I would also like to thank our staff. Well, in the ozone-depleting substances field, more than 2 000 small- and medium-sized enterprises operate at EU level and it is important to strengthen the Commission proposal with the social dimension being in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights. On the other hand, introducing maximum emission levels and the schedule for phasing out for quantitative limits are important pieces of the emissions and pollutants package under the European Green Deal. The EU’s Ozone Regulation, we can say that this is one of the big success stories of the EU environmental policy and shows how excellent results can be achieved with clear, binding rules, which were missing over years and decades at the level of climate ambition, and in addition cementing Europe’s position as a global leader at the Montreal Protocol.

Mr President, I, too, would like to thank the Commissioner and the entire European Commission for their support for accession to the Schengen Area for Romania and Bulgaria, of course. I want to thank the Czech Presidency for its support and willingness to keep the European project united. But last week's behaviour by Austria's chancellor and her interior minister is an attack on the European project and a disregard for Romanians' rights. We cannot accept becoming trapped in a domestic policy game of a Member State. We will not suffer from Stockholm syndrome and we will not get to sympathize with those who keep us captive. We want the subject of Schengen to be discussed on the agenda of this week's European Council, because Romanians deserve respect, because Romania deserves to be in the Schengen area.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, Minister, the war in Ukraine and its consequences in Europe increased even further the need to support children in situations of poverty in Europe. Energy prices, food prices, all of those are affecting many children in Europe. Therefore, Europe must react. ESF+ is based on national pre-allocated financial envelopes. Such envelopes can only be increased by modifying the MFF. We call on the Commission to come with a proposal for a dedicated budget to turn the child guarantee into reality. This supplementary programme with a dedicated budget will complement the ESF+ with additional support for tackling child poverty on top of the national pre-allocated financial envelopes. This is not a new policy that would duplicate the existing ones, but a key EU-wide boost that would be essential for providing support and assistance to children in situations of poverty. Children are our future and no child should be left behind.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, Minister Bek, we have not infrequently heard that Romania, together with Bulgaria, meets the technical criteria for accession to the Schengen area. We have been meeting the technical criteria for 11 years and this has been repeatedly confirmed by both the European Parliament and the European Commission. Romania continues to consistently implement and adapt to developments in the Schengen acquis, benefiting from access to the Schengen Information System and the Visa Information System. We have consistently demonstrated and demonstrated how responsibly we understood how to manage the external border of the Union, being the guarantor of security for 2 070 kilometres of border. The last months have brought us into the undesirable situation of proving that we can even adequately manage a crisis situation with over one million refugees who have already entered Romania, while respecting all Schengen rules in force. We have to be honest and admit, the repeated delays were for political reasons and the decision to be taken is a political one. We believe that we are at a time when the Union must understand that clear political gestures are needed, which eliminate any ambiguities, gestures that show the solidity of our common project, its credibility and that recognise the merits and efforts where they are made, in accordance with the provisions assumed by the Treaties. What do we want? We want by the end of this year to decide, obviously, positively in the Council, on the lifting of the border control between Romania and Bulgaria and the rest of the Schengen area, and this is only a compliance with the provisions of the Treaties, provisions that we assume and respect. Romania deserves, Romanians deserve to be treated equally as all other European citizens. Romania must enter the Schengen area! We want Romanians to move freely within the Schengen area, like all other European citizens.

Thank you, President. Dear Commissioner, I would like to thank you for the work you’ve done, you do, and you will do. And for the answer, of course, I know how many efforts are made. There is no question, but I would like to stress that we need to make sure that the demographic realities, such as depopulation, do not lead to polarisation, and that internal cohesion in the EU is not put under strain.

Commissioner, I am thankful for the commitment shown by you and the Commission on the depopulation issue, in particular, the inclusion in the 2022 Work Programme of the initiative on brain drain. I was leading the work within my political group to adopt a policy paper to find some of the answers to these challenges. One conclusion was that cooperation with citizens, civil society, small and medium enterprises, research and scientific institutions will be key to unleashing each territorial unit’s potential by making tailored solutions for all the different types of territories. And my question is: what is the assessment so far by the Commission on how Member States are using cohesion policy and addressing these issues in the partnership agreements? Are enough efforts being made? And can further improvements be made?

Madam President, President Von der Leyen, we welcome the concrete proposals that you have made today, but we need to act together immediately. In the field of energy, for example, the measures you have proposed, the Socialist Group has been asking for them for several months. Madam President, you cannot ask people to reduce consumption if we let the TTP market continue to speculate. Therefore, if we want to lower the bills for citizens, we need to stop speculation on the gas market through contracts spot. The second is Schengen. The Union is incomplete, Madam President. You have declared that Romania fulfils all the criteria for Schengen accession. We need the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia to the Schengen area, and I tell you that Romania applies the Schengen criteria every day to defend the eastern borders of the European Union. I ask that all these declarations be made a reality, so that Romania is in Schengen, along with Bulgaria and Croatia.

