Sabine VERHEYEN

What Sabine VERHEYEN has said (35)

• 2025-08-06 “E-003197/2025 Answer given by Mr Brunner on behalf of the European Commission Since her appointment in 2023, the Coordinator on combatting anti-Muslim hatred has not met bilaterally with FEMYSO or actively engaged with them. Member States, in particular those where an association is established, have the competence to investigate where justified whether it has links with specific movements and whether such movements are unlawful, taking into account the need to respect the core values of the EU including freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination · EU policy on Islam
• 2025-03-12 “E-001052/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the European Commission Under Erasmus+, FEMYSO was selected, after assessing the criteria set out in the calls for proposals and on the basis of the relevant programme rules, as applicant for grants of a total value of EUR 119 881, further to the calls for proposals ‘Dialogue and cooperation – Civil Society cooperation: Education, Training and Youth’ in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Actual payments for the Erasmus+ projects referred to above amounted to EUR 117 423 (payments processed from 2014 to 2017). Other payments were made in 2015 for an amount of EUR 3 198.28 (estimated share of FEMYSO in the final payment for the project ‘Combatting human rights violations associated with Islamophobia’) under the Fundamental Rights and Justice programme, and in 2019 for an amount of EUR 14 397.92 (project ‘Meet’) under the then Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme. The Commission and its Coordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred interact with a wide range of relevant stakeholders who respect EU values. The Coordinator liaises with Member States, European institutions, civil society and academia to strengthen policy responses to combat anti-Muslim hatred. In this role, the Coordinator is the main point of contact for organisations working in this field in the EU.”
  EU policy on Islam
• 2025-02-26 “E-000869/2025 Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) has been selected for funding under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme under calls for proposals aiming at funding European networks whose statutory aims are to prevent and combat racism, xenophobia and all forms of intolerance. The text of the call for proposals specifies that the projects must comply with EU values based on Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and that compliance must be shown in the application. Submitted proposals are evaluated against selection and award criteria by independent experts and only the highest ranked proposals are selected for funding. As elaborated in the Commission’s replies to written questions E-006476/2020 1 and E001741/2021 2 , the Commission implements the mechanisms provided in the Financial Regulation 3 for the award of funds. It carries out rigorous selection processes, including different checks on grant beneficiaries based on objective criteria such as the exclusion criteria or the EU restrictive measures. During implementation, EU funded projects are closely monitored to ensure that they are implemented according to the grant agreement. The corporate grant agreement used by the Commission requires that beneficiaries must respect EU values during the implementation of the project. In the event of incorrect implementation or in cases of fraud, irregularities, substantial errors or serious breach of contractual obligations, including the violation of EU values, the grant may be suspended, terminated or reduced and funds may be recovered. The monitoring of the implementation of the grants in which ENAR was involved did not reveal any such breach so far. 1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/-ASW_EN.html. 2 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/-ASW_EN.html. 3 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, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination · Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “Very much for the question. First, I would like to go to the Europa Experience question because it's also part of our work. Yes, the rollout of Europa experience was set, I think, two years ago on hold to check, because we had to renew the concept for the Europa experience. As you know, in the past we had a structure for Europa experience with these 360 degree cinema and other things. That is. Meanwhile, a little bit outdated. So we made a completely new concept where also the needs for buildings, for the spaces that are needed are different. We know that, for example, the role play game is one of the most successful elements of the Europa experience. And there we need another room program than in the past. And that was the reason why we, until this concept was fixed or elaborated, did not work on new Europa experiences because they should have been done in the new concept and not follow up with with old concepts that will not be realized in the end. So now we are step by step, taking a look everywhere where we have to renew contracts, for example. Also for the applause and the where we can go together with the commission, we are searching for new places where we can integrate the Europa experience in the in the new concept. And that takes a little bit of time. I know that we were, for example, in Riga just in January, to check if we can find a building that fits to to the new concept, to the new needs we have and to the needs of the and the Commission's offices. So we are working on, on, on these programs for Europa experience.”
