Nikos PAPANDREOU

Policy topics Nikos PAPANDREOU is active on

What Nikos PAPANDREOU has said (31)

• 2026-07-13 “(16:23:19 - 16:24:33): Thank you, Chair. Very good report. We got it a little bit late to read it, all 200 pages in detail, but I think the main ideas are there. So the work is very good. I don't know. Maybe I think differently because I think, 1st of all, what did this look like 30 years before, before the onset of the digital era? I'm guessing it's quite different. So it's like this is an addiction. And what do we do with addictions? We we ban we try and ban them. I mean, that would be the philosophical question. Would we be better off if the kids didn't have any digital access? That's okay. So you're saying yes? No. You're not. Question. What do you think about that? And 2nd, to go into the details of your project, these are mainly how to deal with someone who already has the mental health problem. But then you also mentioned preventive. I'd like more what you mean. Preventive means before they get to that stage. Once they're at that stage, then we're we have a health system with an aging demography. We have that group of us, and then we have the young ones with that. And then we're gonna be overwhelmed with health issues. So how do we get to the point that they don't get addicted in the 1st place? Because a lot of your recommendations are around fixing as opposed to not getting there. Thank you.”
  EU policy on mental health
• 2026-07-13 “(16:56:43 - 16:58:05): And now I open the floor to MEPs and Nikos Pocandrero Saphirs, please. So I wish I'd seen this slide 20 years ago. Excellent presentation. It's hard not to think of what it means to be a parent if you are one when you see this presentation. And I'm haunted by a question my son asked me, I'll get to the point, when he was about 7, and I punished him by taking away his cell phone for 2 hours. That was a big punishment. And when he got it back, he said, how did you know to do 2 hours and not 4 or 1? Did you take lessons on how to be a father? I said, unfortunately, I'm learning from you. But then I realized we take driver's lessons for something simple, but we take no knowledge unless you happen to read books. But it really depends on the individual. We try and follow those nice things you say, but in some countries like Greece, they don't have a program for teaching parents. That would be considered sort of intervention. But I'd really like to see how we could spread that concept. I mean, I've never seen the triple p. Obviously, it's around and then you look it up. It's everywhere. It's like a new world for me, but it sounds like exactly what we need because our previous discussion was on controlling digital access, which you were here to listen to. Anyway, thank you very much for the presentation. How do we spread this concept to parents without making them feel we're invading their privacy?”
  Role of education (social change vs. tradition)
• 2026-06-23 “(14:39:07 – 14:40:51): Thank you very much. I just joined. Did you speak already? Yes. Okay. Do know my messages. I know. I wanted to make sure so I can say I agree with much of what he said because we know the report, and, it's in my opinion, it was a good relationship between the rapporteurs. And we agree in general. And the main thing that we like as S and D is the need for a safe asset as a benchmark, first of all, for the markets. It's not just a safe asset. And we made very clear that it's a conditional safe asset. It's not to mutualize debt from the past for each country, but it's for specific projects. If we're talking about AI or biotech sector or safe, we can only fund that with the safe asset. We know that. So that's our opinion is that we need that. And for social programs, public goods. Safe assets can be special for public goods such as we did with the RF or with COVID. So we have the example in the past. And I know there's certain resistance to that, but it needs to be mentioned in the Capital Market Union that we need some sort of reference point for Capital Market Union for depth of the market. And we know The United States has a special privilege of the dollar, but because the market is unified, they have their safe asset called the American bond. So we see how well it works over there, and we don't have that here. I think that's the main difference and some difference between the groups. We have mentioned, thank you, Mister Harjebandela, for the Digital Euro. It's not overly done just because I'm a rapporteur on that, but it's just a positive relationship. And I think, since I haven't didn't bring my written notes, I think I'm covered for now. Thank you.”
