Plenary session of the Pacific-EU Parliamentary Assembly
9 November 2026
Contents updated on 9 Nov 2026
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DELEGATIONS European Parliament
00:06 - 00:29
Speaker 2
Okay can we start, please? We're going to start speaking now about this draft recommendation and I think that if Mr. Co-President does doesn't want the floor, I'm going to give the floor first to Sven Simon, Mr. Sven Simon.
00:29 - 03:01
Speaker 1
Yes, Mr. Chairman, colleagues, Co-President Tamapua, dear Lenaatai, colleagues, first of all, a very warm welcome also from my side in this round to Brussels. In Europe, we sometimes speak about the Pacific as a distant region, but perhaps the real question is whether we Europeans have been looking at the map from the wrong perspective. What looks like the edge of the world from Brussels is of course for millions of people the center of it. That perspective sometimes might be important, and I think that is something worth remembering when we talk about our partnership. I know that some of our colleagues from the Pacific have traveled an extraordinary distance to be here and we are very happy and grateful that you are here, and I must say Brussels has made a rather unusual effort to welcome you.
We have managed to organize some sunshine today. That is a particularly gift for you even if it's a bit cold maybe outside, but believe me, that is not something we can always guarantee in November. But jokes aside, I think there is something quite remarkable about bringing together parliamentarians from two regions that are geographically so far apart yet have so many interests in common. And this morning we have already demonstrated that distance does not prevent us from finding common ground. I would like to thank everyone involved in negotiating our joint recommendation.
As parliamentarians, we all know that reaching agreement is not always easy. In Brussels, we sometimes need three meetings, four amendments and five cups of coffee just to agree on a single sentence or just to arrange the meeting. So, I am particularly pleased that we have managed to reach a constructive compromise. And I think this is exactly what parliamentary diplomacy should be about, not simply agreeing with one another, but being able to disagree, discuss and ultimately find practical solutions. Because a friendship between partners, in my opinion, does not mean agreeing on everything, it means being able to speak honestly about the things on which we disagree, too.
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