Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank the collective work we have carried out under the aegis of Hilde Vautmans for the second time here in the European Parliament to free Joseph Figueira Martin. Joseph Figueira Martin is a Belgian-Portuguese aid worker who has decided to dedicate his life to helping and protecting others. Today we need to help and protect Joseph Figueira Martin and humanitarian workers. He was abducted by the Wagner Group more than two years ago now, tortured, arbitrarily detained in the Central African Republic, tried summarily, and sentenced on spurious charges to ten years, ten years of forced labour! The European Parliament, I repeat, for the second time demands his unconditional release, and now also calls for targeted sanctions and the inclusion of the Wagner Group on the list of terrorist organisations. I am moved today because his health is continuously deteriorating. It is extremely worrying. And so, the urgency to act is there, and at the origin of this call. Indeed, we will continue to mobilise until he is released. We are ready to go there, in a delegation from the European Parliament, to obtain his release. We therefore join his family, which is relentlessly mobilizing for his release. The call also goes to our governments, to the European Union, which must protect humanitarian workers, who must intervene for their nationals, because, in the face of injustice, here it is clearly a political solution that must be found.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, relegated to working-class neighbourhoods, to attacks between gangs, the fight against drug trafficking has long not been considered a priority in order to benefit from the resources commensurate with the threat. It has thrived in the heart of the local economy, our institutions and cities, taken hostage, causing hundreds of unseen deaths and putting our freedoms and security at risk. The assassination of Mehdi Kessaci, to whom we pay tribute today in the European Parliament, must mark a real turning point in our policies. We need to get out of the strategies and alerts that have been piling up for more than a decade now. We must get out of the repressive and security arsenal that reassures, but without settling. It is necessary to attack drug trafficking as a system with social and economic roots, to act on prevention, repression and rehabilitation, and above all to give the means against corruption, the means of judicial cooperation and the means for actors on the ground, public services, schools and risk reduction. No, Amine, Mehdi did not die in vain. Colleagues, you want to act? Is that your message today? Let us therefore multiply our voices to denounce the violence linked to drug trafficking and fight against this scourge, from our neighbourhoods to Europe!

Madam President, have Europeans ever wondered why Shein does not sell in China? Shein is not only a brand of cheap clothing, it is the symbol of a system that derails, where speed, profit, overconsumption crushes everything: human rights, the planet, and even our most fundamental values. Behind the broken prices, underpaid workers, illegal copies of creators, dangerous and non-compliant products, tons of textile waste that suffocate us. While the European Commission has been investigating non-compliance with EU rules for the past year, Shein is pushing the immorality scandal by selling weapons and dolls for pedophiles. But Shein is not inevitable, it is a choice. And when platforms think they are above the law, it is our collective responsibility to say ‘stop’. Shein is not an isolated case: 80% of e-commerce products – mostly from China – are non-compliant or even dangerous. So when will the European Commission finally make the choice to sanction outlaws and speed up the measures that will really protect our businesses, our European consumers – this is the promise that Europe makes to them – but also – and above all – our children?

Madam President, European solidarity in the face of the war in Ukraine is second to none. Sanctions packages against Russia hosting Ukrainian refugees, criminalising sanctions circumvention and freezing and confiscating assets. And using Russian assets seized in Europe for the benefit of the Ukrainian people is a commitment we have made, a moral commitment for the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and public infrastructure in Ukraine, and a legal commitment, so that war criminals can no longer benefit from impunity in our common space. It's up to the assailant to pay. Today, we must move from words to deeds and show our strong common European will to support Ukraine and grant it a loan for its reconstruction. But solidarity and the sharing of financial and legal risks related to the use of frozen Russian assets must also be European. A Member State, in this case Belgium, should not assume these risks alone. The European Union must show coherence and solidarity. And it is only together that we can do justice to the Ukrainian victims and contribute to the real reconstruction of the country.

Mr President, yes, there is a real urgency in giving the means to local police, police and justice equipped to fight all forms of organised crime, drug trafficking, sexual violence against women and children, terrorism. But our leaders, who are mostly right-wing, Mr Tobé, do not see it with that eye. The police are the tool at the service of a security agenda used to access more and more of our data, to silence also any opposition to their austerity policy of unprecedented social violence. And it is a dirty role that you entrust to police officers who are committed to the service of society. People marching peacefully for their social and pension rights paid the price last Tuesday in Brussels. Bullying, violence, tear gas in the presence of children. Manifesting is a right. The use of force in Anderlecht to evict families who demand a roof over a right-wing state, often abandoning and exploiting them, is not normal. Having a roof is a right. This is the security we need in the face of an uncertain future, the vagaries of life, the bills to pay and the mouths to feed at the end of the month. The security of being able to walk freely and without fear in our streets, on a daily basis as well as in demonstrations. This requires restoring trust between law enforcement and citizens to move forward together.

