Gheorghe PIPEREA

Policy topics Gheorghe PIPEREA is active on

What Gheorghe PIPEREA has said (44)

• 2026-06-17 “Russia is today's aggressor, representing the risk of cyber attacks. And in the future, Russia won't have very much to do. We'll be the one ones destroying ourselves with cyber threats, but from the inside. Millions of euros for the Green Deal, for the war. You're always talking about European competitiveness. You promise freedom. But actually the opposite is happening. You say that Ukraine will win the war as long as they regime receives more money than what it's already receiving. But now we see incidents with drones that are a threat to Romanian cities. And every day Romania is on the road of money being poured into Ukraine. The hybrid threats are here in Europe and we need to protect our citizens.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
• 2026-06-17 “Russia is today's aggressor aggressor representing the risk of, cyber attacks. And in the future, Russia won't have very much to do. We'll be the 1 just ones destroying ourselves with cyber threats. But from the inside, millions of euros for the green deal. For the war, you're always talking about European competitiveness. You promise freedom, but actually the opposite is happening. You say that Ukraine will win the war as long as the regime receives more money than what it's already receiving. But now we see incidents with drones that are a threat to Romanian cities. And every day, Romania is on the road of money being poured into Ukraine. The hybrid threats are here in Europe, and we need to protect our citizens.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
• 2024-09-03 “P-001609/2024 Answer given by Mr Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission Decisions on the role of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is of exclusive competence of the signatories of the ESM Treaty. The ESM is an intergovernmental organisation established by euro area Member States with the objective of enabling these countries to avoid and overcome financial crisis and to maintain long-term financial stability and prosperity. Article 126 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union establishes that Member States shall avoid excessive government deficits, and that the Commission monitors the developments of the fiscal situation and, in particular, compliance with the criteria established in the Treaty itself. Romania has been subject to an excessive deficit procedure since 2020 1 . On 3 April 2020, the Council, acting upon a recommendation by the Commission, recommended that Romania correct its excessive deficit by 2022 at the latest. Considering the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, on 18 June 2021, the deadline for correction was extended to 2024. On 26 July 2024, based on a Commission recommendation, the Council established that no effective action had been taken by Romania to correct its excessive deficit. On 14 January 2025, acting upon a recommendation by the Commission, the Council recommended that Romania should correct its excessive deficit situation by 2030. The Council also recommended to other seven Member States to correct their excessive deficit (Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland and Slovakia) 2 . The Commission will assess the action taken by Romania and the other seven Member States in response to the recommendations in spring 2025. 1 All documents related to the Excessive Deficit Procedure for Romania can be found at: https://economyfinance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/stability-and-growth-pact/corrective-arm-excessivedeficit-procedure/excessive-deficit-procedures-overview/romania_en 2 https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/stability-and-growth-pact/correctivearm-excessive-deficit-procedure/excessive-deficit-procedures-overview_en”
  EU fiscal rules and oversight of national budgets · European Banking Union
• “Romania is facing fiscal measures which are placing additional pressure on middle income families the government has increased TVI VAT sorry including for basic commodities health care is becoming a luxury and pensions are being cut we're seeing citizens' health being affected. So in Romania the reality is really quite different you don't hear quite so much talk of this single market if you look at people's day to day lives we see their challenges so this is a social and economic challenge. We are losing competitiveness and facing competition that is only growing and this is leading to to problems with our market. The single market can only be completed if we don't leave countries like Romania left behind if you look at the MFF you can see that if this single market is going to be fair and is going to work we need strategic measures to ensure conversions also easier access to financing for SMEs.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Thank you. This report on safety and regulatory compliance in e-commerce and non-EU imports was drafted in order to propose measures to fight against unfair competition and to avoid the certain risks inherent therein. 4.6 billion small parcels. Are what we're talking about, 85% of which come from Asia and don't comply with our standards in Europe. So what we need is a fair, uh, playing field for producers both in Europe and outside of Europe. So apart from customs controls and the responsibility and accountability of online platforms has to be assured. Um, this is a report which would oblige producers to provide data and information about the origin of their products, and we would take measures to ensure that no fiscal evasion is carried out with regard to e-commerce. We need to think about the deemed importers in order to provide guarantees, um, and to take into account VAT as well. So please take all these Points into account so that we can have conditions of fair competition for all our producers.”
  EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports
• “The new five year plan. The Soviet plan is called the competitiveness compass. Same bureaucrats, same pseudoscientific arguments. And now the European Commission is hoping to win the trade war with China and the US and save us from bankruptcy. The Green Deal is a weakness, just like Donald Tusk said. The weak development of the industry, just like Draghi said, and overregulation and the red tape. Mrs. von der Leyen said these are weaknesses. Um, the fact that we don't have a dialogue with the Trump administration, it's the same thing. Without doing away with these weaknesses, Europe will not be able to save itself. Sustainability, gender ideology. This democratic shield will not put food on the table. We're sending money to third countries like through Global Gateway. And this will drain our resources of a continent that doesn't have many resources to begin with. Now you keep doing the same thing and you're hoping to get a different result. This is Einstein's definition of madness.”
  EU political integration
• “And also it's about the worker rights towards the risk of losing job because of international, of artificial intelligence. And also there are a lot of regulation in this convention, this framework convention about the remedies, because there's a lot of things to be done. Also in this report, I suggest to the rapporteur to see this, to see this, to. Analyzing details this convention. Because. Because it is important. Uh, because it's about human rights and citizens freedoms. And, uh, last but not least, uh, the important for us is not just to be the first, uh. Alliance of countries, the first, uh, legal entity, international legal entity of the world to regulate the artificial intelligence. The important is to regulate artificial intelligence in such a manner, not to affect democracy, not to affect the basic principles of our treaties and the basic principles of our, uh, philosophy of life.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “We are talking about an instrument that is omnipresent. It is ever present in on the economic stage and in the public square, including including when it comes to elections. And I speak as a citizen of a member state that has gone through a traumatic experience, the cancellation of our elections, an experience that no one should ever have to live through again, which unfortunately could, uh. Um, could become a reality again, unfortunately, because AI is to be involved in elections again, as Noam Chomsky said, there are systems whereby consent can be fabricated, including consent. Uh, when we make elections, electoral choices that are based on ideology, especially if we are to live AI to in charge of these things, AI I already saw the issues pertaining to the rule of law, constitutional issues and issues that have to do with rights and liberties. And the major thing that we contemplate as elected representatives of millions of European citizens is that there is no person who who can take responsibility for what AI can do, for what could go wrong. Um, if AI becomes involved in election processes.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Thank you chair. I'm going to speak Romanian. Yes. It's very important to us all for minors to be protected not only online, of course, but also to be protected when minors consume content. Um, although today's society, uh, um, thinks that, uh, minors can not, um, get involved in legal acts, and this is something that's lacking in our report, in our regulations. We need to look at the minor children as they are de facto, as a consumer. Children use the means of identification Online on websites where they can purchase and consume content with or without their parents knowing about it. And this sometimes happens when it comes to purchasing drugs and not only video games. When we think of children consuming something, we think of video games. But not only that, medication or drugs are also being consumed. And I'd like to say something else, because we are talking about protection from children, from sexual abuse online, and perhaps all of this should be brought together. And another issue, if I may. We are talking, and rightfully so, about banning access to dangerous platforms for minors, including social media And the solution put forward was that the, um, platform, in case that they have a certain technical, uh, structure to block access. But we have a problem here before we block the access, we need to monitor children's online activity. How can we do this? Because the AI act, uh, bans such a practice. Thank you.”
  Privacy & detection of online child abuse
• “Madam von der Leyen, I call on you to resign. I demand it here and now. We have two motions of no confidence. But also because you are no longer credible as a president. Surveys show that 60% of Europeans demand that you resign because of the disastrous trade agreement with the US, and 91% of EU citizens want transparency in the spending of public funds, something that you have systematically refused. The Parliament has taken the Council to the Court of Justice because of the rearm, EU because of the way that's been set out. This lie about your flight in Bulgaria shows the failure of your term of office. The Trump government, India, China and the Mercosur states are refusing diplomatic contacts with you. You're leading the commission is eroding democracy, weakening member states. Be aware of one thing. You need to go.”
  Von der Leyen
• “Chair, I'm going to speak Romanian, so if you please put your. College colleagues following the assessment of the amendments that you submitted for my opinion. I want to thank, first of all, all of the political groups for their contributions. They were very constructive. After assessing the amendments, I did not identify any proposals that would fundamentally contradict the principles and the objectives that I built my opinion on, together with my team. Most of the amendments come to fill in to strengthen my initial draft. Our common objective is to make sure that AI serves consumers, citizens, workers, and the business environment and that it strengthens the competitiveness of the European Union and consumer protection. I'm going to start with the amendments that came from ECR. The amendments strengthen consumer protection, and they underline the fact that consumer trust is essential in order to adopt AI solutions. These amendments underline the importance, the importance of predictable and clear rules that would offer companies, um, predictability and and legal certainty. The ECR amendments introduced references to SMEs and start ups without fragmentation and, uh, and, uh, unnecessary barriers for companies that want to expand at European level. The amendments from the S&D group added several aspects that were already present in my text. They underlined that AI systems have to fully respect European legislation regarding consumer protection, regarding product safety and the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of competition.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “The commission is now raising the problem of cyber bullying against our children. But amidst to understand that it's not the children who are running wild, but the platforms. There are services that tolerate abuse and promote illegal content. But then they need to actually take responsibility for disloyal practices. We have the legal instruments that we need. We know we don't need additional measures. We need to be able to answer the challenges of digitalisation, but not we don't need to use instruments from last century. If we do not act now, we are going to make kids turn to the dark web. We should not leave this only for the educators and the parents. Europe may end up actually taking measures against all users and actually punish everyone for the faults of a minority. Continuing to spy on everyone is not democratic.”
  Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• “I have two very short questions for Mr. Damianos. You said that, uh, it's very important, actually. It's crucial for us to reinforce the single market. And you gave as an example of tools to do this, the digitalization, uh, general digitalization. But you have to admit that, uh, a very big portion of the population of Europe, including in countries like Cyprus and Romania, are not digitalized at all. And also there are several examples of blackout from the point of view of internet and even power, like in Spain, in Portugal and France last year. That could give some problems to this idea of general digitalization. And the second, second question is about taxation. There are different levels of taxation in the different member states, EU member states. And I give you an example. In Cyprus you have a level of VAT for uh, food and uh, different uh, basic products of 5%. Unfortunately, in Romania this level is 11%. And for the rest of the basic products and services is 21%. Maybe the idea of a single market would be to also try to have a media of this average level of this taxation, and especially for excise duty and also VAT, which are contributing to a very, very high level of inflation, like in Romania. In Romania, we have the worst kind of inflation in the European Union, the European Union level. So maybe this would be two kind of tasks for your presidency. And I would like to see what is your opinion.”
  Digitalization of public governance & administration
• “Thank you chair. I'm going to speak Romanian because my message is also for my Romanian fellow citizens, multi Euro. Many European households are confronted with difficulties in ensuring a decent And life builds for food. School health are harder and harder to pay. Instead of reducing differences between European regions, we are furthering social inequalities and we do not have any European policies that focus on supporting vulnerable households through, uh, through good, um, social measures. Um, we have very reduced, um, VAT rates in certain Western countries, for example, 7% in Germany, 3% in Luxembourg. There are also some European countries that have 0% VAT for basic food. Malta, Cyprus and Ireland are just three examples, and Romanians feel the VAT tax every day in their pockets. The European the Romanian government has taken new measures for VAT, and these measures have been agreed with the European institutions. The VAT in Romania is growing from 19 to 21%, and I believe that we should have a 0% rate for essential products such as food. This measure would protect Romanian families, including in the same way as Maltese or Cypriot families. These countries shows that it is possible to have 0% VAT for food. Such a measure would be welcome. Thank you.”
  VAT harmonisation
• “You know the digital environment is a new commercial space which opens up the two millions of European consumers. The 2030 consumer agenda should guarantee the fact that the single market plays its role for all consumers, whatever their postcode. But there is an ongoing problem for Romanian consumers, and that's geo blocking sites that refuse to deliver to Romania and force people towards national supply, with higher prices for the same product or a more limited supply. Now, if a Roman Romanian product wants to reach consumers on the broader European market, the same thing happens. So this is undermining competition. It's unfair competition and digital markets dominated by the major platforms, most of which are outside of Europe. The 2030 agenda has to remove that type of digital barrier and to focus on consumer protection. The genuine effectiveness of this single market is not only measured by the possibility of selling and buying, but by protection for the consumer.”
