Marcos ROS SEMPERE

Policy topics Marcos ROS SEMPERE is active on

What Marcos ROS SEMPERE has said (30)

• 2026-06-17 “Thank you very much, madam president. 70 years ago, when there was evidence linking tobacco to cancer, industry swept everything under the carpet. They talked about individual freedom, and they said that to regulate would be going too far. And now the big tech platformers are following the same script, despite the fact that, they have a huge impact on mental health of youngsters. They're washing their hands of it. They're trying to put, the burden on families and consumers. But let us not kid ourselves. Platforms are designed to increase addiction and to generate, profits. This is a business model that feeds of, self esteem and attention of people. Let us not take too long. Let us not wait decades to act. Let us protect our societies. Let us wield the law and promote digital digital literacy and media literacy because it's platforms that have to adapt to children, not the way around in a healthy society. Thank you.”
  Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• 2025-03-06 “E-000955/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen on behalf of the European Commission Following the discussions with Member States within the Copyright Council Working Party, as mentioned in the Commission’s reply to written question E-000950/2024 1 , the Commission is analysing the implications of ratification and is considering in particular the options to implement Article 11 of the Beijing Treaty for Audiovisual Performances 2 related to the performers’ right of broadcasting and communication to the public of performances fixed in audiovisual fixations. The Commission is currently assessing the interplay with the current EU law applying to protection of audiovisual performers in the EU in order to progress towards the conclusion of the Beijing Treaty in accordance with Article 218(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/-ASW_EN.html 2 https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/textdetails/12213”
  Broadcasting of sports events
• “Thank you very much, chairman. Firstly, I'd like to thank the Co-rapporteur for the work and the other rapporteurs as well, and for visiting the committee to explain your proposals in Reggie. We're doing our homework. We're preparing our draft opinion. We've got a first draft that is very much in line with what you're going to hear today. It really represents all the opinions of this committee. And as S and D, we've proposed a series of amendments which will contribute to guarantee multi-level management so that regions don't leave the management of these new funds separate funds for cohesion and agriculture so that there's no competition between them or with the funds from national authorities. So that's the context. We've proposed amendments for the reduction of this 25% of flexibility, so that it goes down to 15%, so that there are safeguards if their countries don't meet the macro conditionalities, and so that the cohesion policy gets around 30% of what it was in the previous MFF. Or at least regions can no more or less how much, how much they're going to receive so that they can plan for the transition. We want to reserve funds for the regional development fund and the cohesion and a fair transition. And of course, there should be allocated funds for sustainable urban development because that has disappeared from this proposal and their key. So in summary, I hope that you can take into account the proposals that are coming from the committee and that we get a report that really reflects what the Parliament has been saying from day one. We need multi-level governance back and we need a cohesion policy. Thank you.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “So first and foremost, we need to try and boost the RDF as well as the cohesion and just transition funds, and make sure that we make the kinds of investments which solve the current housing crisis, and that includes accessible and sustainable housing. That too should be one of our objectives and also facilitate access to housing for ordinary people. Secondly, we need stable long term financing. The Commission, as well as EIB, should be creating new investments in sustainable housing linked to cohesion funding as well as combined with national, regional as well as local budgets, and it should do so on the basis of one essential prerequisite, and that is that housing that has been funded by public money should continue to be accessible and should continue in public ownership for many years to come and should not be open to private speculators. So it is here for people to live in and not as a vehicle for speculation. This is a real problem if we have all kinds of public and private partnerships, as well as cutting bureaucracy, and not only in urban areas, but also in rural areas, we do not want to have isolated communities. Rather, we should make sure that workers and students in tourist areas are catered to as well and remind authorities the need for accessible housing. We would also like to pay tribute to all of the constructive and generous work that has been done by my colleagues on the committee in bringing this endeavour to fruition, because housing, of course, is one of the main factors at play in social inequality. And it is time now that we rolled up our sleeves and got down to work. Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “From the S&D group we would like to present our candidate, which is our colleague Dragos Benea. Thank you very much.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. Chair. Commissioner, a citizen walks through the streets of his rural town. He picks up his child from school, drives along a small road and takes him to the health centre. In all three places, he can read the same sentence. Financed by European funds, which is the European Union's greatest social policy cohesion policy, which helps all European regions grow at the same pace, which creates quality jobs which make us more competitive. But we have challenges to solve. Bureaucratic burdens, new needs of the citizens We need to accelerate its implementation. What is the solution? Modernization, greater involvement of regions and citizens, more flexibility and a large budget and investment not only for defense or large corporations, and investment for small and medium sized businesses and investment for the most disadvantaged territories, and investment for a safer and more competitive Europe with less inequality. Commissioner, we socialists will work in the Commission's proposal. We will work to achieve these objectives. Thank you very much.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “Gracias, president.Thank you very much. President. Commissioner. We broke 59 separate temperature records in Spain this summer. We've had an extra 2.5 degrees as compared to the beginning of the century. And we've just seen the four hottest Augusts in our history. Climate change caused more than 20,000 30,000 deaths across Europe. And this is over the figures of the last five years. And our neighborhoods and our buildings were, of course, designed before the onset of this phenomenon. And beyond 2027, we will need more resources for cohesion and for the green transition, and not just be writing blank checks to the member states. That's the only way that we can face up to these soaring temperatures. So Europe has to stand behind the Green Deal. The right cannot deny the scientific consensus, and we cannot backslide when it comes to our climate policies, because to do so would be to abandon our citizenry in the face of this massive challenge.”
