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00:00:02there is also imported hazardous waste
00:00:05from
00:00:07Slovenia and Germany, including medical waste,
00:00:10the perpetrators allegedly earned more than 4 million
00:00:14euros, however the procedure is still ongoing,
00:00:17all this leaves one speechless,
00:00:21but fortunately cooperation between Croatian
00:00:23and European
00:00:26very often soils and authorities is functioning, so that certain... certain
00:00:31profits were
00:00:32confiscated,
00:00:38this is really an example
00:00:40of how the fact that we do not have control at
00:00:44the borders can be dangerous and that is why we need
00:00:47very very strict sanctions for those who are
00:00:50responsible, the competent authorities also
00:00:54need to review this given
00:00:56that
00:00:59it should not have happened that waste came
00:01:03to Croatia, we need to do everything we can to
00:01:06protect our fellow citizens from such
00:01:09dangers and
00:01:12we also need to ensure that
00:01:15political
00:01:17forces,
00:01:23so, we see how they behave when it comes to
00:01:26waste management, we saw that in Saxony-Anhalt.
00:01:30The Greens in previous years
00:01:34failed to close a dangerous
00:01:37landfill which led to
00:01:40groundwater contamination. That is precisely
00:01:43why
00:01:46there should be no room for activism
00:01:49in politics. Environment and politics
00:01:51should not be in competition
00:01:55with each other. The situation is not black or white and that is why
00:01:58we all need to work together.
00:02:02I open the discussion, Tomislav Sokol has
00:02:05the floor, you have the option of a blue card. Vice-President,
00:02:09Commissioner, colleagues. Transboundary transport
00:02:12of illegal waste is a Croatian, but a European problem and therefore it must
00:02:16be approached from a European level. Waste mafia does not know
00:02:19state borders and citizens have the right to be concerned. Therefore our
00:02:23response must be joint, fast and effective. I propose three
00:02:27concrete steps. First, a specialized
00:02:31operational group that will connect police, customs, environmental
00:02:34and financial bodies, conduct joint investigations, break up
00:02:38criminal networks and track their money. Second, when
00:02:42illegally dumped waste threatens human health and the environment, Europe must be able
00:02:46to react immediately and help in remediation through the Union
00:02:49Civil Protection Mechanism. The cost of remediation must not be paid
00:02:53by citizens, but by those who caused the damage. In addition
00:02:56to this, we must link the European digital system for tracking waste shipments
00:03:00with national data so that we can detect suspicious flows in time and
00:03:04prevent illegal dumping. And third,
00:03:07we must enable citizens who suffer damage to have collective legal protection
00:03:11and fair compensation. Europe must put an end to criminals who profit
00:03:14from illegal waste, and leave the consequences of pollution to our
00:03:18citizens. Therefore we need better control, faster reaction and
00:03:22a common fight against the waste mafia. Thank
00:03:24you very much.
00:03:30Mr. Sokol, you have a request for a blue card from
00:03:34Ms. Jerković, do you accept
00:03:35it?
00:03:40Colleague Sokol, it is good to hear your recommendations,
00:03:43but they are somewhat late and it is difficult for them to
00:03:47free the Croatian state from its responsibility, because waste has
00:03:51been entering Croatia for years without any control, it ended up where it should not have,
00:03:55caused consequences that it should not have, so international
00:03:58crime cannot be the reason for the malfunctioning
00:04:01of Croatian and state institutions, if you do not
00:04:05debate, this see the political responsibility of the Croatian government and the Prime Minister then you really
00:04:09have a very strange understanding of political
00:04:12responsibility.
00:04:18Colleague Jerković, so first, here we are talking
00:04:22about this case, many other cases and the system
00:04:24needs to be adapted, the system needs to be improved so that such
00:04:28things do not happen again and that there are indeed gaps at the European level that need to be
00:04:32resolved, so we must think about the future, not just try
00:04:36to score points on this. As for the Croatian government,
00:04:39the Croatian government, as other colleagues here have said, is working, working on
00:04:43remediation, uh, perpetrators, potential perpetrators will be
00:04:47sanctioned, that is for sure, procedures are underway, I am sure that
00:04:50in the end the whole situation will be resolved,
00:04:54although it is clear to me that citizens are concerned, they have the right
00:04:58to that concern, but... I think that the government is doing its job very well
00:05:01and that the problem
00:05:02will be solved.