  Geo-blocking
• “The enforcement and application of law in the absence of human empathy might become dangerous. I would not like us to over centralize or to double various efforts in this field. Now, from the point of view of our Imco committee, I will focus on our consumers and our people because a good, healthy economy needs people, not just algorithms. Ai must support institutions, not replace them. Must serve the citizen, not substitute them. Ai must remain a tool, not a substitute for human decision. Digital transformation cannot mean a degradation of work conditions. Moreover, I would like to highlight how consumers can be misinformed with the use with the help of AI. We need to also protect against unfair competition that can benefit from AI. And we can also. We should also focus on the risks of concentrating all databases in certain countries. In conclusion, AI should remain an instrument, not a substitute for human judgment. Europe should not have to choose between innovation and protection. Innovation means nothing if it does not improve the citizens life. Thank you.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Their amendments also drew attention to the fact that there are risks regarding fraud, cyber attacks and possible algorithmic prejudice. These contributions strengthen our our core message. Ai has to support democratic institutions. They don't have. They should not replace human judgment. I would also like to talk about the amendments that strengthen the human factor approach. Uh, human interpretation has to be essential when decisions affect, uh, consumers, citizens, and, and companies. The same amendments are evident, underlined the disparities between member states when it comes to infrastructure and administrative resources. I do agree that we do need support and cooperation at European level level in order to preempt the fragmentation of of the single market. Overall, the amendments prove that there is a wide consensus between the political group regarding the direction of this file. I also would like to talk about some of the proposals coming from renew. I agree with the objective to strengthen our digital sovereignty through developing cloud infrastructure and safe data centres in Europe, but we have to make sure that such investments are distributed in a balanced manner between member states and that there are underlying objective criteria. I have some reserves regarding amendments 53 and 54. I don't believe that the assessment or the processing of financing requests should be left up to automatic systems.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “There are also problems that arise from the fact that AI is becoming integrated in the fundamental values that the EU is based on. It is extremely important that we do not forget about democratic legitimacy, that we do not forget about our Responsibility toward those who put us here, people who elected us. We should not allow AI to draft laws, case laws and go to the ballot turns instead of us. Let us not allow Oculus type smart glasses distinguish between Europeans and migrants. We should remain capable of distinguishing between a person who is manipulated by AI, and a person who has the freedom to make a free, a free choice. From the Imco perspective, it is extremely important to note that artificial intelligence is a tool that can get it wrong. It is a ideologically manipulated instrument that has cognitive bias At the moment, there is no way to protect ourselves from its hallucinations or lies. When we talk about AI from the point of view of the rule of law and democracy, we need to first and foremost not forget that we can go wrong.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Strategic contracts, corruption and untransparent lobby. Qatar gate. Caviar diplomacy and revolving doors. All of this shows how easily foreign money and influence penetrate the European institutions. Obscure networks and foreign governments are trying to model our decisions behind closed doors through masked lobbies, hidden consultancy and hidden consultants who influence decisions and votes. Everything is presented as fact checking or technical assistance. We need transparent lobby registers. We need clear statements by these sources, especially when it comes to quasi NGOs, entities that act as soft power for foreign governments, especially because our democracies are vulnerable in front of this kind of manipulation. Transparency is the true barrier against hidden influence and corruption. We have to act in, in very obvious light, because our citizens need to know where our money goes.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Europe. Needs to. Utilize the extreme urgency for parliamentary action. That's why. Action to overturn safe is something being discussed now in Luxembourg and the EU. Plan on a loan to Ukraine to use as a guarantee infringes international treaties. And that's why various member states, including Belgium and third countries as well the US, China and others are against this illegal plan. Us outside law, US tyranny are using double measures. So, um, people are imposing their irrational will, uh, on. We need international law based on rules. Colleagues, we can neither. We can't be be proud of this nor claim to give lessons to others. Thank you.”
  Russia-Ukraine conflict (10th term)
• “Thank you. Chair. I do have two very short questions for professor. Xantipa. Excuse me. It's not so. It's not Xantipa. It's Xantachi. Xantipa It's an antique. Philosopher. Woman. Philosopher. Yeah. Anyway, uh, you know, I seen that, uh, um, presentation of yours in one slide. Uh, amazed me very much. You realize that that, uh, you know, two past years, meaning 2024, 2025, there were much more, uh, um, rules, uh, issued by the European Commission with the intention to be directly applicable into the national territory, then directives. This means that, uh, somehow, um, the European Union, um, moved, moved somehow, uh, from, uh, a subsidiarity kind of approach, meaning directives, because directives has to be implemented in the national legislation in order to be applicable to these rules directly applicable and issued from here, from Brussels. So my first question is, uh, isn't that a kind of, uh, uh uh, being in a conflict with the principle of subsidiarity and also with the treaty? And second, uh, isn't that the, uh, kind of concentration of power in the hands, small hands, no number of hands of the European Union, uh, instead of national, uh, state member states and instead of the European Parliament.”
