Speeches

Madam President, thank you very much. Right-wing governments in Europe continue to design tax rules that are directly tailored to the rich. In my country, Sweden, taxes are reduced for those who earn the most, while schools, health care, care are reduced. In Sweden, we have abolished wealth tax, property tax and we subsidize wealthy households with household services. The art of slaughtering a welfare society could be called the right-wing's unfair tax policy. As if this were not enough, we also have regulations in Europe that facilitate a widespread tax bill. Something that once again only benefits the richest and big companies and all sorts of tricksters. Only through leaks like the Pandora Papers can we get a picture of this anti-social fifflery. We need to ensure a fairer tax system, and we need to increase transparency and strengthen the regulatory framework so that we can put an end to the tax fraud – both for businesses and for individuals. We need tax justice now.

Madam President, first of all, let me be clear, there are many ways to make a family and have kids: with a lover, with a friend, within a couple or outside a couple. You can be heterosexual. You can be homosexual. You can be two parents, three parents, you can be multi-parenting. There is truly a rainbow of families in Europe and they should have the protection to move freely around in Europe. There is a particular gap in legal protection also for families and children in situations where there are multiple parents, more than two. But when it comes to surrogacy and the surrogacy industry, this is a commodification of women and children. It is economically privileged people, couples, paying non-privileged less privileged women for carrying a baby and giving them away. And this is how Ukrainian women are exploited in their thousands today. It’s a kind of merchandising and commercialisation of women’s bodies that we should say no to. So I wish rainbow families to flourish, but I don’t wish the surrogacy industry to flourish.

Mr President, thank you very much. It has now been several years since the Council launched the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, and since then the situation for democracy, the rule of law and human rights has worsened. Hungary is no longer a fully-fledged democracy, and the EU has therefore strangled EU money for it. That's welcome. Just around the corner is a Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union. And everyone knows that it is deeply inappropriate for Hungary and the Orbán regime to hold that EU presidency club. They threaten democracy, they threaten the rule of law, they threaten human rights, they threaten the courts, the media. In addition, Orban is also Putin's best friend in the EU. One can even speak of a real ‘bromance’. So the Council: It's not enough with these speeches you stick to. You have to act. What will you do to prevent Orbán from sitting there with the Presidential Club when autumn 2024 arrives? And what will you in the Commission do to support the Council in that decision?

First of all, Chair, I would like to report this as a form of hate speech, and I want you to look into it, because the way that groups of people are described amounts to a danger to them and fuels hate in this House. It cannot be accepted. Secondly, I must say that today we are happy that the EPP Group apparently will support in the vote tomorrow that the EU is adhering to the Istanbul Convention. But for many years the EPP was against, and today we see how they look to the extreme right to make alliances and coalitions. And the extreme right – those are the people that want to annihilate women’s rights and gender equality and LGBTI rights. So I’m just asking the EPP: what will you do? There are six countries – in most of them the EPP is in power – that haven’t ratified the Istanbul Convention. What are you doing to make sure that we can actually fight against violence against women, not only in the European Parliament, but also in your national countries, which belong to your group? What are you doing?

Madam President, thank you very much. It is an important day today, when we will have the opportunity to ratify the Istanbul Convention, the best international instrument we have to combat gender-based violence. That convention states that violence against women is a violation of our human rights. That convention states that violence against women, and gender-based violence, is based on structural inequality. It is simply a sovereign instrument, and it was about time that the EU joined. The opponents here on the right bench, right-wing nationalists, but also the conservative right, they have forced us to pull this on the long bench. They don't care about women's rights. You just want to limit our lives, the right to freedom over the control of our bodies, over the right to abortion, contraception, the right to sexual and reproductive health and rights. You want to limit the right to live life free from violence, but we will not let you stop us. We will take this fight, and now we will finally join the EU to the Istanbul Convention. This is a first step, but as everyone here knows, this is just a small skill for Europe, and it is the national Member States that have to do the big part of the job. It is therefore still a serious matter that six Member States, many of which are governed by the right, refuse to accede to and ratify the Istanbul Convention. Do it again and do it right! Together with feminists and the women's movement in our Member States, we will stand up for women's rights, for girls' rights, and for the rights of LGBTIQ people to live a life completely free from violence.

