Debate contributions by Alex AGIUS SALIBA

Mr President, Commissioner, a lot has changed in the 30 years since the first World Summit for Social Development. Millions of people were lifted out of poverty, but still, it is far from being eradicated. Even within the EU, we can see what the cost of living crisis did to the most vulnerable people within our society. If anything, inequality seems on the rise and the arrival of a class of ultra‑rich tech billionaires is continuing to complicate things further. Reducing poverty and inequality should be our priority, from the local to the global level. The best way to social inclusion is to provide people with a quality job that has good working conditions. This goes beyond decent pay. In times of digitalisation, we see new forms of exploitation of workers. In Europe, we are seeing workers being pushed to the limit by algorithmic system management. In this new reality, workers' rights need to be respected. While the digital divide is growing, social inclusion will depend on digital literacy for all workers.

Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission, In every democracy, the rules must apply fairly, equitably to all, without any kind of exception. We know that European sovereignty is under threat in the digital sphere. Following the great efforts that this House has made during the past legislature, to push forward and approve legislation, which was the first in the world, which has put the European Union at the forefront of digital regulation such as the DSA, the DMA, the AI Act, it is now time, in the end, to move to the next step and ensure that enforcement is done in a fair and good way. Only then will our citizens get back the results from this legislation, which we have worked so hard for, and it will only be when When, Apple, X, TikTok, Google and others start to abide by our rules, that we ultimately get there. And they need to do it by changing their traditional business model. So far they have changed very little and have done so often against their hearts and this is not just a situation of imposing fines. It is a situation where the European Commission should demonstrate that it does not agree with this kind of way these platforms are working and should ultimately do so in order to protect the laws of the European Union, our democracy. And despite U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks, violations must be met with sanctions without hesitation. These threats should ultimately trigger, as soon as possible, the anti-cohesion mechanism. That is why the Digital Omnibus, and here we should be very careful, should not be a clock-back exercise, which sends a message that we will be reducing the implementation of our regulation. Furthermore, it is also important that in this unprecedented situation, which we are facing, where we have a number of digital attacks taking place around us, at our airports and in the systems most vulnerable to our citizens, it is important to reduce the dependence of our technologies from outside the European continent. And so we strengthen our digital sovereignty as soon as possible.

Ms President, some pride I felt yesterday when on the Maltese Embassy, for the first time, I saw the Palestinian flag rise after the recognition that Malta formally made a few days ago at the United Nations of the Palestinian State. And I think that at this stage we are currently in it is important that before we start talking about a two-state solution, we call on all our Member States as soon as possible, which would be the strongest message to recognise the Palestinian State. Why? Because it is important that the Palestinian people have a strong voice if we ultimately want to find a fair solution, a just solution after this human tragedy that we have seen develop in Gaza. Following this genocide that has taken place in the face of us, following this massive killing of children, young people, women, innocents over the past weeks, months and now years, two full years, so it is of the utmost importance to see that the Palestinian people have a strong voice, now, that it is supposed to find a way forward so that in the Middle East we really have peace to make ...

Madam President, Prime Minister, allow me to ask you about your government's AI strategy to achieve digital sovereignty by 2030. Soon, we will be halfway through the evaluation of Europe's digital decade and unfortunately, we are not meeting our targets. We need to learn fast because the digital transition is not waiting and we need to catch up. The fact is that Europe has become overly dependent on foreign technological infrastructure, provided mainly by big US tech corporations. One of those, Amazon, is based in your country and by now, is the biggest employer in Luxembourg. It makes me wonder how you deliver on sovereign cloud solutions and other infrastructural aspects that underpin your AI supercomputer ecosystem. What is the interaction between Amazon Web Services and the sovereign technological stack that you are aiming for? Could you enlighten us and also the Commission with your approach in this quest for a tech ecosystem and AI development in line with our democratic values and the roles of the AI Act and GDPR?