00:05:07Thank you, the next speaker is Mr. Gunter
00:05:10Zidl.
00:05:18Commissioner, President, we are talking about protecting
00:05:21people from toxic substances in
00:05:23Europe,
00:05:26we should talk about this more often, because one thing is clear, in Europe we have
00:05:29a serious problem, Europe
00:05:32is actually creating a serious problem,
00:05:35because eternal chemicals
00:05:38and so on.
00:05:42are produced through human
00:05:44activity
00:05:48and end up in the environment
00:05:50due to disposal, for example,
00:05:54pesticides are also problematic in some
00:05:57areas, the European Union is taking measures to
00:06:01avoid the harmful effects of these things, but in some other
00:06:05areas the EU does not monitor the situation
00:06:09and does not do what it should to
00:06:12reform the system, the Chemicals Agency recommends
00:06:16that we withdraw some chemicals, we
00:06:19procrastinate,
00:06:23we see an increase in cases
00:06:26of cancer
00:06:29and various other diseases,
00:06:32we must change
00:06:33course,
00:06:37this is not something where member states can act
00:06:40alone, we must... protect people from
00:06:43toxic substances and we must ensure this throughout
00:06:47the European Union.
00:06:48Thank you.
00:06:51Colleague Tilly Metz is next.
00:07:08It's the quality, not the height.
00:07:11Dear President. Mr. Chairman,
00:07:14Commissioner, in yesterday's address on
00:07:17the State of the Union, President von der Leyen said
00:07:20how precious water is,
00:07:24precious for whom, for industry, for farmers, for food
00:07:27security, yes, but she did not mention people and their
00:07:31fundamental right to have access to clean water
00:07:34free of toxins. Look,
00:07:37for example, Gospić in Croatia, thousands of tons
00:07:40of hazardous waste. Yes, with PFAS, it was illegally
00:07:44imported and dumped into nature, this is
00:07:48directly related
00:07:50to drinking water, citizens raised
00:07:54the alarm, but institutions are not reacting, this
00:07:58happens when protective measures do not
00:08:00work, but Europe is going in
00:08:04the wrong direction, weakening in the omnibus
00:08:07and under the guise of simplification
00:08:10we are celebrating the protection of the city, we are weakening key
00:08:14protective measures against toxic substances, I tell
00:08:18you colleagues, protecting citizens is not
00:08:21bureaucracy, clean water is not a burden, but a right,
00:08:25our health must never be the price
00:08:28of deregulation.
00:08:32Thank you very much, colleague Kulja is
00:08:35next.
00:08:39Thank you, Commissioner, colleagues.
00:08:44More than 300
00:08:46locations have been identified in Hungary this year where
00:08:49waste from
00:08:53Austria contaminated with asbestos was used
00:08:56to asphalt
00:08:59roads where Hungarian families work, where Hungarian
00:09:02children live, as a doctor, I know exactly what that means,
00:09:06people inhale these asbestos particles
00:09:09then they enter the lungs.
00:09:12where it causes disease not today or tomorrow, but in 20,
00:09:1630 years,
00:09:20it causes mesothelioma, a very aggressive
00:09:24disease, unfortunately there are
00:09:27legal loopholes
00:09:30in member states and at the European Union level, these companies
00:09:34use these loopholes
00:09:36to profit, they don't care
00:09:39about poisoning citizens.
00:09:45Europe has done a lot to protect citizens, but as we see from
00:09:49this example, there are still many loopholes in the law that need
00:09:52to be closed, because human health is simply
00:09:56something that should not be negotiated.
