Katrin LANGENSIEPEN

Policy topics Katrin LANGENSIEPEN is active on

What Katrin LANGENSIEPEN has said (17)

• 2026-07-06 “Thank you. People who have disabilities or who want who need care, they are told that not that not their responsibility. But who actually takes charge for the care? When it's about money, then often there's silence. For many people, this has been a very unclear situation. But with this, we are making changes, especially when it comes to long term care. 8 8 3, the coordination of social security systems, we finally managed it, and this is a success story. So member states have been saying, it's not my business, but this is about clear rules. Who which country is responsible for the long term care payments? We can't see care end at borders. No. We need to have proper social security across Europe. Thank you very much. We've achieved it.”
  EU competences on social policies
• 2026-06-24 “Yes. I'm here. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear rapporteur, dear colleagues, so far, uh, a lot of progress have been made. As we have said, as on technical level. That's good. And first of all, I would like to thank all our advisors and Arpas, as well as colleagues from the Secretariat, for having made such effort to minimize critical political issues. I think we can all see that the idea to bring the different programs related to the single market, and so to say, one roof creates not only opportunities but also some challenges, of course. So I have a focus or let me focus on one challenge that seems to be yet not solved on technical level. Here I believe we should be using common sense and look at at what we have already functioned well and no rollback. More core call today is on asking and demanding to ensure that we keep responsible cofinancing rates in the program. Reflecting on the different needs for different program objectives. Be be it support for customs, consumer protection, digitization, or funding for the work of the European Stakeholder organization and to their role in representing the public interest in different areas. We need to ensure to continue making it possible to keep co-financing up to 95%. So thank you again for all your work, and I hope we will find a constructive solution to ensure that the funding structure, the interest of European citizens, consumers and EU single market is kept.”
  EU industrial funding (mechanism level: EU-pooled vs nationally-financed)
• “Thank you very much. We've fought very hard. Thank you, Commissioner, for your efforts so that we have housing on the European agenda. We have expected a lot, and at the end of the day, we have a sort of commercial report rather than a social report. If we want to talk about homelessness and Poverty Commissioner. The commission is preparing a poverty strategy. I expect that people like single mothers, persons who have work in the health sector, that they are mentioned. When we talk about housing, the right to property is fine, but the right, the human right to have dignity in housing, we must lower standards. People with little money don't have a right to dignified standardized housing. Does cheap have to be bad in the commission? In the years ahead, we expect the speaker is cut off.”
  EU housing policy
• “Colleagues, I would be happy if we could stick to the topic, perhaps we could take a step back and not just talk about ourselves. If you're not affected by discrimination, we should stay on topic. It's about discrimination. If I can't get on a train because the assistant can't be booked, I can't go to my family at Christmas because there are barriers. I'm a stay at home. Bad luck. That's what we're taking to telling people in our member states. It's not about people, just about people with disabilities. It's not just. Wheelchairs. I can be a trans person. We're not a homogeneous mass. People with disabilities. We're not. I experience discrimination every day. I'm privileged. I can afford it, but if I can't get assistance for a train, it makes things difficult. You experience discrimination every day. In with this anti-discrimination directive, we want to plug the gaps where things are going. I'd like to. I'd like to talk about that. Nobody needs to feel threatened. I'm in Germany. I'm addressing Germany, which is blocking and blocking this. And we have a basis for a decision in Parliament. We're not renewing things. It's about the member states. And Germany is refusing and saying it's too expensive. We don't need it. It's complicated. So I think here we need to call things by their proper name. Thank you.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Visitors, citizens. What is Europe doing for you? It is helping to protect your rights if you want to go on holiday. Now we've seen what's happening in the Middle East right now. Uh, in a small country, perhaps Oman, if you were traveling there. We've seen what happens with war. It's very important to have consumer protection. And we have that through this directive, we were able to achieve quite a lot in this trilogue. Uh, when you're, um, trip is cancelled, you don't want to have just a voucher as a compensation, you want to have your trip refunded. So that's something you can do now. Your travel provider may have gone bankrupt. You will be protected and get your money back. So that is covered as well. Now it is possible to have vouchers, but you would of course prefer to have your money back. So we've really achieved a lot for you. Thank you.”
  EU Package Travel Directive: traveller protection vs business flexibility
• “Friends. Commissioner, we have an issue. Unfortunately, there's a lack of will to implement policies. Uh, we don't need the transparency, uh, regulation. Things are moving on their own. It's already been hundreds of years. Things have been going wonderfully with regard to salaries and the same, uh, burden within the domestic environment as well. So we don't really have to do anything if we want things to continue as such. We don't have to do anything. But now, once again, it is on the agenda because of the of the same problems. Over and over. We women were left alone when it involves, for example, care for children. When I have to remind my partner, yes, that he has a child too, and there has to be some sort of plan. How doing this thing together, taking care of the children. That is not only the role of women. And there are cases where you put together, write down a particular plan with your husband. We're very, very far from equality, very, very far from it indeed. So once again, we stand here again simply to emphasize that particular fact.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Human dignity should not be infringed. That's a basic rule that we've all agreed upon after the Second World War. The women's rights are not respected, that they're being humiliated, exploited, that this is a business model to make money out of their bodies. Well, consumers and particularly female consumers need to fight for their protection. That's nothing new. It's not just against Elon Musk, it's against a group of men. Who have decided that those who stand up for the rule of law and freedoms are going to be exposed to attacks, and they're going to generate money and power. It's their fear of losing this power that we see every single day. When we see the actions of Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin, it's all about the rule of law. Female consumers need to be protected. That's the commission's task. So please do your job. Thank you.”