Madam President, at a time when protectionism continues to rise around us and we are seeing the effects of protectionism and market value that, ultimately, the United States is moving forward, I think it should open our eyes, make us more appreciative of the value of the European single market. A duty-free market between Member States. A market which, ultimately, also regulates the quality of the products we buy and consume, the standards of these products. And in small Member States such as countries, like Malta, we appreciate this value much and much more as we also depend on many imports. Ultimately, however, we must see that the European single market works fairly, equitably for all, including small Member States such as Malta, such as Cyprus, like Luxembourg, where in countries, for example, when comparing a number of essential product prices between Malta and other Member States, it sees major differences. We need to extend the common market also to medicinal products. Again, small Member States such as Malta are seeing major problems with the registration of medicinal products in each Member State and thus a marked difference and variation in the prices of medicinal products on a European basis. But also when it comes to the availability of these products for our patients, the most vulnerable people and so it is important to further strengthen the European single market, ensure a level playing field when it comes to prices. But we see that we also expand the European single market for medicinal products to provide the best service for our patients.

Madam President, first of all I would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support to give a fairer deal to our consumers. Now, in accordance with Rule 60(4), I request referral back to the committee responsible for interinstitutional negotiations.

Ms President, Commissioner. In Malta we understand more the importance of the common market. And why do we do that? Perhaps more than other Member States. Because we are an island country that necessarily want to import the most essential products from the European continent on a daily basis. We can talk a lot about legislation, about streamlining the rules of the European internal market. But ultimately, when do our citizens, our consumers appreciate the European single market? It's when they go to pay. And what our consumers, especially Maltese and Gozitan consumers, are noticing is the difference in the price they are paying for the most essential products compared to other Member States. And so this reduces trust, trust in the European single market which, ultimately, is the most fundamental and important element for the European project. And so we have to see and work so that, in addition to having common standards, we have low prices and higher product quality. Thus, the European internal market remains relevant in the eyes of people. We can give the best deal to our customers.

Madam President, before I conclude, I would like to thank first and foremost to all the shadows that have collaborated to find consensus on this very important file. We have different political opinions; a different political background; we come from different Member States with very different realities, with specific interests, specific practices, also in the tourism industry; but still we came together and struck a balance between what we have heard from travel agents and also what we have heard from consumer associations, and directly from consumers, to find the right balance between these different interests. And in this delicate exercise, which we will take forward towards the Member States in the trilogue negotiations, we are hoping to ultimately find the right balance to increase consumer protection, but at the same time also strengthen our tourist operators. Therefore we want to keep vouchers voluntary – and this is an important line for my political group. We want to keep the protection and insurance of travel organisers in case of bankruptcy in place. Let us see the positive in this file that can make the difference for holidaymakers around Europe. And I count on your support in the vote that we have tomorrow.

