Speeches

Madam President, Madam Commission President, Vice-President, thank you. Prime Minister, you are taking over the Presidency of the Council in challenging times. This is beyond doubt. One of these big challenges is our dependency on fossil fuels. You mentioned that environmentally, but also geopolitically, we are paying a high price for this dependency. Turning towards a green economy is key to tackling our climate challenges, but also to get rid of very inconvenient dependencies, as we see these days, and this should be the Council’s presidency goal, too. We have to be not only ambitious, but also consistent. And this is clearly not the case with the taxonomy proposal. This proposal does not live up to our ambitions, but also does not live up to the consistency of our policies for climate neutrality. That’s why I hope later today this Parliament will vote down this proposal. Prime Minister, there are reforms like energy transition that we can undertake under the current Treaties, but others demand Treaty changes. In that sense, I must say that I regret that the Czech Government is one of the signatories rejecting the possibility to change the Treaties. As you know very well, this Parliament is indeed pushing for a convention to amend the Treaties and I hope that the Council will activate Article 48, the sooner the better. Our demand is also in line with the Conference on the Future of Europe conclusions, which, amongst other things, asked for putting an end to national vetoes. And I hope you will help implementing what European citizens asked us to do. And finally, I welcome that the programme of your Presidency includes efforts towards advancing negotiations on the Pact on Migration and Asylum. It is high time to close this deal. We urgently need a migration and asylum policy that strikes a fair balance between our demographic and economic needs, the need for solidarity between Member States, and the need to put fundamental rights at the forefront. I ask you, Prime Minister, to work in this direction.

Madam President, despite the fact that we live in a context of intense geopolitical competition, that we are unfortunately returning to the politics of confronted blocs and that globalisation is being questioned due to some of its outcomes, we need to uphold more than ever multilateralism and its institutions. Never before have we been so connected with each other, and our challenges so interconnected. We must continue to find common solutions to common challenges within the framework of multilateral institutions. The EU must help to keep multilateral institutions and international organisations alive and functioning. However, they must be effective, operational and rules based. If this is not so, which is actually the case of some decades-old institutions, they must be reformed. Finally, and importantly, the EU should be more active in building strong alliances with democratic counterparts, sharing our values which are increasingly under threat. We need to ensure that these values that have fostered progress, democracy, justice and human rights are the driving force of global governance.

Madam President, thank you very much. I’m glad to see that in this report, we welcome Kosovo’s efforts to advance the reforms that will bring the country closer to the EU, that we recognise progress being made in a number of areas, and that we praise the support of institutions and the majority of the population to become members of the EU. But despite all of this, five member states, including Spain, are stubbornly resisting to recognise Kosovo as an independent state, a state that very soon will formally ask us for membership. The situation is absurd, even more so when the non-recognition is looking at internal situations and for the fear of setting precedents regarding the ways to achieve statehood, as is clearly the case with Spain. The independence of Kosovo is irreversible legal, democratic, and it has been a reality for years. Hindering Kosovo’s European perspective by not recognising its independence is selfish and weakens our Union.

Madam President, the tragedy on Melilla's doorstep does not deserve a congratulation to the police action, nor that all the blame be laid on the mafias. It does not deserve the erection of higher fences, or the adoption of the inflammatory discourses and practices of the far right. It deserves that we wake up at once, that we react, that we practice a little humanity. As long as people in southern countries, particularly young people, do not have minimally dignified living conditions, many of them will be willing to lose what little they have left to aspire to a better life among us. And this is a tremendous, but legitimate decision. We need the Council to unblock the Pact on Migration and Asylum, but we also need a genuine plan for Africa, to genuinely contribute to the development of African countries. This is even more urgent in a context of famine and instability. If we do not prioritise a European plan for Africa, we will regret more tragedies at the gates of the Union, which are already the gates of shame.

Mr President, some of the conclusions from the CoFE picture a more ambitious Europe that to be turned into reality requires changes in the Treaties. And this demand for change comes at a very timely moment where several crises are clearly reinforcing the case for more Europe. Now the question is whether the Conference’s efforts, particularly those from the citizens’ component, are going to be in vain, or they will mean a boost to more integration and reshape our Union into a stronger, more efficient and accountable democracy, better fit for today’s world. Now we, the Parliament, have the historical opportunity to ask for the revision of the Treaties for the convening of a convention that brings about much-needed changes, such as the end of vetoes. And this will be essential, not only to honour the legacy of the Conference, but also to better protect European values and to advance a more efficient and, why not, a more federal Europe.