00:09:59Thank you,
00:10:02Laura Bajjin Sereza is next. Thank you,
00:10:05today I want to talk to you about Gospić in Croatia where
00:10:09citizens have been living next to illegally buried
00:10:12waste for too long, tens of thousands
00:10:16of tons of potentially hazardous
00:10:19waste still needs to be removed,
00:10:21additional quantities are buried there...
00:10:25citizens heard about
00:10:27the extent of this problem not because the system works, but because it
00:10:31failed them, that is not good enough, people must not
00:10:34wait until pollution is discovered
00:10:38before the authorities act,
00:10:41damage should be prevented, not just
00:10:45offer excuses after the waste
00:10:49is discovered, let the case of Gospić be a reminder that
00:10:52citizens have the right to know who allowed this to happen,
00:10:56who failed to protect them and who will be responsible for
00:11:00all of this,
00:11:00thank you,
00:11:05thank you, colleague Vajc is next,
00:11:08thank you chairman, commissioner,
00:11:12an apple a day keeps the
00:11:15doctor away, we tell children that every day, fruits
00:11:19and vegetables should be a healthy choice, but
00:11:22unfortunately more and more PFAS residues... are found in fruits
00:11:25and vegetables and we use these substances in agriculture,
00:11:29in pesticides and contaminate not only
00:11:33our children, but all citizens, PFAS, so-called eternal
00:11:36chemicals, are linked to cancer,
00:11:39liver disease, reduced fertility, this is
00:11:43a reality that science will prove to you, and what are we doing
00:11:47here in the European Parliament, we are reducing protection for
00:11:50pesticides in food in the food
00:11:53omnibus, we... are undermining the precautionary
00:11:56principle, when we talk about agriculture, there is
00:11:59a solution, let's engage in organic agriculture, because
00:12:03toxic substances are not used there, so for me
00:12:07I really want to make it clear, the health of children and citizens
00:12:10comes before profit,
00:12:12thank you,
00:12:16thank you, Nikolina Brnjac is
00:12:19next,
00:12:22thank you chair, the case of illegal waste in... Gospić,
00:12:25is a serious form of cross-border environmental crime and that must
00:12:29be clear to everyone. The Croatian government and competent institutions
00:12:33are taking all necessary steps, a remediation process
00:12:36has been initiated, investigations have been launched, and
00:12:39the culprits will be punished. Europol has
00:12:42just in this parliament warned that criminal
00:12:45networks exploit differences between member
00:12:48states, inadequate coordination between member
00:12:51states, so how is it possible that illegal waste passes through
00:12:55several borders, that not a single member state stops
00:12:59or detects it. From Italy, we had
00:13:02a problem, Italy, Spain, France, and
00:13:05from Italy to Spain about 35. Tons
00:13:09of illegally hazardous waste were transported. Europe today
00:13:12talks about the security of its borders, but security is not just a question of army and
00:13:16borders. Security is when we know where hazardous waste ends up,
00:13:19who transported it, who produced it, who paid for it
00:13:23and who is responsible.
00:13:25This is therefore a European problem that requires a European response,
00:13:28that is stricter cross-border control, waste
00:13:31traceability and a joint fight against organized crime
00:13:35and that is why we must ensure in the next budget funds,
00:13:39because when the health and safety of all of us
00:13:42are threatened, political squabbles do not interest
00:13:45anyone, and people expect joint solutions,
00:13:49today it is Croatia, tomorrow another member
00:13:52state. There
00:13:56is. Ms. Brnjac, you have a blue
00:13:59card from Mr. Prebilić,
00:14:01do you accept
00:14:10it?
00:14:11Good afternoon, thank you for this
00:14:15discussion, we have two
00:14:18sources of waste, one is legal, the other is illegal, when it is
00:14:22illegal, something must be done, but we also
00:14:25have legal waste migration, as far as I know, Croatia has
00:14:28imported a lot of waste in recent
00:14:31years, although it does not have the capacity to process that waste, don't
00:14:35you think this cannot open the door to these events
00:14:38as we saw now in
00:14:39Gospić?