Madam President, Commissioner, I begin by congratulating the rapporteurs. It is a very good report, because, basically, the Resilience and Recovery Facility, a key instrument for investments and reforms, is the message of solidarity of the European Union to help citizens, but also companies, to mitigate the negative impact of the health crisis, but also everything that means the crisis that happened as a result of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Of course we welcome "REPowerEU". It is an opportunity for the European Union to ensure its energy independence, but, Commissioner, I believe that the Commission needs more flexibility to enable Member States to readjust their national recovery and resilience plans to deal with these crises: inflation, rising prices, the energy crisis.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, it’s my turn now to congratulate the co-rapporteurs. We worked very well together in order to obtain a good result as a report, taking into account that this will represent the new mandate for the high-level political forum next month. Well, there are there are only eight years left to implement the SDGs until 2030 and we are facing increasing challenges. The SDGs’ implementation progress is dramatically damaged, as you said, by the current geopolitical, health and humanitarian crises. Therefore we must act to ensure that the social inequalities resulting from those crises and well-being- and economy-related impacts are minimised; that measures taken to protect the environment, climate and security are carried out in a socially fair and inclusive way, with a comprehensive mapping of the financial envelopes of EU policies, which have been reinforced by the additional Next Generation EU funds to create a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe, as well as the social and demographic priorities set by the SDGs and the European Pillar of Social Rights to be fully implemented. Furthermore, we must have a holistic approach to the SDGs in the EU, in the use of beyond—GDP indicators as well as reforming the European Semester to take due account of the SDGs.

Ukraine deserves to be granted candidate status, because Ukraine is going through a terrible war and we need to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The Republic of Moldova is equally exposed, and both states have done their lessons, so I hope that in the Council, in the coming days, this will happen, that they will be granted candidate status, and also that I congratulate the Commission on the recommendations it has made.

Mr President, Vice-President of the European Commission, Šefčovič, Minister, I agree with all the colleagues who said that we are living in a historic moment. Let's go back 70 years, to June 22, because today is June 22. On June 22, 1940, a truce was imposed on France. On June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa began in Eastern Europe. Today, the European Union faces its greatest geostrategic challenge, which in turn generates a huge security crisis, with humanitarian collateral crises, the energy crisis and the food crisis. We must respond with sanctions to the aggressor and with solidarity towards the victims. We must grant the status of candidate state to Ukraine and Moldova, because, we must recognize the European vocation of these two countries and if the European Union wants to be geostrategic, then we must defend our values and give the status of candidate state to these two states. (The speaker agreed to respond to a blue card intervention)

Madam President, of course, the invasion of Ukraine has serious budgetary implications affecting the 2023 budget and beyond. We need to be ready to support Ukraine and also our citizens. Our focus should be on the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance to the millions of refugees fleeing the war. We also need to ensure that our citizens will receive the necessary support in dealing with the overall economic and social consequences of the war, since the explosion of energy prices, higher inflation and lower growth will inevitably continue to push poverty upwards and fuel more inequality. What is also clear is that neither the flexibility of the current MFF nor the Next Generation EU fund are sufficient to cover all the pressing needs. There is, therefore, a need to rethink our overall budgetary framework as it is dangerously reaching its limits. The dramatic situation in Ukraine means that the Union’s budget for 2023 cannot be business as usual.

Madam President, I cannot believe that I have to stand up to address war and its atrocities on our continent. Never had I expected in my political life that we would have to deal with such a tragedy in our European House. CARE is a very good title. To ‘care for’ means provide for us, to look after, to ‘take care of’ means look after, keep safe. That’s what we need to do for our Ukrainian friends. All these elements came together in the Commission proposal for a regulation regarding ‘Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe’ of 8 March this year, in particular helping the Member States in the front line. That the Commission moved swiftly, barely two weeks after the Russian invasion and that the Parliament is also moving very fast with an urgent procedure underpins this debate. Moreover, the instrument chosen, a draft regulation, is legally our strongest instrument, is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. The possibility of 100% co-financing to respond to this ugly war and the usage of payment appropriations from the 2014-2020 programming period and from REACT-EU is the right way to approach matters. However, depending on the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis and how the war evolves, we already have to see which financial means could be made available post-30 June this year. What we need to do is that the uprooted Ukrainian friends find a place to stay, find work and find a school for their children. In order to become self-sufficient, language training should be encouraged, as well as child- and medical-care provided. If the EU is a place with a heart, now is the time to show it. The CARE proposal puts us on the right track.

Madam President, I would like to thank our rapporteur Grace O’Sullivan and underline the very good cooperation between the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Transport and Tourism, ensuring an ambitious EP position on the Eighth Environment Action Programme (EAP) in view of the interinstitutional negotiations. The Eighth EAP aims to set out a framework for EU environmental and climate policy actions, and a monitoring system until 2030, based on the European Green Deal, to guarantee that the EU is on track with climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest and achieve its 2030 biodiversity strategy towards a sustainable well-being economy within planetary boundaries. These are ensured by the active engagement of all stakeholders at all levels of governance, mainstreaming gender, contributing to reach the European pillar of social rights, the UN SDGs and the due diligence concept.