Madam President, the Nicaraguan Government will probably tell us that, with this resolution, once again, we are getting into its internal affairs, that we are interfering in its sovereignty. But not: This is not about sovereignty, this is about human rights. Because, when in a country there are dozens of political prisoners, including opposition candidates, human rights defenders, when in a matter of weeks almost four hundred civil society organizations are closed under the pretext of applying the law, but with the real intention of silencing any dissenting voice, when the judges perhaps impart the law, but surely not justice, thus becoming another instrument of repression, when all this happens, we cannot be silent, we have to denounce this situation, it happens in the country that occurs, and demand respect for human, civil and political rights, and ask the European Union to contribute with its instruments to reverse this situation.

Madam President, the great political project of the European Union today, and for the coming years, is called the Green Deal. A great deal to transform our destructive relationship with the environment and natural resources and curb climate change. It is a great transformation that requires the effort of everyone and compensation such as the Social Climate Fund so that no one is left behind. It's an unpostponable transformation. The scientific evidence of the climate crisis and the examples we see on a daily basis are overwhelming. Given this situation, lowering the ambition of the Objective 55 package would be a serious mistake. We can't give ourselves more time because we don't have this time. The current context of economic uncertainty cannot be an excuse to continue to delay our commitment to the next generations to the utmost irresponsibility. A just green transformation, based on innovation and technology, is not only the only way to tackle the climate and energy crisis, but also an opportunity to modernise and strengthen our economies. We have to live up to the moment.

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, Putin’s criminal adventures make it very urgent now to disconnect from Russian fossil fuels. But we must not only become independent of Russian gas and oil: we need to disconnect from all gas and oil, no matter where it comes from, because all of it accelerates climate change. We must avoid that the urgency of finding alternatives to the supply of Russian gas and oil leads us to strategies, investment and contracts that will end up prolonging the use of these fossil fuels. It wouldn’t be wise to get rid of a politically uncomfortable dependency on gas to generate others, maybe not so uncomfortable, but just as harmful to the planet. Because the real alternative is to speed up the deployment of renewables, setting more ambitious targets, establishing new legal obligations, and offering more European funding for deployment. That’s why we welcome REPowerEU, but without forgetting that the goal is to remove fossil fuels from our energy mix as quickly as possible and at the same time create 100% clean generation model that is local and distributed.

Mr President, I condemn in the strongest terms the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqla, as well as the wounding of Ali al—Samoudi. I express my utmost shock at the attacks by Israeli forces at her funeral procession where thousands of Palestinians gathered in mourning. This killing constitutes a very grave attack on press freedom. The targeting of journalists and media in Palestine must cease. More than 40 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the year 2000. More than ever, journalists are key to expose the protracted climate of impunity and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territories. I call for an immediate, thorough, independent investigation into the killing and the violence at the funeral, and for those responsible to be held accountable. I call on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to cooperate with such investigation, and I call on the EU to go beyond a statement of condemnation. We cannot be a passive bystander in front of such crimes. This attack happens in a context of growing tensions and violence, with terrorist attacks in Israeli cities, increased settler violence around the settlements, clashes at the holy sites in Jerusalem during Ramadan, and forced evictions and demolitions in the West Bank, including of EU—funded projects. Until when has this to go on? Enough is enough. I call on the EU to take, at long last, a resolute initiative to uphold international law in the region and to secure genuine negotiations towards a two—state solution.