00:14:42Thank you very much for your question, as far as I know, from
00:14:452019 to 2024,
00:14:48Croatia exported 522
00:14:52tons more than it imported waste. More than
00:14:5599% of waste imported
00:14:58in 2024 was not hazardous waste.
00:15:02Thank you, Ms.
00:15:05Brnjac,
00:15:08Ms. Brnjac, do you have patience for
00:15:11one or two blue cards? Okay,
00:15:15Ms. Jerković, and then Mr. Bosanac.
00:15:18Colleague, the answer to
00:15:21the question of who failed to prevent 37
00:15:25thousand tons of waste from ending up in Gospić cannot
00:15:28be just criminals, because criminals exist in every
00:15:32country, but it is the responsibility
00:15:35of the state to uncover criminals
00:15:39and prevent them. This is about the violation of principles from the Treaty
00:15:42on the Functioning of the European Union, the violation of
00:15:45the Directive on Access to Information, the Waste Framework
00:15:49Directive, the Waste Shipment Regulation, the Water Directive,
00:15:52the Directive on Criminal Law Protection of the Environment,
00:15:56not to mention the conventions.
00:15:58Colleague, Colleague Jerković,
00:16:00that is precisely why we are talking about cross-border environmental
00:16:03crime. You could hear from my speech, if you listened carefully,
00:16:07I believe you did, that precisely from Italy to Spain also
00:16:1135,000 tons of hazardous waste were transported,
00:16:14that Italy, France, Spain, recently and last
00:16:17year, even Greek citizens, I think,
00:16:21in the committee, discussed hazardous
00:16:24waste as well, thank you.
00:16:26Yes, Mr.
00:16:30Bosanac. Mr.
00:16:32Bosanac,
00:16:35thank you, colleague Brnja.
00:16:38"I partially agree with you, and I also asked myself the question of how that
00:16:41waste travels through Schengen
00:16:44and no one stopped it, but we
00:16:47have most of the answer, so for now, the investigation has clearly
00:16:50shown that the legal provision of a three-day advance
00:16:54notification of a shipment's arrival was abolished,
00:16:57if that had been in force, perhaps things
00:17:01in Gospić would look
00:17:02different.
00:17:05So, colleague Bosanac, waste control has not been interrupted,
00:17:09waste control exists, there is a digital system that
00:17:12records the type of waste,
00:17:15quantity, origin, destination, however, there are
00:17:18criminals and criminal organizations that do not
00:17:21enter correct and accurate
00:17:23data.
00:17:28Thank you very much. Very
00:17:30good. Thank you. Sunčana
00:17:34Glavak is next. Thank you very much, colleagues,
00:17:38honorable Commissioner, at the beginning I want to say,
00:17:41I understand the concern of citizens, but today on
00:17:44this topic some want to gain significant political
00:17:47profit, when we talk about people's health, there is no place
00:17:50for political rivalry, when we talk about Gospić,
00:17:54let's stick to the facts, the Government of the Republic of Croatia is solving
00:17:58the problem, funds have been secured, remediation of illegally
00:18:01dumped waste has been initiated,
00:18:05the criminal offense of ecocide has been introduced, I want to... send a clear message
00:18:08to politicians who do not think about the consequences
00:18:11of false narratives: do not stigmatize
00:18:15farmers, livestock breeders, family farms,
00:18:18producers in Lika, the food they produce
00:18:22is not contaminated, products are safe.
00:18:25I clearly state, criminal responsibility must be
00:18:28determined, waste removed, and monitoring continued
00:18:31after remediation. This must apply everywhere in Europe.
00:18:35The polluter pays, the perpetrator
00:18:37is responsible, and citizens must be protected, therefore this
00:18:41has a European dimension, if waste crosses the borders of member
00:18:45states, we must be able to track where it originated, who
00:18:49took it over and where it finally ended up, and in
00:18:52the end, that is why I also expect from the Commission a stronger
00:18:55traceability system for cross-border waste and better data exchange
00:18:59between member states. Thank
00:19:02you very much.
00:19:08Mrs. Glavak, you have a question from Mr. Siper, will you
00:19:12answer?
00:19:18Thank you very much.
