Damian Boeselager
Member of the European Parliament · ALE · DE
“Mr President, Executive Vice-President, colleagues, Europe is becoming a colony of the US and China. That is the clear message of the Europe 2031 simulation and similar ones looking into our immediate future.”
“So my question to you, Commissioner, is, first, on a scale from 0 to 10, how likely do you think that this scenario is true? Second, how come we only spend EUR 50 billion of the ECF of a seven‑year industrial programme on AI? And third, what will we do to develop frontier models or these very good copycats here in Europe? 2-0340-0000”
“Madam President, Vice‑President, colleagues, Europe is like a football team where every player plays on a different court under different rules, and then we wonder why we lose globally. And, of course, we nod our heads when our coach Draghi tells us to maybe train a bit more together.”
“It will mean that some incumbents will go bankrupt, even if more successful companies will be created. When Friedrich Merz is blocking the banking union, he is doing it for the Sparkassen and the Raiffeisen banks.”
“– Vielen Dank, Damian, dass du die blaue Karte akzeptiert hast. Ich sehe das genauso, dass es kurzsichtig und falsch ist, aufgrund möglicher eigener Verluste das Zusammenwachsen des Binnenmarktes zu blockieren. Ich würde das gerne unserem Herrn Kanzler, den du ja auch angesprochen hast, Friedrich Merz, sagen.”
“But then, let's be honest, if we want a single market, this means that we will change the Ministry of Finance position in Germany right now. There is nothing stopping the German Chancellor and the German SPD from actually doing the steps that are necessary.”
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“So if you want to go to Russia, Fidias, or if you on the left and right, on the far left and far right, want to listen to Putin, you can do that. But you should ask him for peace and not repeat his lies here in this Hemicycle. 3-0091-0000”
“Madam President, dear colleagues, for 1 169 days now, Ukraine has been subject to a full‑scale invasion: 1 169 days of sirens, of sleepless nights, of death, abduction and rape; 1 169 days of crimes committed by North Korean and Russian soldiers, and of strong Ukrainian fighters fighting for their independence, for democracy and for European Union membership. And still some Members of this House have the audacity to say that these Ukrainian fighters do not want peace. Peace can be achieved the second Putin retracts his troops and when he stops bombing Ukraine. Nobody would attack Russia, nobody would attack Putin, in this case. But he does not want peace. And even the super‑troll Trump has not been able to achieve any form of listening from Putin.”
“– as a proposal in there, but when I look at harmonisation of our rules in Europe, there is too little. Simplification must mean harmonisation. Second, when I look at capital, it's great that we look at the securitisation again, but I wonder where is this proposal on venture capital that you have been proposing in the past? I can't see it. We need money to go into the future industries there as well. And then third, access to talent. I'm sorry, but there is too little when it comes to activation of the female workforce. When I look at the internal migration in Europe, it's impossible to hire someone across the continent without having tax issues. Why is it not possible to go there? And lastly, on talent migration, the debate we have here in this House but across Europe on migration is too negative.”
“Madam President, Commissioner, over the last 50 years, the US listed 200 companies with a market value of more than EUR 10 billion. And Europe – we listed 14. These companies are not just any companies. They're the companies that shape the way we live, how we communicate, how we shop, and how we entertain ourselves. And I see in this work programme that we again differentiate between competitiveness, industry and then on the other side, start‑ups and scale‑ups. I think that's a fundamental mistake. We have to think our competitiveness, our industry from those who innovate, from the start‑ups and scale‑ups, and then we will be able to compete. Let me look at the programme from that perspective. First, compliance. It's great that we have the 28th regime – the EU Inc.”
“We need to transfer MiCA into global standards so that we can have the innovation that cryptocurrencies can unleash, but fight the risks that are there. 4-0088-0000”
“Madam President, cryptocurrencies themselves are just a technology, but I always have to get a bit careful when I see how excited the far right gets about a certain technology. It reminds me of a saying that I've heard recently, which is that 'not all crypto traders are gangsters, but all gangsters are in crypto'. And now with Trump also launching his meme coin – which I think had a value of USD 40 billion market cap at some point – we really have to ask ourselves how we can get better. The good thing is we already have great standards with MiCA here in Europe, which enables the innovation that we need and fights the misuse and the risks that we can see with people trying to agglomerate power and money without end. So what we need to do now is to really set up global standards.”
“When it comes to economy, we need to work closer together. We need to go into free trade agreements to diversify trade. We need to really unleash innovation in Europe and build the interior market. When it comes to security, we need to understand that 17 different tank systems for the same category in Europe doesn't make sense. We need to be able to support Ukraine and defend ourselves. And when it comes to democracy, I can only ask all citizens of the European Union to get active in politics now, because we really need you in the centre and not in these false patriotic parties. 2-0252-0000”
“Mr President, I'm always amazed by the far right of this House. There was a mentioning of the new sun of democracy rising across the ocean, and I was wondering that maybe some of the colleagues got a bit too much sun already when I look at what they're saying. They're saying it's amazing that we have this expansionist person now there, but then I hear a Danish far-right guy saying: 'Yeah, but maybe don't take Greenland. You know, that's not so good.' So when it goes against your own interest, then suddenly you realise that maybe if there's an expansionist on the other side, it's not so good to be a patriot and in favour of that. There are three main implications of Trump taking power. The first one is about the economy, the second one is about security, and the third one is about democracy.”