  Regulation of pornography in the EU
• “I'll be speaking in German. Thank you very much, madam. And thank you for the rapporteur, although absent on sharing her views on this important file. Before going on to the details, I'll just mention a couple of points of principle. First of all, the willingness and resilience resilience of this union. This is very important and we need to increase it. On behalf of our people. And for that we need a full overview. What is security? How do we define it? Defence in a functioning market is not the only aspect of that. We need to define security in a broader sense. Very important points such as economic, individual, environmental and political security are all part of that whole. That would give us a fuller understanding. Let me mention a couple of points. We need incentives for member states in order Uh, to proceed and support with joint procurement within the union by setting up specialized clusters, leading to a general interoperability that would strengthen the European defense sector and improve our collective ability to defend ourselves. And secondly, we need to think about the specificities of the defence sector and strengthening compliance aspects. We need to prevent corruption. Corruption. Uh, that is certainly something that needs to be addressed. We would need a new initiative. Uh, on export criteria, uh, we have a common position in council and a codification. So we would need greater supervision on the part of the commission and the court. The aim of European sovereignty is important, more efficient defence market, but that market needs to be effective. And finally, the European defence market can also make a contribution to a fairer union. And this is no contradiction. If, uh, we, uh, think about conceiving, um, a, a taxation level for high profit levels. And our Spanish colleague has talked about social policy points, uh, that, uh, are of importance and that should be given greater room in the budget.”
  EU competences on defence
• “If you're poverty stricken, it's your fault. You didn't do well in school. You didn't pay your rent. You ended up homeless. It's your fault. In the European Union, nobody ought to be poverty stricken. Poor. That is the narrative of many individuals. That it's your own fault. No. Poverty is frequently. It's caused by families. I live on the wrong street. I have the wrong name. There's discrimination. And because of that, I don't get the job that I want, that I applied for. And. I. No matter how many times I apply for the job, I don't get the job. In the Federal Republic, we have a Chancellor who is of the opinion that in the 1980s, 1990s that if you make the effort, you will succeed. There's this just transition approach as well, and nobody ought to be left behind. That's what we need investment for education, for training as well. Women, women, women, poverty, poverty among certain vulnerable groups ought not be a reality. This is something that we have to invest in and that's something that we have to fight. Concertedly. Thank you.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “Mrs. von der Leyen, I really listened very carefully to what you said on the research programme. And we're always hearing about competitiveness and the ability to defend ourselves. If we're looking at both these issues that we in the European Union and we're listening to the citizens here, when they ask us, what is this doing for us in Europe? What is the European Union for us? The EU is when it can pay out its resources, when it can support people, when it can do something about homelessness, when it can tackle child poverty. And we really want to emphasize the fact that child poverty has at long last, to become a focus, a priority for us. We need an anti-poverty strategy. And for this we need money. We need rules. We need principles because there are a lot of people who are very badly affected and they need our help.”
  Child poverty policy
• “Friends. Commissioner, we have an issue. Unfortunately, there's a lack of will to implement policies. Uh, we don't need the transparency, uh, regulation. Things are moving on their own. It's already been hundreds of years. Things have been going wonderfully with regard to salaries and the same, uh, burden within the domestic environment as well. So we don't really have to do anything if we want things to continue as such. We don't have to do anything. But now, once again, it is on the agenda because of the of the same problems. Over and over. We women were left alone when it involves, for example, care for children. When I have to remind my partner, yes, that he has a child too, and there has to be some sort of plan. How doing this thing together, taking care of the children. That is not only the role of women. And there are cases where you put together, write down a particular plan with your husband. We're very, very far from equality, very, very far from it indeed. So once again, we stand here again simply to emphasize that particular fact.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Yeah. Mr. chair, thanks for giving me the floor. Um, I start directly, um, to the commission. You mentioned that only two member states have officially submitted their draft social climate plan, and 16 are preparing. Could you again, um, explain to us what the main reasons of this delay and what the commission is exactly putting in place as member states to submit their plans, particularly with those who have already fully transposed ETS two, and have the remaining member States requested additional technical support. Which countries, if yes, um, and available to support their efforts? And another question. My second one. And how will the Commission you ensure based on the guidance, if drafted, on public consultation in the preparation of the plans that member States have effectively engaged in a dialogue with the stakeholders, with the NGOs. That was, to us Greens, a very important point that the NGOs working on poverty or. Um, yeah, persons who are affected by poverty, that you take them on board and say, what do you need? Um, not you, but guarantee that the member states will do. Um, these two questions. Thank you.”