Mr President, democracies, when they are not taken care of, degenerate. There is a fine line between a solid democracy, which guarantees rights and freedoms at all times, and a democracy that in certain cases violates rights and freedoms. Every time this line is crossed and no action is taken, every time one looks the other way, the governments that protect these violations feel more unpunished to continue eroding the foundations of democracy. Commissioner, in the European Union we have governments that like to play spies, but even worse, they like to practice political espionage. And some fanatics of reason of state, circumstantial democrats, dare even to justify it. I have been one of the sixty-five Catalan pro-independence victims of Pegasus. Most likely we have been spied on by the Spanish secret services. I have some questions for the political leaders of my espionage. Who gave the order to violate my right to privacy and that of my family? Was there judicial clearance? If there wasn't, we're facing a flagrant crime. And if there was, how could a judge have authorized such massive espionage that violates so many rights? Where's the data I've been robbed of? What have they used them for? How much public money have you squandered on my espionage? This week we have learned that President Sanchez and Minister of Defense Robles allege that they have also been victims of Pegasus, although we also know that they knew it for a long time. Have you chosen this moment to send the message that with ours there is not much, because in the end there are many victims of Pegasus and here everyone spies? Do you want to normalize or dilute our case, the scandal of catalangate? We must not tolerate political espionage in the European Union. There are no first- and second-rate spies. There are no less bad spy governments than others. Commissioner, you must demand explanations from all the governments that have illegally used Pegasus. And it is up to us, all of us, to demand transparency and accountability and to legislate so that this never happens again.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, the Conference on the Future of Europe has been an interesting democratic experiment with promising results in terms of further European integration. It has provided a way for citizens, especially those randomly chosen for the panels, to lead the debate and to decide on recommendations for the future. However, it has failed to reach a wider audience and to have a relevant impact on public opinion, and we have to admit it as well. Many of the proposals are an invitation to reform the Union through changes in the Treaties, increasing the Union’s powers, putting in place better decision-making and allocating a stronger role for our Parliament, and that is good. But I regret that highly endorsed proposals in the digital platform, like the one on a clarity mechanism to apply the right to self-determination, have simply been ignored. Now, the official ending of the conference should mean the beginning of a reform process, a reform that incorporates the lessons learnt during the last years and brings about a stronger, more federal European Union. Yes, let’s honour the conference results with the convention. If not now, then when?

Madam President, strengthening cooperation in research and innovation worldwide is essential in tackling together global challenges such as climate change, delivering innovative solutions to them, and fostering societal progress on a global scale. Reinforcing the EU’s leading role in this field is therefore a key dimension to our international action. While joining forces with key non-EU partners with a strong R and I base – we have to join forces with them – but also at the same time we need to scale up cooperation with other partners that maybe don’t have such a strong base, but where research and innovation has a huge potential to accelerate sustainable and inclusive development like, for instance, in Africa. To do so efficiently, we need to be as open as possible. But this should not apply at all costs. We have to hold fast, as the main necessity, when fundamental values such as academic freedom, research ethics, gender equality or international law provisions are at stake. In that regard, we are witnessing a dangerous trend where academic freedom becomes more endangered. We need further action to counter this tendency, and that is why we are proposing in our resolution that the Commission establishes a programme to support fellowships or stays for researchers that are currently at risk. Like this, we can tackle attacks to academic freedom while attracting talent into the EU. Finally, being open in our global approach to R and I has to be compatible with identifying and preserving our technological and scientific assets that are key to our strategic autonomy.

Madam President, the criminal invasion of Ukraine by Russia will probably accelerate the geopolitical alignment between China and Russia which has been going on for a while. Obviously, China is not celebrating the invasion, but neither has it openly condemned it. China has sided with Russia’s false arguments, has refused to join the sanctions, and we suspect they might help Putin dodge them. There’s a strategic alliance between big authoritarian regimes – as imbalanced as it may be – because Russia needs China much more than China needs Russia. At the end of the day, it’s an alliance to better counter our strong relations with our like-minded partners. How should we Europeans react to this? President Xi calls for an independent EU approach toward China. I rather think we need to have an approach which, taking into account our significant trade and economic ties, also preserves our strategic interests and values and, together with our partners, ensures human rights and international law. Last week’s summit was an excellent opportunity to display such an approach, but as usual when it comes to China, I am not sure that we fully took advantage of that opportunity.

