Speeches

– Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Online opinion-forming, manipulative messages, fake news and social bots – the use of artificial intelligence can indeed influence elections and votes. We have seen this in the case of Cambridge Analytica. The Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising aims to prevent such election manipulations in the future. However, the rules should be designed in such a way that election campaigns can also take place in the future, and I would like to make one critical point: I think the rules should not apply to local elections. Local elections, for example in a small municipality with a few hundred citizens, will in future be equated with, for example, the European elections, which affect 440 million people. In future, the new rules will have to be followed in every election of mayors, local councillors, district councillors and district councils. I think that's just not good. Local politicians are mostly volunteers and will probably not be the target of election manipulation. Therefore, they should actually be relieved of bureaucratic requirements.

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, Madam Minister, my dear colleagues! 30 years of the Single Market: What a great success story for the European Union! What we haven't achieved in these 30 years: Barriers to trade have been removed, there are no more import or export tariffs for trade in goods within the European Union, craftsmen from my home region can offer their services throughout the European Union. A master's degree obtained in Germany is also recognised in all other Member States. Erasmus is a success story, giving many young people the opportunity to complete part of their education or studies in another European country. There are no roaming charges anymore. Smaller milestones have also been achieved: SOLVIT provides assistance in cross-border disputes. A one-stop shop for businesses has been introduced to ensure that VAT only has to be declared once in the European Union. And, and, and. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! It's really a great achievement. But of course there is still a lot to do. This is because the Member States are extremely inventive in setting up new barriers to trade, and we must take action against this. Finally, I would like to mention another major milestone in the single market that we are celebrating this year: For 20 years, ladies and gentlemen, we have worked together to obtain a unitary patent and a unitary patent court in Europe. Now, on April 1st, this will finally be realized, this will be possible: an application, an examination, a grant, a legal proceeding for patents in the European Union. I think this is another, very, very great milestone, of which we in the European Parliament can also be particularly proud, because over many, many years many colleagues have repeatedly urged that the Member States finally implement this accordingly.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen. The energy transition can only succeed if we expand massively renewable energy. Why isn't it moving faster? Approval procedures take too long. This is where we have to start. The directive we are now adopting this week can do just that, speeding up procedures. I would like to thank our rapporteur, Markus Pieper, and all those who have helped to get this directive off the ground. When we talk about renewable energy, what are we talking about? Are we talking about wind and solar? No, I think that's wrong. Especially in times when, as now, we have an offer of energy. Renewable energy is not only wind and solar, but also biomass, hydropower and geothermal energy. We must not discriminate against any kind of renewable energy. There must be no first- and second-class renewable energy. Hydropower and biomass are permanently available, cost-effective and versatile. We need to take them into account in Europe's energy transition, as well as solar and wind energy.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Doctors, hospitals and manufacturers of medical devices have been sounding the alarm for over a year now: Important medical devices go out, are no longer manufactured, are withdrawn from the market. For example, balloon catheters for children's hearts are currently hardly available in Europe, and children with congenital heart defects can no longer be operated on. What happened? In 2017, we adopted the new version of the Medical Devices Regulation. At that time, the goal was to achieve more patient safety. The trigger for the revision of the Medical Devices Regulation at the time was the breast implant scandal in Germany and France. With the recast, we wanted stricter requirements for the certification of medical devices. Today, however, we unfortunately have to state that many medical devices are simply not re-certified, because the financial and bureaucratic effort is simply too high, especially for many medium-sized medical device manufacturers; This applies in particular to niche products. Therefore, I believe that something urgent needs to happen now, given the current difficult supply situation with some vital medical devices. The Commission must finally come forward with a proposal to amend the Medical Devices Regulation. We have been calling on the Commission to do so for months. So far, nothing has happened, at least according to what I see, and I actually think it is a scandal. I would therefore like to address three questions to the Commission today. Firstly: How does the Commission intend to ensure that medical devices remain available, especially in hospitals, so that patients who urgently need them can survive? Secondly: I suggest that certificates already issued remain valid at least until the examination of a recertification application has been completed. Question to the Commission: Is this a consideration that is shared? And thirdly: Is the Commission considering amending the Medical Devices Regulation to eliminate the need for recertification, at least for niche products that have already been certified under the old regime? I am very curious to see how the Commission responds to these three questions.