Madam President, a twenty-point colonial plan, or any other peace plan, does not exempt our governments or the European Union from acting to break the humanitarian blockade imposed by Israel and end the genocide. The moral and legal obligation to act is committed. It is on this obligation, on the recognition of Palestine and on the adoption of sanctions against the Netanyahu government that the members of the flotillas draw attention by their actions. Millions of citizens around the world stand up to demand with one voice an end to genocide and occupation. The terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023 will forever be remembered. My thoughts go out to the families of the victims and the hostages, whom we want to see released without delay. But two years later, it is the Palestinians who pay the price: 65,000 dead, two million Palestinian lives in danger, lives we have the power and duty to protect. The European Parliament and the European Commission must ensure peace for all.

Mr President, what a stupor this summer to discover the deal, the capitulation of the European Commission to Trump by accepting tariffs at 0% for American products, at 15% for European products. Claiming it's easy, obviously we won't do it. We have had several exchanges here in the European Parliament, and it seems to me that the European Parliament has been very clear. We want European unity in the face of Trump; it will not be easy to negotiate with this character, but the European Union has in its hands instruments that it must operate: the anti-coercion instrument, which is there exactly for this kind of scenario, but also targeting – the possibility, in any case, of doing so – US services or taxing large US technology companies. But no! The European Commission's choice was to agree with Trump in a totally asymmetric deal to the advantage of the United States. So what is M's promise worth?me von der Leyen, heard this morning, that the European Union will always decide for itself its own environmental and digital standards and regulations? What is the value of this promise in the face of a Trump that the asymmetric deal has apparently not satisfied, given that he wants to review our legislation, that he criticizes the European Union which intends to impose Google and that he also intends to benefit from flexibility. What is M's promise worth too?me von der Leyen that the European Union must achieve its energy independence when, in this deal, it promises the United States to invest $750 billion for fossil fuels and nuclear energy, whereas this money must imperatively be invested in Europe? The lack of vision for the future and for European autonomy is deeply worrying. We will not accept this deal as it stands. We do not have to decide on the other aspects of the deal, and yet it is the democratic future of the European Union that depends on it. We feared that the far right would be the gravedigger of Europe, but for the past year, since the various deregulations, the Omnibus packages, the capitulation to Trump, but also to China, the various renationalization decisions, we can only see that for the moment the EPP is unravelling Europe and making us extremely vulnerable.

Mr President, Joseph Figueira Martin, a Belgian-Portuguese aid worker, must be released. It has been more than a year since he was abducted by the Wagner Group in the Central African Republic, before being arbitrarily detained without trial and in a worrying state of health as a result of ill-treatment. It is with a heavy heart that I address you today, because it is not normal for Joseph’s family to have to call for help. Our governments and the European Union have a duty to protect and assist their citizens and humanitarian workers. In the face of such injustices, we cannot remain silent. His freedom is a fight for all of us, for our values, for our humanity. We have a responsibility to protect those who, at the risk of their lives, commit to saving others. It is therefore high time that justice be done and that Joseph Figueira Martin be released, immediately and unconditionally. The European Union must mobilise all possible diplomatic levers to demand – and obtain – the release of Joseph from the Central African authorities. In the absence of a response, we call for targeted measures to be adopted by the European Union.

Mr President, 70% of Europeans buy regularly online. In two clicks, you buy this toy from China, delivered at home, which will not comply with European health, safety and price rules in 80% of cases. Ditto for this jacket found online on Shein, on Temu, or for makeup stuffed with chemicals found on Amazon. Last year, 4.5 billion small packages of less than €150 were ordered, or 12 million small packages per day entering Europe. These purchases pose health and safety problems for consumers, have an unsustainable environmental impact and lead to unfair competition for businesses, European businesses and workers. The European Parliament's report - and thank you, rapporteur, for the constructive work we have done together - is complete. It clearly calls on the European Commission to put an end to this scourge. First, EU rules, including online, must be respected. Customs controls and resources need to be strengthened and customs duties for packages under €150 need to be reintroduced. We must put a stop to manipulative online sales practices, which make us buy more and more. Non-European companies must have a person who is legally and financially responsible in Europe. Consumers need to be better informed, made aware, protected, but also compensated, for example through more obligations for platforms, as they also exist, in real life, for businesses. Finally, the European Union must encourage and support a circular economy, local trade and entrepreneurs, to remake our city centres into places of life, providing local jobs and another model that is sustainable, in particular for ethical clothing – through the second hand and a European textile industry that offers a real alternative to the ephemeral and ultra-ephemeral fashion.