Mr President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, it is the worst possible holiday experience being stranded in a far-off place as a traveller because your travel organiser went bankrupt. Luckily, we have strong EU consumer protection in place that makes sure that travel organisers and their consumers are insured. Still, we as Parliament asked for an update to the rules for package travel. We need to learn from the experiences from the default of Thomas Cook, which affected hundreds of thousands of European holidaymakers. In addition, the consequences of travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to update our rules on what will happen in extraordinary circumstances and also to regulate the use of vouchers. We have to thank, first and foremost, the European Commission for a very ambitious proposal, which I took as a firm basis in my work as rapporteur. For me personally, and also for my political family, the interests of our citizens, of our consumers and strengthening their protection is the starting point and number one priority. Coming from Malta, one of Europe's finest holiday destinations, the tourism industry is something which is very close to home. Many travel agencies that organise these packages are small, privately owned businesses and we want to support them and therefore we needed to find a very balanced approach. It is my conviction that we achieved such a balance in the report that we will be voting on tomorrow. One aspect that received quite some attention was the definition of 'package travel'. This, in the end, decides whether or not a consumer will receive protection from the Directive. We kept a special eye out for potential circumvention and made sure that if a travel organiser directly retargets a traveller with additional services within 24 hours, this will still constitute a package. In exchange, we removed the concept of linked travel arrangements that was very unclear for organisers and not useful either for consumers. This was an important request coming directly from the travel industry. Another important element are the rights of consumers to terminate a package without paying a fee in the case of extraordinary circumstances at the place of departure, destination and journey. If such a circumstance prohibits you from travelling in the 28 days before your travel you have the right to terminate. When deciding if the consumer can cancel the travel warnings of national authorities, like the ones during the COVID-19 pandemic, are also taken into account. The right to a refund must happen within 14 days, and the right to a refund will become a right that each and every traveller can enjoy. For the first time, we are regulating the use of vouchers and we make it clear that they should remain voluntary for consumers to accept. After a validity of 12 months, travellers that did not use a voucher should get a refund of the original value of the amount that they paid for the travel package. For all these rules enforcement, like everything, will always remain key. This is why we introduced two new aspects: harmonisation of fines and, very importantly, a complaint handling mechanism. Those companies that infringe the Package Travel Directive can face a minimum fine of 4 % of annual turnover, which we introduce. In addition, to make sure that you get an answer in case of issues, we created a complaint handling mechanism with mandatory deadlines to keep. You need to get a first answer within 7 working days and a reasoned reply within 30 working days. Consumer protection on paper looks nice, but this mandatory complaint mechanism will help you to get your rights respected as a traveller. I know that there is a growing political divide in this House on many different political issues, but I am happy to see that we can come together in a broad majority on issues that really matter for our voters: to book and enjoy a holiday with peace of mind and get help or protection if something goes wrong, or if they are faced with unexpected circumstances. If you support this report, we will deliver on a good piece of legislation for holidaymakers. This is close to the people we try to serve in this very House.

When discussing the state of the European Union, Ms President, we cannot ignore the state of the world around us. Our electorate is asking you to stop the murder in Gaza. The association agreement with the Israeli Government as a whole, not parts thereof, has been completely terminated. There can be no business as usual with a country committing genocide. This is contrary to our treaties. European citizens are also concerned about what could happen, what could emerge from an unpredictable President in the White House. And today we have heard the total silence about it. We cannot be blackmailed to weaken our digital laws due to tensions in transatlantic trade. Following what the US administration said about the DSA, you should activate the anti-coercion mechanism as soon as possible. Europe must become more resilient and invest in its digital public infrastructure. We are 80 percent dependent on foreign technologies. It should be our priority to bring this figure down by 2030, i.e. at the end of the digital decade. We need the right to disconnect, an ambitious affordable housing strategy and more social assistance for our citizens as soon as possible.

Mr President, colleagues, the European citizens' initiative is a strong reminder of the central role that citizens should play in European politics. When it comes to cohesion policy, the role of our citizens who are directly affected, ultimately, when it comes to this policy, when it comes to funds directly directed towards cohesion, is more crucial than ever. And today I will be speaking as a representative coming from the smallest Member State, Malta. It is a country facing multiple challenges; challenges of double insularity, our demographic vulnerability and unequal access to various opportunities, centrally also the European common market. And so the opportunities and cohesion policy for small Member States, island Member States such as Malta, are crucial. Crucial in order to protect our regions with different cultural characteristics, different linguistic characteristics, distinct ethnic characteristics. And so funding, respecting local voices and preserving the rich diversity of the European Union must remain crucial, central in our cohesion policy. Let us recognise this initiative as an important contribution to European cohesion policy, justice, dignity, the tangible progress of all regions, regardless of their size and status.