Madam President, Commissioner, five years ago, the end of borders for mobile tariffs was a before and after for users. The application of the regulations over the years has been a success, demonstrating not only the opportunity, but also the viability of it. Today, with the extension of the regulation on the for the next ten years, we take a further step by strengthening the principle of "" and the guarantees of quality of service provision. Thanks to Parliament's role during the negotiations, we have succeeded in gradually lowering the maximum prices that operators charge each other for the use of the network, thus facilitating greater market diversification. It is also noteworthy that more numbers of emergency services are included, which should be provided at no additional cost to the user of roaming. Finally, in short, I believe that the text assigns acceptable obligations to operators, while strengthening the rights of users to access mobile services with the same quality and at the same price as in their country of origin. Finally, I would like to thank the rapporteur and the other shadow rapporteurs for the work they have done.

Madam President, four weeks into Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, what is certain is that this war is not proceeding according to the Kremlin’s fullest plans, latterly due to the impressive resistance of the Ukrainian people and a strong response from the European Union and our international allies. Our priority now has to be ending this war. No more devastated Mariupols. This requires bold action on three levels. First, keep mobilising material means and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine resist the Russian attack. Second, increase the pressure on the Kremlin and its entourage, through new sanctions – which, yes, have to include energy – now. Sanctions alone will not stop Putin, but they will greatly increase the cost of his war. Finally, promote honest diplomatic negotiations. The Strategic Compass is an attempt to give the EU a little more of hard power but a little less, maybe, of soft power. But even if defence cooperation is more timely than ever, our geopolitical awakening will only be real if we are able to combine capabilities and resilience with diplomatic, effective influence.

Madam President, Jean Monnet was definitely right when he wrote in his memoirs, ‘Europe will be forged in crisis’. The EU’s response to the terrible crisis provoked by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been swift, united and strong. It’s an answer that lives up to the seriousness of the moment, the worst security crisis in Europe since the end of the Second World War, and it has allowed us, EU citizens, to feel convinced that, by helping Ukraine in almost every way we can, we are defending the pillars of our common European house as well. Whether this determination will lead the EU finally to become a geopolitical player is still to be seen. We have progressed a lot in just a few days, it’s true, but there is still much more to be done and much more convergence in foreign and security policy to be achieved. What is for sure is that the EU’s response has been one of Putin’s many miscalculations. He expected the usual disunity and vague diplomatic jargon, but instead he has got unprecedented sanctions for his regime and unprecedented solidarity with Ukraine. It is now of the utmost importance that the EU’s unity and solidarity holds in the event of a prolonged war, and even when the economic reverberations of the war start hitting our economies. Our unity will be key to make Putin end his bloody war. While decisive progress in shaping our own security and defence is to be expected in the months to come, we must not forget or relinquish the role that real diplomacy will have to regain at some point in this painful conflict. The sooner, the better. We will also have to be ready to play a key role in that.

Mr President, if, back in October, we were right to be concerned about rising energy prices, we now have every reason to be even more concerned. Putin’s criminal attack against Ukraine further increases energy prices. We will see more vulnerable households and small businesses struggling to pay their bills. Governments will have to support them with direct measures, and that’s why I welcome some of the proposals made today by the Commission like decoupling electricity prices from gas prices. At the same time, Putin’s war seems to be finally accelerating our decisions to become energy independent. However, we don’t want to escape from one dependency to fall into another one. Diversifying gas routes and building new gas facilities cannot be the core of our response. It takes time to build new infrastructure – time we lack – and it diverts money that should be invested in energy efficiency and renewables. Moving fast towards renewables and a green hydrogen—based economy is the only scenario where we will be able to tackle both the climate crisis and blackmailing from despots willing to play games with us.