00:19:21I haven't spoken yet, but thank you for agreeing to answer
00:19:25my question. You said that one should not politicize
00:19:28scandals like this one that broke out in Croatia.
00:19:32Do you think it would be better if?
00:19:34bi?
00:19:40If we did not focus on a specific
00:19:44case in a specific country, if we simply
00:19:48talked about the situation as a whole in
00:19:50Europe? Thank you very much, colleague, for
00:19:53the question, I did not say that you should not, but I would like to
00:19:57ask you if you know where Gospić is, do you know
00:20:00where Gospić is? I know, you don't
00:20:03know, yes, you know what is happening in Croatia?
00:20:07It is being politicized on this topic, on people's health, that is not
00:20:10good, in the entire European Union, all of us, regardless
00:20:14of political colors, must have the same denominator, that
00:20:18is to protect people's health and not spread
00:20:20disinformation, but to help people, help
00:20:24the economy, agriculture in those areas to remain,
00:20:28not to disable them. Thank you
00:20:30very much.
00:20:42We now move on to spontaneous interventions,
00:20:46so I immediately give the floor to Manuela Ripa for one minute.
00:20:52Thank you very much. Let's broaden this
00:20:56discussion for a moment. PFAS are present everywhere
00:20:59in everyday life. They are
00:21:02in our food, these are simply chemicals that
00:21:06do not degrade in the environment.
00:21:09Various local authorities. There are also various
00:21:12regions in the European Union. And
00:21:16waters are contaminated and often...
00:21:20this is not remedied, simply because
00:21:23it is too expensive, therefore we must
00:21:26react, where do we really need PFAS,
00:21:30in
00:21:33toothpaste or something similar, no, PFAS
00:21:37should be removed, at the end of the life
00:21:40cycle of a project, we must
00:21:43have guaranteed
00:21:46destruction, as exists for endocrine
00:21:50disruptors, it simply must
00:21:53be able to degrade,
00:21:56for example by incineration,
00:21:59PFAS are simply not needed, they are just part
00:22:03of something that is constantly used, simply such
00:22:06unimportant products, they should be
00:22:10phased out. Thank you, now Bogdan
00:22:13Žonča. Thank you very much.
00:22:16Allow me to ask all of you a question,
00:22:20to you who are present, as well as to those who are not here today,
00:22:24what feeling do you have in the European Union, as
00:22:27we know, we produce chemicals whose
00:22:30use
00:22:34is forbidden in the European Union, but they are used
00:22:37in South America and
00:22:40elsewhere, and what feeling do you have now that
00:22:43those chemicals
00:22:46can be found in meat, for example, in...
00:22:50poultry, you have declared
00:22:54for the agreement with Mercosur, that does not
00:22:57bother you, does it not go against
00:23:00the logic of the European Union? We agreed
00:23:03to something in the European Union, which we knew in advance
00:23:07would be harmful to the inhabitants, to
00:23:10the consumers of the European Union, so you know very well
00:23:14that the agreement with Mercosur did not come out of nowhere, and
00:23:17now we have a huge problem.
00:23:20Look at what you have caused in
00:23:24this situation. Mr. Siper,
00:23:27please. Dear people
00:23:31of Europe. Despite the question I
00:23:35asked earlier. Now I will start
00:23:37a very necessary debate. Mr. Bauzeman was
00:23:41so
00:23:44self-satisfied. You can't even imagine, you even gave
00:23:48a reasonable speech. "You said that what
00:23:52politicians do should not be harmful to
00:23:55the residents,
00:24:04next
00:24:05time,
00:24:09when you are running after fourteen-year-olds with
00:24:13a baseball bat
00:24:15or when
00:24:18you are driving
00:24:22drunk, think about
00:24:24that,
00:24:31ecology and economy
00:24:33are not
00:24:36sides of the same coin, let's consider what renewable
00:24:40energy is,
00:24:43ecology, not how
00:24:45PFAS
00:24:52you very much, colleague Siper, for mentioning
00:24:56that driving drunk is driving under the influence,
00:25:00but that never happened. And
00:25:04one more thing, young
00:25:07people,
00:25:10if they run at night carrying
00:25:14knives, and if
00:25:17with those knives they remove
00:25:20campaign posters, we must do
00:25:24something, we cannot allow
00:25:25everything, and
00:25:29damaging property
00:25:31and walking around with
00:25:35knives, is only the first step
00:25:39to committing a different crime
00:25:41with a knife. So, it would be good if
00:25:44we did something to fight against that kind
00:25:48of criminal offense. Thank you. And now let's go back
00:25:52to toxic substances and chemicals, residents
00:25:55are suffering, so let's go back to that topic. Arkadiusz
00:25:59Mularczyk is the next speaker.