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! Equality is an endless story – unfortunately. Twelve years ago, our former EPP Commissioner Viviane Reding Women's on-boardsThe directive was launched twelve years ago, laying the foundations for legislation on equality between men and women in companies in many Member States. Equality between men and women is still not self-sufficient today. There are still more men than women on boards, and when you look at the floor of the boards, the air is very thin, it is very manageable – the number of female boards. Quotas are door openers. I think they make sense to break up long-standing structures that have been established for decades, and that is why it is good that we finally adopt this directive today. But in addition to quotas, it is also important that companies have the right mindset. Diversity must not only take place on paper, it is not enough just to adopt this directive here, but diversity must be lived in companies. Let me also point out that I am deeply convinced that if we have a balanced representation of women and men in leadership positions in companies, this will also be a win-win for many companies: Many studies indicate that a significant representation of women in management positions can also be a success factor for corporate sales. I am pleased that this directive will be adopted today.

Madam President, Vice-President of the European Commission! Colleagues! First of all, a heartfelt thank you to our rapporteur Bart Groothuis for his excellent report and also to the colleagues in the political groups who have all worked on this dossier. The importance of cybersecurity is currently demonstrated by Russia's hybrid warfare with computer attacks and massive disinformation campaigns. We need to protect our critical infrastructure and better support our businesses, both small and large, so that they can also defend themselves against cyber-attacks, sabotage and espionage. It is good that we in the European Union have a strategy against cyberattacks. And the directive on which we are going to vote this afternoon is a very important building block in this strategy. Cybersecurity is a community task. We can only be better and more efficient if we work together – companies, administrations, security authorities. This is what we want to achieve with this directive. I welcome the fact that with the directive we are introducing a new reporting obligation for cyber-attacks, that there is a tight deadline of 24 hours within which it must be notified that a cyber-attack has occurred. Only by working closely together at European level will we really have a chance to guarantee cybersecurity for our citizens and our businesses. Thank you to everyone who helped us get this legislation off the ground today.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Sustainability reporting makes sense, not only for the climate and the environment, but also from the perspective of companies that can demonstrate that they operate sustainably. However, abdominal pain gives me two circumstances. Firstly: Especially our medium-sized companies are currently really overwhelmed: Taxonomy, Deforestation Ordinance, Sustainability Reporting, Supply Chain Act. All these well-intentioned proposals entail new bureaucratic requirements. Companies need to document, prove, prove, inform, especially at a time when every business is being challenged by energy price increases, inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and shortages of skilled workers. This is almost impossible for businesses. I therefore urge the Commission, Commissioner, to take the principle of proportionality seriously and not impose a disproportionate burden on small and medium-sized enterprises in the standards that are now being developed for sustainability reporting. When it comes to reporting obligations, a medium-sized company simply cannot be equated with a large corporation.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, Mr Minister, ladies and gentlemen! Since the beginning of Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, the question has accompanied us: What measures can we take to ensure that energy remains affordable in Europe and that houses do not get cold in the coming winter? I think our people and businesses expect concrete answers from us. I am pleased that the Commission's proposals on this matter are finally on the table to relieve the burden on consumers and households. However, some of these measures are long overdue, such as the proposal for joint purchasing of gas. He is finally here – ultimately eight months too late. But if we want to prevent over-competition in the purchase of gas among the Member States, then we need joint action at European level. The same applies to the cap on the gas price. But what still has to come quite, very urgently is to relieve our companies. Competitiveness should be strengthened. The President of the Commission has today made one or the other proposal on this subject. I think it's important to put everything to the test. We are now in a situation where we live in a kind of war economy, and that is why it is important to do the important things first and perhaps not tackle one or the other dossier and issue until next year. Prioritizing is what is necessary. We've already lost enough time, and I think again: Our people deserve answers from us.