Mr President, thank you very much. It is very welcome that we have a body like the IPCC, where scientists give us clear, clear knowledge of the situation. That's especially important because we now have an extreme right and a nationalist right trying to trump Trump in the United States with their climate denial. Then we need the IPCC, and the message is crystal clear: We need to speed up the reduction of emissions. Instead, there are governments like my own, the Swedish government, that do the opposite. They don't care about the IPCC, they don't care about science and they're going in the wrong direction. Fortunately, we have taken important decisions in this Parliament this week to reduce emissions and speed up our transition work. However, this is not enough, and the IPCC is clear. We need to speed up, we need to increase energy efficiency and we need to invest in renewables, not lock ourselves up like bully kids in a socially, economically and ecologically unsustainable technology such as nuclear power. We need to do what moves us forward now. And according to the IPCC, the transition must also be fair, otherwise it will not be possible. This is one of the IPCC's key messages. The transition requires more left-wing politics, more justice, more investment in the common, in the socially sustainable, in welfare, in education and in gender equality. That's where the future lies if we're going to make the climate transition.

Mr President, the proposed Ugandan bill imposing the death penalty for consensual same—sex relations is simply horrific. Death for being who we are. Death for loving another person that the majority doesn’t think you should have the right to love. And the very process of driving bills like this is dangerous. It releases an avalanche of hate, violence, scapegoating. It’s life—threatening already while it’s being proposed, and I hope that everyone realises that. And I want all my LGBTQI sisters, brothers, siblings to know that you have our support in your struggle for freedom, for equality, for rights, the right to live. And I am proud to have negotiated, together with colleagues in this House, a text where the European Parliament steps up and we ask you, the Commission, and we ask you, the Council, to also step up. We acknowledge in our resolution the link between the colonial rule and the criminalisation of homosexuality in many of the countries. We also acknowledge that we have to do everything we can to stop that certain Western powers and countries and movements, evangelical churches and others, are actually fuelling the campaigns of hatred in Uganda and other countries. We have to do what we can to stop that. We will ask you in the European Commission and in the Council to step up the work. The European Union must be a champion for the decriminalisation and for the rights of LGBTI people, in the EU, of course, but also globally. We can do so much better, and this House is asking you to do more.

Mr President, thank you very much. whereas the indictment of Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an important indication that there is no impunity for the horrific war crimes committed for more than a year in Ukraine; The concrete crimes for which Putin and his associates are being prosecuted are the abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia. Ukrainian authorities report that thousands of children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia and that only just over 300 of these children have actually been allowed to return home to Ukraine. We shall respond by all means at our disposal, and the international instruments that we have – including the ICC – must be used. At the same time as these criminal proceedings are ongoing, we must ensure that the abducted children are brought home. Therefore, these families should receive all our support, but also the organizations and institutions that work to bring the children home must receive our support and we must be active in that process. The kids are going home. I hope this indictment against Putin is followed by other indictments, because these are not the only war crimes brought about by the brutal war of aggression in Ukraine. We know that women have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse in Ukraine by the Russian army. These crimes must also be brought to justice. The women, just like the children, will get redress and they will get our support. We should also focus on those who are exposed and on the victims. I think it is important to hear from the Commission and the Council that we also support the ICC. It must be a strong institution – the EU has always been a strong player behind the ICC – so that it has the resources and legitimacy to investigate such crimes. Now the court is showing that it is going for Putin, who is the highest responsible for this brutal war of aggression and who is committing war crimes – and we know that. The ICC will be further strengthened. We will bring more countries and we will ensure that no war crimes committed in Ukraine today will go unpunished.

