Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are voting on our report for a new strategic framework on health and safety at work for more than 170 million workers in Europe. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the rapporteur, Mr Vind, and the shadow rapporteurs for yet another very good cooperation. They are always the same rapporteurs on these issues and it is very pleasant to work with you – shoulder to shoulder, across party lines. This strategic framework not only builds on the existing ones, but also addresses new trends in the labour market, such as mental well-being, teleworking and platform work. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, more than 40% of workers started teleworking. In addition to many benefits, this has also led to an increase in psychosocial and ergonomic complaints. Since corona, there has also been an increase in mental health problems among employees, such as burnout or depression. That is why we are calling in our report for a directive on mental health at work. In 2022, no one should be allowed to die in the workplace simply because they are doing their job. By 2022, no one should be allowed to die in the workplace due to exposure to asbestos or carcinogens, nor due to a lack of safety provisions at work. And yet 200 000 Europeans still die each year from occupational diseases, half of them from occupational cancers. In recent years, we have taken many steps forward in tackling the most dangerous carcinogens and in the asbestos report. But in order to actually achieve our ambitious goal, we will have to step up our efforts. That is why our report also calls for higher risk prevention, ambitious safety standards, better European coordination of safety rules and additional labour inspections. I therefore call on you, ladies and gentlemen, to support this report en masse.

Mr President, it is a historic week for the fight against cancer in Europe: yesterday we adopted Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and today we are voting on the fourth revision of the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work. Almost a year and a half after the European Commission's proposal for a directive, the European Parliament can present a fantastic result. This review is a real milestone in the fight against cancer due to occupational exposure to hazardous substances. The Directive already included occupational exposure limit values for 30 carcinogens and mutagens and is now being extended to include substances harmful to reproduction and HMPs. This is what the European Parliament has been working towards since the first revision of the directive. However, our work is not finished with this. Eighty thousand workers still die each year in the European Union from cancer as a result of occupational exposure to the above-mentioned substances. This should be stopped in 2022. The fourth revision of the Directive should therefore be followed up by the Commission as soon as possible with an action plan to address the following 25 substances on the list of dangerous carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances. To achieve this, both the recommendations of the report of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer, which we voted on yesterday, and those of the report on the protection of workers from asbestos, which was voted on in October 2021, need to be transposed into legislation. Only in this way can we ensure that employees no longer die of cancer because they simply do their job. I am therefore counting on massive support for this report.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear rapporteur, dear Véronique, after a year and a half of hard work, listening to experts and a working visit to the World Health Organisation, we have sharpened our knowledge with progressive insight. The result is a comprehensive cancer plan. The momentum is now. Every year, 2.7 million Europeans are diagnosed with cancer. Here is a partner of a patient who has already had cancer four times. It puts you on an emotional rollercoaster, from the first bad news smack over autopilot in the treatments to a future perspective, at most from control to control. Our goal was clear: a 360-degree approach that focuses on all stages of the disease and puts the patient at the centre. Our proposals go beyond those of the Commission, and that is good, that is Parliament's job. We ask specific attention for adolescents and young adults. They must be recognized as a separate group. We call for a European right to be forgotten, better protection of our workers in the workplace, the joint purchase of medicines. Each patient should receive the best possible treatment. It can't be that your chances of survival depend on where you were born or on your income. Finally, as the President has already said, it cannot be more symbolic today. Today is World Child Cancer Day. Above all, let them be the yardstick of what we will vote tonight.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I am a Christian Democrat and, even more so, I am an ideological heir to the Christian workers’ movement, and I am proud of that. It is encyclicals such as Rerum Novarum that give me the courage to regularly go against the flow, and sometimes even give my group leader some grey hair. That is also why I am asking for the floor here, because it would be a historical mistake to leave the defence of Christianity to the extreme right alone. I support the Commission's intention to make this Union more inclusive, so that everyone is valued and recognised, regardless of religion or belief. And the criticism of the internal guide was partly justified, it is good that it was withdrawn, but it also shows leadership that one dares to do so. After all, the road to inclusion does not run through mandatory language, but through binding language, where there is room for differences, where everyone can be themselves, including Christians. This is exactly what our founding fathers With our European project in mind: connected in diversity. We are for religious freedom. Let us not keep the holidays of the religious communities silent, but let people honor their traditions and let us look ahead. I conclude, President, with what makes our society truly more inclusive, because too many people are still excluded or structurally discriminated against. We will continue to work on this together. Above all, let us promote the peace, tolerance and solidarity that Christmas represents.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow we will vote on the report on more democracy at work. If we can learn an important lesson from the pandemic, it is about the future of our jobs. We must focus on quality jobs with decent working conditions, and for this we need a strong involvement of the social partners. We have taken many initiatives in this House in recent months, and the Commissioner has also referred to them: minimum wages, platform workers or our report on tackling in-work poverty. However, the strong involvement of the social partners in the workplace is a prerequisite for the development of all these initiatives. Where European integration has deepened in recent decades, European workers' rights have not been followed. For example, the strength of employee participation has even decreased over the past ten years. A Eurofound study shows that only 30 % of European companies provide for employee participation. However, a strong involvement of employees leads to better wages and higher satisfaction in the workplace. It also helps to stop social dumping and unfair competition. It is clear that the strong participation of workers’ organisations will be crucial to make the post-pandemic recovery and the digital and green transitions a success.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, many wise words have already been said here and I will focus my intervention today on the importance of a healthy environment in the context of public health. You will not blame me as coordinator of the BECA committee. The Commission has already made major statements on the Green Deal, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the new Chemical Strategy, the Anti-Cancer Plan. Despite all good intentions, we still come into too much contact with toxins, carcinogens and hormone disruptors every day. People are still exposed to too much fine dust and workers to asbestos. Too often, toxic substances are discharged into rivers, dumped into our environment. To me, it's clear: Everyone has the right to a healthy living environment and two principles are particularly crucial in this respect. Public health is at the heart of all decisions we make; this must be the test of our policy and it must also be enforceable. Tighter controls and sanctions for those violating the rules are therefore essential. As the United Nations Human Rights Council recently stated, everyone has the right to a healthy environment. Let us take the lead here in Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, here is a satisfied Member of Parliament. We can finally vote on this groundbreaking report. I would therefore like to thank the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs for their very constructive cooperation. 88,000 Europeans are still dying from asbestos. Even though its use has been banned since 2005, asbestos remains the main cause of work-related cancer in the EU. Moreover, we need to seize the momentum of the Green Deal and the Renovation Wave. Masses of buildings are over 50 years old and will need to be renovated to meet climate targets. These renovations will release large amounts of asbestos. To tackle the potential wave of new asbestos exposure as efficiently and effectively as possible, we need ambitious and common standards at European level. After all, there are too many differences between the Member States as regards asbestos removal. For mobile and posted workers, this is literally and figuratively murderous. Exposure to asbestos is not just a problem for workers. Exposure no longer only occurs in the workplace, but also at home, during sports or even at school. That is precisely why we have expanded the scope. Our objective is crystal clear. We are going for an asbestos-free Europe, with a significant reduction in the European limit values, a reversed burden of proof in the recognition as an occupational disease, an inventory at sale and rental, mandatory disposal at renovation works, a decisive approach to asbestos dump tourism, more labour inspections and common standards on training. Let us support this ambitious report to put an end once and for all to the dark legacy of asbestos.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, one in three women in the EU is confronted with some form of violence. One in three. Just because they are women. The annual cost of gender-based violence is estimated at €290 billion. Behind all those figures there are always stories and broken or taken away lives of women, mothers, daughters and girlfriends. Colleagues, I want to be crystal clear. Gender-based violence should be added to the list of criminal offences in Article 83 TFEU. We therefore support the main objective of this report and consider the fight against gender-based violence to be one of our top priorities. And yes, we support the directive that transposes the international standards of the Istanbul Convention. Today, President von der Leyen said very clearly that the Commission will propose a law by the end of the year to combat violence against women. We will resoundingly say yes to the Commission's proposal. However, this parliamentary report goes beyond national competences and, in my view, undermines our common goal. Commissioner, you yourself have said that we must take the powers into account in this dossier. Indeed, the addition of gender-based violence to Article 83 requires unanimity in the Council. This will not happen if, at the same time, we demand that the refusal of abortion is labelled as gender-based violence. That is why we have amended the text, despite our strong support for the political objective in itself. So yes, we will respond positively to the Commission proposal and to the addition of gender-based violence to Article 83 of the Treaty. But this is our position.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, if we have learned anything from this COVID-19 crisis, it is that patchworks of measures in the various Member States do not provide a solution. On the contrary, we need more Europe in the field of public health, more coordination, faster agreements, better preparation and smoother cooperation. Together we can save more lives. What we have learned is that the energy and time needed to deal with such a health crisis have immense implications for regular healthcare in the Member States. In the most critical phase of this crisis, regular care was discontinued. Cancer screenings, urgent treatments or surgeries have been postponed, with all the consequences that this entails. We must certainly avoid this in the future. The continuity of cancer care and screenings must remain guaranteed, including during the pandemic. By working more closely together, we can respond more quickly to pandemics and avoid having to postpone regular care for too long. Therefore, we call for special attention to these vulnerable target groups and ensuring regular care should be an integral part of any preparedness and response plan. Because that too will save lives.