  EU political integration
• “I cannot take any more catch the eye because we are already running out of time and the votes will start. So please understand. Thank you. Now we come to the catch the eye. And also there I have to to explain that we cannot take all of those who ask for catch the eye, but I will do it proportionate and preferring those who were here during the debate all the time. So the first is Nikolina Brnjac.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “The next speaker. Let's say this out loud. Out loud. Prices of rent are very high. We use very expensive material for building. It's the most expensive in the world. So what we need to do is we need to finally put a stop to this. So I'm pleased that we're talking about this particular crisis. But your solutions are really very close to reality. How is this going to be supportive to people? If you ban people from, uh, using, uh, engines, fuel engines. How can you have a quota? A quota on emissions. How is that going to support people who need to find a home? Because that makes a home €300,000 more expensive. So if all new housing in future, in the future will be more expensive than the situation is going to get even worse. All this needs to stop because a housing is not just for the rich, for the millionaires, but also for people.”
  EU housing policy
• “The next speaker. Let's say this out loud. Out loud. Prices of rent are very high. We use very expensive material for building. It's the most expensive in the world. So what we need to do is we need to finally put a stop to this. So I'm pleased that we're talking about this particular crisis. But your solutions are really very close to reality. How is this going to be supportive to people? If you ban people from, uh, using, uh, engines, fuel engines. How can you have a quota? A quota on emissions. How is that going to support people who need to find a home? Because that makes a home €300,000 more expensive. So if all new housing in future, in the future will be more expensive than the situation is going to get even worse. All this needs to stop because a housing is not just for the rich, for the millionaires, but also for people.”
  Road transport environmental policy
• “Vice-president. Commissioner. Representative of the Danish Council. Presidency. Colleagues. The MFA is a huge step milestone on paper. But a law in itself isn't enough. Um. Everyone involved beforehand was hugely enthusiastic. Finally, we would have a law at European level to protect journalists, a clear signal that Europe is in favour of free media. But we see now is a well-known pattern. Yes, it's a celebrated in advance. But when it comes to implementation, things calm down. We talk about deadlines, national sensitivities. And let me be very clear, that's not enough. We just don't want declarations of intent. We need political guts, even when it becomes uncomfortable because we're not talking about a detail of the regulation. It's about the basic architecture of Europe. A diverse free media landscape is not just nice to have, it's the basis of any free democracy. So, um, a government that can't live with this is not only against media, but rather against democracy itself. And what we're seeing right now, even in the EU, is worrying. Journalists continue to be put under surveillance, put under pressure. And in some member states, um, The implementation of EMF is lagging a very long way behind, particularly in those parts where it's we need active action in the member states and in some member states. There's even the political will lacking to make the media independent. And so my appeal is that we shouldn't accept that, uh, governments, um, celebrate, but then, uh, actually shake off the responsibility when it's about implementation. We need clear controls, consistent implementation where necessary procedures against member states that don't respect the common rules. The 8th of August is just around the corner. That's the date when the legislation should be implemented, not starting to implement it or starting to set up the structures. That is the hard deadline. And if we really want to do something for the media, then finally we have to be, uh, consistent, strong and courageous in our action. **Nicolae ȘTEFĂNUȚĂ @Chair: Thank you. And now, Mr. Sandro Rotolo. On behalf of the Socialists and Democrats for Europe.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Card from Mr. Gordon Bosnak. And I have to explain. Mr. Buda, it's not possible to ask in between the same political groups. So EPP cannot ask EPP. So I have to. And you are on the catch the eye list. So I give the floor. There is there is a blue card. Do you accept this from Mr.. Bosnak? Mr.. Mr.. Bosnak yes. Okay. Mr.. Bosnak.”