Mr President, thank you very much. When this Parliament was elected in 2019, it was after hundreds of thousands of young people had taken to the streets and demanded that we do more, that we do everything we can to change climate action. The left has long demanded tougher action, both at the Swedish level and at the EU level, when it comes to coping with the climate. We demand that those who pollute the most should be the ones who contribute the most to the climate transition, because the climate transition must be fair if we are to cope with it. We demand parallel investments in people and in the climate transition. And this Fit for 55, the climate package on the part of the EU, is necessary. The new instruments are climate tariffs, the tightening of the emissions trading system and the requirements for shipping and air traffic. At the same time, we on the left know that these instruments are not enough. We would have liked to see more ambitious rules. We have pushed this in Parliament and we have pushed it in our countries, not least vis-à-vis the Swedish Government. So we're sitting here with an inadequate package where we know that as soon as we've clubbed through this, we need to take a new approach: We need to do more and we need to do better – and we will do that on the left, that job. We will do it at home in Sweden and we will do it here in the EU.

Mr President, my point is the following. Yesterday we had the formal sitting for the International Women’s Day, a day that is very cherished for many of us in this House. And the silence from the highest leadership by Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, who was there, and even from our own Roberta Metsola, on the fact that in Poland a woman has been convicted for helping another woman to access abortion care, in a country where six women have already died because of the ban on abortion, and that silence from that political leadership, it’s unbearable. It’s unbearable for women out there in Europe. It’s a shame.

Madam President, Justyna Wydrzyńska was just yesterday convicted in a Polish court for helping another woman to access a safe abortion. It is dramatic. It’s a shameful first case in Europe. Helping another woman can never be a crime. And still there was not one single word from any of the EU’s highest responsible representatives at the formal sitting marking International Women’s Day this morning. Not a word from Ursula von der Leyen, not a word from Charles Michel, and not a word from our own Roberta Metsola. And their silence is unbearable. It is unacceptable. There is a war on women’s bodies. We are the battleground for conservative and religious fundamentalist forces, dogmatic forces. And concretely, we need to see more action now. We need you to recognise the connection between dismantling of democracy and the rule of law, and attacks on SRHR, women’s rights defenders and LGBTI defenders in Europe, today. And we need you to sanction countries like Poland for breaching the rule of law. And we need you – the Commission – to launch a strategy to defend sexual and reproductive health and rights defenders and women’s rights activists and LGBTI activists in Europe, today. Not outside Europe: in Europe, today. The time for solidarity is now.

Mr President, thank you very much. Commissioner, President. 26,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean since 2014. They have names, they have families, they were someone's loved ones. If we take it in, then we realize that the answer must be more rescue, more life-saving at sea. In addition, they must be hailed who are actually out there saving lives. Instead, we see governments blaming and persecuting solidarity organisations, NGOs. We can't have that. My question is: What does the Commission intend to do? What does the Presidency intend to do? Not tomorrow, not when the pact is adopted – but now. It is now that people are drowning. The smuggling model thrives because people have no legal avenues to seek protection. As rapporteur for the resettlement programme at European level, I am pleased that we rowed this in port, but we see far too few places. Much more commitment from Member States is needed, which is only part of the puzzle – it is just one Part of the puzzle. The dangerous journeys continue because people are forced to leave their countries, such as Afghanistan, Iran, Syria. Our demands here today are concrete: The closed militarised borders with the walls of the EPP are not the solution – they increase mortality. We need life-saving operations at sea, preferably EU-coordinated ones. We also need support for NGOs and the life-saving efforts that are already being made today. Outsourcing migration and control to third countries also increases mortality. It's a very dangerous road. Open more legal pathways, create solutions that work to save lives, not to prevent people from coming to Europe.

Madam President, ‘Women, life, freedom’. These protests that were started by Kurdish woman have grown to a revolution. Women and men in Iran are showing extreme courage. The protests have grown to an enormous mobilisation. People are continuing to protest, risking their lives and freedom, for freedom. The regime has answered with only violence. Protesters are being jailed, tortured and even executed. Death penalties are handed down and executions are carried out. It is a horrendous situation. Ethnic minorities are being persecuted – not least Kurdish minorities, including women and LGBTQI people. Yesterday there was a big demonstration here outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg. People are asking us to do more, to stand by the protesters, to stand with all those that are brave enough to stand up against the regime. And we will continue to do all we can. We have to stop the executions. We have to achieve the abolishment of the death penalty. We have to stop deportations from our own Member States back to Iran. We have to sanction those key actors who repress the population. We will have to continue to stand with the brave population as long as it takes.