  EU climate adaptation and disaster preparedness · Climate efforts
• “Thank you very much. President. Commissioner. The European Union is the union of all of our cultures, of all of our heritage, that makes our land the richest in the world. However, in small regions, we know that culture, traditions, rituals, songs, they're all at risk, and yet they constitute the cultural wealth and heritage of the European Union. And we can't allow this to be lost. So the best safeguard for our regions is cohesion policy. Commissioner. However, cohesion policy that is now more than ever at risk with the incoming MFF proposal. We need to be able to strengthen cohesion funds to protect our cultural heritage that is at risk in many of our regions, and we cannot allow for there to be a loss of cohesion policy or it be diluted in a single fund per state. Cities, cities and regions must continue to be the backbone of cohesion policy modernised, decentralised and adapted to the new challenges the EU faces. Because were we to lose culture, that would be a loss of the European Union as a whole. Thank you.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “Commissioner. Democracy is never complete without information manipulation and electoral interference. We've already seen this with our own eyes. Here in Europe, there is a destabilization agenda targeting the EU campaigns coordinated by foreign powers, designed to undermine and generate heat. We cannot commit the same mistakes again. We cannot allow the online platforms to dominate. We cannot hand them Europe on a plate. We have to tackle the far right. Otherwise we can achieve nothing. Therefore, Commissioner, we would ask you to apply the Digital Services Act in its entirety. Because the slightest loophole when fighting a disinformation, it will be fatal. And then the report on the media services. Well, we will this we hope for a preventive and inclusive upstream education because the best tool to build up a democracy is support for our citizens. Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you. President. Culture is an issue of sovereignty. Our sovereignty and our independence are built using culture. And that's why today we're not only talking about a directive, we're talking about defending the European Union vis a vis those who want to impose their rules on us by force. The Trump threat of 100% tax on European production is a direct attack on our cultural freedom. The Avms guarantees fair conditions between creators and platforms and protects consumers and freedom of expression. At least 30% of European works need to be included in platforms catalogues and also requires financial contributions to European production. And this is a shield to protect diversity, pluralism and the right of Europeans to have stories told to us in our languages, with our voices, using our realities. Let's defend our culture and our independence. Our audiovisual production cannot be traded away.”
  EU and national cultural identities
• “Comisario. No. Podemos normalidad. Mientras bombas sobre la poblacion civil permitir el regreso de Los grandes escenarios culturales y deportivos no es es normalization y la normalisation beneficia siempre a la Kremlin utiliza estos eventos hacia afuera, pero también hacia adentro propaganda para aumentar su relato ultranationalist la grande Russia. Sigue siendo reconocida Y por eso es eso es una forma de debilitar su area de propaganda. El quinto Putin intenta vender a su poblacion la cultura y el deporte deben representar libertad convivencia y dignidad en todo el mundo. No pueden convertirse en un podium para bombardier civiles. Viola el derecho Internacional a la vida humana hasta Ukrainian y justa necesitamos firmeza y coherencia. No demos ni una sola conception.”