Vice-President of the Commission, I do not hesitate for you and those who are currently leading the negotiations with the US administration. It is impossible to work with an erratic and unreliable person like President Trump. Today he announces the tariffs and the next day he postpones them so that the next day he will also start threatening them again. Trade relations definitely don't work like this. Ultimately it is our citizens who will have to bear the burden through increased prices that consumers will have to pay. There is an imbalance. There is an imbalance in trade with America, not only when it comes to goods but also when it comes to services and Europe to date is still too dependent on American Big Tech. The last thing we want is to weaken our digital regulations, such as the Digital Markets Act to please Americans. We should no longer fall into this trap. If they want to do business in our market, a market of five hundred million consumers, they have to abide by our rules. Our move towards a value-based digital transformation is not an exchange tool in these negotiations. If Apple, Google, Meta and X do not respect the law, they should be fined. We expect the Commission not to hesitate to enforce our digital rules.

Ms President, Prime Minister, there could not be a better moment for Denmark, one of the most digitalised countries, to take over the presidency of the European Union. The dispute over Greenland has shown that Denmark, whose country and the European Union are too dependent on American technologies. It is time to take concrete steps and strengthen our sovereignty over technologies. Digital competitiveness requires Europe to build its capacity in key digital technologies. Innovation is achieved by investment supporting alternative digital solutions. We want to create European alternatives that break the inethical financial models of date harvesting u profiling. Only through these options can we overcome the challenges of protecting young people from abusive content, stopping addictive algorithms and limiting excessive use of digital gadgets. I agree that we urgently need a strategy for start-ups, scaleups and technology infrastructures in order to strengthen our technological ecosystems. I am confident that the Danes have the knowledge to make progress on our digital agenda.

Ms President, Finally, after twenty months this parliament has risen from sleep and we have the title that suits the Israeli State: genocide, shootings, killings of innocent people. Even now, we are seeing a situation where refugees who are queuing to be given a piece of bread, to be given a bottle of water, are also being killed while waiting for food. This is unacceptable and now is the time after the European Commission liked to hide its own report, which was indicating that this is genocide, that war crimes have been committed. Now is the time to take action. And yes, action can be taken, action can be taken, first and foremost, to put an end to the Association Agreement as far as possible, on the basis of Article 2, in order to impose the strongest sanctions on this State committing genocide and ultimately to stop this parliament, among others, granting red carpet treatment to those who are part of the government of Netanyahu, a government that is directly associated with genocide and war crimes. Let's get up from sleep. Let's take a look at these victims who are on a daily basis...

Ms President, Commissioner, when Europe found itself in an increpative position when the pandemic broke out, in this room we chose to make the necessary investments. The European Fund to recover from Covid has made it possible for our Member States to invest billions in our future, especially when it comes to the digital and environmental transitions. However, we must also be a bit critical of the results. Despite the fact that one fifth of investments must be allocated to the digital transition. Europe remains dependent on foreign technologies, so that society, the economy and even public services can function. When Draghi talks about competitiveness and Letta about innovation, we must listen more to the focus of investment in digital infrastructures. The results of the recovery and resilience fund are mixed and the digital divide between Member States is still present. That is why we are advocating with the European Commission to take stock of the experience gained in designing the new programme for our digital future. A digital sovereignty fund that finances technologies that make us resilient.

Ms President, first of all a message to the far-right colleagues: child abuse is not committed on the basis of sexual orientation, child abuse is, unfortunately, committed by straight persons and even persons of different sexual orientations. That is, let's not try, we do not try to throw an ugly shadow on an important minority part of our society. As a father, it is one of the most worrying things that tomorrow can see my daughter be abused in a world in which ultimately our children feel comfortable to interact. But unfortunately, online sexual abuse is on the rise. Until yesterday, I was confronted with a case of an 11-year-old girl who was threatened with pornographic material on her, which was created with artificial intelligence and so today the responsibilities on us even based on the evolution of technology are far greater than we are. And I think that this directive must place more responsibility on Big Tech so that they are also responsible for the material that is generated and promoted on their platforms. It is important, it is vital that in these cases which have no border of any kind, it is important to have, so more coordination and so it is vital that we continue this work on this directive and see that as a European Parliament we all speak with one voice.