Madam President, thank you very much. I and many others had been looking forward to the Swedish Presidency. Sweden has long been known to be at the forefront of gender equality, climate and democracy issues. But with this right-wing conservative government leaning on a far-right party rooted in Nazism, many with me have had their expectations dashed. It is actually a government whose prime minister has shaken hands with Holocaust survivor Hédi Fried and said he would never cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, but a year later does just that. It is a government that builds its power on a party, the Sweden Democrats, that admires Putin's best friend in the EU: Orban. It is a government that is currently crawling for Turkey's despot and anti-democratic Erdogan. Anything to join NATO. It is a government that has shut down the Swedish Ministry of the Environment. Yes, you heard that right – which has closed down the Swedish Ministry of the Environment and reduced the Swedish climate budget by 58%. We would have to observe a minute of silence every week over everything you have already managed to destroy in Sweden in this short time – in addition to inviting the extreme right to power. You only lower taxes for those who already have everything, but ordinary people don't get anything. You erode welfare, and then you blame all the problems on immigrants and refugees. You are chessing with the Constitution and our principle of public access. This is an EU Presidency that has no ambitions regarding the rights of refugees, women or LGBTIQ people. It is said that this will be a presidency that will be more bureaucratic, administrative. We can always hope, but I do not feel safe when I know that many of the mechanics who sit there behind are actually racists and anti-democratic Sweden Democrats. That is why I call on all colleagues here in the European Parliament, and in your committees, to hold this Presidency accountable. Not to allow their anti-human and anti-planetary policies to have an impact at EU level. I hope that there will be many of us who stand up for a humane and solidarity-based refugee policy, an ambitious climate policy that can deliver for future generations and credible work for democracy and the rule of law in all Member States. I think that is what citizens are looking forward to. We don't have a day to lose in the climate transition. We do not have a day to lose in the fight to defend our democracy – against Putin and against Orban.

Mr President, my two children have two mothers. We belong together as a family, with love, of course, but also legally speaking. It took some years, some painful judicial and administrative procedures, but we are lucky to be recognised as a family with two legal parents, two mothers. This is not the case for Baby Sara. She’s turning three this December, and she’s stateless in Europe in 2022. So why is she deprived of a nationality? Because she has two mothers. And Bulgaria, despite being convicted in the European Court of Justice, has not corrected this. And this is not an isolated case. Rainbow families all over Europe are having to deal with a patchwork of legislation and administrative procedures in order to get our families recognised, safe – safe for parents and safe for children. It is time for the EU to recognise all children’s rights, all families’ rights, and adopt laws that will make us safe. Our families belong together not only in love, but also legally speaking.

Madam President, there are many forms of violence against women and girls, and there is too little being done to stop it. One cruel form of violence is to deny a woman the right to decide freely over our bodies and our sexuality. Forced pregnancies and a lack of access to abortion care are still a reality in Europe in 2022. We have countries here like Poland, where we have an abortion ban and where women can die even when they are in hospital, like Izabela Sajbor. And we have Malta, which also has a total abortion ban. And in both countries, of course, those who help women to get access, to get the right to decide over their bodies, those people that help, they are persecuted and criminalised. Shame on you! Shame on you, patriarchal, inhuman politicians that persecute those who help. It is time to step up our action. It is time to end forced pregnancies. Every woman in Europe and beyond, of course, must have the right to decide over her body, over her sexuality. It is time for every woman to have the right to free and legal abortion care.

Madam President, thank you very much. Over ten years of attacks on democracy and the rule of law, of attacks on LGBTQ activists, of attacks on human rights defenders. Since 17 inadequate reforms, and not even these, Orban's government can live up to. Commission, the result must be: no money. No money will go to this government. Because unless this money is frozen, there are comrades across Europe who are looking at this situation, who like Orbán just because of his lack of democracy, and who would like to see something similar. We have such powers in my country too, in Sweden. They are called Sweden Democrats. They are impressed by how Orbán can trample on everyone's rights, trample on democracy, trample on the independence of the courts. This is exactly what they want to do in Sweden too – if we are not careful. Don't let this spread. Do not pay any money to Hungary. Ensure respect for democracy and the rule of law.

