Debate contributions by Saskia BRICMONT

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.

Mr President, the M23 and Rwandan troops are once again spreading terror in the east of the DRC, causing thousands more to die and hundreds of thousands more to be displaced, and the bodies of women and girls being used as a real battlefield. The humanitarian situation was catastrophic and it was therefore imperative to secure a ceasefire and to bring humanitarian assistance to rural areas. Congolese today feel literally abandoned, plundered, sacrificed for resources that make the wealth of others. The situation reveals not only the failure of European diplomacy, but also the complicity in fuelling the conflict. The European Union must therefore urgently suspend military cooperation and adopt an arms embargo and a trade embargo, in particular on minerals labelled as Rwandan; suspend the Memorandum of Understanding on minerals – it seems to me that there is unanimity here to call for it, as a matter of urgency, Commissioner, but also for sanctions against the leaders of the M23 and the Rwandan officers involved –; protect civil society. The double standards of the European Union vis-à-vis the aggressors are unacceptable. The European Union must therefore use all the means of action it has in its hands and cease its complicity with the Kigali regime.

Account settlements, shootings, assassinations are multiplying on the streets of Europe, from Stockholm to Brussels. Unimaginable scenes that scare for our safety and that of our children. Organized crime affects communities in depth. It also poses a much broader risk to our democracies and the rule of law, both through its direct effects and through the liberticide responses that are currently being provided. No simplistic, warmongering or xenophobic discourse will provide the answers that our fellow citizens legitimately expect. Yes, we must be exemplary, act in a coordinated and systemic way with means ranging from prevention to repression, from our municipalities to the European Union. Let's continue the networking here at European level: strengthen the fight against corruption by extending the competences of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Let us show ambition for the anti-corruption directive, Commissioner, and ensure resources, from the local to the European level. Let us also develop international judicial cooperation by putting pressure on States, such as Dubai, which host drug traffickers, and by allowing cooperation agreements to be concluded quickly between Eurojust and Latin American countries. Finally, let us harmonise the European response to organised crime with a European criminal law response.

Madam President, children are the first victims of crises: from climate change to wars, from Valencia to Gaza, poverty, abuse, violence and difficulties in accessing education. Why? Because policies are not tailored to their needs and do not reflect their best interests. How can we tolerate the fact that almost 25% of European children, or nearly 20 million children, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion? How can we tolerate thousands of children sleeping on the streets of our capitals and dying in the English Channel and the Mediterranean? How can we tolerate the regulation against forced labour covering only 3 million children, while 78 million of them are victims of the worst forms of forced labour? Worse still: we will conclude a trade agreement with Brazil, which has 1.5 million children who are victims of dangerous labour. However, the agreement does not provide for anything to help them. How can we tolerate that 14,100 children have lost their lives in Gaza, that they are trapped in an endless war in the Middle East and that Europe remains silent? For the past five years, we have been calling here in this House for their voices to be heard. But why, while fossil lobbies can make their voices heard at the COP on climate, can't children? Why does the European dialogue on youth policy not extend to all children? It's time to listen to them. Each Commissioner is responsible in his/her mission letter for organising the European Youth Policy Dialogue within the first 100 days of his/her mandate. Children's voices must be heard so that all European policies finally have a child-friendly approach. This is the only way to understand all their problems, listen to them and finally build a world of peace.

Mr President, Commissioner, you said so: Temu, Shein, AliExpress, Amazon and smaller platforms are flooding the European market with low-cost products. But behind these low prices, there are huge costs, including online manipulation techniques incentivising hyper-consumption or low-quality products that can be dangerous for health and safety. One survey even found that 80% of tested toys imported through these platforms did not meet European safety standards. It also leads to unfair competition for European companies that respect social, environmental, product and safety standards. These standards exist at European level for good reasons: the protection of consumers, workers and the environment. They must therefore be respected by everyone, including importing companies and third-country platforms. Hundreds of thousands of parcels arrive at our home every day, with one click and without having been checked. These are all potentially dangerous products that do not meet European standards. This unfair competition affects all sectors and is often an obstacle to the development of sustainable and socially responsible local sectors. This is particularly the case in the textile sector, where unfair competition from Chinese platforms for ‘ultrafast fashion’ threatens the emergence of a sustainable textile sector in Europe. The European Union is here to protect consumers and our entrepreneurs: it is therefore necessary to ensure effective compliance with the rules, transparency and consumer information, but also reinforced customs controls and the means necessary for such controls, customs duties even for purchases of less than EUR 150, and increased penalties for platforms that do not comply with the rules.

Madam President, drug-related crime is a real human, social and economic tragedy. It penetrates the most fragile strata of our communities and infiltrates our economies and the rule of law. The settling of accounts, shootings and assassinations are multiplying in our capitals, as in Marseille or Brussels. The stakes in terms of safety and public health are colossal. I hear you say, Commissioner, that the action plan against drugs is bearing fruit, but we must strengthen the action of the European Union and support and share positive initiatives on the ground. Professionals, but also our local elected representatives, are sounding a real alarm. They need significant human and financial resources to carry out this fight, resources for prevention, investigations, police and judicial prosecutions, sanctions and rehabilitation. Tackling this phenomenon requires a systemic and multidisciplinary approach, to which the European level must contribute through networking, strengthening the fight against corruption and broadening the competences of the EPPO and through international judicial cooperation. When are we going to put pressure on states, like Dubai, that host drug traffickers? It is also necessary to harmonise the European response to organised crime, to make the European Ports Alliance a real operational tool in the fight against drug trafficking, but also to combat poverty and improve detention conditions to prevent recidivism. In short, we must act, by listening to the professionals on the ground, the police, the magistrates and the social and health workers, who are at the heart of the action and the response and who are at the bedside of the communities most affected by this phenomenon, and finally, support our municipalities, on the front line in this fight.

