Pekka TOVERI

Policy topics Pekka TOVERI is active on

What Pekka TOVERI has said (18)

• 2025-03-19 “E-001174/2025 Answer given by Ms Albuquerque on behalf of the European Commission EU sanctions have restricted but not totally banned the sale of oil tankers by EU operators. Sales to Russia or for end-use in Russia are prohibited (with a derogation possible) while sales to third countries are subject to a notification. The fast-evolving nature of the shipping industry and frequent ownership changes of vessels must be noted, as well as the fact that, under EU sanctions, Russian oil exports may continue if undertaken below the oil price cap. Through its sanctions packages, the EU has designated specific vessels for contributing to Russia’s warfare against Ukraine, including vessels part of Russia’s shadow fleet and engaging in deceptive and high-risk shipping practices contrary to international standards. Such vessels are subject to a port access and services ban. The 17 th package brings the total of listed vessels to 342. Further, the EU can subject individuals and entities that own or operate shadow fleet vessels to an asset freeze. It is prohibited to provide funds or economic resources to listed individuals or entities. The Commission is continuously monitoring the developments relating to vessels belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet as part of its efforts to combat the circumvention of EU sanctions. It also pro-actively reaches out to third countries providing flagging services, raising concerns of environmental protection and maritime safety. Furthermore, the Commission adopted Delegated Directive 2025/811 1 requiring Ship Reporting Systems (SRS) to include reporting of insurance certificates. This will ensure that all vessels operating in EU vicinity are properly insured and improve the EU’s ability to monitor and investigate maritime activities, thereby addressing risks posed by uninsured or unsafe vessels. 1 OJ L, 2025/811, 28.4.2025https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202500811.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term) · EU-Russia relations (from March 2022)
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner, for being here, and I totally agree on your views on these things. But one thing caught my attention when we talk about Ukraine. You said that we have to be prepared, that if the United States is pulling out, that we have to put 20 billion annually more so that we can continue supporting Ukraine. Well, that basically means that we've done it already three years with Americans. And now, if the plan is that that in the future we'll continue doing it without Americans, we are we are giving Ukraine just enough to continue fighting and bleeding them to death. Have you have you had any discussions or plans or thinking of just brainstorming about what it would really need? You really need it. How much we would really need to make possible for Ukraine to gain such a position in the war, that they can negotiate on their own terms and force Russia to give up. Thank you.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
• “Thank you chair. Uh, I think that, you know, we all know that we are living in a quite crucial time considering the Ukrainian Ukrainian war, uh, and trying to force Russia to actually start negotiating with reasonable way. Same time, we are sending messages today. We send information about the 17 sanctions are sanctions package, which was quite lame to sell in a time when we should show that we are ready to use all the economic tools we need to force Russia to negotiate. And then same time, we have these negotiations ongoing on, on, on helping Ukraine to survive through including through the the commercial trade with Ukraine, with, with the EU. And we know that the balance is favoring us 16 billion a year. Ukraine is buying more from Europe than, than we are buying from from Russia. Ukraine. So I find it hard to believe and understand why commission doesn't put push harder on these negotiations to get a solution before the as early as possible possible, because this is also a big part of messaging. Do we let interest of certain areas of certain member states run over the big actual strategic view on here. Eu support to Ukraine. So I really am surprised and had a hard time understanding why these negotiations last so long. And we don't have any clear messages from the Commission and our negotiating parties that we are going to find the solution before the beginning of of June in this issue. And I would like to hear more about what are the real, you know, real, real problems here. Thank you.”
  Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
• “Because Ukraine is fighting for all of us. Our trading relationship remains strong and resilient despite Russias war on aggression against Ukraine. Our bilateral trade has increased more than 2.5 times since the entry into force of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area in 2016, and Ukraine's economy is clearly on par for integration and reorientation towards the EU. Therefore benefiting our EU countries economies. While the agreement will also require adaptation from Ukraine, this should be seen from the perspective of Ukraine's gradual integration into the single market. Therefore meeting EU standards as early as possible is certainly in the interest of of interest, and this is the right kind of incentive. Taking also account of Ukraine's and the interest in exports outside the EU. I would also like to stress that the ultimate Ukrainian products, especially its grain exports, much, much more, must reach Ukraine's traditional export markets. Russian aggression still greatly hinders this. Therefore, we will need to follow up on this and hope that the accounted possible support measures will truly achieve a tangible result. Support for Ukraine grain exporters in the future. Thank you.”
  Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
• “Thank you Chair thank you commissioner one simple question when we had the drone incident in Poland in beginning of October in an interview I was asked what happens next and I said that there are two possibilities if we if we act strongly and punish Russia for this active activities for example push the NATO air defense zone to Ukraine or put sanctions nothing this will be end if we don't do anything except congratulate ourselves for not escalating this will be the new normal thrones all over the Europe and I don't like to say that I told you so but I told you so. So here we are so when are we going to start punishing Russia for its actions be it through through proper sanction for example stopping shuttle fleets something like that because that's the only way to stop these drone activities fast thank you”
  EU-Russia relations (from March 2022)
• “58:53 – 17:01:12): Thank you, thank you Chair. Well, there's been a lot of talks about what's fair and what's not. It's not fair that Ukraine is producing agricultural products without following fully EU standards, even though we have agreements that they are doing their best to start following them in production and everything else. I'm in agriculture, agricultural agri committee. I still know that agriculture is 1.2 percent of the EU's cross national product. Still, a third of our budget, EU budget, goes to agriculture. So that support of European agriculture is coming from 98.8 percent of the rest of the trade and business which is producing the money for the farmers. We should be thankful for that actually. And then we talk about countries like Hungary and Poland who have now caused some problems to Ukraine, who was fighting for its existence against aggression from Russia for four years. And last twenty years, Hungary has gotten over seventy billion euros from EU and Poland over a hundred and sixty billion euros for EU net. So what's fair in my opinion is that everybody puts their support to Ukraine, especially since we know that when you look how much of your cross transfer product you have actually put to support Ukraine, countries northern European, no, northern Euro European countries, Baltic states have fared much better and done much more than other countries. So what's fair is that we let Ukraine make trade with us, especially since we know that the only product with large amount they can in current situation to trade in Finland to Europe is agricultural products, and there's a huge surplus which again benefits Europe and European countries. So I think that these kind of national bans are really unfair and so tried it and against European Union's strategic interests. Thank you.”
  Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
• “Thank you chair. I'm very happy that we discussed about forests here because for Finland this is very important. Over 75% of the country, well over 75% of the country, is covered by forests. Over 600,000 Finns, over 10% of the population are forest owners. It's not only big part of our economy, it's big part of our culture and maturity of the forests are privately owned by families, farmers and small businesses who have a long standing tradition of sustainable, sustainable forest management and comprehensive forest programs. These programs are a result of decades of work and expertise. We know our forests. We don't need too much help on those. I would like us like to ask the commission in the framework framework of the forest monitoring legislation, that where will the forestry related data aim to be collected, to be used and given the wide variation of the forest types and climates across the EU? We have, for example, a lot of Arctic forest in Finland. One system for all seems highly difficult to achieve. And how does the Commission ensure that this does not result in duplicate, duplicate administrative burden at the national level, particularly in the member states that already have comprehensive forest inventories and data systems in place? Thank you.”
  Management of EU forests
• “Yes. Thank you very much. And it's great that at least some of the actors in this field, in business field, have have wakened up to the responsibilities that the business brings Here again, being having been having been in this business, end to end encryption, for example, is quite a challenge for those services who try to, you know, hunt down terrorists or criminals or, or. Other national, national threats and those still are there. Our solution has been that everything that, for example, military intelligence does in the networks is, is sanctioned by by by legal authorities. And when we have a very thorough transparency in multi-level including a civil servant ombudsman who has total access to all the all security and Intel services and the activities, and even have powers to stop the activities, they think that is illegal. So trying to balance this, this, this, uh, protection of privacy and then the needs of the authorities are quite, quite demanding and cooperating with the companies in this issue because we need more and more cooperation with those platform platform providers. Do you think that that is something that you can do in a, in a when we look in the security of the European, you know, European nations to cooperate with, with the sanctions and with the permission of, based on the permission given by the legal authorities to cooperate with the authorities. Thank you.”
  Privacy & law enforcement
• “Madam president, Mr. Commissioner. Dear colleagues. Russian war in Ukraine is going badly and Russia's economy is crumbling. But Russia can still afford to wage information campaigns and corrupt our politicians, business leaders and unfortunately also sports leaders. Russians are infiltrating themselves back to the European sports arenas with the help of corruption. It is not about sports. It's about spreading Russian message and influence. A good example is Mr. Vladimir Lisin, Russian oligarch, Putin's friend, whose metallurgy companies support Russian war industry. Just last year, he bought to his Russian-German candidate a position as the president of the European Shooting Confederation. How. By promising the Shooting Confederation and its member organisations €23 million of his blood money if they vote for his candidate. A clear and blatant pride which unfortunately, many people take. And how is it possible that Mr. Leeson is not sanctioned and he can freely operate in Europe? It seems that Leeson owns some metallurgy companies in Belgium. So the Belgian government has shamefully blocked sanctioning Leeson in the council. We need to stop Russian encroachment into European sports even when it's not easy. Let's start it by forcing our member states leadership to do the right things. Slava. Ukraini.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you for the briefing. And, uh, well, as we well know, if something we are very good in making directives and acts and laws here in the EU. But as we all know, they don't. They are not enough unless we have a proper enforcement. And then punishments for those who break these agreed laws and acts. So. What's your view? Knowing and hearing now how the threat is increasing very fast. And the capabilities on both both how how how many actors are using these kind this kind of tools to break those laws. Are we there in appropriate level enforcement and punishments? And if not, what should we do to be there and knowing that we are in, in in a race where we are actually starting from behind. Thank you.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thank you chair. Mr.. Mr.. Commissioner, one comment and one easy question. The comment is about the omnibus. I'm one of the pastors who is trying to negotiate it, and we are currently in a boxing ring where the parliament is in the centre as an umpire, and then we have a council and commission on their corners, refusing to move to the centre, even to fight. We need we need the willingness to compromise, otherwise these are not going to go. And if somebody is willing to compromise, as Parliament has done already, we can move very fast. Thank you. Then the question is about mine. See, mine's. We've seen in Strait of Hormuz when what doesn't mind on on on a on a maritime choke point can do. The big superpower is on its knees and can't do anything. Well, we have in Europe more capability for maritime mine countermeasures than Americans have, but still not enough considering that we are surrounded by choke points and Russia has the biggest mine storages in the world, and they are not stupid. So it's not sexy thing. But is there any discussion about improving our mine countermeasure capabilities in Europe? Thank you. Mine countermeasure. Mine countermeasures.”
  Disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner, for being here. This is an important exchange of views, and developing the nature credits can create many possibilities for both our economy as well as for the landowners. However, there are some risks. One risk, of course, being that this just changes the destroying of of nature from one place to another. Another one is security and a loss of control over areas to international companies, for example, Chinese. So I would like to ask, how does the Commission intend to ensure that in the development of nature value markets, security risks are properly considered, particularly on the EU's eastern borders in the context of possible international sale of national natural capital. Thank you.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• “Dear colleagues, dear chairs, as observed during the last mandate, it is crucial to draft forest related legislation carefully at the commission level. By doing so, the EU sends a clear message to its citizens that it respects the subsidiarity principle in forest related legislation. Predictable predictability and avoidance of overlapping regulations play a key role in ensuring the future of the industry. The forest industry is a critical pillar of the EU strategic autonomy and is especially important for forested countries like Finland. Covering over 75% of Finland is covered by by forests. Forest policies in the competence of the Member States and it should remain so. The Standing Forest Committee should remain as a committee and serve as a functioning cooperation forum between the Member States and the Commission on Forest and Forest forestry related issues across all forest and forest related union policy areas. Enlargement of the mission. The task of the committee supports that, but when forestry expertise is considered in the early stages of legislation, the outcomes are more likely to be reasonable for the sector as well. Regarding the forest monitoring proposal, the purpose and national implementation of this legislation remains a bit unclear. What exactly we heard how the collected data will be used, but we would like to have more information about it. And how can we ensure that it is examined and stored in a fair and transparent manner and protect it too? In Finland, for example, over 10% of the population are forest owners. They have a vested interest in what happens to this data. We must also avoid creating excessive and unnecessary administrative burden and imposing high costs on member states and forest owners. We have heard that a lot of this monitoring would rely on satellite, and totally agree with Mr. Sergey Como that satellites are not answer to everything. You have to have a foot on ground as mentioned, and that always comes with the cost. And we don't want to have a more burden on the cost and more, more bureaucracy on these issues to make this proposal acceptable, acceptable to all. Significant simplification is necessary. We must also reassess the entire process, particularly the numbers collected. Collected collection and use of indicators. Dear colleagues, I look forward to working with you. Thank you.”
  Management of EU forests
• “Thank you. Speaker. Thank you for commission, for good briefing. I say that one only only thing we can be sure about is that we're going to face crises coming decades. New crises will come after Iran will come something something new. So we need the long term preparedness. And as my colleague Mr. Panella said, I would be very interested to hear what we are going to, what the Commission is to do to prevent this kind of surprises, to affect us more as deeply. We need to be more resilient. We need to be more sustained. But for example, in fertilizers, what are the actions we are now taking in order to be self-sustained? Not depending on dictatorships like Belarus and Russia in these issues. And also taking into account that the long supply chains we are depending on. Now, this crisis in Hormuz may be a message of what things will be like in the future, that the maritime lines are congested and the straits are also taxed or or used to stop and blackmail us around the world. And how the Commission is analyzing these possible maritime threats in the future. Thank you.”
  Use of fertilisers
• “Thank you, Chair. Well, people looking in the points of their own shoots, instead of looking at the horizon, tend to stumble on their own feet. You know, we are talking about strategic interest of Ukraine when we talk about EU, when we talk about trade with Ukraine. In trade relations, we should strive for win win outcomes and predictable, stable rules while not losing sight of our overarching strategic interest of supporting Ukraine. I remain convinced that our trade policy can serve these goals, even in today's unpredictable and volatile environment. The agreement at the end of June on the review of the trade liberalisation provisions under the DFC, Dcfta marks a new phase in establishing a long term, predictable and reciprocal protocol framework within the broader context of Ukraine's accession process. This is certainly positive. It also takes into account the sensitivity of certain agricultural sensors in neighbouring EU member states. I sincerely hope that both the affected sectors and public opinion in those countries will consider this agreement as a positive step, and will not try to instrumentalized this step to create negative messaging to undermine our much needed collective support to Ukraine.”
  Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
• “Defense project is a good analyst, many ways to improve our defense industry and capabilities. Among other things, the report stresses that Ukraine is a key part of Europe's defense architecture and that we should develop our defense and industrial cooperation with Ukraine. And that is very true. During the four years of war constantly under fire, Ukraine has been able to increase its defense industrial output by 50 times. While the European defense industry has not been able to do even one tenth of it. Ukraine is producing high end counter UAV systems and cruise missiles. And even when attacked constantly by Russia, Ukraine is capable to support Persian Gulf nations in countering Iran's UAV attacks, but only if there is funding at place. Ukraine can currently fund only part of its own defence needs, and only part of the industrial capability is used. So the best and most cost effective way to improve Europe's and EU defence industry and defence capabilities is the famous Danish model. Let's invest in the Ukrainian industry so that it can produce more capable weapons and systems, much cheaper and faster than our own industries can. By the same time, changing our industry to do the same. Thank you, Slava Ukraini.”
  EU-Ukraine relations
• “Well. Thank you. Thank you, chair, and thank you for a good briefing. And this is important. Very important issue. And I totally agree. Having been in the security business before turning to politics, that the greatness of the issue. I totally agree with this, but preventing it is a different story. So what would be your recommendations when you talk about that the EU should do something. Should we put more effort on the oversight on legislations because preventing something to happen. You know, stopping doing using these tools would be harmful for many nations. Internal security. So should they put more effort on transparency on it, oversight of the usage of this equipment? Or should we try do something else? Thank you.”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “Dear colleagues, ensuring accountability and justice. After over four years of Russia's relentless attacks against civilians in Ukraine is extremely important. It is important so that we can put a price to Russia's crimes, so that we can make Russia pay for the damage it has caused, and that we can punish the criminals who have committed these crimes. It is important not only for Ukrainians but also for us, because if this will not happen, the crimes will continue. We have seen Russian atrocities so many times in Hungary, in Afghanistan, in Chechnya, in Georgia, in Syria, in Mali, to name a few. And now in Ukraine, murder, rape, pillage, you name it. In Ukraine, Russians hunt single civilians on their grocery trips in FPV drones and proudly post these murders in internet. This won't stop until they have to pay for these crimes. So now it's time to act. Because next time it may be one of our citizens. They are hunting with drones. Slava Ukraini.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)