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, honourable representatives of the Council, ladies and gentlemen! Winter is just around the corner. Many households and businesses are asking themselves: How can I still pay my electricity and gas bills? How do I cope with the high cost of living? It has already been said by many colleagues: Valuable time has been wasted. But now we finally have Commission proposals on the table – late, but, as I said, there is something on the table: Solidarabgabe, revenue levies on electricity, gas price brake, joint purchase of gas, new benchmark for FFT, so a lot is now on the table. I would like to use my speaking time today to call on the Member States to finally take action here, and also to ask once again in the direction of the Council Presidency to finally pat the Member States on the fingers. So far, every country, every Member State, has done its thing. We are far from having a European internal energy market, ladies and gentlemen. But if we want to tackle the problems, then we have to act together, which also means that we have to use all the available resources that we have in the country to produce energy.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. The turn of the tide in Europe is also a special turn of the tide for European space travel. Russia is known to have terminated cooperation in space with Europe at the end of February 2022. Of course, this also has a serious impact on us in Europe. I think it is really time for us to be resilient and future-proof in this area. There are more and more companies in the field of New spaceThose who have great potential. Many young and still small companies in Germany, but also in all other European countries, are making a name for themselves on an international level. Alone in New spaceThe market is estimated to grow to as much as 2,700 million by 2040. I think it is therefore urgent that we support these small and medium-sized enterprises massively at European level. As the European Union, our ambition should be to play a central role in global competition and, above all, to ensure secure, autonomous access to and use of space. I would therefore like to ask the Commission today – and Commissioner has already said a lot about this: How will the Commission develop the Space traffic management Above all, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, so that in the future the competitiveness of these companies in particular and also of the major players here in this market, which are based in Europe, will be maintained?

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr Council representatives, ladies and gentlemen! Russian partial mobilization, nuclear saber-rattling, illegal annexation of the occupied territories: Putin is waging an increasingly aggressive war of aggression. Ukraine defends itself bravely, fights for itself, but also for our interests and needs our full support. I welcome the fact that an eighth package of sanctions is now being worked on. But the war also hits us massively in the European Union. We must do everything we can to control the exploding energy prices. Households can no longer pay their bills, the horrendous electricity and gas prices are driving our businesses into insolvency. I welcome the emergency measures adopted by the energy ministers. They are an important first step, but they must now also be implemented quickly and unbureaucratically, and further measures must follow. Firstly, we need a gas price brake without jeopardising security of supply. The gas price brake does not solve all problems, but it creates air to boost the supply here a bit. Secondly, we need a joint purchase of gas and liquefied petroleum gas, and we need to revise our electricity price index system, as the current situation has shown.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, a heartfelt thank you to our rapporteur, Tom Berendsen, who presented an excellent report on the industrial strategy for Europe and who, above all, made it very clear in the report that what we need to do is to preserve added value in Europe. Our entire industrial policy must be geared towards securing jobs here on the ground. He rightly stated – and I would now like to emphasise two things in my short speech – that, above all, we must take into account the dramatic impact of Russia’s war of aggression on European industry in what we can now also do at European level. And I can only say: The most important thing is that we relieve, relieve, relieve our companies and our companies, get away from many bureaucratic requirements that the companies currently have to shoulder. Our companies are struggling to survive, insolvencies are the order of the day, productions are being cut back. We must relieve where we can only relieve and support, also with a view to reducing electricity taxes, horrendous prices, which are also there with regard to the procurement of raw materials, with regard to energy supply. That must be the order of the day. I welcome the fact that the Commission announced yesterday that it will also work in the direction of making ourselves more resilient and diversifying in the European Union. This must also be the goal of our foreign policy, that we organize here also access to rare raw materials. That is our task in the European Union.

