VORSITZ: ULRIKE LUNACEK
Vizepräsidentin

  President. – Dear colleagues, before proceeding to the votes, allow me to make a short personal statement. Some of you know that I am the leading candidate for the Austrian Greens in the snap elections on 15 October. This means that I will be leaving this Parliament. It also means that this is the last time I will chair the votes with you as your Vice-President.

(Loud applause)

I would like to thank you for these eight years in which I have been working with many of you in this Parliament, sharing this spirit of cooperation rather than confrontation that unites us, or at least the majority of us here, and also for the three years as one of your Vice-Presidents. They have been very good years for me, and I promise you I am taking this European spirit that I have experienced here with me to our national debates and to the Austrian parliament.

I am also looking forward to working with you in the future in a different function, because we need strong national parliaments as well as a strong European Parliament. Thank you very much.

(Applause)