I would like to start by sending first and foremost a message to far right colleague Anderson, who has just spoken: or is living in a parallel world, and has no idea of the enormous mental health problems our citizens are facing. Forty-six percent of European citizens, in the latest Eurobarometer survey, confirmed that they are facing mental health problems and so it is more urgent than ever that the European Commission – and therefore we must give our full support to the European Commission – needs to legislate today before tomorrow the right of, among others,right to disconnect, to finally see that this disconnect, which is so important and so important, is so important that in the end, the fundamental rights of our workers to maximum working time, the minimum rest time that they should enjoy are enjoyed with their families, their loved ones, are enjoyed in the world that today the world of work has changed, and so in turn one message to the Vice-President of the European Commission: will find our full support after all the discussions held with the social partners, after this European Parliament has already approved the legislation of theright to disconnect, to make this right a reality for all European workers.

Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission, It is important for us always, when talking about the European Single Market, to keep in mind first and foremost the interests of European consumers, and therefore as a group of Socialists and Democrats, we have always pushed forward the idea, especially during the discussions on the European Digital Services Act, of having to level playing field: what is illegal on an offline basis should also be illegal on an online basis. But we've got level playing field in European regulations we do not achieve it by burdening our consumers, our most vulnerable consumers with more burdens. And here I am also referring to the intention, on the part of the European Commission, to burden consumers – and I say the most vulnerable consumers, the least able consumers, who choose to shop online from outside the European Union – with additional burdens. Additional weights are not the solution. The solution is for distributors, producers outside the European Union, who are using platforms to directly charge European consumers, to make the same regulations applicable to European producers and distributors. Only then will we be able to protect first and foremost the interests of our consumers, for the health and safety of the most vulnerable consumers on our market, but also at the same time, we will be able to protect the interests of European industries, not by burdening our consumers with exceptional extra burdens. This is not the solution.

Mr President, The European single market remains one of the most important elements in the European project for our citizens. But it is important that this market continues to evolve, its rules continue to evolve, so that ultimately we can see that the realities of the most bordering Member States, islands, these same rules are also working in their favour. And here I would also like to talk about the different particular realities that small Member States such as Malta are facing, especially because of price increases, inflation of the most essential products in this common market. And so it is important to make sure that we have more flexibility when it comes to European single market regulations so that small and island Member States can ultimately benefit from this right, the right of movement and the freedom of movement for goods and services, which ultimately benefits much larger countries than us. But at the end of the day it is also essential to make sure that we have stricter rules when it comes also to the import of products outside the European Union. In a market where it is going more on an online basis than in traditional shops it is important to see that we have the same kind of rules and the same kind of rights for consumers buying on an online basis and those buying on an offline basis. But we can never do this by burdening our consumers with more burdens, especially financial burdens.

Madam President, within the European Union, all tech platforms need to respect the rules that we have democratically enacted. When it comes to our privacy and our personal data the GDPR has been the cornerstone of the EU's leading role when it comes to regulating the online world. However, rules are only strong when they are properly enforced, and that is why we are happy to see that the Irish Data Protection Authority took action against TikTok – and when we are speaking of TikTok, we are speaking of a platform that is being used daily by millions of European children. We have to go by what they published so far. But we have the fullest confidence in the diligent process that led to the decision of the independent authority. It cannot be that the personal data of EU citizens ends up in the hands of the Chinese Government. Our data may not be transferred outside the EU unless the Commission takes a decision on the adequacy of the data protection in a third country, or appropriate safeguards are guaranteed for China. I believe that no such decision was taken, and we cannot expect such a decision to come any time soon, when the way it deals with personal data in its domestic approach is totally different from how we deal with data based on our values. The fact that TikTok did not offer full transparency on the transfer of data and submitted wrong information to the inquiry makes the matters worse. A fine of EUR 530 million is hefty and should be a deterrent for TikTok, but the decision of the Data Protection Authority to bring its data processing into line with the GDPR within six months is the most important element today. We need to be vigilant and if in six months TikTok is still not compliant with Europe's data rules, more extreme enforcement measures should be taken. Either TikTok abides by our rules and stops the transfer of data to China completely, or it should be banned from operating or sold to a new entity that is willing to keep the personal data in Europe.