  EP seat in Strasbourg
• “(11:14:51 – 11:16:55): The next speaker is Marian Waldsman. Madam president, colleagues, commissioner, we're having this debate. We've been having it for years about the single market competitiveness, about European the strength of European industry, but it it hasn't been enough to celebrate the single market. We need a single market fit for the future. The keywords have been mentioned, digitalization, harmonization, cutting red tape, competitiveness. That's all right. Correct. Every week, more SMEs give up also in my region and valuable industrial jobs are lost. We don't we can see the problems. We have vision papers, analysis, and studies. There are plenty of those. We need to implement the letter and Draghi reports and courage from the member states in particular. We have a single market for goods, but 27 national walls when it comes to energy, telecommunications and digital. Our new companies suffer because we have a fragmented capital market When it comes to negotiations on the savings and investment union, we're treading water. That's a fatal signal to for business. When it comes to simplification of cross border services and harmonization of technical standards. We're advancing at a snail's pace that holds up innovative companies, in particular SMEs. Every day, we have our we've eroded our competitiveness. Let's have reliability in the single market by lean and practical European rules as citizens and companies want to see it from us. Of course.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “(11:16:55 – 11:17:21): Thank you. I'd like to point out to colleagues because we are behind, because of the technical problems. Please stick to the speaking time. Otherwise, the, votes will be delayed, and I think that is not in, not what colleagues want. The next speaker, mister Peltier. Tell”
  EU public communication strategy
• “Thank you very much. That concludes the debate. The vote will take place tomorrow. So moving on to our next agenda item. Commission and Council statements. Wave of violence and continuous use of force against protesters in Serbia. I welcome, Commissioner Marta Cosse. Welcome to plenary. You have the floor.”
  EU enlargement
• “That idea has received a positive echo. And this undermines the financial stability of member states. And it is also a burden on future generations. The people in charge don't care about that. The Commission has clearly already agreed that there will be a transformation to a so-called green economy, and that this will involve a contribution to growth. The EU Parliament is now supposed to create the basis for this, but the bills don't add up. If you look at this, everyone can see the interest on these funds over years to come, are so exorbitantly high that you'll be looking at something equivalent to 15 to 20% to 20% of current budget. In order to compensate for that, people will ask for new EU taxes. So there's a responsible budget. Management would look very different. And here the report then claims that the pooling of debt is right in principle. And again there's more requests for EU taxes. This is something that we won't go along with. And that is why we reject this report. There's a blue card from Mr. Connor. Would you accept that, Mr.. Jungblut? Mr.. Caniff.”
  Own EU resources
• “There is again a blue card. Not but but it was not. No, it's not allowed. Sorry, I have to explain that, Mr. Germain, because the blue card was risen. Not during her speech, but later. So I now again explain the rules. The blue card must be arisen during the original speech, not during the answer. No, it was not risen before. Sorry. No, it was not. We see that here on the on the device. Not during the answer. Not as an add on to the answer. Just to the original speech. That is the rule. Sorry to say that. I just explain what the rules are. So. Helder Sousa Silva, please.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “They oversee the opening of new Europa experiences and the rollout of a new concept to optimize Europa experience spaces, and they implement the fire safety and accessibility upgrades for a modern and welcoming parliamentarian. Finally, the working group communication, together with Digicom did their homework regarding the financial planning for 2027. Therefore, the budget of Digicom in 2027 foresees only a small increase of 0.99% compared to the overall request on 2.33. I would like to point out to members as well to bear in mind a responsible level of financing financial predictability for the European political foundations, given the fact that two new foundations have been established. Unfortunately, the political foundations and their work in observing, analyzing and contributing to the debate on European public policy issues are sometimes forgotten. Finally, I want to highlight the support for the Bureau for enabling a €500 per month scheme for trainees based in Luxembourg to cope with rising housing costs. And we all know that housing in Luxembourg is extremely costly, and if we want to continue offering young people the possibility of a traineeship, we need to help them financially. So I think that's also very important. Also, social task we have to to give the opportunity for the lower ranks of income, and especially for trainees to be able also to stay in Luxembourg. Thank you very much.”
  Youth employment & training
• “We. Were talking about the Media Freedom Act so that journalists can Right freely, can carry out research, and can prepare their articles. You're discrediting the journalists. You're telling them that you're liars. But why? How can you possibly say this? How can you possibly say that? Journalists are living in mainstream opinions, are liars. And I really believe that that is something that is not dignified for this House. Thank you.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “Vote on the resolution will take place tomorrow. So thank you very much. This brings us on to our next point on the agenda. And this is a commission statement on immunity of International Criminal Court officials and the activation of the EU blocking statute to strengthen EU strategic autonomy. And here I'm going to hand the floor back to the commissioner, Maros Sefcovic. You have the floor for five minutes.”