Mr President, thank you very much. Racism and discrimination are structural in our societies, not an exception. Some examples of this are migration and refugee policy. Refugees and migrants are made scapegoats and are made in the extreme right's narrative to the root of all evil. whereas non-white people are left at sea without being allowed to land and seek refuge in Europe; It's devastating. It costs human lives – and that is racism. We also have a discriminatory labour market where racialised people are exploited. Residence permits and family reunification are linked to your employment and allow employers to exploit racialised people across Europe. That's racism. We have police violence and we have racial profiling. I'm sure you've all seen it. That's racism. Racialised women are exploited in prostitution markets across Europe, without anyone seeming to think that it is a problem that it is precisely these women who should be bought by white men. That's racism. The right, together with the extreme right, for a policy that depletes workers' areas in my country, Sweden. Housing, schools, education – everything is being refurbished when it really needs to be refurbished. When social problems arise, the far right blames people's culture and ethnicity and people's immigrant background. They make it black or white. It is also a form of racism. The anti-racist struggle for us on the left is also to build an equal society. We don't pit people against each other. We are building society together. We bet on everyone. And Member States and the EU need to do more. The policy aims to combat hatred and threats. Policies must put an end to structural discrimination – and policies must build together. That's our job.

My thoughts and hearts go out to the families and loved ones of Juraj and Matúš. My heart goes out to all my LGBTQI siblings in Slovakia who, rightfully so, feel scared and threatened. We in the European Parliament, we stand with you and we stand up for you. But the kind of hatred that ends up taking lives does not appear from nowhere out of the blue. We all know this. We know that this kind of hate against LGBTI people, it exists in far right circles where an ideology of hate and an ideology of violence meet each other. And it is being legitimised by words and deeds, by political leaders that fuelled the discrimination by using hateful rhetoric, scapegoating LGBTI communities. Words matter. Matúš and Juraj, saying your names is to remember you, saying what killed you, far right LGBTQ phobia commits us all to do everything we can to stop it. We need legislation. We need education. We need institutions. We need that every politician and public figure to stand up against this hatred. And we have to start this now.

Madam President, I am just back from the beautiful city of Budapest, where we were several hundred people gathered for three days of activism and mobilising for lesbian rights, for women’s rights, for LGBTI rights, for democracy, for equality, for a vision and a future of democracy, where it is restored in Hungary and where it is protected everywhere in Europe. And we all know that we are 12 years too late, Commissioner. We lost a lot of time. We failed our democratic allies in Hungary. So this time we have to stand more and stronger in solidarity with those that worked tirelessly in Hungary for a democratic country. So the measures that you are proposing, they are far from enough. And let me be clear, the action proposed by Orbán are far from enough. There needs to be sincere steps to restore democracy in Hungary, rule of law, independence of the judiciary, media pluralism and freedom, fundamental rights. What is happening is not enough. And we also have to make sure that the attacks on democracy does not spread. Other authoritarian leaders are watching very closely what is happening in Europe. And it will determine whether others also try to walk the path of Orbán where the far-right has approached power, as in my country, Sweden. Third, this is a test for the conditionality mechanism. It will set the standards and the bar for how it can be used with other countries if we have to. So please don’t fail this one. We cannot afford anything else than restoring democracy. Anything else would be a failure. This is our chance, this is your chance. Council, Commissioner, don’t waste it, do more, do better and ask more from Orbán.