  EU industrial funding (mechanism level: EU-pooled vs nationally-financed)
• 2026-06-17 “Thank you, chair, commissioner. I think the word that we need in this discussion is the word addiction. We know about alcohol. We know about cigarette. This has to be added as a health danger. There's no doubt about it. We know that it causes isolation, depression, and even, unfortunately, suicide. So let's be practical about it. We have rules and the ones you mentioned earlier, they're basically detox. Psychological therapy once you're addicted. Let's stop them from getting addicted. We have to be tougher. It's 1 of the few times I support intensive regulation. How about labeling? Social media should come with a warning, extended use is harmful to your health. Maybe that goes on the screen. We need to think about it. Liability. How about big tech platforms mentioned by Veronica should be held liable for cyberbullying and the wave of related suicides? They have to be responsible the same way cars are responsible for faulty brakes. Restrictions ban addictive features like doom scrolling autoplay, constant notifications, streaks. I think we all agree that this technology should serve our children and not profit from it. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online · Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• 2025-11-14 “E-004551/2025 Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas on behalf of the European Commission The EU monitors very closely the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, including the Baha’is, as part of its overall commitment to the human rights situation in the country. The EU is using every opportunity, both privately and publicly 1 , including within United Nations (UN) fora 2 , to urge the Iranian authorities to ensure respect for the fundamental freedoms of all Iranian people and to uphold their obligations under the international law, particularly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to both of which Iran is a party. In this context, the EU is a strong supporter of the UN accountability mechanisms. Since 2011, the EU has in place restrictive measures related to serious human rights violations, which have been substantially expanded in recent years in Iran. The latest measures for serious human rights violations in the country were adopted in April 2025 3 , and this approach will continue as long as necessary. 1 https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstreaming/plenary-session_20251126-0900-PLENARY. 2 https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-new-york/eu-statement-%E2%80%93-un-general-assembly-3rdcommittee-interactive-dialogue-human-rights-iran_en. 3 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/04/14/iran-seven-individuals-and-two-entitiestargeted-by-eu-s-sanctions-over-serious-human-rights-violations/.”
  EU-Iran relations · EU competences on human rights
• 2024-10-11 “E-002027/2024 Answer given by Mr Brunner on behalf of the European Commission 1. The Commission is continuously monitoring the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East, including within the framework of the EU Migration Preparedness and Crisis Blueprint 1 , ensuring common situational awareness and information sharing with the Member States, the European External Action Service and EU Agencies to monitor and anticipate migration movements, and to ensure preparedness and operational support as needed. 2. The Commission stands ready to further support Member States, including Greece and Cyprus with whom there are regular contacts, in managing upcoming migration management challenges, by continuing its financial and operational support, with the support of EU Agencies 2 . The Commission remains committed to the implementation of the Action Plan for the Eastern Mediterranean 3 . In the context of the ongoing implementation process for the Pact on Migration and Asylum 4 , the Commission supports Member States in addressing shortcomings and completing reforms to ensure the establishment of a well-prepared migration management system by 2026, including measures to ensure preparedness, contingency planning and crisis response. 3. To support Member States in addressing needs with regards to migration management and border management, the Commission provides support through the Home Affairs Funds 5 . The EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) 6 allows Member States and UCPM participating states to request assistance, including from the Commission’s emergency stockpiles (rescEU) 7 , to provide relief materials to countries in need of extra resources. The Mechanism already delivered shelter materials to Cyprus in October 2023, in preparation for a potential arrival of a large number of people from the Middle East. 1 Commission Recommendation (EU) 2020/1366 of 23 September 2020 on an EU mechanism for preparedness and management of crises related to migration. 2 EU Asylum Agency (EUAA), Frontex, EUROPOL. 3 https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-action-plan-eastern-mediterranean-migration-2023-10-18_en 4 https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/pact-migration-and-asylum_en 5 The 2021-2027 Home Affairs Funds programmes of Greece amount to more than EUR 1.5 billion while under the programmes of Cyprus more than EUR 188 million have been made available. 6 https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/eu-civil-protection-mechanism_en 7 https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/resceu_en”
  EU relations with the Southern Neighbourhood · Asylum & border control
• “Thank you Madam Chair. A quick question for Madam Cabochoras. Why did Forge do a USA backed stablecoin if I understood properly? And so far, how is the business model working out? Who uses it and what platform? Maybe that's too many questions. Quick one for Madame Nerut that was mentioned by Francesco Mazzaffero. Do you feel a pressure from the market to relax the cash deposit restrictions for stablecoins which are between thirty percent and sixty percent and also to add benefits to a stablecoin which would come from the company issuing the stablecoin to give side benefits for users to make it more attractive? That's what the market seems to be wanting. Do you see that happening in the future? And a final question to Mr. Manet. How will the ECB follow monetary policy? You said there'll be faster transmission without the digital euro, the public money. Thank you.”