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission, Mr Council representatives, ladies and gentlemen! Ukraine still needs our maximum possible support. Madam President, you said: “It is time to support, not for appeasement.” I can only support that. But the war also hits the mark on our citizens and businesses: High inflation, horrendous energy prices, households no longer have room for manoeuvre, companies are reducing their production, insolvencies are the order of the day. I think two things are necessary. Firstly: In times of supply shortages, we have to ramp up everything in capacity, resources. This applies to our energy supply as well as to our food supply. And secondly: Relieving rather than burdening is the order of the day, dear colleagues. I have heard that there should be an SME package. Let me just say: I hear the words, but I lack faith. I see that the machinery in the Commission continues unvarnished, unchecked. Business as usual is the order of the day. I look forward to the concrete proposals. What will be withdrawn when? The goal must be to maintain added value here in Europe and to prevent other regions in the world from benefiting from the fact that there are wars in Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, We want to achieve climate neutrality in the European Union by 2050. However, climate protection is only associated with security of supply, energy efficiency and affordability. And that is why, with regard to the expansion of renewable energies, I think it is wrong to make the use of hydropower and forest biomass unprofitable through strict regulations. On the contrary: Energy from forest wood must continue to be recognised as renewable energy – I do not share what Mr Wölken said. Sustainable forest management is essential for urgently needed forest conversion and our goal of climate neutrality. We need strong forests that can reach their full potential as carbon sinks. The same goes for hydropower. Hydropower is a renewable energy that is always available, flexibly controllable and grid stabilizing. We must do everything we can to strengthen hydropower and not to put an end to small hydropower in Europe by setting strict guidelines.

Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen! Deforestation and forest degradation must be tackled with all possible means. Our forests around the world are our green lungs. We absolutely must protect them. As CO2 sinks, they make a valuable contribution to our climate, even if they are managed sustainably. The Regulation provides for the most extensive due diligence and documentation obligations. Market participants and traders are obliged to carry out risk assessments here as well. I would just like to make a critical remark: I believe that we must not exaggerate this with these manifold obligations and obligations, especially for those who import and who participate in trade here. We do not want to build an extensive compliance system, but we want to tackle the problem at its root. That is why I believe that we must continue to think about alternatives and other measures – Mr Lins raised a number of points. So this is a proposal that will hopefully be evaluated with a sense of proportion in the vote tomorrow. But I think it's not the only way, and we should continue to work on alternatives.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen! Better legislation has been a matter of heart for us in the European Parliament for years, and therefore a thank you to our rapporteur, who has presented an excellent report. I would like to highlight an initiative that is particularly important to me, for which I have also made myself strong: I think the most important thing is that the websites that inform our citizens, our companies about funding and funding opportunities for the European Union, are also made available in all official languages. I know that the Commission is working on this. Mr Vice-President, I would urge you once again to implement this by the end of the year, as was probably planned. I think that is a requirement of fairness that non-English-speaking citizens also know what they have in terms of funding opportunities, in terms of financing opportunities. We have billion-dollar programmes that we are putting in place, and that is why, I believe, it is a requirement of fairness to inform about them in all official languages.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission - the President of the Council has already left Parliament here, very interesting - ladies and gentlemen! Granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova has been right, is a big, important milestone. We in Parliament were the first to call for this, and it is just right to continue to support Ukraine and Moldova, as is planned. However, it is unacceptable that the Western Balkans have been waiting for the EU accession talks for so long and that we have still not made any progress. At the last summit, I think we lost a lot of confidence in this region. How can the EU keep North Macedonia waiting after 15 years? How can it be that the accession talks with Albania have been repeatedly postponed, even though Albania has been a candidate country since 2010? Far too little has happened, and the evil of course is unanimity in the Council. That is where we have to start, and that is why it was right that we called for the establishment of a Convention in order to finally come to Treaty amendments, to finally get away from unanimity for the big, important decisions, especially the foreign policy issues. This can only be done with the amendment of the Treaty, only with the Convention.