Madam President, here we go again, debating and highlighting the situation in Hungary. I wish we would not have to but the situation when it comes to the independence of the judiciary, media, fundamental rights, women’s rights, refugee’s rights, LGBTI rights, everything is going in the wrong direction. Democracy is under attack in the heart of Europe. Their view of democracy is that if you win an election, you don't have to respect the independence of the judiciary. You don't have to respect the need for free media. You don't have to respect fundamental rights of women or LGBTI people. Well, that's not a vision of democracy that is eligible. You just cannot uphold an ideology like that. That's the far right. That's the extreme right. It's an extremely dangerous threat. And now, it was maybe even just a question of time, we see the attacks on women’s rights, women’s right to decide over our bodies, abortion rights, are being attacked at this very moment. We listen very carefully to Ursula von der Leyen, we listen very carefully to you, Commissioner, but you are not doing enough. We want to have a very, very clear stance. There is going no money to Hungary, to Orbán and his oligarchs, to continue to dismantle democracy. We have been there with the rapporteur, Ms Delbos Corfield, we have been meeting people that stand every day and fight to protect democracy and fundamental rights in Hungary. And we will continue to stand with them. I will go later this month to Hungary to celebrate lesbian visibility and rights and stand up for women’s rights and LGBTI rights in Hungary. And you should know out there that we stand with you, we will stand with everyone fighting for democracy in Hungary but we also expect the Commission to do their part of the work. You are not doing enough. You have to step up.

Madam President-in-Office of the Commission, Madam President, thank you very much. I look with great seriousness and great concern at the time we live in. In my country, Sweden, we look to have a government that rests on a right-wing nationalist and racist party. At the end of the year, my country, Sweden, will take over the EU Presidency. What will it mean for EU climate policy to be dependent on climate deniers? What will it mean for the EU's democracy and rule of law policy that the government of the EU presidency leans on a gang that, on a straight question, cannot choose between Macron and Putin? I am not a supporter of Macron, but I can choose democracy every time I am faced with such a question. I expect you, Madam President of the Commission, and the Commission to do more to stop far-right and right-wing authoritarian forces in Europe. It is needed for the climate, for democracy and for a common future. We on the left will do everything we can. We demand a climate policy that listens to scientists, not to climate deniers. We will continue to call for tough action against Poland and Hungary, which are trampling on democracy and the rule of law. Free media, independent courts, a vibrant civil society – it is not a luxury, it is a prerequisite here in Europe. We will continue to stand up for women's right to abortion, for us to have control over our bodies. We will stand up for the rights of LGBTIQ people. The fact that a candidate country, namely Serbia, is now trying to ban a march of pride, is simply unacceptable! Russia’s war against Ukraine – this terrible war – is also demanding of us. Of course, we need to invest in renewables and become independent of Putin, but we also need to redo our energy market. I welcome the proposals you have put forward – but we will see when they are on the table. We have to tax excess profits much more heavily than you have said here today. There is no time to lose – I really mean no time to lose! I expect that, unlike the Swedish right, you will not lean on far-right forces. Then it's over. We cannot stand up for the climate. We cannot stand up for democratic rights. Then we cannot stand up for welfare, and we cannot stand up for what we need to build a sustainable Europe. That's the point now. We have no time to lose.

Madam President, if unwanted pregnancies was something that happened to men, we would have an abortion clinic in every town, every village – several of them. They would probably be quite nice places, maybe cosy, where you were met in a very nice way, could have a chat, could have a talk, and where you would be received with no shame, no stigma, no judgement. That’s the way it should have been. Instead, we live in a society where there are strong political forces that want to control our lives and sexuality. The US Supreme Court wants to ban abortion. In Poland they have already banned abortion, and now they want to mass—register pregnant women. In Malta, abortion is banned, and access is severely limited in several European countries. But we, feminists here, we are not having it! Everywhere in the world, women are mobilising for our right to decide freely over our bodies and our sexuality. Everywhere in the world, we show concrete solidarity by, for example, providing the ‘day after’ pill. And everywhere in the world, we will stand in political solidarity with the US women, but also globally, until we have claimed the right to free, legal and accessible abortion care everywhere.

Poland already has a total ban on abortion, and now you’re making a mass register of pregnant women. For me, this is dystopian, it’s totalitarian, it does not belong in a democratic society. You are treating women like cattle. How dare you? How dare you?

– Ms Fitzgerald, I know that you have played a very important role in Ireland, where we never thought that we would have that positive development. You managed in Ireland to legalise abortion care in a country where everyone thought it would be impossible; it was so conservative. We still see today in this Chamber that in the right wing groups there is a lot of resistance. That’s where the resistance to abortion care and abortion rights for women comes from. So what is your best advice to convince the whole of this Chamber? Because I would like to be here in the next vote we have and to have much stronger support also from the right wing. So I would like to hear your advice on that.