Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! One thing is quite clear: EU money can only be awarded if it strictly respects the rule of law and democratic principles. The construction billions must benefit the citizens. They must not seep into dark holes or nepotism. All citizens of the European Union should benefit from the turbo for the way out of the pandemic crisis and from investments in the challenges of the future. Unfortunately, some governments still stand in the way of their own people. The European Commission cannot therefore approve a recovery plan that does not meet the common agreed objectives. There must be no false compromises here. Governments in Hungary and Poland have received concrete reform recommendations from the Commission on the independence of the judiciary, media freedom and anti-corruption. The implementation of these reforms is and remains an important precondition for approving fresh EU money that governments are not currently fulfilling in Hungary or Poland. Yes, we need dialogue and decisive action. The strongest tool for enforcing the rule of law is the new rule of law mechanism in the EU budget. Four out of five EU citizens are behind it. Ten months after its entry into force, the European Commission must finally initiate it. This is a question of seriousness and credibility, because it is about citizen tax money. We don't have much time.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, presented by Commissioner Ylva Johansson, on the situation in Belarus one year after the start of the protests and their violent crackdown (2021/2881(RSP)).

The debate is closed. The vote on the amendments will take place today, Tuesday 5 October 2021. The final vote will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 6 October 2021. Written declarations (Article 171)

The meeting closed and will take place tomorrow, Thursday 16 September 2021 at 9 a.m. with the announcement of the results of the 2nd meeting. Today's voting session resumed. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament's website.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the oral question to the Commission on the reversal of the negative social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic by Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, Dennis Radtke, Manuel Pizarro, Atidzhe Alieva-Veli, Elena Lizzi, Katrin Langensiepen, Elżbieta Rafalska and Leila Chaibi, on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs [2021/2734(RSP)] (O-000044/2021 - B9-0032/21).

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Tax evasion, tax fraud and tax avoidance create injustices, distort competition and weaken the European Union. Without more cooperation and a complete information activity, we cannot win our fight against abuse, fraud and organised crime. The report clearly shows: We have already made some progress, but we still have a lot of room for improvement, especially in the exchange of tax information in Europe and in the implementation of existing rules. In recent years, the common rules have been improved six times, but still not implemented. We recently expanded it to include tax data from digital sales platforms. The Commission is already working on a new proposal, i.e. an eighth version. The common rules can only be fully effective if we and the Member States fully implement and enforce them. I consider it inexcusable that too little information is still exchanged, that the data exchanged is still not used, that data quality is still under-controlled and that the effectiveness is still undermined by the lack of implementation of the 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directives. Let's act! Decisions alone do not seem to suffice.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen! How many wake-up calls do we need to understand: Only by speaking with one voice and acting together can Europe play a role on the world stage. But this requires political will and qualified democratic majority decisions instead of the crippling dogma of unanimity. And we need a determined common foreign, security, defence and development policy. The case of Afghanistan, however, shows us once again clearly: There can and must be no either-or in the European refugee debate. Of course, we need help on the ground and a secure external border protection. But we must also guarantee the right to asylum for those fleeing persecution and terror. Yes, it is right and important that we support neighbouring countries in receiving and caring for Afghan refugees. Yes, but it is just as right and important that we create legal escape routes and ensure a corridor of humanity to Europe.

And after it is 20 seconds before 1 p.m., I do not want to interrupt the sitting, but to continue right away by opening today's voting session. The dossiers on which we are voting can be found on the agenda. The voting session is now open from 1 p.m. to 2.15 p.m. The voting procedure is the same as in the previous rounds. All votes shall be by roll call. I declare the voting session open. The results of the voting session will be announced at 19.00. (The meeting adjourned at 13.01)

Thank you, Mrs. Drmaž. The aim is a budget that meets the challenges of our time and meets citizens' expectations of the European Union's ability to act. The debate on this item is therefore closed. Written declarations (Article 171)

The next item on the agenda is the presentation by the Council of the Council's position on the draft general budget for the financial year 2022 [2021/2762(RSP)].

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Sylvie Brunet, on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, on Fair working conditions, rights and social protection for workers working on online platforms – New forms of employment linked to digital development [2019/2186(INI)] (A9-0257/2021).

The joint debate was closed. The votes on the amendments will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 14 September 2021, and the final vote on Wednesday 15 September 2021. Written declarations (Article 171)

We are now setting up our joint debate on: the report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 establishing a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [COM(2020)0726 - C9-0366/2020- 2020/0320(COD)] - Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Rapporteur: Joanna Kopcińska (A9-0253/2021) and the report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on serious cross-border threats to health and repealing Decision No 1082/2013/EU [COM(2020)0727 - C9-0367/2020- 2020/0322(COD)] - Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Rapporteur: Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (A9-0247/2021)

Before we proceed with the debates, I will open today's voting session. The dossiers on which we are voting can be found on the agenda. The voting session will be open from 6.30 p.m. to 7.45 p.m. The voting procedure is the same as in the previous part-sessions. The issue of immunity shall be voted on by secret ballot. Members cast their votes in a traditional way, but the ballot paper they must receive and sign does not show how they voted, only that they voted. All other votes are roll call votes. Explanations of votes may be submitted in writing. Exceptionally, the explanations of vote may not exceed 400 words. I declare the voting session open. You can vote until 7.45 p.m. The results of the vote will be announced tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Again, although you already know it, I must inform you that, as long as we proceed in a hybrid manner, there can be no spontaneous interventions and no blue cards will be accepted in all debates at this part-session. In addition, as in the previous part-sessions, connections from Parliament’s liaison offices in the Member States are foreseen. The next item on the agenda is the joint debate on health and disease prevention. The issue that affects us all in every region, in every municipality, in every Member State and worldwide. And I can start with the rapporteur, Mrs de la Pisa Carrión. It's coming in from Madrid. .

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! A successful future for Europe needs more respect in dealing with each other, more will to cooperate, including economic and fiscal cooperation. With the around 70 recommendations, we as the European Parliament want to further improve the common set of rules and put these recommendations on the table. A whopping €45 billion of added value in economic output per year could only result from closer fiscal policy coordination, according to estimates by the European Parliamentary Research Service. However, this can only succeed if all Member States implement the adopted reform recommendations. And they don't. More than 50 percent of all country-specific recommendations under the European Semester were ignored. Close economic and fiscal policy coordination is essential to put your finger on the right wounds and highlight the need for action for healthy budgets, innovation, growth and jobs in Europe. However, it cannot replace much-needed reforms and the completion of economic and monetary union. It cannot and must not replace the objective of creating a Capital Markets Union and a Banking Union. We must finally step up our efforts and implement these joint projects resolutely. We need to be more transparent. We need a sanction mechanism. The Stability and Growth Pact needs to become less complex but more binding. And we want to achieve all this together.

The debate is closed. The vote on the amendments will take place today, Wednesday 7 July 2021. The final vote will take place tomorrow, Thursday 8 July 2021. Written declarations (Article 171)

Before we proceed to the debate after the list of speakers, we now come to today's second voting session. The files indicated on the agenda were put to the vote. The voting session opened from 19.30 - now - to 20.45. The same voting procedure is used as in the previous votes, and we are therefore already accustomed to it. All votes shall be taken by roll call. I declare the second voting session open. The results of this round will be announced tomorrow at 9 a.m.