  EU-Russia relations (from March 2022)
• “It has to be a priority with a Commissioner for housing and with this special committee on housing, which we are working in today. So I think that from now, from September, the autonomous communities can actually finance affordable housing and linking this up to energy and social housing requirements. So we have this European funding thanks to the eRDF and this group plays a very important role. So we have this rapporteur and we have asked the Commissioner to work on this after the reform, which was made on the 12th of September during the plenary session in Strasbourg. Public housing. Social housing has not been a major priority of this government so far, because very little has been done over the past few years. And what I would like to see now is that we benefit from this opportunity of the legislative reform to provide funds and reprogram funds before December. So we need funds. And I don't know whether we are regulating funds for affordable housing in particular, but it is very important that we note that we have this housing crisis which affects all our regions. So all regions, including Murcia, needs to reprogram funds for affordable housing. Thank you very much indeed for social housing.”
  EU policy on urban development
• “Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Commissioner Micallef, for coming this afternoon and for explaining the priorities in the Cyberbullying Action Plan. And thank you very much for talking about media literacy and digital education this afternoon. As you know, we're working on a report on media and digital literacy. And the fight against cyberbullying is inextricably linked to this. It's very much about how the digital environment is designed, how we can deal with harmful content, and how we can give the right tools and skills to young people so that they feel empowered. And media literacy is part and parcel of a preventive approach. It's not just about acting. When the harm has been done, we have to act upstream and the information has to get to families, teachers, educators, children and the whole IT ecosystem. I'm wondering whether you think that a medium digital literacy plan is key to contributing to the plan that you just unveiled on fighting against cyberbullying, now on sports. Two brief questions. A lot is happening in basketball. The NBA is very interested in the Euroleague. And do you think that our competition model, the European sport competition model that was adopted here in the European Parliament is being called into question. And then I would like to ask a question on the piracy of sporting events. So I'm wondering what you're going to do in order to beef up the fight against piracy. Thank you.”
  Broadcasting of sports events
• “Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Commissioner Micallef, for coming this afternoon and for explaining the priorities in the Cyberbullying Action Plan. And thank you very much for talking about media literacy and digital education this afternoon. As you know, we're working on a report on media and digital literacy. And the fight against cyberbullying is inextricably linked to this. It's very much about how the digital environment is designed, how we can deal with harmful content, and how we can give the right tools and skills to young people so that they feel empowered. And media literacy is part and parcel of a preventive approach. It's not just about acting. When the harm has been done, we have to act upstream and the information has to get to families, teachers, educators, children and the whole IT ecosystem. I'm wondering whether you think that a medium digital literacy plan is key to contributing to the plan that you just unveiled on fighting against cyberbullying, now on sports. Two brief questions. A lot is happening in basketball. The NBA is very interested in the Euroleague. And do you think that our competition model, the European sport competition model that was adopted here in the European Parliament is being called into question. And then I would like to ask a question on the piracy of sporting events. So I'm wondering what you're going to do in order to beef up the fight against piracy. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “We have seen that this is a state of emergency and that deserves a response from our authorities. It is not just another document that we are voting on. This is the first on the housing crisis in this legislative period. We are voting. So that part of the EU's budget will mean more social well-being for our citizens. This report has chosen a different path. We have opened up a way to invest in housing. This is unprecedented in the history of the EU. When there is public money on the table, housing will always be something that's accessible and for public use. Houses are something to live in, not to be speculated upon. This is not just another report to be shoved on a shelf. This is something important in terms of our social well-being. It raises important issues. We are adopting this report, and in this way, we can increase the amount of housing available. And through cohesion policy, we can create a large pool of available housing and stop this uncontrolled speculation. If we approve this document and this mandate from Parliament, we will be putting, uh, the first, uh, block down to build a foundation for this public housing, um, and greater availability. We want to make, uh, houses a home for people where they are safe, where they can flourish. Not, uh, a source of anxiety for them. This Parliament will vote on this change in direction tomorrow. We can choose to vote to put the EU on a front foot, to resolve one of the most serious crises that our continent is facing. Thank you very much.”
  EU housing policy
• “Hello. Firstly, I'd like to thank you for that presentation and for the information in the report. And in a few days this will be made public. I'm surprised that one of the conclusions of the report is that the audit by the audit authorities is weak. That's one of the conclusions that I've understood from the audit in section 53. It's it said that audit, these audits are one of the essential lines of defence. And it has to do with the list of expenses prepared by the management authorities to and the. And all of this limits the extent to which the Commission can trust in the audits. And it also points out that the some areas are still going undetected. Whether this has to do with planning or the audit work, or the quality of the work itself and its documentation, and I think that over the years. In 40 of the 43 audits, there have been errors detected. So it is affecting more than half of the audit operations. You have recommended that the audit authorities should introduce improvements to ensure that the results can fully reflect the legal framework. However, in section 50, you said that taking into account the errors and the fact that around half of the guarantee packages are accepted, there is a residual error rate which is higher than 2%. So that means that for the other half of the packages, the assurance packages. The European Court of Auditors has no proof to to underpin the opinion that it that it issues on this. So I want to ask you a couple of questions based on this. Could you give some more information on the justification of these results, or rather the explicit explanation of these results, which points to the fact that the audit audits going on are lacking or weak? And as the colleague from EPP said, we are lacking clear examples. I would have liked to see at least a few examples of the most significant cases by country, or not necessarily by country, because I don't want to point fingers at any countries, but I'd like to see some concrete examples to be able to see the detail of what we're talking about, even though we could perhaps hide the name of the country because it's not about picking on any particular member state. Thank you.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Thank you, chair, and good afternoon, everybody. I do apologise for having come to this meeting a little late. I'd like to welcome the councilor from my region to the European Parliament here. And this refers me back to the need for labour in the construction sector. Sector? Throughout the sector. Everybody is saying that we don't have the workers whom we need. We need to improve training and we need to build more and better housing stock. And we can't do so because of a lack of labor. So Europe is faced with a massive needs to renew and restore buildings. We see the energy directive here coming into play and this challenge that requires highly qualified manpower. So I think it's important that we use the European funds. Well, the European Social Fund. And what we have to do is to fight harder to improve the employability of our workers, because if you don't have qualified labour, then housing is just going to be one more piece of the crisis that we are going through at the moment. And in my region in Spain it is crucial. So a lot of things are affecting my region in this respect and in this Parliament. What we are trying to do is to ensure that housing becomes a priority within the review of the.”
  Funding for vocational training
• “Yes. When there is an urgency, when, for example, we had the Donna in Valencia and ecological disasters because there was indeed urgency. We and I'd like to put forth a proposal for an ordinary calendar that would mean that we would have an ordinary procedure, but we would shorten the deadlines to the extent possible and do what the Commission and the VP on the 1st of January of 2026. This is in the hands of the member States who want to and can take up this reform, a proposal that would give a week for a presentation of a tabling of amendments from the 3rd of May to the 20th of May, ordinary procedure with a shadow's shadow rapporteurs meetings all the way up through June. And then we could vote in the committee on the 24th of June on the final proposal text. Then we would have all of July to have informal discussions with the council and vote on the final decision in September in plenary. We think that would give enough time to the member states to be able to implement it before the 1st of January. That would be our proposal. If anyone who would like to vote against the urgent procedure and vote in favour of therefore the ordinary procedure. Thank you.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for being with us today. Vice president, I wanted to talk to you about media literacy, digital literacy, because that's the subject that we're dealing with in a report. It's going to come out very soon. We're seeing the media landscape dominated by large platforms. There's a lot of fake news, misinformation platforms where the consumption of information created by AI's also growing. And also there are platforms which are designed almost to make citizens junkies. They're growing very quickly. Many, many member states are considering adopting new rules on access to social media. We're wondering about having a solution based on the protection of citizens, in particular minors, and their rules at European level. And we need to do some work on education as well. In that context, I'd like to ask, does the Commission have Have legislative room for manoeuvre to do more on this, to ensure that dissemination of fake news does not get out of control. Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you, president. The time of impunity for Russia has to come to an end. The sowing fear, undermining democracy, trying to make Ukrainians feel defeatist. And this is an attack on human dignity. This is an attack on the very idea of Europe. We must move towards autonomous European security, committed to peace and multilateralism, and committed to the UN. For that reason, we must defend and make use of international mechanisms for justice. The International Criminal Court and a special tribunal for the crime of aggression with reparation for the damage caused. We need to ensure that as multilateral institutions come under flak, come under questioning by Putin, Trump and Netanyahu. Europe should stand up and defend them, defend those multilateral institutions and Ukraine. Slav. Ukrainian.”
  Support for International Criminal Court
• “Madam president. Commissioner. Names can be deceiving. We call it cyber bullying, for example, as if the harm remained on the screen online. But that's not how it is. Online bullying continues after you switch off your phone. It continues with the child in their bedroom. It pursues the child on its way to school. It creates fear, anxiety. It creates a lack of self-esteem. And we need to say that's enough. It's not acceptable that 1 in 6 children in the European Union say that they have suffered from cyberbullying. And we do have the tools at our disposal. We have the Digital Services Act, which is in force. Why are we not using it? Why are we not enforcing it in full? Why is it that there are huge, rich companies who are making money out of our attention and the attention of vulnerable people? Why don't we remove them from their websites? We need to confront this abuse with a law in our hands and continue to make progress in awareness raising and education. As is said in the report that we are drafting because although the bullying is called digital, the consequences are profoundly real. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you very much. President. Vice president. The welfare state starts at home and if it is not guaranteed, then the rest is lost because if people lose their jobs, then they start to feel suffocated. And at the start of every month, people start to have to pay 40, 50 or even 60% of their wages simply to put a roof over their heads. And. The name for this is a social emergency, because housing has to be the very basis on which people can build their lives and cannot be a privilege reserved for a minority, nor as a vehicle for speculation. And that is why we have seen a 40% increase in homelessness Business in the European Union, and a situation in which people are spending over 40% of their income on housing. And if people are unable to guarantee affordable housing, then they feel a great burden. And it is time, therefore, for public authorities to intervene. Now we have listened to young people who simply unable to even imagine leaving their parents homes, and that is why they are clamouring for a new kind of housing policy, one which allows them to live in dignity. And that is precisely what we are seeking to do today. We have tried to gather the new policies to form the basis for a European Union housing policy, because the Union can and must do more. Now, I've said this repeatedly, and that is that cohesion policy is the basis of the European Union. It is the vehicle for transforming ideas into real policies and to plugging gaps where there are shortfalls. And that is why we need accessible to affordable housing. And that is why it's also important to be part of the MFF as of 2027.”
  EU housing policy
• “Mr. president. Commissioner. The European Union budget must promote our our rights. Solidarity, growth. Less poverty, more solidarity, more equality. These are the underlying principles of cohesion. So this new multiannual financial framework must be used in order to increase the funds for cohesion. We are facing multiple challenges more than ever and we cannot do more with less. We need to support the regions that are disadvantaged the islands, the rural areas. We need to have a public housing for Europe. In order to deal with this social emergency. We need to support young people and workers so they can learn new skills for new jobs. The planet also is asking us to take action in order to fight against the climate crisis. How many more natural disasters do we need before we realize this? So looking at the budget beyond 2027, we need to have a bigger budget and it must be funded with more resources and with more new own resources. Thank you.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “Thank you president. Thank you, Commissioner Mikhailov, for presenting the action plan against cyber bullying. Today, the time has come for action. We welcome all measures. You have mentioned a few very worthy examples. There are some things that should never be normal. Cyber bullying is widespread online. We are seeing addiction and polarization. When bullying takes place, the social media companies turn a blind eye. Die when a government government suggests measures to protect young people. Then we hear the threats, the lies and the rest. We saw that in Spain last week. What is even more serious is that there are those in this chamber that repeat those lies. Who were they working for? They are not defending young people facing bullying or their families. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. Well, we're talking about taxes, the submerged economy, and we're coming up with a law which we don't seem to be able to bring to fruition. We're looking at the prejudice which this causes to the European society, its impact on employment, on basic sport. We can't continue like this. We urgently need legislation. We have a report here. We need it to tackle the owners of illegal webs, not the users. What we need is a mechanism, a mechanism which can be used quickly and which is reliable. So we have to look at the work of the operators. As sport is popular, we need it. So this is why we are asking for the operators to be responsible, the prices to be reasonable, access to be simple. And also for legislation to come from the European Commission, we need to end up with a fair and also an effective system. Thank you.”
  Broadcasting of sports events
• “Thank you very much, president. Cohesion policy is Europe's social hallmark. Arc, making sure that we invest where necessary. And it is a policy which can transform disaffection into pro-European sentiment. And on top of that, it is also an instrument of solidarity within the European Union, as well as a response to the kinds of challenges we've had to face up to in recent years. And that is no mean thing. We have been able to respond, and that is why we now realise that we have to reprogram, realign and be flexible, but not to the detriment of the policy giving member states a blank cheque as part of the upcoming MFF. Rather, we need the kind of Europe which acts in an integrated fashion, and we don't want to go back to a time when we were individual countries with very different approaches. Now, of course, we have to guarantee our own security and defence, and we, from the perspective of the socialist group, have done everything we can to make sure that we have dual use security investment, making sure that we include desalination, for example, to guarantee water resources for areas such as my own Murcia, which suffers greatly from the effects of climate change. We also realise that we need to support fair housing. We need to rein in an uncontrolled market and also guarantee the rule of law. Make sure that not a single euro of cohesion policy funding goes to those countries which fail to respect our rules. Ladies and gentlemen, we need to make sure that we have the kind of cohesion policy which has sufficient funding as well as clear and transparent rules. And we shouldn't be imposing cuts or austerity on these policies, for socialist cohesion is a principle which we are not prepared to renounce. Thank you.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Supporting pluralism and the fight against disinformation has to mustn't fail in the EU and especially not in this committee. Now, the Agora programme could be a good tool, because I think that the fight against disinformation is the political battle of this era, and that is why it can't be. You can't use this as an excuse to water down the whole point of the media programme. Independence is no longer a criterion, and I think that this is a huge mistake because this opens the door to the big platforms. But to close the door in the face of a small European producers. All of this is inextricably linked. We can't talk about pluralism and disinformation, and at the same time handle everything on a silver platter to the big platforms. And if we want to fight against disinformation, we have to make sure that our audiovisual sector remains independent and that there is choice, because those giants that concentrate power in media are those who concentrate in general, concentrate power. And we we've seen what happens with this power when there's censorship and so on. So European producers are counting on us. They need criteria that will back them and not just, um, let other trample others trample on them. And I think that what is happening here is threatening our sovereignty because culture contributes to sovereignty. And we just cannot make this mistake at such a critical moment.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “Thank you, Madam President. The progress we've made is thanks to the Social Democrats. We've placed the housing crisis at the at the heart of the debate, calling for action. Months ago in this Parliament, we adopted a reform of the cohesion policy, saying that the eRDF can be used to support affordable housing. And today, Commissioner Jurgensen, we welcome your European Affordable Housing Plan, a plan that is made up of measures that will help to promote public housing, that will stabilise prices and bring more balance to a market that has been captured by the greed of a few. This has to be given priority in the next budget. There needs to be a budget on a scale that's never seen before at European level. We are giving housing back the status of a basic right. We are putting an end to speculation, and we are converting the frustration of a generation to hope, opportunity and future. Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “Funds, which gives us lots to think about here in this Parliament. I'd also like to also support what was what has been said by Mr. Alejandro Blanco today. So let us keep in mind that this is a complete redefinition of the joint management rules that we had up until now. It's creating a different balance now between Member States Council and commission. At the end of the day, what they're actually doing is changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game without letting people know about that. And this needs this should be accompanied by increased surveillance by this Parliament. But apparently that's not going to happen. So we want to make sure that cohesion continue to be a truly European cohesion policy, which makes sure that there's greater balance in economic growth within the regions, and that increases people's sense of belonging as well. So I think we're at a moment right now and we three commissions here together, excuse me, with three committees here together, need to make sure that cohesion is used as a true European policy with multi-level governance and with shared management. Thank you very much.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. President. If there are those who impose their strength and power against the rules, who laugh at peace and make mockery of the multinational rule based order. Well, the time has come for us to show them what the European Union is. 2026 has started with all sorts of problems and difficulties. And it's now when our principles have to be more robustly defended, a united Europe based on cohesion, which shows certainties in these first few months under the Cyprus presidency. You have to focus on social issues, tackle inequality and have her housing with clear rules. But internally as well, anybody who attacks democracy or the rights of minorities should not be able to benefit from the money of everybody else. Cohesion policies, therefore of strategic importance because it overcomes divides and gaps within the European Union and means that to the outside world we can show ourselves as a more credible European Union. Now is not the time to focus on national quarrels. We have to focus on European Union policies that work.”
  EU political integration