Mr President, can I make a point of order because some misconceptions have been repeated by our colleague here? As already held in 2022, applicants from Belarus and Russia have stopped both pending applications and applications...

Mr President, Malta will respect the judgement of the European Court. A ruling that is still strange because it is contrary to the opinion of Irish Attorney General Collins who also said last October that there is no case against Malta. A ruling also contradicting the European Commission's view that in January 2014 the Maltese investor citizenship scheme is not contrary to the Treaties of the European Union. It is clear, however, that today's discussion is misguided from the beginning to the end and let me tell you why. Firstly, since March 2022, all applications of Russian citizens and Belarus have been suspended. Therefore, I cannot understand the title of today's discussion that this scheme has been used by Malta to evade sanctions against Russia. I also wonder how Austria, a Member State with a scheme identical to the Maltese one, was completely left out of the discussion. I wonder how Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain that all have investor residence schemes can run similar schemes, but vis-à-vis Malta because there are enthusiasts, all the winds arise. We will follow the Court's decision to have a continued wealth-free scheme, because Malta has nothing less than other Member States.

Mr President, our digital future is not a game, this is not a race we can win against China or the United States. We want to build a digital world where our society, our economies flourish, based on European values and respecting privacy laws, towards consumer protection laws. The problems we face are that Europe is too dependent on other continents, on foreign Big Tech, the digital infrastructures, essential that our citizens use on a daily basis. We must urgently recuperate and invest, in a European digital ecosystem, with a European technology enterprise working for alternative solutions across all layers of digital technology; from programs on mobile phones to computers to hardware, to cloud infrastructure. We have the talent, but we have to scale up the capacity. Expecting European capital markets to provide entrepreneurial capital on the Silicon Valley model is just a dream. We have to find our way. If we want to take digital sovereignty seriously, we want a European digital sovereignty fund that corresponds to our ambitions, which corresponds to our values. It is useless to speak of resilience when we remain dependent on technology coming from outside the European continent. Let's invest seriously today before tomorrow.

Ms President, today the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is catastrophic. We have seen, up to the last few hours, a mass grave that included fifteen humanitarian workers killed by the Israeli regime. This is not just a tragedy, but a rampant violation of international law. The International Court of Justice has made it clear that every state around the world must intervene in order to stop genocide and ensure accountability for war crimes. And so today is an occasion where we have the Commission, the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council who call on them to take urgent action to put an end first and foremost to the association agreement between the European Union and Israel, to impose sanctions and to support the reconstruction plan in Gaza. The Palestinian people have already suffered for decades. We cannot be silent in the face of this genocide. This is a moral test for us and for the values we embrace. The European Union must act now for the sake of justice, the exercise of international law and above all humanity.

Mr President, if we want the European project to remain relevant we must be sure that the European market works fairly in favour of all consumers. In a world where platform shopping continues to grow, there is a need to have rules that give consumers the same rights to shop online as those who shop physically in shops across the same Union. We need to protect our children with strong legislation so that toys entering from outside the European Union are of the same level as those produced within the European Union. We need to fight practices such as dynamic pricing, where thousands of consumers every day buying playing or football tickets or music concerts are being stolen. There is a need for a European market that fights inflation in essential food products and energy products, without which we will not pass. It cannot be that the rigidity of the European market means that in small Member States and islands such as Malta we end up with a single market that works in favour of a few big importers and against the common good of our citizens. It is necessary, today before tomorrow, to extend the freedoms of the European movement for medicinal products – it cannot be that the Maltese and Gozitan patient continues to pay the price of Brexit, as the system of fragmented legislation and registration of medicinal products has continued to lead to the further exclusion of small Member States. There is a need for stronger, more ambitious legislation on the rights of consumers to book their holidays, so we need to have a package travel law that works in favour of our consumers. Let's work together towards a European market that works for the rights of the many and not the few.