  Support for International Criminal Court
• “So I'd like to know quite to whom simpler, faster and stronger applies. I'd also like to know who's going to be taking the decisions. If there's a more flexible structure, how much will be from each strand of the program, and how much money will be apportioned to that? What will be the comparative say of the commissioners? We have McGrath, for example, who will have some say on rights and values. We've got EU Commissioner Micallef. You are going to have a very big amount of say here, but we've also got Commissioner Virkkunen, who is responsible for media. So could you tell us how the Commission's decision making procedure will pan out if Miss Virkkunen wants more money for news media? Because this is very pressing and Mr. McGrath says democracy is under pressure. I need more money for that. How are you going to balance it out, and how are you going to get the money for culture if there isn't money? If there is, if there are areas of initiative that don't have ring fenced funding, who's going to make the decision? Is it going to be Ursula von der Leyen, or is it going to be the commissioners, or how is the governance going to work? I'd like to know that. Chairman, thank you very much. Okay. Five minutes. Um, again, to respond to the questions, please, Glenn. And then we'll take some more questions.”
  Conditions to access EU budget
• “Very much for the question. First, I would like to go to the Europa Experience question because it's also part of our work. Yes, the rollout of Europa experience was set, I think, two years ago on hold to check, because we had to renew the concept for the Europa experience. As you know, in the past we had a structure for Europa experience with these 360 degree cinema and other things. That is. Meanwhile, a little bit outdated. So we made a completely new concept where also the needs for buildings, for the spaces that are needed are different. We know that, for example, the role play game is one of the most successful elements of the Europa experience. And there we need another room program than in the past. And that was the reason why we, until this concept was fixed or elaborated, did not work on new Europa experiences because they should have been done in the new concept and not follow up with with old concepts that will not be realized in the end. So now we are step by step, taking a look everywhere where we have to renew contracts, for example. Also for the applause and the where we can go together with the commission, we are searching for new places where we can integrate the Europa experience in the in the new concept. And that takes a little bit of time. I know that we were, for example, in Riga just in January, to check if we can find a building that fits to to the new concept, to the new needs we have and to the needs of the and the Commission's offices. So we are working on, on, on these programs for Europa experience.”
  EU political integration
• “They oversee the opening of new Europa experiences and the rollout of a new concept to optimize Europa experience spaces, and they implement the fire safety and accessibility upgrades for a modern and welcoming parliamentarian. Finally, the working group communication, together with Digicom did their homework regarding the financial planning for 2027. Therefore, the budget of Digicom in 2027 foresees only a small increase of 0.99% compared to the overall request on 2.33. I would like to point out to members as well to bear in mind a responsible level of financing financial predictability for the European political foundations, given the fact that two new foundations have been established. Unfortunately, the political foundations and their work in observing, analyzing and contributing to the debate on European public policy issues are sometimes forgotten. Finally, I want to highlight the support for the Bureau for enabling a €500 per month scheme for trainees based in Luxembourg to cope with rising housing costs. And we all know that housing in Luxembourg is extremely costly, and if we want to continue offering young people the possibility of a traineeship, we need to help them financially. So I think that's also very important. Also, social task we have to to give the opportunity for the lower ranks of income, and especially for trainees to be able also to stay in Luxembourg. Thank you very much.”