Madam President, as, today and tomorrow, leaders of Africa and the EU meet to discuss the way forward in EU—Africa relations, we in this Parliament have to regret and condemn again a coup d'état in an African country, this time in Burkina Faso. Three Western African states, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, are now led by officers who came to power by the use of force. There have been more successful coups in Africa in the first two years of the 2020s than in the whole previous decade. This trend should worry us all. The underlying reason behind Ouagadougou coup is a growing insecurity caused by the jihadist insurgency in the north, which the Government failed to contain, and indeed putting an end to terrorism in the country and in the whole Sahel region is a priority. But Burkina Faso is facing multiple crises resulting from the compounding effects of deep poverty, food insecurity, conflict, forced displacements, climate change, poor governance and equal access to basic services. Focusing only on security concerns will not pull the country out from its deep crisis. The fact that the President Kaboré’s overthrow was rather met with contempt by a majority of the population does not make it a better kind of coup. Soldiers claiming to be better fit than civilians to take political decisions is never the right answer. The coup has to be rightly condemned, and we have to insist on the immediate release of President Kaboré, a swift return to civilian government, and the fact that the interim government respect its international commitments, notably as regards human rights, while also facilitating the work of humanitarian organisations. Apart from that, we will have to react with a kind of principled pragmatism that can contribute to stabilising the country. We have join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union in demanding that the new government provides, with the shortest delay possible, a roadmap for a return to the constitutional order. We need to receive solid guarantees of that and, if we get them, we have to engage and maintain dialogue, as the resolution proposes, to make sure the new authorities live up to their promises. Otherwise, we might end up having the same situation as in Mali, where the regime made similar pledges after the coup yet it ended up hardening their stance, resorting to Russian help and postponing the return to democracy. This would be a bad outcome for the Burkinabé population, but also for the region at large.

Mr President, the human rights record of the Iranian regime is appalling. The death penalty is one of the cruellest manifestations of this. Despite repeated calls from the international community, the authorities keep carrying out death sentences with an average of around one per day in 2021. The country is one of the few in the world that executes minors and juvenile offenders in clear violation of international law. The number of executions of citizens belonging to minorities, especially Baloch, Kurds, Arabs and Baháʼí, is disproportionately high. And the death penalty in Iran is, to a large extent, an instrument to intimidate, persecute and try to eradicate any kind of political opposition in the country. I call once again on the Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners and all prisoners of conscience. The situation has only worsened since Ebrahim Raisi took power last June, with executions rising to 271 – 11 of them women. No wonder, given his well-documented role in the 1988 massacre and in the brutal suppression of the November 2019 protests. The culture of impunity has been prevailing in the country for too many decades. Iranian society deserves justice and reparation, and they also deserve to live in a free, inclusive and democratic country that respects human rights and dignity.

Mr President, Commissioner, alarms are going off in the Iberian Peninsula because we are certainly going through a long period of significantly below-average rainfall. Reserves are very low. In the case of Catalonia, which is the case that I know best, about 50%, and there is concern about harvests. In some territories the situation is alarming and in others, to say the least, worrying. These periods of water scarcity will probably occur more frequently due to climate change, although in the case of the Mediterranean basin some models point to a few days of rain, but with greater intensity of precipitation. In any case, what is certain is that droughts in southern Europe are nothing new. We have suffered a few in recent decades, so it would be difficult to explain that this situation, relatively recurrent, caught governments unprepared to face this situation. And there are duties that governments have to do in terms of managing the water cycle – expanding and updating technical resources, policies for water reuse in agricultural and industrial uses, improvements in supply, abstractions, deposits, reducing losses in the network, diversifying sources at local level – with the aim of gaining room for manoeuvre to be able to anticipate decisions. It is not a matter of governing at the stroke of emergency decrees but of anticipating and adapting to potentially emergency situations and the consequences of climate change. Therefore, there are tools, there are resources, but there must also be the agility and political will to anticipate climate emergencies.

Mr President, there are a growing number of authoritarian regimes run by kleptocrats and extractive elites. They blatantly use power to enrich themselves, while repressing dissenting voices to ensure that they can continue to steal with impunity. Against this background, the EU needs to lead global efforts to end systemic corruption, which erodes human rights, institutionalises crime and perpetuates inequalities. We should take full advantage of our foreign policy toolbox in order to tackle big corruption. But corruption is a complex and global phenomenon that, in one way or another, affects all countries and therefore requires efforts both at international level and at home. In this regard, the EU needs to be more effective in combating, within its borders, issues like tax evasion, illicit trade, banking secrecy and money laundering, shortcomings in the implementation by Member States of EU anti-corruption regulations, EU—based secrecy jurisdictions and tax havens, and certain financial and legal actors based in the EU. All this emboldens corrupt actors outside the EU and allows the disguising of illicit financial flows into the EU. Therefore, our report includes a call to recognise the responsibility of certain EU—based individuals and entities as enablers or beneficiaries of corruption abroad and to take action. It is time for the EU to push back against the global threat of kleptocracy, and this also requires acting against complicity happening right before our eyes.