  Social Climate Fund implementation and impact
• “Yeah. I will speak in German. Danke. Thank you very much. Thank you for those very interesting presentations. We our committee is also responsible for consumers. That is to say, our task is to protect consumers here in the European Union. And that's something we shouldn't forget. So if we are to start anew. Uh, any new rules must reflect that. As colleagues have already said, it's important that we understand what the consequences of violations of the law are. How quickly can the European Union react? What type of penalties would be provided for? Who can consumers turn to when they feel their rights have been infringed. And we can't exclude the possibility that for more and more businesses, business becomes even more complicated. Whereas what they want is business to be easier and more transparent. The question of the speed of reactions is important as well in today's digital world. It's no good if implementation of our new rules takes a long time, because things change at the speed of light these days. What can we do so as to ensure that if we adopt new legislation in the European Union, by the time it comes into force, it's simply outdated and will be fighting yesterday's battles on technical standards. How can we go about harmonizing those standards, I'll be very interested to hear what you have to say about that. Nobody specific, but we've got a proposal from the commission, and I think it's important that that matter feed into those proposals, because once again, it's important that we can cover all the points the colleagues have referred to in a coordinated way.”
  EU consumer protection rules: stricter requirements and tougher enforcement vs business flexibility and reduced burden
• “Housing isn't a speculative object. It's somewhere for us to live. And I hope you've heard that, Commissioner, and hope under your leadership will see that. So we need to make sure that we can ring fence this. Every citizen is wondering if we can make sure that they have access to that older people as well. We're an older continent. It's no good if there's a lot of offer available, but the, uh, the expenditure you'd have to spend on it is far too high. If I'm a mother with two children living alone or an immigrant or somebody who has a disability, it doesn't matter how much money I slap on the table because somebody says, well, sorry, we don't let you, uh, rent if you're, you're in a wheelchair or if you're a single mother because you're not the sexy clients that they want. But that's not what it's about. It's about making sure that we can have people getting housing, not rich shits getting whatever they want.”
  EU housing policy
• “Friends. Commissioner, we have an issue. Unfortunately, there's a lack of will to implement policies. Uh, we don't need the transparency, uh, regulation. Things are moving on their own. It's already been hundreds of years. Things have been going wonderfully with regard to salaries and the same, uh, burden within the domestic environment as well. So we don't really have to do anything if we want things to continue as such. We don't have to do anything. But now, once again, it is on the agenda because of the of the same problems. Over and over. We women were left alone when it involves, for example, care for children. When I have to remind my partner, yes, that he has a child too, and there has to be some sort of plan. How doing this thing together, taking care of the children. That is not only the role of women. And there are cases where you put together, write down a particular plan with your husband. We're very, very far from equality, very, very far from it indeed. So once again, we stand here again simply to emphasize that particular fact.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Yes I'll speak German as well thank you very much thank you for that presentation here I am over here yes these circumstances are regrettable we have no lack of knowledge we have a lack of political willingness to enforce. I see young young men on TikTok on social media watching videos about what a true man is and what kind of role a true man should play or a or a true woman. Then I see young girls being told from a very young age how to behave to obtain this that or the other or to improve their professional situation. So if you're told as a small girl girls should be this way and not too loud and stay quiet and boys are told the opposite then of course these messages get carried through throughout the lifetime and these are stereotypes that lie very deep in our consciousness and are reflected in the professional world. I have no questions all I can do is agree with you we're back to square one we're in the same situation as forty years ago it's about education it's it's about training it depends what kind of family you come from so if you speak Turkish you won't be as well integrated as if you speak French and come from an educated household. So if you're from culture A you're good if you're from culture B you're not so we obviously have inequalities and women are hit doubly by that and if on top of that you're woman but also a disabled woman then it's even worse so we need legislation without legislation we'll get nowhere.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Thank you very much, Minister. It's very good to see such a committed and competent presidency. Mike, I have two questions to Madam Minister on Digital. The first one was you mentioned algorithms, but algorithms in their current form are not only harmful for children, but also for adults because engagement based ranking leads to the fact that this information reaches a lot more people than information and than facts than facts. And that is very harmful for our democracy. And there seems to be a consensus on this. President Macron, just a few days ago spoke about said who rules the algorithm, rules the world. The German coalition agreement speaks about Disinformation as systemic risk and systemic risk, something we can't tackle with the DSA. Prime Minister Sanchez has mentioned algorithms and called for action several times. So could you imagine to use the Danish presidency to take on a leading role in Council to enforce article 34 on systemic risks? Because engagement based ranking, which leads to disinformation spreading more than information, in my view, is a systemic risk to public discourse in the sense of the DSA, and to call on the Commission to investigate the roles of algorithm and spreading disinformation. The second very quick question. You have been very much leaning in Denmark on European technological sovereignty. You yourself announced that Denmark is moving away from Microsoft to adopt open source solutions. How would you like to implement that? Also in the European Council in Europe and use public administrations, for example, as lead markets or also other measures? Thank you very much.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms