Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this European Year of Youth, full of promise and so important after COVID-19, leaves me with an unfinished taste. Yes, we have had events, forums, but no concrete progress, no new legislative proposals. Yet there are so many topics: the mental health of young people, the housing crisis, fair remuneration for traineeships, support for settling into working life, equality between women and men... There are many projects and they have already been reminded by young people during the Conference on the Future of Europe. Young people are in demand. I am happy to see so many in this Chamber today. I would also like to return to one point in particular: the clause of a youth pact, the famous Youth Test, which was announced to us by President von der Leyen. It is both a tool for consulting young people ahead of legislative proposals, but also a tool for assessing the impact of European policies on young people. We really need to make sure that we include not only associations, but also young Europeans, even the most remote ones. I wanted to know how you were going to put in place this very important tool to ensure that European policy meets the expectations of young people.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this is the second time in a few weeks that we have had a debate on video games here and it is a very good thing. This sector is booming. It is a particularly important resource for our digital skills, for our cultural industries and therefore for our international influence. It concerns one in two Europeans, which is why we must be very vigilant when it comes to protecting players. The European Union is the relevant level for this – as can be seen from the PEGI system, which clearly indicates the age at which a game is aimed and the nature of its content. We can go further, as this report recommends, to protect minors from potentially misleading business practices. We also need to go further to ensure that women can play in a healthy and respectful world. And yes, we must ensure that business models are virtuous and transparent to users. But we must also go further, more generally, to build a real European strategy in favour of video games. An ambitious and forward-looking strategy that I advocated in a previous report that has been widely voted on here.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, yes, it was a good idea to make 2022 the European Year of Youth. I defended this idea when it was presented by President von der Leyen. We were in the middle of COVID. Young people had suffered heavily from confinement in their daily lives. It turned their daily lives upside down. Yes, it was a good idea, but we can’t stop there. So yes, there has been progress. There has been progress in involving young people, but nothing concrete has been achieved. And this is the worst in politics: the unfulfilled promises of those who make the abstentionists, who make the citizens turn away from us. For example, we called for fulfilling the commitments on the Conference on the Future of Europe by consulting young people on key policies that affect and affect them. We expected this announcement during Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union address, but it did not come. We have called for a European framework for high-quality and well-paid traineeships. We also called for a framework for youth mental health. Nothing concrete has been announced. So I am particularly proud, together with my Renew Group, my colleagues Dragoş Pîslaru, to have set up a working group that puts young people at the heart of political consultation and our reflections. We're moving forward together. But at the level of the European Union, the work remains to be completed. That is why the European Year of Youth must continue for another six months, and that is what we are calling for in this resolution.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday we were hoping for a gesture from FIFA, a tribute to the 6,500 workers who died building in Qatar, in inhumane conditions, disproportionate, air-conditioned stadiums in the middle of the desert. The tribute did not take place. Today, FIFA is putting direct pressure on players to give up wearing a cuff in support of LGBT people, whose rights are being flouted in Qatar. Gentlemen of FIFA, there are limits to compromise. While we should celebrate the great football festival, we are ashamed to live this choice made in 2010 and tainted with suspicions of corruption. It is true that the current FIFA President was not there in 2010. But where are his regrets when he says he wants to open big competitions to countries like, I quote, North Korea? The last World Cup in Russia or the Olympic Games in China did not change anything. But in the end, the World Cup acted as a huge revealer. Qatar’s seduction operation has turned into a global ‘bad buzz’. And the message is clear to FIFA: reform your bodies, reconnect with the values of equality, tolerance, transparency and universality. The true values of sport.

Mr President, thank you very much for your contributions. We can see how the opportunities offered by the sector are attracting interest in all our Member States and at EU level. In conclusion, I wanted to add a final word on the major challenges facing the sector. Some of my colleagues have talked about it. We have the issue of feminisation, which is a key element in video games, as the sector has 50% female players but only 22% female employees. There is no doubt that we must do better. We need to ensure that women have career opportunities in this sector, but also a digital environment that is harassment-free and respectful of EU values – and I know that today our European Union has the tools to do so: we have just had a debate, particularly in France, on the harassment of female streamers, and we are better equipped to combat this phenomenon. Prevention, on the other hand, must remain at the heart of our priorities to ensure that video games remain a pleasure, without content unsuited to the player’s age, and that they do not become isolated in a digital environment. For this, we already have the proven pan-European PEGI system, which must continue to be supported. We must also pay attention to compliance with European rules on unfair business practices. Finally, video games and e-sports must also contribute to the green transition, not only by reducing their CO2 emissions, but also by using the power of this medium to educate and raise awareness among players – we know that the immersion value of video games can deliver a lot of messages. We are therefore convinced that: video games and e-sports are assets for the future. The European Union, by taking its digital destiny into its own hands through more investment in this sector, will be able to give a true European culture to the digital worlds.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, just fifty years ago, a very simple pattern appeared on screens all over the world: they were two vertical bars and a pixel moving between them. The concept of this game – it was called – was very simple: return the ball and score as many points as possible against his opponent. This simple game marked the beginning of the video game revolution. Fifty years later, video games have become a major industry for Europe, worth €23 billion and employing nearly 100,000 people. Video games are the most dynamic sector in our cultural and creative industries, the only one that has grown during the COVID-19 period. Video games have become an essential cultural practice for one in two Europeans and a full-time profession for e-sports professionals. However, we still do not have a European vision for this sector. Therefore, we, the European Parliament, are today formally calling for a European strategy for this sector, a strategy to promote an industry that has constantly reinvented itself artistically. Because yes, video games are an art, and even a total art. It develops unique narratives, often based on our European history. He calls on graphic designers, musicians of great talent. It is also a mine of technological innovations. From virtual reality to metaverse architecture, it contributes to our digital sovereignty. Thousands of successful video games are developed every year by European companies and are highly successful internationally. The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, A Plague Tale, Minecraft: we can do more to make our nuggets known to the world, with – why not? – the creation of a European video game label – this is a recommendation. We must also have a strategy to protect. Protecting our games, studios, talent and publishers, fostering European investment. Many of our companies, like many in the cultural and creative sector, have strong growth potential, but are the target of foreign buyouts due to the lack of European investors. I welcome the Media Invest plan announced by the European Commission, but, I repeat here, there is an urgent need: In the period of consolidation that we are going through, our video games are strategic cultural assets, and they must remain in the European fold. We also need a strategy to educate, because video games are a great medium, which, when combined with educational programmes, make learning easier at any age, for young and old alike. It gives taste to scientific knowledge, but also to reading. Thus, the European Union needs a European strategy for video games, but it should also have a common approach to e-sports, because e-sports is a discipline in its own right, unlike any other. It brings players together around the same passion: practice video games in competition. More than in any other discipline, Europe transcends borders. It is therefore logical for the EU to embrace this phenomenon by promoting our European values, by giving a fair place to women, by providing clear rules on the status and visas of professionals. I am particularly pleased to see that global competitions are planned for 2023 on our continent. But we can do even better, insisting on the role of cities and regions to develop a new leisure offer for more and more players and thereby develop their attractiveness. Colleagues, I would like to thank the CULT Chair for her support and the shadow rapporteurs for their work. Video games and e-sports have important economic and societal challenges to address. Thus, with this report, we mark the first step towards genuine consideration of the sector at European level.

Madam President, Commissioner, Rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, last week we learned that Yuri Kerpatenko, a Ukrainian conductor, was shot by Russian machine guns, murdered in his home in Kherson. His crime: refusing to participate in a propaganda concert to celebrate the illegal annexation of his region. The Russian government has no limits in horror. This war is a war against our values in which artists are all designated targets. When you want to subjugate a people, you erase its history, its heritage, its memory, its culture, its freedom of expression. History is a stark reminder of this. Since the beginning of the conflict, nearly 200 cultural sites have been destroyed or damaged. We can mention the historic centre of Kyiv, the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre, and remember the Mariupol Theatre, which was bombed as a refuge for thousands of Ukrainians. Today, destruction and looting must be prevented. Disinformation must be tackled. Ukrainian artists must be given the means to express themselves, which is a way to resist. We already support them and we need to do more. This is the call we are making today in the European Parliament. There's an emergency. In 2020, we voted on a resolution calling for saving the EU’s cultural and creative sectors in times of pandemic; We're going to repeat ourselves. We must continue to help Ukrainian artists, yes, but by significantly increasing the means. Instead of cutting the Creative Europe budget by €90 million, as planned for 2023, let’s increase it, sanctify it! This budget cut is unacceptable in the times we live in. And yes, Commissioner, we need new instruments. What we are asking for is a specific emergency mechanism dedicated to the cultural industries that are the first to suffer in all the times of crisis we are experiencing. Let’s invest in culture, our democracies will do better.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear rapporteurs and colleagues. New European Bauhaus. Behind this overly complicated name, there is a great idea for our citizens to put art, culture, design and above all people at the heart of the energy transition and the European Green Deal. With this initiative, we are therefore talking about renovating our buildings while respecting our heritage, building differently, putting nature back in the city, valuing our social relations, rethinking our ways of moving and integrating the circular economy into our lives and cities. But today, in 2022, we are in limbo, with a lack of clarity about the sources of funding. The message I want to convey is therefore a message of ambition: we want a dedicated programme and funding in the European budget. The New European Bauhaus must support SMEs, architects, engineers, artists, craftsmen and apprentices. There are thousands of ideas and local initiatives in Europe. They must be made visible so that they can inspire decision-makers, businesses and local elected representatives.

Madam President, I really wanted to thank all the colleagues who have spoken in support of this debate. I would also like to thank you, Commissioner, for responding with proposals. In conclusion, I wanted in particular to welcome the work of the Commission in publishing the guidelines for the implementation of the Erasmus+ Inclusion and Diversity Strategy and the European Solidarity Corps, which, together with the recommendations of this report, can significantly improve inclusion measures in Erasmus+. So we learned from the past in this report and now we have to seize all the opportunities that the current programme offers to further strengthen – and we have seen how important this is – the opportunities for inclusion. I am talking about opportunities for apprentices to be included, about being able to develop a lot of initiatives for the youngest – because opening up to Europe, to habits abroad, to this irreplaceable experience, is being prepared from an early age, because we are also adapting. All these measures must therefore be followed up. For this, there is a nerve of war that is the budget. I admit that the budget I have seen for 2023 is a source of concern, because it needs to be increased more radically every year. This budget is also part of the inclusion measures of Erasmus and we therefore expect a lot, as my colleague recalled earlier. This report therefore draws lessons from the past and projects us into the future of an even more inclusive Erasmus. I hope, of course, that this report, which will be put to the vote, will win a very broad unanimity in this House and will be a strong signal to all Europeans, young and old alike.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, more than 10 million people have been able to benefit from Erasmus+ since it was launched in 1987. And how many more are dreaming about it? How many dream of travelling, meeting, learning and experiencing European culture through mobility? At the Conference on the Future of Europe, the 800 citizens told us, they made it a priority: There is a need to foster a culture of exchange and to promote European identity and European diversity. And the first answer identified is Erasmus. The programme has evolved significantly since 1987 and has been open to apprentices, high school students, middle school students, adults in training, teachers and job seekers. Erasmus+, in 35 years, has expanded, democratised to better adapt to changes in our society. Yet, it regularly rises from the field of discouraging testimonies: a student who has not been able to leave because of his or her disability due to lack of suitable support structures, an apprentice whose family has not authorised the mobility project, a young person who has not been able to carry out his or her project due to lack of financial means or an adult in training for whom the remote geographical situation has been too important a brake. Not to mention all those young people who simply think that Erasmus is not for them, that it is only for students of higher education or for those who have money, parental support, for those who live in big cities; In short: for others. Erasmus is still too often thought of as the European success that benefits only a few. We need to change that. Every young person must be able to say to himself: "Erasmus is for me". It is on this basis that the European Parliament negotiated and obtained, in the new Erasmus + programme 2021-2027, an entire chapter dedicated to the inclusion of what we call people with fewer opportunities, i.e. encountering geographical, social, cultural, health, disability or educational difficulties. For this desire for inclusion to be translated into reality for Erasmus 2021-2027, it was therefore essential to look back and see what had been done to include these audiences in difficulty, whether in isolation, by project leaders, or more concertedly, at the level of Erasmus+ national agencies, in the absence of a real European strategy. This is what I did with my shadow rapporteur colleagues in this implementation report. We have come to a comprehensive report with clear findings and recommendations for the current programme. The analysis of the situation in the 2014-2020 programming period clearly shows several obstacles, which I wanted to highlight in this report. Firstly, the crucial need to adapt scholarships and financial aid to the situation of participants. I am thinking in particular of pre-financing, which would allow participants not to have to advance money. This is something that really comes up on a regular basis from project owners. A second obstacle is the almost structural dysfunction of the Commission's IT tools. We know that this is a recurring problem that still exists in the current programme. An association that has few resources, few staff, really has difficulties and this is something that absolutely needs to be corrected. A third crucial point is that of the support provided to the professors, the accompanists and the teams of the associations carrying out the projects. They are often volunteers and need help to complete the files to be provided, a process that can be complex. Without them, most programmes cannot be carried out and run optimally. Better support would also give more confidence to families, sometimes reluctant, and participants, while ensuring optimal project progress. Finally, it emerged that there was a lack of accurate and reliable data on the participation of people with fewer opportunities that would allow us to monitor the performance of the programme on this topic. The recommendations in this report are the result of several months of work, consultation – with stakeholders on the ground, project associations, researchers, authors of the EPRS study – and close collaboration with my shadow rapporteur colleagues, whom I would like to thank for their work, their collaboration in favour of a truly more inclusive Erasmus+, a factor of cohesion and a vector of European citizenship in these times of mistrust and withdrawal.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, the Conference on the Future of Europe was held. Yes, it is true, there have been doubts, challenges, difficulties. But today, the result is there, with 325 solid proposals that are the result of a unique participatory democracy exercise, led in particular by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron. What citizens have asked of us is more Europe and better Europe. This is the end of unanimity and veto in the Council and it is a strengthened Europe. It is a more humane Europe through culture and education. At a time when our values are under attack, when I see in my own country, France, right-wing and far-left parties and even environmentalists, wanting to destabilise Europe by challenging the primacy of European law, we must listen to what citizens have told us. The future of Europe is today. We owe it to the citizens, to our young people who have made a massive commitment. Thanks to Guy Verhofstadt’s determination, the European Parliament has taken a position on these proposals and will, I hope, reaffirm it by voting on this follow-up resolution. Now it is the duty of the Commission and the Council to give concrete form, to act for this new Europe by opening an Article 48 Convention, as we are calling for.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, Mr Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, our Renew Europe Group is calling for action for all young Europeans. Their level of unemployment and poverty, which is still too high, is no longer acceptable. Yes, the pandemic has hit them hard and increased inequality. Now we must act, and my group is calling for strong, immediate action. As a priority, we want to create a European digital platform, modelled on the French success story ‘Un jeunes, une solution’, to make training, employment, volunteering and access to culture offers accessible, and to inform all young people about their rights. Europe offers solutions and needs to make this known. We also want to put an end to unpaid or even poorly paid internships. Access to traineeships should not be restricted to those who can afford it. We want to tackle the huge problem of youth mental health at European level. The social isolation caused by the pandemic has weighed heavily, and distress situations must be a priority for our public policies. At the same time, we must respond to the great democratic challenges we face. Young Europeans are engaged, but do not feel sufficiently represented. The figures show this: their attachment to the democratic system is weakening, and this is very alarming. The paradox is that young Europeans are strongly mobilized on major challenges. The fight against climate change, inequality and discrimination is at the heart of their concerns. Yet they vote less and less. It is necessary to renew the dialogue, to reinvolve them in the public debate and, for this, to invent innovative solutions. I am thinking of European citizenship, which we want to promote, including the idea of European civic service. Last week I met young European artists gathered at the EuroFabrique and I was struck by their pessimistic – pessimistic but not resigned – vision of the world. A young Italian man I asked how he saw the future answered me: “There is no future, there is only the present, and utopia.” I believe our challenge is that this utopia becomes a possible and conceivable future. I am proud, as coordinator of the Youth Focus Group of the Renew Group, together with my colleague Dragoș Pîslaru and with President Stéphane Séjourné, that we have this debate. Last December we voted on the legal framework for the European Year of Youth. We now need to translate words into action, and this is what we in the Renew Europe Group are committed to doing for this year and for the long term.