  EU political integration
• “Dear colleagues, thank you. First of all to Mr. Kefalogiannis, the rapporteur, and to his old team, entire team for the very good collaboration we've had. Today we are assisting to a very important debate on AI. I support this report's objective, namely to Consolidate our continent's capacity in the field of AI. From an interinstitutional point of view, it is essential for the European Parliament to retain its democratic legitimacy. We can see how algorithms can influence political choice. We need to be very careful about this field. Updating the EU electoral framework would be a good idea to reflect all of these new realities. A parliamentary observatory for AI would be useful, but only if it remains a support mechanism, not a regulating mechanism. We need to remain mindful of fundamental rights and values that need to be protected against AI. We need to focus on who makes decisions, how it is explained, how you can fight against it, how a responsibility is ascribed, etc.. It. You could even say that it is a fundamental right to have a right to algorithm transparency and protection against discrimination by algorithms. It is possible that AI might also affect the way the justice systems work.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “I'll be speaking Romanian, please. Thank you, Commissioner, for being here. It's a good thing you are here. And there is a topic that I've mentioned several times. I think we should focus on the protection of consumers, and we should resume some issues that have been forgotten. Misinformation of consumers and accountability for flawed products. And we should no longer focus too much on ideological opposition, political disinformation. Thank you.”
  EU competences on consumer protection and product standards
• “Implementing the Digital Market Act is something which is going slowly. And it's faced with a number of problems. It's difficult to use the rules. And it's also difficult to assess the impact. We need to take a logical approach as well as a pragmatic approach. The commission has mentioned the platforms and of course it's a question of transparency as well. We have to look at the gatekeepers and particularly in the United States. But this is a major contribution which Europe is making to our economy. We do need more European alternatives. It's very difficult for the companies on which this is having an impact. And the DMA, above all, has an impact on many. And we haven't really come up with a proper analysis. Yes. And there are many pointers which have been given us by the ECR. I don't think that we want overregulation, for instance. I think we should ensure that we should ensure that this is the case and not get into too much of a race in this digital area.”
  EU rules on digital competition
• “Thank you, chair. And also thank you all the other in intervenors in this debate. As I said we will fix, if necessary, the calendar for consultations and technical debates, but I assume that from the point of views of the amendments we could have an understanding.”
  EU political integration
• “Okay, so I will switch back to to English. I'm sorry for this very short 2 or 3 three questions. Very short for Mr. Thierry Breton. First of all have you any knowledge about the fact that during the election, Romanian election in November 2024 was an interference from the European Commission or were not second do you admit that DSA is projected as ideologically weapon orientated weapon? And third question, you were penalized by the Trump administration. Was this grounded decision? Was this a diplomatic kind of answer to your kind of application of this ideas. They are what we say about the fact that somehow this is a proof, an evidence. I'm sorry for the very bad breaking of the relation diplomatic relation between European Union and United States.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you very much dear colleagues. I would like to talk to you about my contribution as a shadow rapporteur for the simplification for small and medium sized companies. We had meetings at a technical level, and we will have a meeting amongst the shadows next week. The amendments I tabled have been taken up in the compromise amendments. Our objective was simple. We wanted harmonisation, simplification. We wanted to support SMEs and Mid-caps as well. They are the backbone of the European Single market. I think market surveillance authorities should make tools available to these businesses. It should be justified. It should be proportionate when it comes to the norms, the standards, the risk analysis. All of this should be properly adapted. This will reduce the administrative burden. It will also help micro enterprises. I also think it would be good if the European Commission had a support system, uh, dedicated, uh, to helping these SMEs and mid-cap, uh, services. Uh, you could have, uh, simplified forms, for example, um, and uh, go to, uh, um, table complaints, for example. I think it's important we have, uh, equal access to trade defence instruments. I think it's also important to acknowledge the role of chambers of commerce, and also the digitalisation of procedures, so that we can better communicate all around Europe in a uniform way. A measure for me that is essential is to, uh, have slightly longer, uh, timelines for responses from SMEs and Mid-caps, uh, uh, especially if they're going through a difficult or complicated time financially or administratively. This will be useful and I think make this a more proportional, uh, providing support to these, uh, companies, put them on a more level playing field with other actors on the market. Uh, I think all of this will be important to help these, uh, companies. Thank you very much.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Okay, so I will switch back to to English. I'm sorry for this very short 2 or 3 three questions. Very short for Mr. Thierry Breton. First of all have you any knowledge about the fact that during the election, Romanian election in November 2024 was an interference from the European Commission or were not second do you admit that DSA is projected as ideologically weapon orientated weapon? And third question, you were penalized by the Trump administration. Was this grounded decision? Was this a diplomatic kind of answer to your kind of application of this ideas. They are what we say about the fact that somehow this is a proof, an evidence. I'm sorry for the very bad breaking of the relation diplomatic relation between European Union and United States.