Séverine WERBROUCK

Policy topics Séverine WERBROUCK is active on

What Séverine WERBROUCK has said (8)

• 2026-02-23 “E-000749/2026 Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission The obligation to ensure a high level of human health protection when drawing up and implementing all EU policies and activities is enshrined in Articles 9 and 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. Article 168(7) of the Treaty provides that EU action shall respect the responsibilities of the Member States for the definition of their health policy and for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care. In line with the Treaties, the Commission’s reply to the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice’ 1 , does not create obligations for any Member State or healthcare practitioner to provide abortion services, in full respect of the Member States competence in this area. It is for the Member States, not for the EU, to regulate the right of healthcare providers to object to provide certain healthcare services on grounds of ethical convictions. 1 https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/my-voice-my-choice-safe-and-accessible-abortion_en.”
  Abortion policy · EU competences on health
• 2025-11-14 “E-004559/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the European Commission In 2016, the Commission launched a proposal to revise Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and No 987/2009 on the coordination of social security systems 1 . The legislative process is still ongoing. With regard to the coordination of unemployment benefits for persons who reside in a Member State other than where they work (frontier or other cross-border workers), the Commission proposes to make the Member State of most recent employment competent for the payment of the benefit, provided that the unemployed person worked there for a sufficiently long period of time. The proposed change would make the Member State that collected the social security contributions responsible for the payment of unemployment benefits. Such change would address the concerns raised in the question of the Honourable Members regarding budgetary impact of the current regulation for some Member States. Under the rules in Article 91 of Regulation (EC) 987/2009, currently in place, national authorities are required to compile national statistics on the application of the social security coordination Regulations, including on the coordination of unemployment benefits. These data are collected and organised according to the plan and method defined by the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems. On the basis of these data, the Commission publishes annual statistical reports on intra-EU labour mobility and EU social security coordination 2 . The Commission has not proposed amendments in relation to this general reporting obligation. 1 COM(2016) 815 final - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52016PC0815. 2 Facts and figures on intra-EU labour mobility and EU social security coordination – Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion – https://employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies-and-activities/moving-workingeurope/facts-and-figures-intra-eu-labour-mobility-and-eu-social-security-coordination_en.”
  EU regulation of cross-border and posted workers
• 2025-04-30 “E-001739/2025 Answer given by Ms Šuica on behalf of the European Commission The EU strongly opposes terrorism and any incitement to violence or hatred, as they are incompatible with advancing peace, which is what the EU promotes and seeks to contribute to through its efforts and cooperation in third countries. The Commission implements rigorous safeguards to ensure that no persons or entities receive EU funding if they are involved in criminal or unethical practices, including terrorist financing and terrorist offences. Due diligence and risk assessment are systematically conducted before funds are disbursed. All funding agreements include clauses prohibiting the diversion of funds to listed groups or individuals. EU restrictive measures are applicable to any of the Commission grant beneficiaries all over the world. Regarding specific checks and monitoring mechanisms to ensure sound financial management in Palestine 1 , the Commission has strong safeguards and procedures in place to ensure that EU funds are managed in a transparent and sound manner. For example, under the PalestinianEuropean Socio-Economic Management and Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE), auditors carry out ex-ante and ex-post controls and verifications. These include verification of eligibility of the request for payment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), screening of beneficiaries against international and ad-hoc sanctions lists ahead of disbursement and auditing 100% of the payments executed by the PA. The European Court of Auditors certified the control and safeguard system of PEGASE as ‘robust’. No evidence has been found to date that money has been diverted for unintended purposes, as reaffirmed during the financial review of EU assistance in Palestine that took place in November 2023 2 . Finally, the EU Financial Regulation, applicable to all partners in the EU and in partner countries, provides that grant beneficiaries and contractors shall be excluded from future EU funding in case of ‘incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence against a group of persons or a member of a group, or similar activities that are contrary to the values on which the Union is founded enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, where such misconduct has an impact on the person or entity’s integrity which negatively affects or concretely risks affecting the performance of the legal commitment’ 3 . 1 This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue. 2 https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/communication-commission-review-ongoing-financial-assistancepalestine_en. 3 Article 138(1), point (c)(vi) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast), OJ L, 23.9.2024.”
  EU Development & Humanitarian Aid · Conditions to access EU humanitarian aid