  Youth employment & training
• “We believe that such a link needs to be precise. We do not want beneficiaries of certain funds to be punished because the national government would not do a pension or a taxation reform. So if ever in the future investments and reforms are linked, the reform needs to be precise. Then of course, the role of the regions needs to be better taken into account. And the role of the European Parliament whenever European money is being spent. The European Parliament needs to be involved properly because this is the only way to ensure democratic accountability and and legitimacy. Then transparency, accountability and stakeholder involvement. And here, Commissioner, we count on you. We count on an active role of the European Commission to make sure that we know the final beneficiaries, that governments will publish the final beneficiaries. People have the right to know who received the money. And, of course, a strong role for the European Public Prosecutor and the European Anti-Fraud office. We thank you all for the constructive work. We thank for the support which the report has received at the level of committee, and we are looking forward to the vote tomorrow. Thank you very much.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Card from Mr. Gordon Bosnak. And I have to explain. Mr. Buda, it's not possible to ask in between the same political groups. So EPP cannot ask EPP. So I have to. And you are on the catch the eye list. So I give the floor. There is there is a blue card. Do you accept this from Mr.. Bosnak? Mr.. Mr.. Bosnak yes. Okay. Mr.. Bosnak.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Floor to the next speaker, I would like to explain one point of the rules we have for the blue card. Mrs. Rosa asked for a blue card when the blue card of another person was already asked. You have to ask for the blue card with the original speaker, not on the action when the blue card is already raised by another. Just to explain. Now, I'll pass the floor to Antonella Sberna, Please.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “But to make a bit less, perhaps in the cases where the risk for fraud or misuse is not as high, so that we perhaps establish and that is something we have to discuss on in the next year, also in the, in the Bureau and perhaps with a new working group on this, I'm looking to our secretary general so that we really can make a kind of review on the new IMS after more than half a year of implementation, if it's really effective. And for me, the most important question in this new IMS is the effectiveness of the measures we have taken. Do we really have the effect of reducing fraud with this, or is it just documentation for. Yeah, for improvement or for more bureaucracy? But still, those who want to misuse money can do it because paper is very patient. If you put something on that. And even online documents sometimes are quite patient if people really want to misuse. So let's take a look. What is a good measure, what can be perhaps reviewed? I will stop here because I said I would be short and give the floor to my colleague for some additional points when it comes to the results of the elections, please.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “(11:52:34 – 11:53:00): I cannot take any more catch the eye because we are already running out of time and the votes will start, so please understand. Thank you. Now we come to the catch the eye. And, also there, I have to to explain that we cannot take all of those who ask for catch the eye, but I will do it proportionate and, preferring those who were here during the the debate all the time. So the first is Nicolina Brinjak.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “Thank you. Could I just remind you that this Parliament is directly elected by the citizens of the European Union? It's not just some kind of self-styled parliament. So I would like to remind you that we should respect its values and position.”
  EU political integration
• “It's as simple as that. Being a member of this House for nearly 16 years also means that I have had to deal with a lot of bureaucracy, new rules every few years. We just discussed about that here in this committee and changes in the implementing measures for members. And I can see that not everything has gotten really better. This is why I believe in reforming some of the rules to reduce bureaucracy, while strengthening the fight against fraud and misuse, concentrating on the real fraud cases, and not estimating that everyone is making fraud and misuse of public money. The objective is to make the process slimmer and faster, as part of an effort by all of us to become more efficient and effective. Of course, efficiency often also means savings, something Parliament could use these days. Please count on me when you want to address matters that cause unreasonable bureaucratic burdens and costs. I believe this is important because we need legal certainty for members and their offices, just as we need the legal certainty for the administration, we also need to make sure that the administration can do their job and isn't overburdened by layers of obligations, of controls and audits. And I am convinced that accountability, legal certainty and user friendliness can go hand in hand. Before I hand over to my excellent colleague, Vice-President Lopez, I would like to thank you for having me today, and I'm looking forward to work with the Committee in the next years in a very trustful and cooperative manner. Thank you very much.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “Bearing in mind that we are the only directly elected institution and that our budget is taxpayers money, at the end of the day, this puts a lot of pressure on us to prove that we spend the funds given to us responsibly and correctly. However, from what I have learned from my former colleagues, the current and the former chair, Nicholas Herbst and my friend Monika Hohlmeier and others, is that we are doing very well and I want to make sure that we continue this way. As you might know, I'm the former chair of the Cult Committee, which is why the matter of communicating about Europe to citizens of all ages is close to my heart. Making sure that Deja.com can fulfill its task, making sure that information is available in all 24 languages, implementing a communication and social media strategy that reaches and informs citizens, in particular young people fighting disinformation. These are objectives that I fully support and that are laid down in our budget. I am also a strong advocate for giving more funds to members to invite visitors groups, as the prices raised tremendously in the last years, and I think there are very few things as effective as inviting citizens from our constituencies to Brussels and Strasbourg to show them the European Parliament, how we work, what we do, and that we are the representatives for the citizens in Europe. If we want to strengthen Europe, we need to bring more people to Parliament.”
  Discharge of EU institutions and agencies
• “Thank you so much. You know, you can all, uh, table a blue card. So, I mean, you may want to complain about this, but I mean, it is a question of getting a key debate and to actually get a debate moving and through a blue card. I think we can achieve this if the debate is run properly and reasonably. The next speaker is Eva Kowska. You have the floor, madam.”