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “(10:05:04 – 10:06:51): While Europe regulates, other people innovate. The US invest massively in reindustrialization and technological leadership at global level. China is, consolidating its power through strategic, supply chains. In Europe, adds new layers of bureaucracy and gold plating. Let's take the digital euro, for instance. Nobody knows how it works because it's not easy. Nobody trusts it because, it leads to a digital prison. We have 1 of the largest markets in the world. We do not lack talent or economic capacity, but we, lack economic common common sense. Companies who that create jobs and support European economics have, the toughest access to predictability. We have 27 different interpretations of laws complicated by the gold plating at European level and by administrative hurdles and proceedings that slow down investments. Citizens feel that, I can assure you. They feel it because jobs are uncertain, costs are ever higher, and there is a feeling that European economy is starting to lag behind. We need less fragmentation and not to speed Europe. We need less bureaucracy, more predictability for companies, and more support for those who produce, invest, and create jobs here in Europe. If we go on making things hard for ourselves, shooting ourselves in the foot, others will build economic future for instead of us. Son, missus Henriksen.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Just a few, uh, remarks. Very simple remarks. And I'm going to speak Romanian. If, um, we're not talking about, um, consumers and, uh, economic operators, I think it is very dangerous for us to have such a regulation. It would be even worse to have a regulation than a directive. Why do I think that? Well, because the treaties and the constitution of our countries, such as the Constitution of Romania, talk about the freedom of trade and about the freedom of contract regulating through a regulation what should appear, uh, what what, um, contracts between SMEs and states or SMEs and companies should provide um, is dangerous. We have directive 93 from 2013 about abusive clauses. And we also have regulations about abusive clauses between SMEs and large corporations. So, um, we run the risk of, um, excessive intervention in, uh, interference in contracts which crush economic freedom. And we also run the risk of having overlapping regulation for one and a half. We've been talking about simplification about all types of omnibus. And we here we are again coming with a regulation that overlaps with something that we already have. I don't think this is wise.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Thank you chair. I'm going to speak Romanian.The first presentation negatively drew attention to a page that was entitled More Digitalization. We had a power blackout in Portugal, in Spain and in France that actually made the digitalization impossible. The circulation of goods and products was actually stopped because we didn't have any Digitalization whatsoever in the case of TikTok Ireland. Well, TikTok was fined uh uh with €450 million because, uh, they were connected information related to us. They were collected collecting the data, uh, for the Chinese government. What are we doing? Uh, if we are moving towards, um, more digitalization, we are going to invent a digital wallet for the business, uh, sector. We are putting together, um, secrets.”
  Digitalization of public governance & administration
• “While Europe regulates other people, innovate, the U.S. invest massively in reindustrialisation and technological leadership at global level, China is consolidating its power through strategic supply chains in Europe, adds new layers of bureaucracy and gold plating. Let's take the digital euro, for instance. Nobody knows how it works because it's not easy. Nobody trusts it because it leads to digital prison. We have one of the largest markets in the world. We do not lack talent or economic capacity, but we lack economic, common, common sense. Companies that create jobs and support European economics have the toughest access to predictability. We have 27 different interpretations of laws complicated by the gold plating at European level and by administrative hurdles and proceedings that slow down investments citizens feel that. I can assure you they feel it because jobs are uncertain, costs are ever higher, and there is a feeling that the European economy is starting to lag behind. We need less fragmentation, not a two speed Europe. We need less bureaucracy, more predictability for companies, and more support for those who produce, invest and create jobs here in Europe. If we go on making things hard for ourselves, shooting ourselves in the foot, others will build economic future for instead of us.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Digitalization promised progress and innovation. But it could lead. Lead us To captivity. And with the current situation, we are risking the dominance of institutions rather than technology. These technologies decide what is politically correct, what is disinformation and what's misinformation or what's rumor. And today we see online there are algorithms and artificial intelligence. And this can simulate knowledge. And then those who have digital currencies can be monitored or blocked depending on their behavior. Freedom is an illusion. The world is turning into a digital prison. I have seen how payment networks have collapsed because of this. We need to take a break and think about this. We can't allow the world to turn into a Tower of Babel where it's impossible to know. Exactly.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Now, I'm thinking about the necessary transparency that this kind of procedure needs, and I'm also thinking about the main aim of the procedure, which is to cover these debts, as Mr Rapaci has referred to, but it also means the reorganisation and safeguarding of businesses. There are rules, for example in France, which are very well seen, and also in Germany, that have made the safeguarding of businesses a main aim of the insolvency procedure, not because anyone wants to leave creditors with no chance of recovering their debts, but because these are employers and employ people, and those interests need to be safeguarded. And it shouldn't be that businesses are left with no opportunity but to go to the wall. Now, a last point. There are some good examples in Sweden and the Netherlands, but Mr Rapaci has mentioned the risks to employees, and we have to be very careful with those procedures because of those inherent risks to employees.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “Not even partially. Ai can support administrative assessments, but the decisions regarding Uh, financing should be the responsibility of, of humans. Uh, because there, there are risks for every project, um, and especially for amendment 54. Uh, it proposes that AI not just assist when it comes to drafting legislation and preparing negotiations, but also these systems, uh, should be involved in these processes. I'm not denying that AI can be useful, but political decisions and interpretation cannot be replaced by an algorithm. And this is a position that, um, is consistent with my core message. Ai should support institutions, not replace them. Ai should be an instrument that is in the service of people, not a substitute for human responsibility. Thank you all very much. In conclusion, uh, I want to tell you that my team and the ECR advisers are now working on the compromise amendments, and we will convey them to the Imco Secretariat by the end of the week, and we will review them at the beginning of next week and send them to the colleagues who submitted amendments. Based on the colleagues feedback. We will decide whether or not we need technical meetings or we can continue the written procedure. Thank you.