Madam President, one cannot be too optimistic regarding the recent evolution of human rights on a global scale. The rise of authoritarianism and backsliding of some democracies are trends that bring with them a backlash against civil society and media voices of dissent and universal values and norms. COVID-19 has only reinforced these trends. We know that all authoritarian rulers like to pretend that there are human rights – western style or eastern style or a north or south version of them. But the reality is that there are only universal human rights, all based on human dignity, which is the same in every corner of the globe. And we strive for their protection everywhere, always, with no excuses, with no subjugation to economic or political interests. Our report suggests more action and more coherence where we are convinced that the EU could do more – for instance, in trade, migration or support for human rights defenders. One specific request worth mentioning, especially with all the embarrassing news we get every day of new cases being uncovered, is on privacy, data protection and surveillance. We call on the EU to take the lead in support of a global moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of spyware technology, which is so at odds with human rights when used against activists, journalists and opposition figures. In the struggle to uphold human rights universally, the EU and its Member States must lead by example or we risk losing credibility. Unfortunately, this is still the case all too often, whether in areas of privacy or in other areas where fundamental rights are certainly at stake.

Mr President of the Republic, there are several ways to make the European Union stronger. One of them is to fully respect diversity. We cannot be afraid of diversity, nor can we be wary of democracy, because these are elements that must be at the heart of our common action. But diversity, especially linguistic diversity, is not having a good time in Europe today. In Catalonia, Spanish courts want to overturn the educational model that has allowed all students to master both Catalan and Spanish. In France, languages such as Occitan, Corsican, Breton, Alsatian, Basque and Catalan are still considered second class. Be courageous so that these languages have the rights and resources they deserve, as the Molac law originally intended. Mr President, you talked about the European promise of democracy. We hope, then, that in the European Union you will work for respect for the democratic right of all peoples to choose their best future.

Madam President, this is the third resolution, the third debate on Cuba that we have in this Parliament this year, and I cannot tell you anything different from what I said the last time we talked about Cuba in September. These are three very clear messages. The first message is to lament, denounce, criticize, the authoritarian response that the Cuban government continues to give to any expression of dissent, whether from the civic space, whether from the artistic world or from any minimally political articulation of the opposition. The Cuban Government must respect the right to peaceful demonstration, the right to free expression, and I believe that the Cuban Government would be wrong if it thought that, since the 15M march did not take place, nothing has happened here. No, it does happen: There is frustration, there are economic and social hardships that lead to this expression of malaise. Second message: when this Parliament makes a resolution on Cuba, that resolution is not balanced if there is no criticism and condemnation of the US blockade, which does have an impact on the socio-economic situation of Cubans. And third message: We also believe that the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba is the framework, is the space, where to continue trying to help the Cuban people towards the path of more freedom and democracy.

Mr President, we were already warned of the dangers of vaccine inequality. We already knew that in a highly interconnected world like ours, no one would be truly safe until everyone is safe. The longer it takes to achieve high rates of vaccination on a global scale, the greater the likelihood the new variants emerge that this become more resistant to existing vaccines. When you look at real numbers, the comparison between vaccination rates with high-income countries and low-income ones, particularly Africa, is frightening. They tell us about a moral failure. While many people here are getting their third jab, around 90% in Africa haven’t even got one dose yet. Meanwhile, COVAX, the global mechanism that was supposed to facilitate equal sharing of vaccines, is failing to meet its goals, despite the EU being at the forefront of global efforts. This is not enough. Lack of real solidarity will only make this pandemic last longer. We need to send a supply of vaccines faster, overcome bottlenecks in deliveries and open up production to developing countries while also fighting against the other pandemic, the disinformation pandemic. A temporary lifting of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, as this Parliament has called for, would make vaccine protection more global, faster and cheaper, thus giving the virus fewer chances and less time to mutate into new variants. Unfortunately, this waiver is still being blocked, amongst others, by the EU. We are now entering the third year of our lives with COVID. It is about time to look at the pandemic as a global reality, and to vaccines as a global public good. It is time to learn the right lessons from this pandemic and to be better prepared when others come.