  Use of stablecoins
• “So, um, to clear up a few things. We did actually have many private sector payment systems. We had Visa Europe, 3800 banks bought by visa in 2016 for 18 billion. We had Mastercard, which bought nets account to account and corporate services in the Nordics, consolidating its role in instant payment and clearing systems. In 2019, visa purchased Munich based pay works price unknown. In June 21st, visa acquired the very interesting Sweden's Tink for 1.8 billion, gaining a leading open banking platform connecting more than 3400 European banks. So colleagues, we did have a private sector solution and we sold it to visa Mastercard. There's no guarantee that if we do it again, it won't happen and I can guarantee now it will happen. It happened and it will happen. So the conversation about sovereignty is off the mark. Private sector solution cannot be sovereign. Done. Please prove otherwise. Now. Market failure. Well, with visa Mastercard, we have oligopolistic and vertical control and horizontal control. The proposal to have maybe 50 European banks make a new digital payment system is maybe a European monopoly, which will then be sold to visa Mastercard. Finally, the public report talks about the private sector, meaning basically the banks. That's only 5% of the private sector. We have millions of small merchants. We have the consumers, we have the fintech, and we have businesses, small businesses. They're left out of the private sector in this report. And in fact, they're worried about the proposal, just so you know. So some questions I know we're supposed to ask questions. A simple one. And your vast experience and in your conclude to conclude, can the private sector solution be sovereign?”
  Digital euro
• “(15:53:01 – 15:53:56): Welcome, Mr. Cipollone. Thanks for updating us on the progress so far from your side. And as our good rapporteur knows, we're progressing quite well on finishing the file. Things have been developed. The rule book has been developed. Infrastructure provider selected. 2 tier model confirmed. Pilot design for 'twenty 7. 1st issuance for 'twenty 9. So I think the other part that's I'm sure you can inform us on is the awareness of the citizen about the digital euro. Right now, less than half know about it, which is something that makes sense. So I guess my question is, what's the ECB strategy to communicate the digital euro to European citizens, not as a technocratic instrument, but part of their lives? What preparations are in place? What's your timeline? And do you also envision a role for the PSPs, the interface with citizens? Thank you.”
  Digital euro
• “Chair. Commissioner, today we are discussing competition policy in the EU. And I always think it's a little ironic for a Socialist member to be talking about competition. But what we're talking about is something that the socialist movement has done for 150 years, a capitalism that produces a surplus for a good welfare state. And that's where we differ on our two sides. We want this capitalist system to work in a way that's fair for the people. In your report we talk about almost dirty words of capitalism, market abuse, excessive power, algorithmic collusion, data dominance and greedflation. These are the things that competition policy is supposed to handle. We have two problems. The monopolies very difficult to take on. We need a strong Europe for that. It was mentioned the fines I agree with. We have to take them apart somehow in the Marxist version we take them over, but that we're not in that world right now. The other problem that doesn't allow the small enterprises to grow are the state silos. Banking union, energy grid infrastructure. The ones who can get past the silos are the big companies. The Googles have no problem getting past the barriers. Country by country. An SME cannot get into the new market. That will help innovation and competition. Thank you very much.”
  EU Competition policy
• “Commissioner McAuliffe. This discussion shows that we are all on your side, and I like what you said in your introduction. We need to improve on the situation. That's what we're saying. It's live streaming is part of our zeitgeist. Use a German word. Except we have these hungry, money hungry groups that want to take away something from us and they call them pirates. But when we say pirates, we think of one guy with a black bandana and on the ship know they're thieves. And from what the numbers say, as Maria said, €30 billion are disappearing from taxes and from people who lose their intellectual property rights. I think we have the technology. The Digital Services Act is actually about static activities, movies, TV series, well, in books. This is about instant response. And you talked about the dynamic intervention. So I think we need to make this necessary. And we need to use the new technology to capture this new technology so we can support the online sports activities. Thank you very much.”
  Broadcasting of sports events
• “Thank you chair. Thank you very much for the excellent presentation. And I think also from all of us here, we have advocates and we need the advocates because I think most of us are worried about the MFF. So the information that you give us helps us make our story better. And our efforts are, I agree very much with the rapporteur who covered almost everything. And I would like to Commend the words by the colleague from Malta, because small countries like Greece can't have all the expertise. But we certainly need those expert centers, reference networks that the witness is advocating as well. One question since cancer for children is a rare disease because there are 60 kinds of cancers, it seems that industry, at least from what you indicated, will not invest the private sector in finding drugs for the children. So it ends up being the academic research and hospitals and governments. Are we doing enough to incentivise the private sector to start looking at those rare diseases for children? Thank you.”
  Public and private sectors role in healthcare services
• “Thank you. Chair. I think it's excellent work that the auditors did, because for me, it shows that we did some good things in the last few years. I wasn't here in the last term, but it's something I think we can be proud of. It shows the weaknesses of the EU, but it shows the strengths when we do things together. So just to ask a question how is the trajectory going? I'm very interested in the HPV and the screening at 2030 were supposed to get 90%. We haven't gotten what's your sense of how we're doing on that, regardless of whether there will be funding in the future or not? Thank you.”
  HPV prevention
• “Thank you. I'm speaking for Timo Wolken, who is unable to attend to attend today. The Eu-uk Trade and Cooperation Agreement was never intended to signal the end of our shared commitment to public health. However, we are now facing growing risks of fragmentation in this area, as also highlighted by the EP. For this reason, we have proposed a series of amendments designed to protect patients, promote regulatory cooperation and strengthen resilience across our health systems. Our first concern is the need for close monitoring of regulatory divergence. The UK has retained EU law. Act may lead to diverging interpretations and standards, and this could have serious consequences for the safety of medicines and medical research. We believe the Union should establish a formal mechanism to track these developments and respond effectively. Secondly, we urge the development of a mutual recognition agreement for medical devices and diagnostics. Six. In the absence of alignment, manufacturers are subject to duplicate procedures, which can increase costs and delay patient access to essential products. A coordinated approach is essential for safeguarding public health on both sides. Thirdly, in the area of digital health and AI, we see great potential but also a risk of incompatibility. We therefore call for structured dialogue between the EU and the UK to ensure shared standards and robust governance, especially in relation to AI based diagnostics.”
  Medical devices
• “Commissioner. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen. Colleagues. It took us too long to figure out that we depend or every day, more from foreign countries for our medicine. Geopolitics has entered medicine, and the policies of foreign powers threaten our national health systems. Competition is fierce, and it's a competition that. The cost is life. So one response was the recent legal act on Critical Medicine. That's a step in the right direction. It supports research, investment and what we call Made in Europe, with a common platform to purchase medicine in Europe to have lower costs and to have a secure supply. But our final goal should be for all European citizens to have equal access to medicine independently of how much they make or where they live. As many speakers said today, it's not just a human right. Access to medicine is a part of the European society and our solidarity model. Thank you.”
  Joint EU procurement of medicines
• “Just a clarification about North Korea. Uh. I'm glad you shifted your position. The report talks about private sector only. You said public and private sector. That's very nice. I don't disagree with that. But the report says private sector. First, if the private sector doesn't do it, then the public sector comes in. Second of all, public sector comes in when there's a market failure oligopolistic. And horizontal control is a market failure. And the private sector is not solving that. So pure economics is when you have private market failure public sector moves in. But if you're going to say do it together, it's a little bit different than what's in the report because you're saying private sector by itself, sorry, private sector by itself. And then maybe the ECB. Thank you.”