Mr President, Vice-President of the European Commission, ladies and gentlemen! I am talking about CO2 emission standards for cars and light commercial vehicles. And I have two announcements. Firstly: I think electric cars have a good future. It is crucial that the charging infrastructure is set up and made available. I am convinced that if this is the case, throughout the European Union, then the electric car will become a self-propelled vehicle. Secondly: I am strongly against an end to the internal combustion engine 2035. I think technology neutrality is the order of the day. I see a future also for alternative fuels, synthetic fuels, hydrogen technology. I don't think we MEPs should decide which technology will prevail on the market, but I think there is a lot, a lot of potential still there in terms of innovation, in terms of scientific development. And we should not exclude other technologies from the outset. And we should also be honest and make a life cycle, a life cycle assessment and not always just measure the CO2 emissions at the exhaust.

Mr President! Commissioner! Ladies and Gentlemen! Reducing our dependence on Russia for exports is the order of the day. In this respect, I also welcome the proposal that the Commission has now put forward in the context of REPowerEU. It is gratifying in this proposal that there are good ideas for financing the ambitious plans. The aim is to exploit synergies and flexibility between existing EU funds and the EU Recovery Fund. I think that is right that we are taking advantage of existing funds that are not called up and not taking on new debt for the projects. Our priority must be to ensure affordability and security of supply. Our citizens must continue to be able to pay their energy bills. Only then will accelerated change have the chance to be widely accepted. Due to bureaucratic requirements, we must not take the air to breathe for small and medium-sized companies. I also say clearly: We need to look at why the accelerated change is taking place too slowly, for example in the case of photovoltaic systems. There is not the problem that there is no money, but there is a lack of material, and there is a lack of specialists who build the photovoltaic systems. So in the further discussions on ‘Fit for 55’ and on REPowerEU, please also take into account the given realities!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. This terrible war now lasts 70 days, bringing so infinite suffering and destruction. I think we really need to do everything we can to end this war as soon as possible. And with that, it is also necessary to increase the pressure on Putin wherever possible. I very much welcome the sixth package of sanctions. I believe it is a huge mark-up – on the one hand, that Sberbank is now also excluded from the SWIFT payment system, and the oil embargo, as it is now foreseen, is, I believe, the right step. Of course, we must consider the impact and consequences of this terrible situation in Ukraine on us as well; And here I am with the previous speaker, frankly. Everyone is affected, we have price explosions without end, energy prices are rising, we have huge, galloping inflation, and I think we also have to do much more at European level and react. The lives of our citizens throughout the European Union must remain affordable. I think that the Member States have a great responsibility here and have already done a lot: Lower VAT, lower taxes, give subsidies where necessary. I think that is really necessary in this crisis situation. I think we also need to reconsider where we can restructure funds to support and help on the ground. The European Central Bank also has an important role to play. So, price stability is the ECB's job, and it really has to live up to its responsibilities now and also turn on the interest rate screw, as the Fed did in the US. We have to relieve our companies, our businesses, especially our healthy SMEs, where we can only relieve them. We need to ensure that security of supply is guaranteed – it has been addressed – with a view to stabilising our energy supply, raw materials, food. Some things have already happened that fallow land can now also be cultivated, and I think that is exactly the right way to go, and in that sense we must continue. So please, Commission, also look at our situation on the ground here in the European Union.

