Speeches

–Mr President, investment in research and development in the European Union has increased by 1.3% annually since 2010. Despite this, we still need EUR 110 billion to reach 3% of GDP in all Member States. We need more ambition from the Commission, we need it to speed up the presentation of proposals to dignify the careers of researchers, who are not always rewarded in the scale of the work they do, which we must not allow to escape outside the Union, the Member States. We need to invest more in science and enable the creation of truly borderless ecosystems. The renewed European Research Area is a project that will take steps in this direction and aims, among other things, to foster interconnection between researchers, coordinate scientific priorities and encourage more joint projects. Science is one of the areas where the European Union is a leader in global terms. Let's make sure you don't lose that position.

Madam President, at El Chipote prison in Managua, where six presidential candidates and hundreds of Nicaraguan activists are believed to have been detained, visitors' signs have been removed from the entrance. This was one of the impressive descriptions that Berta Valle and Victoria Cárdenas have given us and that symbolizes the anguish of those who live close to the unacceptable arrests and human rights violations that are taking place in Nicaragua. It is a scenario that has dragged on since 2018, but that has worsened in the last three years with the Ortega regime hiding behind the actions of paramilitary militias to ward off opponents. In this resolution we demand that the Nicaraguan authorities provide information on the state of health of the imprisoned citizens, release them, amend the electoral law and allow a return to the democratic process and the separation of powers in Nicaragua. Only then will we be able to see fair elections next November. Let us say to Berta, to Victoria and to so many other relatives of political prisoners that in the caminarán solos.