Mr President, thousands of citizens have taken to the streets, are on hunger strike, in resistance, are marching on Gaza. Dockers are mobilizing to refuse to load the boats. Acts of resistance to the complicit inaction of European governments and institutions, to the horror and genocide of the Palestinian people. The European Union is the largest trading partner. But did the announcement of the review of the association agreement provoke any movement on the part of Netanyahu? Nothing. Nothing because the President of the European Commission herself personally supports a war criminal under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. You will present proposals to the Council on Monday, Mrs Kallas. We are in debate today in the European Parliament. We want to know. Will you propose the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement? Will you propose sanctions? Will you propose to ban the import of products and services from illegal settlements? An arms export embargo? Are you going to hold Netanyahu to account, as the first donor of humanitarian aid to Palestine, are you finally going to hold Netanyahu to account? That's what we'll have to ask. And we demand the same from the President of the European Commission.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, one in five children is a victim of violence or sexual exploitation in their lifetime in the European Union, four to five children in each school class, one to two children in each football team. Sexual violence against children is a silent pandemic that does not say its name and continues online, where our children spend more and more time. The text we propose today to your voices aims to live up to this historic moment. Because, no, impunity is no longer an option for these crimes that mark entire lives. There are notable changes to this text: justice that is child-friendly following the Barnahus model, which is child-friendly; a clear definition of consent; the lifting of impunity for the most serious crimes; harmonising crimes and sanctions; recognition of new offences with more comprehensive criminal responses that include prevention mechanisms in all child-friendly spaces, but also among potential perpetrators; and, finally, the prohibition of these child pornography manuals, real guides to child abuse. I would like to congratulate the rapporteur and my fellow shadow rapporteurs on their work on this file. We adopted this text unanimously in the LIBE Committee. I expect us, ladies and gentlemen, to adopt it in plenary also unanimously and to send a clear message to our governments, to the Council, so that together we can finally move forward in a genuine struggle and genuine support for all children who are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.

Mr President, first of all I would like to express my full support for the citizens, journalists, activists and elected officials who are victims of illegal espionage in Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Spain and elsewhere, and who remain unanswered. Getting Spy Through This Little Thing (speaker shows mobile phone) leaves an indelible imprint on personal, professional life, the entourage. It is a violation of fundamental rights, the right to privacy, the right to assemble and the freedom of the press. It is democracy, the rule of law, the security of citizens and the European Union that are under attack. Four years have passed since Forbidden Stories, Amnesty and Citizen Lab exposed illegal spying scandals and an Israeli-based cannibalistic surveillance industry, backed by the Netanyahu government, which uses it to threaten governments that denounce its genocide in Gaza. It has been two years since this Parliament adopted the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry to legislate and to put an end to the abuses, which have since continued because of the inaction of the Council and the European Commission, which once again comes empty-handed. What is the status of the communication promised more than a year ago? You don't even talk about it anymore. What are you waiting for: 1) regulate the purchase, sale and use of these technologies, 2) create a European technology laboratory to support victims and civil society, 3) launch investigations in Member States that, in the name of national security, put the security of citizens and the European Union at risk and do not meet any of the conditions you have listed? Acts, please, Commissioner!

Mr President, first of all I would like to express my full support for the citizens, journalists, activists and elected officials who are victims of illegal espionage in Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Spain and elsewhere, and who remain unanswered. Getting Spy Through This Little Thing (speaker shows mobile phone) leaves an indelible imprint on personal, professional life, the entourage. It is a violation of fundamental rights, the right to privacy, the right to assemble and the freedom of the press. It is democracy, the rule of law, the security of citizens and the European Union that are under attack. Four years have passed since Forbidden Stories, Amnesty and Citizen Lab exposed illegal spying scandals and an Israeli-based cannibalistic surveillance industry, backed by the Netanyahu government, which uses it to threaten governments that denounce its genocide in Gaza. It has been two years since this Parliament adopted the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry to legislate and to put an end to the abuses, which have since continued because of the inaction of the Council and the European Commission, which once again comes empty-handed. What is the status of the communication promised more than a year ago? You don't even talk about it anymore. What are you waiting for: 1) regulate the purchase, sale and use of these technologies, 2) create a European technology laboratory to support victims and civil society, 3) launch investigations in Member States that, in the name of national security, put the security of citizens and the European Union at risk and do not meet any of the conditions you have listed? Acts, please, Commissioner!