Madam President, Vice-President of the European Commission, ladies and gentlemen! Artificial intelligence can be a great asset to our society and our economy. Today, we are already realizing that artificial intelligence is used in a wide variety of ways in everyday life: For example, artificial intelligence is used in music streaming platforms, and artificial intelligence is used in online language translators. When you look at medicine: What progress has been made in the diagnostic field through the use of artificial intelligence and big data! Image data is evaluated, disease patterns are detected earlier. There are also many ways to use geospatial data for climate protection. With the help of AI systems, agriculture can work here in a more targeted way, and also in the household: What there can be in terms of efficiency gains – immensely. It is very, very important that we address the issue of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the future and has huge potential. But: Where there are opportunities, there are usually big risks. I always say: Curse and blessing at the same time. The topic:Social scoring“ has been addressed, for example, the fear that, with the help of AI systems, comprehensive surveillance will also be carried out here, whether in the work area or elsewhere. That is why, I believe, we need to think carefully about how we will continue to shape regulation here in the future. I think it is important for us as Europeans that, in everything we think about regulation now – and the proposals are on the table – digital technologies must always serve people. So the human being must be at the center of the question of how to regulate here. This is the most important thing for us to prevent discrimination and other things. I would like to thank Mr Axel Voss for his great report and all the colleagues who have spent many months in this special committee dealing with the widest range of questions relating to the use of AI. And I am now also looking forward to further discussions and debates when it comes to the concrete regulatory proposals. I believe that we Europeans can really set another fragrance brand here and create regulation in this digital environment that will serve our citizens across Europe at the end of the day.

Madam President, A heartfelt thank you also to all those who took part in the debate today. I would also like to use my two minutes to thank you. Monsieur le Commissaire, cher Thierry Breton, merci. Merci Beaucoup pour tout ce que vous avez fait aussi pour présenter cet acte. And then I would like to thank the shadow rapporteurs once again. It has been a great pleasure to work together on this dossier. Thank you also to the colleagues of the advisory committees. There was also a lot of input, which was very helpful for this dossier. And once again, a heartfelt thank you to all those who have spoken here today in plenary. I would also like to thank our Chairman of the ITRE Committee, Cristian-Silviu Buşoi, who also led the last round of negotiations in such a way that we came to a conclusion late at night. It is important for me once again to emphasise – it has been raised by some colleagues: This data governance law is a piece of the puzzle in a big puzzle we're currently working on. Data law, the AI legislation, all this will come, is in the consultation. I think it was important to find the right balance between making data usable – on the one hand – but on the other hand also upholding data protection. I was very grateful, also for suggestions from colleagues Sergey Lagodinsky, Damian Boeselager and many others who stressed this again and again. I think we really have a chance to make a Schengen for data. This has also been addressed. And I can only say: If we continue on this path well now, I hope that we will really be able to provide a framework that we can say here in Europe in a few years' time: We have strengthened our SMEs, our small and medium-sized enterprises, we have strengthened our society, we have ensured that the data we have here from 440 million citizens, who are a huge asset, is also used here in the European Union according to our ideas, according to our rules, according to our European spirit. And that's what I'm looking forward to. Thank you very much for everything, and for continuing good cooperation here in this House. If we stick together, then we are also very strong as the European Parliament.

Madam President, Commissioner Breton, ladies and gentlemen! We are currently witnessing a turning point, triggered by this terrible, terrible war in Ukraine. The coronavirus crisis and climate policy are not the focus of attention, and this also applies to digital policy. Nevertheless, we are also experiencing an overdue turn of events in data and digital policy, which begins today with the adoption of the Data Governance Act. To be honest – stocktaking: Europe has slept through the birth of the online platform economy and the associated revolution in the use of personal data. We left it to the big US companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, who, as innovators of the first hour, still dominate the digital world today. But with the European data strategy, which was already presented in 2020, we in the European Union have started not only to straighten the playing field in the digital world, but to fundamentally change the rules of the game. The Data Governance Act, which we are now discussing and will vote on this afternoon, is the beginning of a paradigm shift necessary to build a growing, innovative European data economy as a counter-proposal to approaches in the US or China. In the United States, data, colleagues, colleagues, is big business. The organisation of the data room is almost entirely left to the private sector, which has also led to these considerable concentration effects. In China, data is almost state property. China has a combination of government surveillance and large tech companies that largely control huge amounts of data on their own. And we here in Europe? We're going another way. With us, the