00:26:04Mr. Mularczyk, please. Thank you very much.
00:26:08Dear colleagues, Commissioner. Allow me to
00:26:11draw your attention to a very difficult
00:26:15problem, that is the green transformation of the European
00:26:18Union, which is accompanied by various threats,
00:26:21because it threatens the creation of photovoltaic
00:26:25factories, but also the
00:26:28creation of electricity
00:26:33reserves, there are no national rules
00:26:36that would state how close such
00:26:39facilities can be to houses and
00:26:43apartments, why? Because
00:26:46in my constituency, citizens
00:26:50are protesting against
00:26:51photovoltaic
00:26:54farms and facilities near populated
00:26:58areas, also there have been many
00:27:02fires, and when
00:27:04fires occur, toxic
00:27:08fumes can emanate from them, firefighters find it difficult
00:27:12to extinguish them, so, we have
00:27:16no answers to such
00:27:18dangers, what to do due to these large
00:27:21investments decided by the European Union?
00:27:25Thank you,
00:27:29I would now like to hear your answers to this
00:27:32discussion, Commissioner,
00:27:36thank you,
00:27:39Vice-President, members, thank you all for participating
00:27:42in this discussion, I listened
00:27:44carefully and heard different views
00:27:48on how best we can protect human
00:27:52health from toxic
00:27:55substances, to do this, we need
00:27:58joint action that will
00:28:01be comprehensive and in various
00:28:05areas. As for the discussion we
00:28:09focused on today, it is clear that it is
00:28:12illegal waste
00:28:16disposal, i.e. waste trade,
00:28:19something that is not right and that goes
00:28:23against good practices in countries.
00:28:26As for Pefas, the European
00:28:30Chemicals Agency is completing its analysis
00:28:33and the commission will
00:28:36determine what to do based on
00:28:39that. I would also like to refer to the comment we
00:28:43heard that it is extremely important that
00:28:46we look at what the key examples
00:28:49are, examples of all that, for example
00:28:52in healthcare, so that
00:28:56there are no medical devices where
00:28:59such materials are necessary, we must...
00:29:03prevention, that is certainly a conclusion we can
00:29:07draw from today's discussion, but we must
00:29:10also proactively reduce
00:29:12ecological risks and health
00:29:16risks, we need to closely
00:29:19monitor whether the food on
00:29:22our plates is healthy regardless of whether it is produced
00:29:25in the European Union or imported
00:29:29into it, and as for the objection. and
00:29:32related to the omnibus proposal of the European Commission,
00:29:36I want to confirm here that
00:29:39we have not changed the criteria for pesticide
00:29:43approval, it is clear that the proposal
00:29:46promotes the use of
00:29:50biological pesticides
00:29:53that reduce the negative impact of any
00:29:56pesticides on the environment, thank you for your attention.
00:29:59Thank you, Commissioner, and thank you.
00:30:02to all members who participated in this
00:30:08debate is now
00:30:10over, and another item on the agenda.
00:30:38Many people participate in the Vector competitive
00:30:41challenge, first they vacuum with their old vacuum cleaners,
00:30:45then with the exceptional new Vector vacuum cleaner with a water
00:30:49filter. You won't believe what they all
00:30:51vacuumed up. I can't believe it, this is
00:30:54disgusting, how much dirt
00:30:56is inside.