  EU policy on banks profits
• “Chair. Commissioner. Madame Lagarde, good to see you again. You come here very often, which shows the democratic accountability of the ECB. So since we mentioned the digital euro and that's in the report, you know that every time we use our cards, 85% of the time some of the money goes across the Atlantic. But not only that, even the European cards, they have to use visa Mastercard software in the POS. Those little machines that we pay with. So imagine, imagine maybe not so crazy that the United States is not happy with Denmark for obvious reasons. We could turn out visa Mastercard for a week or two to make them hurt. It happened in Russia and it happened with ICJ judges. So it's not so extreme to talk about sovereignty, but it's not only about pay systems. This is about financial stability. We now have a dizzying array of currencies, including the stablecoin, which will reduce the levers of power for the ECB to control things like inflation. We're going to have non-banking pay systems. So for me, the digital euro and for all of us here, most of us, I hope we believe that sovereignty means a digital euro, publicly owned, accountable to the public and democratic accountability. Thank you very much.”
  Digital euro
• “Thank you. Chair. Commissioner, I agree with much of what you said. We have the 2022 Wildfire Prevention plan, but we can do more. I'm not going to criticize. We have a new world. Mega-fires and I went to the town of Patras in 30s. They doubled the size. So the main concept and all firemen will tell you that I'm a part of a volunteer firefighting group is prevention. And I want to propose not a democracy shield, a firefighting shield that would include the new technology drones. We have hired drones in our local neighborhood that can see a fire from 15km away, even from a match. We are looking at little machines, AI robots that clear the forest floor, and new condensers that take water and spread it around, or they can fill the container. Basically, we need best practices from Europe to propose for all countries very practical solutions, not expensive to prevent the fires. If we prevent the fires, we've won the game. The main problem is when the fires start. And my slogan in Greece is patriotism is not a political decision, not a political ideology. We have environmental patriotism. That should be our slogan to protect the environment is being patriotic. Thank you very much.”
  Management of EU forests
• “Thank you, Madame Le Luc, for me. Not such a good day. Each Europe, each year, Europe pays a huge price in service fees. Billions of euros flow from citizens pockets to payment providers outside Europe. And with them are spending data there. I think we agree with the rapporteur. Across the union, people buy essentials with the two big American cards every day. Our currency is being displaced within our home market, so we know that foreign payment and technology providers dominate Europe, and we want sovereignty and independence. That's what the digital euro is about. Without it, foreign players will continue to dictate prices and terms. The argument is do we need a public sector solution? We've waited 20 years for a private sector solution. There is none. There is no digital sector solution, digital euro solution for the private sector, the 27 countries, in fact, the number of countries that use it are going down. This report asks us to wait longer. It's 2026. Almost. This report has been in the books for about four years. It asks us, and here I disagree, to wait for the private sector to come up with a solution. But what private sector does the private sector have a roadmap? Does it give us dates? If they don't do it, are they going to be punished? Is there an organized group proposing proposing a Europe wide payment scheme, a roadmap with milestones or consortium ready to invest? Billions? None exist.”
  Digital euro
• “And legislation ensuring mutual recognition across member states so that these assistive devices are available and affordable throughout the EU. Friends and colleagues extending the EU disability strategy beyond 2027 is not only necessary, it is essential to fulfilling our shared European values of dignity, equality and inclusion. But implementation, as always, must be more than symbolic. It must be structural, monitored with data and lived. We move forward in that direction together. Thank you.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Thank you very much, Commissioner. Madam President and Miss Lalucq, the report by Miss Lalucq on the draft report. Is a Condemnation of our European situation. The difference between the US and Europe is exactly what this committee has been talking about. There's a huge amount of wealth in the US. There's a lot of money going to Palo Alto. And we've been left behind. We've all said that. I think if we have a proper capitalism, which is actually a Marxist term, then there is enough money to pay both for defence and for the welfare state that we need so badly. Just a proper capitalistic situation paid for by our taxes that leads to a green transition. Can we get that investment if we keep asking the banks and we need to allow this banking union to take place.”
  European Banking Union
• “Thank you. Chair, vice president. I think sometimes we need to restate the obvious and to take a look from the outside. What is the European Union? In fact, it's a very strange animal. Empires until now were built through force. Historically, it's the first time. Maybe someone can correct me where countries join of their own will to, let's say, a certain empire in quotes. How do they do that? They have to give up their sovereignty. That's never happened before. To join the club, you have to do something. You have to give up for what? For prosperity. For collective bargaining mentioned by the left, for the benefits that you get with all its attendant problems. However, it seems to me that once they joined the club, they're like professors with tenure. They stopped publishing. We need to continue the energy of membership so that we break down the national interest, as was mentioned earlier. The problem will not be solved to the single market only by Brussels. Only if the countries themselves take the responsibility for the difficult giving up of sovereignty, breaking national interests. The banking system, worker regulations that are never followed where we have a true single market. Thank you.”
  EU political integration
• “We cannot legislate the private sector and if no solution emerges, who will be accountable? The private sector? No, we will be accountable. The legislators who failed to act and we know the concerns about stability are not real. The ECB has shown that even in the event that every citizen withdraws €3,000 in one day at the same time. There will be no problem with stability. €3,000 is a proposed theoretical limit. The report, as mentioned by the rapporteur, puts great emphasis on offline payments. If consumers aren't asking for digital euro, they're certainly not asking for offline payments. That's an extreme case. It's a solution looking for a problem. The issue is not online payments. The issue is online digital payments, the ones that can compete and provide the commercial sector with the competition to the big payment systems. In conclusion, this report goes against the spirit of creating a digital euro. It asks us to delay our decision contingent on the private sector. When the private sector makes the decision in one year, in five years, in ten years, then the ECB will be asked to come in. It might be too late by then. For me, this is not a strategy. This is paralysis. We are sitting on the fence and this will have grave consequences for me. We are here to decide. It could be a no. It could be a yes. You know where I step on that? Thank you.”
  Digital euro
• “Thank you. It'll be shorter. Seems like we're all on the same page on supporting people with disabilities. First of all, I'd like to thank our rapporteur, Giorgos Georgiou, for his work on this important file. His opinion and our opinion comes at a crucial moment as we reflect on the achievements and the remaining gaps of the current EU disability rights strategy, and we look ahead to what must come next. The direction for the future is clear. We need more inclusion, not just in words but in practice across all areas of life, especially in healthcare. Yet persons with disabilities continue to experience higher levels of unmet medical need, poorer self-reported health status, and significantly higher mortality rates compared to the general population. These are not abstract figures. They reflect daily injustices and they must be addressed. We cannot reduce inequalities if we do not first measure them. And so I have urged the commission, with amendments, to integrate disability specific indicators across all aspects of our common health policy. This includes the EU Cancer Inequalities Registry. We also need to ensure that all persons with disabilities can access the assistive technologies, as is pointed out, that need that they need to live independently and with dignity. We need to tackle the fragmentation of national certification schemes.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Colleagues, I'm not sure why there is a problem. I heard, Mr. Ferber, I heard a very good introduction from the commissioner. Commissioner, with which I agree. And I do hope by 2026 we get there, it'll be four. Maybe it'll be five years, a little bit slow. I think it's the ECR who has perhaps confused. The digital will take place of the real cash. And the thing about the single currency package is that it makes cash mandatory. So once we have that agreement, we should vote it as fast as possible so that people are feel that they won't be dominated by the digital euro. We want to safeguard cash just as much as all the other parties. However, there's something odd in the report. As it stands, it has an amendment that says if an ATM shuts down, the government should pay to keep it open. I'm not sure the EPP is aware of that. If an ATM shuts down, we pay to keep it open. That's really going to reduce cash access. Without access, people lose the practical ability to choose cash. So the best way to protect the cash is to vote on the single currency package. I think we all agree with that. Thank you.”
  Means of payment (cash vs digital)
• “Since I welcome and very impressive presentation. We talked in Ukraine a little bit about how are you? But we didn't have such a clear presentation. And with the medical students. Well, we asked them how is mental health? And they said all of the country is under stress and that's 100% stressful situation. So it's very impressive. And since our next discussion is on preparedness. Yeah, I was on the trip too. It's very important that we take your lessons, actually, for what we're going to do in the future with situations that might arise a little bit sad. Is that still the Ukrainian medical system? The degree is not recognized abroad, and something we have to do about that, as well as so many nurses under stress that had to leave the country, went to Poland, Lithuania. They're under stress too. So it's not clear how we can solve that one. But we're aware of those issues and of course, very impressed all of us. How fast when one of our deputies said Ukraine was born in the war, the spirit of Ukraine, the real Ukraine, after all the history is reborn. So it's a country that was reborn. And you're working very fast for EU accession, which I think most of us here, if not all of us support. So our trip was both to learn to show our support and to come back with lessons. And if we had a good idea, I don't know if he wants to propose it here about a long term committee, but again, very impressed. Thank you very much.”
  EU enlargement
• “How will the ECB, how do you think the ECB can control monetary policy with all this money outside the banking system if it doesn't have a public money like the digital euro, public digital euro?”
  Digital euro
• “(11:43:16 – 11:44:34): You, general vice president. I think sometimes we need to restate the obvious and to take a look from the outside. What is the European Union in fact? It's a very strange animal. Empires until now were built through force. Historically, it's the first time, maybe someone can correct me, where countries join of their own will to, let's say, a certain empire, end quote. How do they do that? They have to give up their sovereignty. That's never happened before. To join the club, you have to do something. You have to give up for what? For prosperity, for collective bargaining mentioned by the left, for the benefits that you get with all its attendant problems. However, it seems to me that once they join the club, they're like professors with tenure. They stop publishing. We need to continue the energy of membership so that we break down the national interests, as was mentioned earlier. The problem will not be solved to the single market only by Brussels, only if the countries themselves take the responsibility for the difficult giving up of sovereignty, breaking national interest, the banking system, worker regulations that are never followed where we have a true single market. Thank you. The next Speaker is Elizabeth Deringer.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you for your excellent presentations and many questions, but not able to put them all right now. Just a quick point. The digital euro should be the way it's being planned. Uh a public infrastructure for sovereignty. And I consider it a public good. So the ECB will pay part of setting up that infrastructure. I'm one of the rapporteurs. Two questions and one very sort of rhetorical question. Why did the role why did the share of the euro go down in the last few years? That's a little bit of a rhetorical second. There's some and um, Mr. Beck mentioned that one about the Eurobond trading for the national bonds, if I understood. Right. And that's one of the proposals. And I think one of the proposals is to go even to 25%, according to Olivier Blanchard. So I'd like to hear how much you support that. Uh, to go big. And finally, we have some European banks that are issuing US based stablecoins today. And I agree very much with Mr. Valdes presentation that the stablecoin is a dollarization and a smart way for the dollar to enter the digital market. But should we allow European banks? Of course, there's no laws for that. But I'm talking philosophically to set up US based stablecoins. Given the difficulty and instability and the increased dollarization that will come from us ourselves. So three questions. Thank you.”
  Use of stablecoins
• “Thank you for your work. Commissioner. Very short. I think I'm echoing many things I heard from the women's gender issue. There must be some simple steps that we could take in the next year that maybe you will include in your gender strategy to improve the data on women. I mean, I think that's not so hard to do, so that next year we have a better disaggregation as a small step within all the things we heard. Thank you.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Merci beaucoup. Madam. Madam English I had most of my questions were answered, but, uh, having to do with the stablecoin, it's a little bit of a ironic term, because the problem with financial literacy is if you're a consumer and you see the word stablecoin, you might think it's a great thing, stable. So it's a little bit of a trick, I would say. So. The financial literacy really needs to point out the levels of risk. Some stablecoins are more riskier. Some have immediate redemption. Others are bundle of assets, as you know, so you can't get your money back exactly when you think you would. So we need to have that included in the financial literacy, especially for the average citizen who sees crypto and thinks it's a way to make fast money many times, and we see young people, especially playing with that. So I think we need to include that in the financial literacy. Uh, and the digital euro would be the one without risk. So we have a categories of risk. I'm of course one of the shadow rapporteurs. And I agree with the need for for getting there fast, especially in this geopolitical situation. So I guess that was a comment. Last question and only one question, a boring economics question on the predictions which might have changed given the recent things of that. The euro system staff I see in the 2627 are optimistic, relatively role for private investment that it's going up. And I know you have some comments on that. What is the source of the relatively good increase in private investment? If I'm reading the color codes right. The green color I'm a little bit colorblind. So but if I read it properly green is my color blindness. So if I read it properly, investment is uh, is actually doing quite well. Thank you.”
  Use of stablecoins