user is at the center. We have already seen this when we discussed the General Data Protection Regulation for many years in order to protect the rights of users in particular here. So there is a huge opportunity for Europe to emancipate itself – I would say – digitally, to go our own European way. We need this because the strength of our data economy in Europe is also driven by small and medium-sized companies, by startups, which we have to give a chance to. The goal of the Data Governance Act is to break data silos, share data, make data sharing easier, make data easier to use for our economy and society. That is why the Data Governance Act provides the framework for neutral data intermediaries in the European Union to offer their services. Data intermediaries who do not pursue their own economic purposes with the data entrusted to them, as the other large platform operators do, but these data intermediaries are only responsible for aggregating and refining the data entrusted to them in such a way that others can work well with the data provided. We believe that this will create a trustworthy environment that enables fair data sharing, and we very much hope that this will also be accepted in practice. I would like to close with a very heartfelt thank you to the colleagues who have been intensively advising on this dossier for many months – I see them all here in front of me. I thank you for the good cooperation, and I believe that what was particularly important to us as the European Parliament on this file, we could only enforce in the tough negotiations with the Member States and with the help of the Commission, because we were so closed. We have now defined a strict scope of application that creates legal certainty. We have strengthened a European Data Innovation Board. We have decided that there should be a common EU logo for data intermediary services, a European Single Access Point, from which the datasets of the Member States can also be searched cross-border, and much more. My dear colleagues, I am proud that we have discussed this dossier so quickly together here. I think – and this is my last sentence – that the data revolution is not waiting for Europe and will certainly not come about through wishful thinking. We must act now! We must now do everything we can to make the data space so that our citizens have as much of it as possible, as well as our companies and our private sector, with the legislative proposals still to come.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, Mr High Representative, ladies and gentlemen! The ongoing Russian war of aggression and the associated humanitarian suffering in Ukraine are shattering and horrifying for all of us. The pictures from Butscha that reached us on the weekend are unbearable. War crimes against innocent people – men, women, children – must be punished. Those responsible must be held accountable. We must do everything we can to end this war as soon as possible. That means for me that we really have to do everything that hurts Putin more than us. I have two things to say: Firstly, I welcome the European Commission's proposal to stop imports of Russian coal. At the same time, however, we also need an import ban on Russian oil. Because Russian exports of coal and oil are both well substitutable, and we can continue to add to the Russian government with these embargoes. Russian banks active in oil and coal trading must also be decoupled from the SWIFT system. I am pleased that this is also provided for in the fifth package of sanctions. But for me it is also clear: As soon as we can even get close to a gas embargo, we should implement it. At the moment this is not the case, but I very much hope that if all the Member States work hard to make us more independent here, that we will be able to impose a gas embargo at an early stage. Secondly, we must now begin to build a common security architecture in the EU. I think joint procurement makes sense. I think bundling our research activities in the field of security and defence makes sense. There are enough suggestions. Here in the European Parliament, we have often discussed this issue, worked out and put forward proposals. We must now take a concrete approach to building a common security and defence union here. I admit that I have so far missed concrete initiatives by the Member States in this regard, and I would be delighted if this is finally addressed here by the Member States accordingly.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, our citizens and European companies were already feeling the exploding energy prices. Due to the war in Ukraine, the situation has deteriorated dramatically. Yesterday in Germany a liter of diesel cost more than 2 euros. We have to react. We need to make sure that energy remains affordable and that it does not get cold in our homes across Europe in the future. What can we do? The first package of measures adopted by the European Commission in October was already quite good, but it is not enough. I welcome, Commissioner, that today you presented a second package – a tool package – with further proposals to relieve the burden on households, as well as on our businesses. I think that the Commission must allow, for example, that the energy taxes levied by the Member States can be completely suspended, i.e. not only reduced, but also - in such a dramatic situation - completely suspended. And governments in the Member States must, of course, also do their homework, and above all reduce VAT to the price of electricity. My country Germany is called for here. The federal government has not done so yet. In many other countries, this has already been done to ensure that the Windfall profits They do not go into the public purse at the expense of households and businesses. I think the Russian war of aggression is a turning point for politics, and we must also put the issue of energy taxation on a whole new footing. I am therefore pleased that the catalogue of measures is now available and we will certainly work constructively to ensure that there is a good package.