Mr President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, let us remember the Internet 20 years ago: No Facebook, no YouTube, no Spotify, no Wish, no Dropbox... You know all these and many other names well, because they have changed our daily lives and at the same time taken a central place in our lives. But great power implies great responsibilities. With the DSA, our Parliament sets the rules of the game for large internet companies. Europe is taking over. These rules will help fight hate speech, disinformation, counterfeiting and protect our cultural content. They will allow internet users to freely choose their navigation without being trapped by obscure algorithms and perverse interfaces. Today, with this text, Europe is a pioneer and I know that the French Presidency of the European Union will make it a priority to end the digital Wild West.

Mr President, Commissioner, 2022 will be the European Year of Youth. What good news, what a sign of hope! The work of the European Parliament, which concluded the negotiations in record time with real victories, is to be commended. We got a consolidated budget. We have secured the contribution of all major European programmes to put youth at the heart of European policies. We have secured that young people are in action and we have secured that this year 2022 has a sequel. This is just the beginning. Now we need to make the European Year a milestone and an effective year. 2022 must give back to young people the opportunities lost because of the pandemic. All areas of their lives must be considered: access to employment, training, psychological health, existing EU programmes – and I underline the effort that has been made for Erasmus+, to open it up more and make it more accessible – and climate change, of course. Last but not least, how can we guarantee that the European Union will remain a great democratic space when justice, the media, access to abortion and LGBT rights are under threat in some European countries? To be successful, everyone must get involved, and I am thinking in particular of the cities and regions that have a great role to play in bringing this European year closer together. This European Year of Youth should not be a year of communication, but a year of action that should follow. I am counting on the Commission. This Parliament and I will take care of it.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, what is the best weapon against intolerance and extremism? Education! What is the best way to combat fake news and disinformation? Education! And what do the citizens who are participating in the Conference for the Future of Europe ask us? A truly European-wide education to give everyone the same opportunities. We have already made great strides in integrating our education systems, but it is time to go further in order to achieve a genuine European Education Area where every young person, every learner and every teacher can benefit from the same opportunities and recognition of diplomas and skills across the European Union. This is precisely the purpose of this excellent report. The Bologna process has enabled student mobility and almost full recognition of higher education diplomas, and the same must now apply to apprentices. They must take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the European Education Area and we clearly call in this report for the creation of a European Statute for Apprentices. It also seems crucial to me that multilingualism be given a place. If we want pupils, students and apprentices to be mobile and to benefit from the training that best suits them throughout Europe, it is essential to strengthen the learning of languages, and ideally of several languages. This way, through mobility for all, language learning and bringing our education systems closer together, Europe will perform better and the sense of belonging to the European Union will grow.

Mr President, Commissioner, Madam rapporteur, a year ago we launched the alert for culture in Europe and asked the Member States to devote 2% of their recovery plans to this sector that has been disrupted by the pandemic. I am proud to say that we have been heard. More than €9 billion of the European Union Recovery Instrument Next Generation EU is already benefiting from it and many aids are available through support for SMEs and tourism, among others. However, as the rapporteur points out in this excellent report, much remains to be done for cultural professionals. The challenge is to strengthen the situation of authors, artists and technicians still weakened by this too fragmented sector, to secure their income and to move towards a European status for artists. The challenge is also to put culture on a sustainable footing in the European economy in a digital age and win the content battle. We have the potential and the talent. As such, I welcome national initiatives, such as the Italian recovery plan signed in the Cinecittà film studios or the France 2030 plan, aimed at boosting investment in cultural and creative content. But more than economic, the challenge is our imagination and our shared narrative. European culture has something that other cultures do not have: a sensitivity and diversity unlike any other. It is indispensable for our democracy, for our influence in the world, for enchanting our lives – as we saw during the lockdown – and it is indispensable for our cohesion and our European identity.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, Commissioner and Minister, at each session its resolution on the rule of law in the European Union, again and again. Today, we are once again mobilising for freedom of the press. Yes, we must prevent the disappearance of TVN24, one of the last free voices in Poland. But we already had such an action last March for media freedom – in Poland already, but also in Hungary and Slovenia. What if we finally act? In her State of the Union address this morning, Ursula von der Leyen announced a Media Freedom Act. We expect a lot for the protection of journalists, for the independence of national regulators, for the pluralism of sources of information and we expect more with the application of sanctions and especially the establishment of conditions for obtaining funds from European money. Being European means respecting values and embodying a flawless democracy. Freedom of the media and opinion is the basis for this.