Explicații scrise ale votului Tilly METZ

. – The Covid-19 outbreak has dramatically decreased the passenger demand on air travel, causing airlines to fly empty planes, so called ‘ghost flights’, in order to use the required 80 percent of the slots at the airports to be able to keep the same number of slots the following year. Flying empty planes makes no sense and it has a great environmental and economic cost. Therefore, I voted in favour of the proposal to amend the Regulation (EC) No 95/93 on common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports. This emergency proposal changes the Regulation temporarily so that slots allocated for the period from 1 March 2020 until 24 October 2020 shall be considered as having been operated by the air carrier to which they had initially been allocated. When this crisis is over we need a more comprehensive reform of the slot allocation regulation to avoid the absurd situation with ghost planes in the future and to start align the aviation sector with the European Green Deal and the climate objectives of the Paris agreement.

. – I voted in favour of the Commission’s proposal to establish a Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII). Covid-19 is putting a strain the Member States’ health systems and has severe societal and economic consequences. The CRII will allow for around EUR 8 billion of already distributed EU funds, which would have otherwise remained unused and returned to the EU budget, to be invested by Member States, which will in turn trigger the release and use of around EUR 29 billion of cohesion policy spending across the EU.
I am glad the expenditure will focus on health investment such as hospital equipment and inhalators; on the support of SMEs and on short-term employment schemes. The proposal might not be perfect, but it is a good solution to quickly provide access to resources and financial relief for our health care system and economy. However, once this crisis is overcome, we need to learn from the lessons it is teaching us: We need to turn our back to austerity and improve and invest in our health care systems. And we need a properly established EU competence for health-related matters and especially the management of public health emergencies.

. – I voted in favour of amending the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF). The extension of the scope of the EUSF will allow for financial assistance to be given to Member States and countries negotiating their accession to the Union seriously affected by a major public health emergency. The proposed amendment also increases the amount of advance payments from 10% to 25% of the expected EU contribution, in order to facilitate rapid availability of EU financial assistance. These amendments are a necessary part of a truly European response to the Covid-19 crisis and any future major public health emergency. It will be important to ensure there is a clear definition of which specific operations will be eligible for funding, as we need to make sure that the funds will be used where most needed, especially in our health care systems.

I voted in favour of this resolution. For the upcoming 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March, the Parliament called on the Council to reconfirm its commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA), which was adopted 25 years ago and remains to date the most comprehensive global policy framework and blueprint for action to realize gender equality everywhere. With this reconfirmation stands a strengthening of efforts to comply with the BPA objectives. This resolution proposes therefore 35 concrete policy recommendations covering topics ranging from violence against women, women’s fundamental rights, women empowerment and the EU’s role as a global actor. What is particularly important to me are the calls to include a gender perspective in the fight against climate change and to condemn the ‘global gag’ rule. In times where women’s rights can be seen deteriorating around the world and even in some parts of the EU, it is vital for the European Institutions to step up their efforts in paving the way towards achieving the objectives of the BPA - we owe it to the women and girls, who have been fighting for their rights for centuries, and to the future generations.

I voted against the free trade agreement with Vietnam. The Human Right situation in Vietnam is unacceptable and goes against the European Union’s commitment to support democracy and Human Rights in its external relations. As long as the Vietnamese government continues to persecute all those who defend their rights and/or express their opinion, the EU should not agree to a deal with the Vietnamese government. Unfortunately, the EVFTA gained a majority during the European Parliament vote whereby the EU failed its chance to continue negotiations with the Vietnamese government to improve the Human Rights situation in Vietnam. I am therefore deeply disappointed in the outcome of the vote in the Parliament.