Madam President, on the Audi Forest site, 3 000 people are now seeing their jobs threatened, 4 000 people including subcontractors. Thousands of people are on the spot. Their lives are being turned upside down by unwise industrial choices on the part of Audi and its leaders. The crisis in the automotive sector is also linked to the lack of a coordinated European industrial policy and strategic investments, and to this absolute belief in a deregulated globalisation that would favour European industry, while weakening it. The US and China have distorted competition by massively supporting their industries. The time of naivety is over. Europe must take urgent measures, such as the one on taxes on Chinese electric vehicles, but above all take its industrial destiny into its own hands. A strong and sustainable European industry, capable of facing up to future societal challenges, and cheaper green solutions, require above all a strategy that would follow on from the Green Deal, in consultation with trade unions, the private and public sectors, and a massive investment plan at European level, focusing on local, quality jobs that respect ILO conventions and workers’ rights. There will be no climate justice without social justice.

Mr. Speaker, preserving biodiversity on land and in our oceans is the guarantee of our own survival. To defend it, as Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson does, is to defend us all. Under an international arrest warrant, he is threatened with extradition to Japan for opposing the country's illegal whaling. His arrest in Greenland, on European soil, in a context where the use of judicial procedures to silence activists and whistleblowers is increasingly widespread, is extremely problematic. In the case of Paul Watson, the use of an Interpol red alert is an abuse of international judicial cooperation for political purposes, in contravention of Interpol's statutes. Environmental protectors, who are also our protectors, must be free and protected. Legal proceedings gag to silence them have no place in our democracies. The case of Paul Watson illustrates the threat to the rights to protest, to speak out, to come together for all citizens committed to causes across Europe and the world. Denmark must refuse the use of Watson's case for political and economic purposes, and refuse the extradition of Sea Shepherd's founder. And we also expect the European Commission to take a position along these lines. Free Paul Watson.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the fight against organised crime unfortunately becomes a priority for most of our governments only when gunshots are heard in our streets and the issue is the subject of media attention. Yet it has been years since European agencies have alerted our governments who have more or less knowingly ignored the problem and focused police resources on the fight against Islamist terrorism. Necessary, but not enough. Organised crime affects communities in depth and poses a real risk to our democracies and the rule of law, both through its direct effects and through the current responses to it, which often have the effect of restricting our freedoms, such as border closures, but also through ultra-security measures. From corruption to drugs, from environmental crime to cybercrime, from trafficking in human beings to crimes against people's property, organised crime is multifaceted and requires responses ranging from prevention to repression. Prevention includes economic and social inclusion, access to employment, education, housing and neighbourhood work. Because it is precariousness that also allows networks to thrive. These dimensions are sorely lacking, particularly in terms of European action, hence the imperative need to strengthen our social Europe. The means of investigation and prosecution must be supported through the development of police and judicial cooperation in compliance with fundamental rights, the creation of specialised services and courts, the increase of human and financial resources, or access to targeted training, particularly in financial crime. The issue of sanctions is also important, but to the necessary penalty must be added rehabilitation. Without it, it is the circle of violence that continues or radicalization that continues to make its way. An in-depth analysis of increasingly complex criminal trends must be ensured by involving researchers and field agents in this work. Finally, I would also like to reiterate the importance of protecting civil society, which fights organized crime on a daily basis. At European level, it is crucial to continue the excellent work of networking and to develop European legislation. Fight corruption by effectively expanding the competences of the EPPO, by having a greater ambition for the Anti-Corruption Directive and by ensuring means of action from the local to the global level. Develop international judicial cooperation, including by putting pressure on states like Dubai, for example, that host drug traffickers. To harmonise the European response to organised crime by considering a legislative response, and finally to improve detention conditions to ensure the dignity of detainees, particularly in pre-trial detention, and to prevent reoffending. Europe can strengthen coordination and put in place the tools, but it is up to the Member States to seize them and put in the appropriate means. Faced with this major security challenge, it is really high time to act for all our citizens.

Madam President, I extend my sincere condolences and wishes for recovery to the people of Solingen. Horror strikes again. All my solidarity goes to the victims and survivors of this attack. I am also thinking of the many victims of previous attacks who have learned to reconnect to prevent violent radicalization rather than suffer it, to unite rather than exacerbate racism and violence. Contrary to the title of this debate requested by the Christian Democrats, with the support of the extreme right and conservatives who, once again, instrumentalize a despicable terrorist act for racist and electoral purposes, it is the means available to prevent such acts that should monopolize our attention today. Provide training, strengthen police personnel, improve working conditions, strengthen the financial means of investigation, prosecution and restoration at the level of justice, the means of prevention, support, rehabilitation in our prisons which are the first places of radicalisation, provide justice and reparation to victims and survivors on the basis of an existing European framework which will soon be strengthened. It is up to each Member State to live up to the needs of victims and invest resources in its police and judicial system. The problem is that these measures are often invisible, but much more effective than making the foreigner the scapegoat. The best response to those who want to destroy us is to respond with justice, law, respect for fundamental rights, Commissioner, not to embrace the terms of the debate imposed by the right by linking terrorist acts to foreigners.