Madam President, colleagues, I refer to Rule 39. Autocratic leaders and anti-democratic forces across our continent and worldwide are violently attacking minorities and vulnerable communities. There is no worse moment for the Commission to withdraw the Horizontal Anti-Discrimination Directive, key legislation to protect all Europeans – older people, people with disabilities, women, LGBTQIA+ people and the most vulnerable – from all forms of discrimination. Part of the EPP joined forces with the far-right to stop the European Parliament from contesting this withdrawal, going against the recommendation of the Conference of Committee Chairs and LIBE Committee. Madam President, we urge you to preserve the integrity of our procedures, the reputation and fundamental rights agenda of Parliament. Prove to the Commission, civil society and EU citizens that the European Parliament remains committed to fight against all forms of discrimination.

Mr President, European citizenship is not for sale. The golden passport system in Malta is illegal; the Court of Justice of the European Union confirms this and agrees with Parliament. This victory is that of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Let's pay tribute to him and his family. It was her investigative journalism work that exposed the corruptions and dangers of selling this type of passport, and she paid for it with her life. So, dear Maltese government, put an end to this system as soon as possible, because these passports and golden visas are a means of laundering ill-gotten goods and a sulphurous reputation on the European doormat, a means used by shameless criminals and other oligarchs, notoriously to circumvent sanctions against Russia. To enforce this decision, I turn to the European Commission. In order to guarantee our internal security and protect European citizenship, there can be no question of some wealthy people buying it and abusing it when others are refused it without any other justification. I invite you to review our 2022 report, which contains everything you need to end these golden passport and visa systems. Because if buying European citizenship is not done, buying the right to reside there sometimes without even having to live there is not done either and we have wasted enough time.

Mr President, the arrival of Trump reminds us of a lesson that Europe should have already learned from the pandemic: Our ultra-dependence on fossil fuels and global supply markets will eventually cause our loss. Europe must ensure its strategic autonomy, respond firmly and unitedly to any tariff increase without compromising on its laws and using the revenues of the tariff increase, as well as those of a digital tax to support the European workers and companies that are affected. We must counter the arrival of goods destined for the American market, but which the imposition of tariffs would have diverted, especially towards the European Union. Yes, we need to strengthen our partnerships with other countries hit by Trump's trade war, but fair partnerships that start and end with the Sustainable Development Goals. There is no question of compromising our social and environmental rights or human rights. There is therefore no question of rushing into agreements with China, India and Mercosur, which could make the European Union even more dependent and vulnerable. To strengthen our strategic economy is to bet without delay on our energy independence, our food autonomy, the circular economy, the reduction of our dependence on resources, our industrial redeployment, in a single word: the transition to true European autonomy.

Madam President, I would like to pay tribute to all the victims of the conflict in the DRC, a conflict of which one of the origins is, of course, the minerals, the wealth of Congolese territory. It is known that the aggressor is Rwanda, which supports the M23 militias. We know that the European Union has blood on its hands today because it does not use all the levers, including political levers, that it has at its disposal. The European Parliament has made demands very clear in its resolution. This time, you cannot hide behind political differences. The European Parliament has called for the suspension of the Memorandum of Understanding on minerals with Rwanda, but this is still not being implemented. The suspension of military aid to Rwanda also remains unimplemented. We have other levers, eminently political, and we must use them. This is all that is expected of you today to put an end to the double standard of EU foreign policy, to have an identical policy towards aggressors. These are levers that the European Commission has the capacity to use, and it must not hide behind the lack of unanimity in the Council to act. In the case of Russia’s aggression, the positions on the side of the European Commission were very clear. Nevertheless, the Congo is expected.