I voted in favour of this resolution to refuse the list put forward by the Commission of Projects of Common Interest (PCI). The EU’s list of priority energy infrastructure projects, called Projects of Common Interest (PCI), contains over 55 fossil gas pipelines and terminals to be built in Europe and to be eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
Allowing these projects to be realised clearly goes against the Paris Agreement, the Climate Emergency Declaration and the climate neutrality goals of the Green Deal. The European Parliament failed to uphold its promises to the European citizens by rejecting the objection against the current list of the PCIs and thereby condemning them to decades of fossil gas lock-in.
Taxpayers’ money will be used for projects that harm our environment and our health instead of being invested into renewable and clean energy projects. Even though the Commission made promises to improve this list in the future, this first proposal already shows the lack of political will of this new Commission when it comes to the energy transition.

J’ai voté en faveur de cette résolution. Le plomb est toxique et dangereux pour notre santé et notre environnement. Le recycler est une fausse solution, il doit être retiré des cycles économiques. La proposition de la Commission européenne de «diluer» le plomb dans de nouveaux produits ne résoudra pas le problème sanitaire mais l’amplifiera. Le projet de règlement actuel va à l’encontre de l’ambition déclarée de la Commission en faveur d’une économie circulaire et de zéro pollution. En ce qui concerne l’étiquetage, la mention «contient du plomb recyclé» laisse croire qu’il s’agit d’un label écoresponsable alors qu’en réalité, les articles concernés contiennent une quantité de plomb significative. Permettre aux substances interdites dans les nouveaux produits de continuer à être présentes dans les produits recyclés discrédite les produits recyclés et sape ainsi la législation sur les produits chimiques. Par l’adoption de cette résolution, le Parlement s’oppose donc à une économie circulaire polluée et demande à la Commission de revenir sur sa proposition.

I supported this resolution. Although more and more people are aware of female genital mutilation (FGM) as a form of violence against women and girls and a manifestation of gender inequality, there are still a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes existing about it. FGM is not prescribed by any religion and it is not an issue limited to certain regions – worldwide 200 million women and girls live with the lifelong physical and psychological consequences of FGM, with 600 000 of FGM survivors living in Europe. These are alarming and unacceptable numbers and considering that if current trends continue, 68 million girls will face FGM by 2030, the European Community must step up its efforts to fight FGM both in Europe and abroad. This resolution therefore calls upon the European Commission, the European Council and all EU Member States to scale up their actions in the prevention and raising awareness of FGM and in the protection, medical and trauma support and empowerment of women and girls who are suffering or facing FGM. These measures must be taken on both a local and an international level, with the latter being highlighted and requested from third countries in human rights clauses in cooperation and trade agreements with the EU.

I voted in favour of this resolution that calls for the end of the illegal trade in companion animals. Each year a significant number of companion animals are illegally traded across Member States for sale. These animals are born, kept, transported and treated in atrocious ways. They are not treated as living beings but as commodities that are purely a major source of income for organised international crime. Apart from the horrifying animal welfare aspects of the illegal trade in pets, it also has negative implications on public health and consumer protection. Indeed, the puppies are in most cases ill causing high veterinarian bills and distress to the new owners, who are often unaware of the new companion’s real history of origin. This resolution hence calls for: a harmonised system for the means and methods of identification and registration of cats and dogs in databases in the Member States; a cross-sectorial EU Action Plan to address the issue; improved law enforcement and tougher sanctions; and better cooperation, communication and training for customs and veterinary authorities.

. ‒ I voted in favour of this resolution as old chargers generate far too much electronic waste and subsequently have major environmental impacts. Having a common charger for all portable devices would stop the need to buy new ones and subsequently reduce the unnecessarily high amount of e-Waste. The Parliament has been requesting common chargers since the late 2000s but letting the industry decide has not led to a satisfying outcome, hence the Commission needs to take regulatory measures to achieve our objective of harmonised chargers. The legislation should also make sure that customers can chose whether to buy a charger when purchasing a new device and receive clear information on charging performance to take the former decision. Ensuring a certain standards of the battery services quality of batter service would also improve the environmental footprint of a charger as non-optimised charging can significantly reduce the life duration of the battery.