  EU engagement with citizens
• “There are 2 blue cards. I've got 1 from mister Sipa and 1 from, mister mister Alsakhalani. Do you accept both? Yes. Okay. But then without an additional question, please, because it's too long. We are already out of time.”
  Activities of EU Ombudsman
• “Yes. Okay. Thank you very much, dear chair. Dear Nicholas. Dear Secretary general. Dear Vice president Lopez. Dear, dear vice chairs, dear members, dear Mr. Clergeau, dear Mr. sonar, Mr. Gregor, Mr. Walther. Dear colleagues, in the end, it is my pleasure to join the European Parliament Discharge 2023 hearing today for the first time, and President Metsola decided to entrust Vice-President Lopez and me together to take care of all things budget related in the Bureau. A big task, but one that I would like to embrace fully. I am very much looking forward to this new task and the collaboration with Vice-President Lopez. And from our first talks, I can already say that we share many priorities concerning this House. I am a convinced European, and I have been a member of this House for almost 16 years, and I have seen the work of all the different DGS, the immense work of the secretariats and all the members offices to negotiate and pass legislation, the budget and actions to scrutinise afterwards, to make sure that laws correctly apply and that EU money is well spent. This is also what brings me here today in my capacity as Vice-President Co-responsible for the for the budget and the discharge of the European Parliament. Parliament's budget is only about 20% of the budget of heading seven, but it is a budget with a lot of impact, and I would like to say this 20% is generally seen a minimum to guarantee that the Parliament has the sufficient budget to do its task. It's not just a limit. So we should be very clear that we need a sufficient budget for the House to do the work to make the legislation, because every cent we save will go to other organisations and structures in the European Union.”
  Discharge of EU institutions and agencies
• “This debate and the vote will be held tomorrow. Next point on the agenda. We have the Commission statement on financing EU priorities in a sustainable, predictable and resilient way through a new EU own resource from the online gambling and betting services sector. I will give the floor straight away to our commissioner, Piotr Serafin.”
  Own EU resources
• “Thank you very much. Thank you, Vice President. I'm going to speak in German. I'll try to be as brief and precise as possible. First question. First the avmed. The review is coming up. Many points have already been mentioned. My question is that will there be changes not only to do with the prominence of child protection, but also in the definitions? In the last avmed, we had the social platforms and media platforms, but we weren't able to regulate them as much as we would have liked to, because the they hadn't progressed as far as they have now. Now we have online activities. You don't even need to click to access videos. They're automatically shown and this leads to increased consumption of those videos. So the question is whether there's a desire to change anything on the definitions so that platforms can be incorporated more into media regulation. Second point DSA and algorithms. Will there be a reference to that in the legislation, whether it's the DSA or the MVT or any other legislation? How is the Commission going to deal with enforcement here? Because in many areas We have plenty of legislation, but what's missing is enforcement, implementation and enforcement. What is the Commission going to do about that, please?”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “We have also via the applause strategies to go towards people we have set up. Meanwhile, in 14 member states, the Europe Experience sites, we will make a an improvement if the structures are running well, is the money invested in the right way? Do we reach out to the people with these structures where it is running? Well, we analyze why it is running well and where it's not running well. We will analyze why it's not running so that we can learn about that for the future implementation of these of this project. We also have online campaigns and structures and we will develop also in future more of this. When it comes to the visitors groups, we already had an exchange with Digg.com so that we can raise the budgets available for visitors groups because of the raise of the costs tremendously. There is still something, some money they can use for that so that we will have, I think, in the next year, a higher budget, about 8 or 9%. So that 9%, so that we can cover the additional costs. So that bringing people to Strasbourg and Brussels is again a bit easier in the next year. Um, when it comes to the simplification, that was also a question we will work on the implementation of the new IMS. Where are the problems, where it is difficult, where it is perhaps easier than before, and perhaps start to think about a more risk based approach so that we have this intensive control of the expenditures of members where there is a higher risk of misuse or fraud.”
  Accounting and auditing of EU budget
• “To stop the blue card now. And I also close the catch the eye already because we have already 20 requests for catch the eye, and I will not be able to take all of them. Just to be clear. And now we have to follow up after the speaker's list without catch the eye and blue card, please. The next speaker is Marlena Mallak.”
  EU political integration