• “Thank you. President. Colleagues. Well, we've wasted a lot of time and coming up with this text which reflects this institution. It's full of contradictory statements, um, with, um, ideology and, uh, it's so costly, um, with, uh, arbitrary controls. And this text, which was initially interesting, is now worthless. It was interesting because it allowed us to redirect funds to a strategic sector defense, which is also economically virtuous because it creates sustainable and qualified jobs, which could not be moved elsewhere. This text Observe something very simple. The regulars rules are ineffective and bureaucratic, and the only solution is to return this to member states. We've been saying this for a long time, but when you read the final version of the text, you can see that it's full of contradictory demands, supporting skills in defence while excluding while excluding medium sized companies and reallocating funds to the green economy, which is tipping us towards an economic and social disaster. A costly measure such as Pre-financing, which will have significant budgetary consequences, particularly for the net contributors who are already suffering a critical budgetary pressure. And finally, the nationality of these funds are subject to the sovereign appreciation of countries solidarity precedent for Hungary. The Commission could accept a program so or not on the basis of this program. So despite the good intentions of this text, it is impossible for us, therefore, to support it. Thank you.”
  EU competences on defence
• “Merci merci, rapporteur. Les choses ont fait n'ont pas évolué depuis la derniere fois ou nous avons de cette de ce sujet dans cette commission. Donc rien a ajouté sur le fond. La décision de la conférence de presse a été alors qu'il NE peut entrainer des maintenant madame et monsieur le rapporteur, une question. De un accord vous vous etes tous les dossiers du CFP? Vous avez donc. Pas? Si vous vous avez votre aussi en faveur du rapport intérimaire qui Tottenham Edison. Pouvez vous nous dire un peu l'incertitude. Si vous pouvez vous dans cette initiative? Si les mots autonome et d'histoire de la meme nous a savoir l'autonomie des petites memes l'autonomie des logiques de jalon et de cible ou vous cavaliers? Et si c'est le choix de nous. Il faut jouer table et ses cartes. Vous vous etes vous depuis le début du monde? C'est donc vous NE pouvez nous dire ce qu'il est le mieux? Merci.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you very much, president. Commissioner. Dear colleagues, Work isn't just a place where you make a living. It also can be a place where you lose your life. We should never get used to this. Except this. The fact that some people set off for work in the morning and then never come home. The resolution mentions something that I welcome law enforcement agencies. They are subject to violence, to attacks, and yet they are doing a noble service protecting our societies, our people. This isn't just a professional hazard. It's absolutely unacceptable and it should be punished properly. We're suggesting a day to remember accidents at work protecting workers, and that's definitely commendable. But the 8th of August I don't think is enough. We already have the 28th of April, the ILO day. So why should this particular day be connected to EU institutions? It seems a bit symbolic. It's not really providing tangible support. I don't think this subject matter is far too serious. It shouldn't be a question of power play between the EU authorities and their national legislation and workers prevention and security is very much part of what we need to do for workers. We have a number of funds, the the ESF, for instance, which is there to provide support for workers. So let's use these means which are at our disposal and within our reach.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you, Madam President. Commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen. The housing crisis is a reality across Europe, but it's not seen in the same way. Depending on which country or territory in over the course of eight years, we're seeing an average increase of 50% across the EU. But there are differences across the EU, 73% in Hungary, 23% in France, 5% in Finland. These figures tell you something quite clear. There's not a single crisis of housing. There's several housing crises. More than a quarter of the French income goes to housing. In France. More than 40% of young people, young people leaving their family home later and later, going to study or going to find places to live very difficult to find short term housing. Let's be clear. It's the member states who have within their competence housing, who don't have the legitimacy, nor the mandate, nor the efficiency, nor the legal background to be able to impose these sort of harmonized policies on our countries. What you're trying to do is go via the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and nobody's taken in by this. Of course, we're open to any form of administrative simplification that's genuine. That would allow France to better mobilize the funds that itself is paying in, but only if this allows the member states to act in sovereign fashion. You your Europe should be helping, not restricting.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you very much. President. Commissioner, since you have been. Once you are elected, we've seen your program. We see the guidelines and you are taking away powers from member states. And obviously you also want to put the EU in debt like Don Quixote. You want to fight against foreign interference that you see everywhere apart from in your own ranks. And we we had a Green Day Green Gate scandal, but this was, you know, hushed and it wasn't as publicized as, for example, Qatar gate. And you want to then adopt the Mercosur treaty, which will make things very difficult for our citizens. And you also want to leave our borders open. We now have another five years to spend together, but we'd like to remind you of what your role is now. There are many Governments. So we do not see the 100 days that we have seen. Do not convert, not not become five years. We're not sure we can recover from that.”
  EU political integration