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “The protection of children online and offline is built at home in the family. The safety of our children has nothing to do with algorithms. They are safe if we rely on the basic solid value stored in the family responsibility, respect, care for the others common sense. These are values inculcated by the family and is the parents who provide the firewall against the dangers on the internet. Our role as lawmakers is limited to legal instruments designed to help assist the parents. It is not our job to tell parents what to do. The platforms must have simple settings with a single click. The parent should be able to block advertising, restrict clips, deactivate chats with foreigners, or receive real time notifications when their children access dangerous material. But that's it. This approach otherwise obeys the way towards an excessively restrictive control that might bring restrictions, even for us adults, and turns us all into suspects. It's yet one step towards mass surveillance, not one towards freedom.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you. I'm gonna speak Romanian. For the interest on touches to This is a very interesting project to speed up EU industry, but it comes 10 minutes to 10 years too late. And I think it's impossible to implement it nowadays. We have countries like Romania who were rushed to implement the Green Deals. So bigger companies went bankrupt. Many people went unemployed. And on a separate note, in 10 years, from 6% global level to 6.4 at global level. This was how much the Green Deal moved things forward. And China went way ahead of us. I think it's impossible to implement this proposal because we have the ETS. And in my opinion, not only do we need to postpone or cancel this system, but I think we should dismantle it altogether. Don't you think, commissioner, we should give up on it? Yes. Thank”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “Thank you, Chair. I'm gonna speak Romanian. It is obvious that we have to protect our children against online abuse, all types of abuse, but it is also obvious that we cannot allow this noble purpose to be turned into a new way of controlling the masses. It is more important than to react to the effects to fight the causes. I'd say that a good example is the directive for mass medias which makes it mandatory for media creators to use visual warnings in order to signal the shows which are prohibited for minors under fourteen years. This content which could be harmful to minors is only allowed in timely intervals which are rather susceptible to be watched by minors. I think we should ask the same from online service providers. We need to have a clear visual warning for sensitive contents but also warning for parents to help them to know that their children look at different sites or platforms with harmful content. It is obvious, and I joined the other colleagues who said the same, that we cannot let algorithms educate our children. It is our task as parents. We should be the first to protect our children, and therefore we need tools and information in real time from the platforms.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you. Chair. Um, it happens that Amr rapporteur for an opinion on this report, uh, in Imco. And, uh, first of all, I want to thank the rapporteur, Mr. Kefalogiannis, for the invitation to participate to this discussion in the during the plenary session in February in Strasbourg. And also, I have to tell you that I read this draft document, uh, working document drafted by Mr.. Kefalogiannis is very interesting. But first of all, I have to tell you that yesterday in Imco, we, uh, voted for a document which is extremely important also for, uh, what we speak, uh, about here. It's about the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial intelligence and Human rights, democracy and the rule of law. And, uh, having into consideration the fact that Mr., uh, says that we have to go to the to the level of national, uh, United Nation for an international convention, I have to say that we already have a kind of international convention. This convention is, uh, signed in Vilnius in December 2024. And, uh, it's very interesting and also very important for the scope of work because, uh, there are a lot of concerns here, uh, uh, which are The drafted in this convention, for example, the concerns about the electoral procedure procedure are also concerns about the risk of damaging human rights and the rule of law, and especially the separation of principle, the separation of powers, principles and the competencies of the tribunals.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “First of all, um, I'm going to say something like this, um, when it's about, for example, electoral campaign. Uh, there is, uh, there are a lot, a lot of tools used by the authorities, national authorities, uh, to immediately, um, give up to the illegal, illegal content. I think that if we do have this kind of tools, we should use these kind of tools also for, uh, the minor protection finality goal of this, uh, DSA. So, uh, I don't know why we are speaking about, uh, months of investigation, uh, even years of investigation because, uh, this is really, uh, with no doubt. No doubt, uh, illegal content. Actually, it's the very definition of illegal content based on, uh, DSA because it's about to, uh, affect, uh, minors, uh, not only physically, but also from the moral point of view. So if we do have this kind of reaction, rapid reaction in in matters of, uh, political campaign, electoral campaign and excuse me, we should use this kind of tools also to protect minors. Second, DSA is to protect, for example, uh, minors. But it's about illegal contract. Somebody says, I don't remember. I think, uh, madam said something like this, uh, if it's not illegal, uh, nevertheless is unacceptable. I think that, uh, we don't have to go too far, far from here because, uh, illegal is illegal. Unacceptable. Could be for a society, but, uh, could be other kind of situation for another kind of society. I'm not speaking about, uh, this kind of, uh, pornographic picture or something like this, a reproduction of a real person by artificial intelligence. But if we go too far with this separation between illegal and unacceptable, we, uh, we could fall into into a, uh, fourth and third and last, uh, very, very short. I don't think that the the scope of DSA is to penalize somebody, uh, even a legal entity like X or TikTok or Facebook, etc., etc., etc.. The scope of this, uh, DSA of this regulation is to protect consumers and especially to protect the minors.”
  Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• “The internet has become dangerous. Not least for children who don't have complete discernment with the addition of artificial intelligence and social networks. The normal behavior of children is being disturbed. Children cannot marry or take up employment before a certain age or change their sex. There are major, uh. Dangers? Uh. Paedophilia is a horrible crime and needs to be described as such. There are criminal networks and we should be concentrating on those and not on gender ideology.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Um, property. Rights, uh, clients, uh, in a sort of a digital area so that the data is accessible to other governments, including including the Chinese one, so all other governments can collect this data and, uh, they can infer, uh, they can they can actually, um, understand our behaviors, our patterns of action and so on and so forth, so that they can control us better. There are five domains that are going to face new regulations this year. And in and that when we are talking about three omnibus directives that are supposed to simplify the matter. So we need to actually decide whether we want simplification because we have more than 100 regulations for the digital area, or if we are going to be champions of over, uh, regulation. And the last on the list when it comes to, um, economic development.”
  International data transfers
• “I have carefully listened to everything that has been said here, on behalf of the Commission and of the ongs present in this room. Three very concise remarks. Especially when speaking about online platform deceiving practices. This information are extremely dangerous. And they bring forth addiction. Uh, the outcome is, uh, impulsive buying, impulsive purchase and Digital digital Service Act from this perspective should show its usefulness, especially when we are speaking about misinformation. Of the consumers because this has an impact on millions of people and it should not pervert the goal of this regulation. It should not mislead it towards ideological and political interests. Second, we are speaking about the elephant in the room and about arguments such as trust me, I am an engineer in the regulation on the liability for faulty products. There is no link to the pharma products to the flows of pharma products. It is said that if there is an authorisation for these pharma products, they are okay and there are no issues related to them. I'd say that is a huge gap of the regulation in this field not to apply to the drugs sold on platforms, especially in countries such as Romania where there is medicine sold on these platforms, and the regulation should be applied. The regulation on liability for the flows of these drugs. And third and last point, we do not have a specific regulation, a specific liability for producers and traders for what they are selling on internet platforms, on online platforms, to children. Children are consumers. Children can be harmed physically, mentally, they can be financially harmed. We do not have such a regulation. And I'm done with this. Thank you, thank you.”
  Liability for online marketplaces
• “Thank you. President. Dear colleagues. The motion of censure is a constitutional instrument meant to consolidate democracy. It is not a problem. It is the beginning of a solution. Today's motion talks about serious facts about principles that have been broken. Lack of transparency, lack of respect to justice have been proven by the decision of the ECJ in the FISA gate case, a decision that the European Commission chose not to execute regarding the efficiency of spending of public funds in the recovery mechanism. This has been a topic of the recent reports by the European Court of Auditors. Avoiding debate and decisions of the European Parliament is the reason why the European Parliament decided to sue the Commission, which is unique in the history of the European Union. In the last six years, the Commission has taken away in an abusive manner. Powers of the Member States and ignored the European Parliament in its major decisions. Non-democratic concentration of decisions in the hands of the president of the European Commission goes against the principles of checks and balances. The decision making process has become opaque and discretionary, and raises fears of abuse and corruption. The costs of the obsessive bureaucracy of the European Union, such as climate change, has been a huge one. Economically speaking, small companies have failed and risks for sovereign failure of member states of the European Parliament has increased the fragmentation of the common Market and double standards have increased. The differences between the member states of the European Union as an example.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions