- 2025-10-28 “E-004234/2025 Answer given by Mr Hoekstra on behalf of the European Commission The Commission fully supports the objective of providing stability for businesses in the context of the implementation of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in its definitive phase from 1 January 2026. To this end, the Commission has adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486 of 17 March 2025 laying down the conditions and procedures related to the status of authorised CBAM declarant and has made the Authorisation Management Module in the CBAM registry available as of 31 March 2025. Further procedures depend on national arrangements. Authorised CBAM declarants will purchase CBAM certificates on the common central platform as from 1 February 2027. The obligation to buy CBAM certificates corresponds to the emissions embedded in the goods imported into the EU as from 1 January 2026. The price of CBAM certificates will be calculated to reflect closely the prices of allowances auctioned in the Union’s Emission Trading System (ETS). For the emissions embedded in goods imported in 2026, the Commission will calculate the price of CBAM certificates on a quarterly basis (thus 4 prices in 2026). From 2027 onwards, the Commission will calculate the price of CBAM certificates based on a weekly average of ETS prices. The Commission will store the CBAM certificates in an electronic format in the declarant’s account in the CBAM registry. Declarants may buy CBAM certificates at any time, provided that they have on their account a number of CBAM certificates, at the end of each quarter, which corresponds to at least 50 % of the embedded emissions in all goods they have imported into the EU since the beginning of the calendar year.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- 2025-04-30 “E-001759/2025 Answer given by Mr Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission In the case described by the Honourable Member, it appears that the company importing the bicycle parts is not an exempted party, and the parts that it imports are then sent to an exempted company. Regarding the importation, as the company importing the goods is not an exempted party, it can only import in exemption from the extended duties complying with the requirements for end-use of Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 88/97 1 . The granting of an end-use authorisation, as well as the control of compliance with the requirements and the end-use procedure, are the responsibility of the customs authorities of the Member States. Regarding the exempted company, Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 88/97 requires that where that company receives deliveries of essential bicycle parts which have been exempted from the extended duty pursuant to Article 2, those parts are either used in its assembly operations or assembly of other products, destroyed, re-exported, or resold to another exempted party. Regarding sales, these parts cannot be resold to non-exempted parties. Any operation not in line with these rules would constitute a breach of the obligations of the exempted party. 1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 88/97 of 20 January 1997 on the authorization of the exemption of imports of certain bicycle parts originating in the People's Republic of China from the extension by Council Regulation (EC) No 71/97 of the anti-dumping duty imposed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2474/93, http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/1997/88/2023-03-21.”
EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports · Trade relations with China
- 2025-03-12 “E-001079/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the European Commission In the absence of harmonisation, regulation of professional activities remains a Member State competence. They are free to decide, within the limits of EU law and the principles of proportionality, whether or not and how to regulate a professional activity. Directive 2005/36/EC 1 facilitates the recognition of professional qualifications when a professional who is qualified to exercise a profession in a Member State wishes to exercise the same profession in another Member State where this profession is regulated regarding qualifications 2 . In the EU, the profession of behaviour analyst is only regulated in the Czech Republic. As a result, professionals qualified in other Member States cannot access the Czech labour market without prior recognition of their qualification. They can however rely on Directive 2005/36/EC to have their qualification recognised as quickly as possible. The Commission has no indication that there would be problems about recognition of professional qualifications of behaviour analysts in the Czech Republic as no complaints have been received so far. In the rest of the EU, behaviour analysts can move freely and do not face legal barriers regarding their qualifications to enter labour markets. A number of tools have been implemented at European level in order to help potential employers to understand better the qualification of behaviour analysts from other Member States and to facilitate further the recruitment of these professionals throughout Europe; these include the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning 3 and the Europass Framework 4 . The Commission supports Member States in improving health workforce planning through the Joint Action Heroes 5 co-funded by the EU4Health programme. 1 Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (OJ L 255 30.9.2005, p. 22) - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2005/36/oj/eng. 2 A profession is regulated regarding qualifications when access to this profession is subordinated in a Member State to the possession of a specific qualification. 3 Council Recommendation of 22 May 2017 on the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (OJ C 89, 15.06.2017, p.15) - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017H0615(01). 4 Including the Diploma Supplement - https://europass.europa.eu/en. 5 EU4Health Programme funded Joint Action Heroes: https://www.agenas.gov.it/ricerca-e-sviluppo/ricercainternazionale/personale-sanitario-ri/heroes-health-workforce-to-meet-health-challenges.”
EU policy on mental health
- “President. Tens of drones over Poland show that Russia is more brazenly testing our resilience. But why are we defending democracy? Well, we have to defend against drones and interference. We've got secret funding of extreme politicians from Russia, and it serves the same dictator. The destruction of Europe is his goal. We've seen well, we're giving out millions on defense, but all this money will be worthless if we allow ourselves to be destroyed from the inside. Without the democracy shield, we won't be able to defend against Russia. An internal enemy is more dangerous than an army on the front. Our Polish soldiers have shown their courage today. On the front.”
Foreign interference in Europe
- “President, today Polish border was violated. The European border was violated by tens of Russian drones. And we see a new form of hybrid war that Russia is waging against Europe. The system is the backbone of our logistics, aviation and maritime navigation. And without it we would be blind. Jamming the system is a threat to millions of Europeans whose security depends on the system. Let's think about what the bandits in the Kremlin can do. Before we understand together that only by bankrupting this terrorist state can we win back our security and our peace. Thank you very much.”
EU-Russia relations (from March 2022)
- “Mrs. president. Commissioner. Minister. Well, we haven't been so unanimous in this room. For a long time, more than 1 billion passengers of the European airlines every year, nearly 100 million per month. So who is a single passenger waiting for three hours because his flight has been delayed or canceled, or his luggage has been lost for him? It may be a disaster for an inline. He's just one of a billion passengers. The more we fly, the more we need to protect our rights. Airlines are profitable enough to pay for their mistakes. Automatic compensation is a very good solution for the passengers. But if we want to improve the protection of passengers, then we should not apply a method where we have automatic compensation. But at the same time we extend the time of delay that applies. People buy air tickets to reach their destination. The speaker has been cut off.”
EU policy on aviation safety
- “President. 1,200,000 Europeans travel every day in the summer. So one passenger who waits for a plane that is delayed, who waits for the return of his or her money. They remain an anemic figure. But that is not the case. People are contacting me in order to have introduced a minimum standard of distance between passenger chairs. In planes. We cannot pack too many people into one plane. Thank you.”
EU policy on aviation safety
- “Mr. chairman, Commissioner, let's answer the question. Why does Elon Musk want to destroy the EU? You because they united you, is the only one to say no to him. Because only the EU tries to save its citizens from digital slavery platforms. Multiplied algorithm in order to earn money. And they earn money on hatred, on conspiracy theories, on pathologies and sick ideologies. They have no problem promoting Russian propaganda because it clicks very well and every click means, uh, more money on the accounts of oligarchs like Musk. For them, human lives, decency, democracy don't matter. What matters is profit. And profit comes from what is hideous and horrible. Europe has to be courageous. And internet oligarchs cannot be beyond law. Hatred cannot be. It's his business model at the cost of citizens.”
Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
- “President. Commissioner. Our children spend over six hours a day on the internet and there is content there that is a threat to them. Violence, pornography and video clips are encouraging them to self-harm, and they're either there with their peers or with strangers, and they're encouraged to have conversations with pedophiles who want to exploit them, abuse them sexually. And obviously, this nine out of ten Europeans want safety for their children on the internet. And so we need some kind of tool that is going to put an end to harmful content or prevent children from seeing it. And what we need is that the platforms, internet platforms are do are safe for young people. So age verification is an absolute minimum. And it's time that platforms that take assume responsibility. We don't want to wait another minute, because every further minute and delay is a further threat for our children. If we cannot protect our children on the internet, then in the natural world, it's us as adults that are going to be responsible for their harm. Long life trauma. And this is why I very much urge that we have to act here and now.”
Safety features & content control for child protection online
- “President. Commissioner. How many more children will have to take their own lives before we call cyber violence a crime? How many children will be. See their photos used by AI to create pornography. How many women will be blackmailed with the threat of publishing private photos? How many children are going to be dragged into dangerous games online? Cyber violence is keeping people awake at night and causing damage, and nobody can deal with it alone. And the content lasts forever online, and people don't want to continue living under these conditions. Photographs illegally distributed online have caused, for example, cocoa to take her own life. We want that sort of. We want a law against that sort of thing for the whole of the EU. And that's why I've drafted a resolution. And I call on all of you to vote in favor of it. Cyber bullying is taking lives, but the perpetrators are still enjoying impunity.”
Safety features & content control for child protection online
- “President. Let's just imagine that the walls in our houses are made out of glass, and there are microphones all over the place, which actually reflects everything we're saying to somebody out in the street. And this is what our lives look now. And I don't think many people actually realize this. Every disease, every step, any, every financial situation, um, problems at work, um, um, any kind of problem, all your political views. Yes. A big tech knows absolutely everything about us. And they take this knowledge without our approval and trade in it. And so there is this surveillance going on, and the tech giants have a totally dominant position. And if anybody is able to protect, uh, the ordinary man or woman in the street against this, it's the European Union. So together and not giving in to Trump. We need to ensure that we can protect privacy and freedom of our European citizens.”
Privacy & digital economy
- “Mariupol. Every woman who's been raped, every child who has been killed, every school that has been bombarded, every home that has been attacked, every victim of the barbaric act of Russians requires justice. The secret services which also provide for us. Influence. We need to. We have to ask ourselves. The next question is, a Russia responsible. We seem to believe that Ukraine can defend itself on its own. But you need to ask yourself. History will provide justice, but history won't be asking why these crimes have been committed. History will ask us why Russia isn't paying for these crimes. Russia must be in in a position to pay for this price.”
Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
- “President. We can't be buying gas from Russia. Not only when Kiev is bombed. We shouldn't be buying Russian gas. Oil. While there is any risk out there that our money will be transformed into rockets that fall on Europe. Every little bit of Russian gas and oil translates into bombs and rockets with which Ukrainians are being killed. There are no no neutral supplies or safe middlemen. It's only the Russian war machinery that is behind it. That's why we have to close all loopholes and import so that. Russian gas and oil no longer can fuel this war. We cannot remain warm at the expense of Ukrainian blood. We shouldn't be suicidal. But financing a regime that wants to destroy us. Thank you.”
EU approach to energy security (home-made vs import sources)
- “Thank you very much, chair. Well, thank you very much for your statements, opinions and information presented. I have one question. We have the new, uh, a new pilot project between the EU and the Council of Europe. Uh, child friendly justice. So what are the best, the most effective ways of monitoring, of monitoring of implementation of those guidelines from 2010. How do we make sure that changes to our laws translate into palpable, tangible improvement of legal practices? Those are Council of Europe guidelines were created based on consultations with thousands of people. Thousands of children. How do we make sure they are permanently included and implemented in our practices? How to have children's voice really have an impact and not just be A11 off case? Thank you.”
EU engagement with youth