Plenary focus - July 2022

The European Parliament must put an end to Commission and Council greenwashing. Gas and nuclear energy will never let Europe fulfill its climate commitments. We have to get them out of the taxonomy now and develop real sustainable energies instead.

The EU has stood by idly for more than 10 years as Facebook, Google and co. have aligned the digital market to their profit interests. The Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) are a mega step towards cleaning up the Internet, fighting digital monopolies and creating a safe online world for users. Huge successes are the ban on personalised advertising for children and teenagers, the ban on the use of sensitive data, as well as the obligation on interoperability of messenger applications. This cross app communication is a big win for users, who no longer need multiple messenger apps on their phones, and a blow to Mark Zuckerberg as WhatsApp will lose its monopoly.

It’s absurd to give the green label to a fossil fuel with huge climate emissions. By doing so, the Commission is destroying the credibility of EU taxonomy, and losing an important tool in the fight against climate change. This is purely a political compromise in order to sell climate decisions to Member States that are against them. This plenary the European Parliament will have the opportunity to reject the Commission’s complementary delegated act to cover gas activities under the taxonomy.

Working women and the most vulnerable ones will be the most affected by this backlash in the US. All those who fought and fight for women’s sexual and reproductive rights and the right to free and informed motherhood stand in solidarity. We will make certain that this right is not lost forever!

Heads of state are welcome in the European Parliament. Mr. Mitsotakis’ presence is an opportunity to remind him that after three years in office, Greece is second last in the EU in terms of purchasing power with the second most expensive petrol price. It is last in terms of press freedom, with the second highest unemployment rate, the highest public debt, and degraded social state and public healthcare, while the rule of law is deteriorating and pushbacks remain a tragic choice of the government.

For its Presidency, the Czech Republic is focussing on defence, security and the war in Ukraine. In those priorities there is nothing to help European citizens cope with inflation or rising food and energy prices. These are key issues affecting households across the Union – what use are tanks and cannons when our people are cold and hungry? Socially, Europe is becoming more and more divided as wages in the old and new member states are getting further and further apart. I would expect that the Czech government to focus on policies that will solve these issues in the first place, but unfortunately this is not the case.