Madam President, 180 children died on 18 March, the day Israel broke the ceasefire. The number of people who have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023 thus amounts to 50,144. In addition, another 1.9 million people have been displaced without care, food or assistance. The situation in Gaza can be summed up in one word: genocide. Genocide, Mrs Kallas, of which the European Union is complicit in keeping all channels open with Israel in violation of international law – complicit in its silence, complicit in its inaction. Where has our humanity really gone? The European Union will be judged together with those responsible for the genocide. History will judge us. History you will judge. Respect the International Criminal Court and arrest Netanyahu if he goes to the territory of the European Union, suspend the Association Agreement with Israel, adopt sanctions and an arms embargo: These are levers in your hands. We look forward, High Representative, to immediate action by the European Union.

Mr President, security is a matter of concern to all of us. That is why he is pleased that the European Commission is looking into it and communicating its strategy today. Ensuring the internal security of the European Union, however, requires a systemic approach, ranging from prevention to sanctions, rehabilitation, police, investigation and justice, as well as socio-economic responses. In the face of organized crime, ensuring the security of citizens also requires strong social security. Everyone must be provided with the conditions for a dignified life and precariousness must be prevented, which is a real loophole for criminals to recruit younger and younger children and vulnerable people. Ensuring security against organised crime also means effectively fighting corruption and money laundering, which fuel criminal networks. Ensuring the security of citizens means fighting Islamist terrorism and far-right terrorism. It is about re-establishing the truth about who is responsible for this violence, who is targeting the same thing: destabilising our democracies and scaring citizens to make liberticidal policies, widespread surveillance and the massive use of our data more acceptable. Ensuring security – the first European victims of climate change know this all too well – also means protecting citizens from the elements by means of effective adaptation, prevention and crisis management policies to deal with floods, fires and water shortages. Ensuring security also means putting an end to environmental crime, which is the third largest criminal activity. In short, the list is long. The European Commission must promote the systemic approach. Global security must be respectful of human rights and our democracies, and the capacity of agencies such as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office must be strengthened.

Mr President, 'if you are a parent in one country, you are a parent in all countries'. These are indeed the words of European Commission President von der Leyen in her 2020 State of the Union address. The European Parliament also agrees; It is for the mutual recognition of parenthood. However, since December 2023, the Council has been expected. Why are Member States playing with the future of 2 million children in this way? Those who still oppose it are homophobic. Evidence: what has been said in this assembly today. The rights of LGBTQIA+ families are increasingly under threat. Now more than ever, the protection by law of children of LGBTQIA+ families must be a priority. We therefore call on the European Commission and the Council to move quickly and take note that a child is a child, that a family is a family, and that everyone has rights. Love is love!

Chair Lange, you said that Europe cannot impose its social and environmental standards on the rest of the world, and we have had the debates here in this House together. You were rapporteur for the sustainable development chapters reform under the last mandate, and together we decided that we would go for binding TSD chapters, which are completely absent in the current agreement with the Mercosur countries. So how do you explain that? How can you accept that your own reform is not integrated in this deal?

Madam President, when, in Europe as in the Mercosur countries, farmers, associations, consumer protection associations, trade unions, academics and citizens oppose the trade treaty between the European Union and Mercosur, millions of people denounce these economic, social, environmental, climate and human impacts. It is an agreement dating back to the last century, Commissioner, it is not a New Deal. These millions of people weigh little against the economic interests of a few industrialists and the biggest farms for - attention! – an expected profit of +0.1% of GDP. Little glorious, isn't it? Ah yes, it is still necessary to deduct the millions from the agricultural compensation fund promised to compensate for the negative effects of this agreement on the agricultural world, without solving the problems. Account must also be taken of the effects of the rebalancing mechanism: rebalancing for the states of the Mercosur countries that will allow the Brazilian government, or rather agribusiness, to challenge our laws if they affect their economic and commercial interests. Examples: carbon border adjustment mechanism, anti-deforestation laws, against forced labour, the duty of vigilance of our companies. Then there is total astonishment, an unbearable attack on our strategic sovereignty and even on our economic security. We refuse to sell our agriculture by subjecting it to totally unfair competition. We refuse to export our banned chemicals and pesticides to Europe, further sell off our standards and consume glyphosate limes, hormone beef or poultry for avian flu. Encourage deforestation as well. It is impossible to make an inventory of all the problems. But one thing is certain, you are presenting us with a text that is worse than in 2019, when Parliament said that it was impossible for it to ratify the Mercosur agreement as it stands. It is by defending the democracy, values, social and environmental standards that protect our citizens and ensure the prosperity of our economies that the European Union will make a difference. Dear Mercosur friends, we want partnerships with you, but truly equitable partnerships.