Speeches

Mr President, I recall in this debate the process of the Convention on the Future of Europe, which would lay the foundations for a so-called European Constitution. A farce that was then exposed by the rejection in several referenda, and the European Union disregarded the results of these processes of popular suffrage, then imposed the Treaty of Lisbon. They now intend, in general terms, to repeat the mystification operation launched at that time. It is therefore necessary once again to defend the reversibility of the Treaties, starting with the Treaty of Lisbon and including the Fiscal Treaty and the neoliberal, federalist and militarist matrix contained therein. We defend the inalienable right of every people to debate and express themselves in an informed manner, including by referendum, on the content and purpose of current and future agreements and treaties. What is needed is to defend a process of genuine cooperation between sovereign and equal states in rights and a Europe that defends sovereignty and democracy, rights, enabling alternative paths for the future, justice, progress and peace. (La oradora acepta respond a una intervención realized con entreglo al procedimiento de la ‘tarjeta azul’)

Madam President, the European Parliament continues its policy of complete adherence to the United States' ingerencist and destabilizing strategy in Latin America. This new resolution against Nicaragua and its people is yet another demonstration of how this Parliament does not hesitate to misrepresent the facts in order to cover up an unacceptable policy that is contrary to the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. We therefore reject any external interference in the Republic of Nicaragua and the continued destabilisation and attempt by the United States of America, with the support of the European Union, to impose its economic and political dominance over that country. We therefore call for an end to this policy of interference, including the coercive and unilateral measures imposed on the margins of the United Nations, aimed at hindering Nicaragua's economic development and attaining the living conditions of the Nicaraguan people. We affirm our solidarity with Nicaragua and its people in the struggle in defense of its sovereignty and independence, of the right to decide its own path of development, free from external pressures and interferences, in defense and in the pursuit of the Sandinista revolution and its development and social progress.

Madam President, in my country, Portugal, after years of fighting for women's rights, voluntary termination of pregnancy was finally decriminalised in 2007. Since then, the number of IVGs has progressively decreased and it is estimated that 40% fewer abortions have been performed in the last ten years. Those who oppose the decriminalisation of IVG in the United States or in Europe know well that banning it has no effect on combating abortion, only making it clandestine, unprotected and dangerous to the physical and mental health and sometimes to the very lives of women, but only to those who cannot afford to do so in a safe place in another country. We condemn and reject all setbacks in sexual and reproductive rights felt anywhere in the world. The way is to move forward, not back down. Advance access to sexual and reproductive health services with the necessary reinforcement of quality and free public health services, sex education, free access to contraceptives and family planning services.

Mr President, Vice-President Timmermans said here that this emissions reduction package should leave no one behind. I said this knowing that the insistence on perverse market solutions, which are not only questionable as to the effectiveness in reducing emissions but also burden workers and populations, contributing to the increase in the cost of living, as the Commission itself acknowledges, justifies the creation of the Social Climate Action Fund to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the extension of emissions trading. This fund is clearly insufficient and the Commission proposal is marked precisely by support for a very restrictive range of those affected, leaving many behind. And the methodology for calculating the financial allocation is uniquely detrimental to one Member State, Portugal. Portugal is the only country whose gross national income per capita is less than 90% of the EU-27 average that will have a lower allocation of the total percentage of the fund than the percentage of its population in the EU-27 as a whole. It is unjustifiable discrimination that needs to be corrected.

Madam President, worsening living conditions, rising housing costs, the loss of purchasing power of families and rising interest rates make it urgent to protect the homes of many families and prevent them from becoming homeless. In this sense, States should assume themselves as promoters of public housing and promoters of urban construction and rehabilitation policies to extend the provision of public housing at costs compatible with household incomes. We advocate the strengthening of public investment in the rehabilitation and construction of public housing, which responds to identified housing shortages, workers and, in particular, young people, enabling the empowerment and constitution of families. There is a need to increase the supply of public housing under supported or conditional rent schemes. But in order to do so, it is necessary to break with the budgetary constraints imposed by the European Union, followed by national governments which, as can be seen, limit the responses needed to improve the living conditions of the peoples.

Madam President, the reality of island regions within the European Union is diverse and presents structural disadvantages in relation to continental territories because of their size, low population density, seasonal demographics, high topographical variation or poor connectivity. These structural features call for a positive distinction between public investment policies that enable greater territorial and social cohesion and counteract the divergent trend in the development of these territories. The Portuguese islands are at the same time outermost regions, suffering from this double insularity. The development of the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira necessarily involves investment in agriculture, support for small-scale and traditional fishing, industrial development, sustainable tourism and improved accessibility, both between islands and with the mainland. It also involves policies and investments to achieve this development, including a POSEI dedicated to fisheries and a POSEI dedicated to transport, as we have defended and as we will continue to defend. We regret that the conditionality imposed on the Structural Funds impacts these regions, limiting the development possibilities that would be fundamental.

Mr President, the European Union's sanctions policy sacrifices the interests of the countries and peoples of Europe and contributes to the escalation of confrontation, hindering the path to peace. The case of gas is paradigmatic. The packages of sanctions adopted were followed by an even sharper speculative increase in the price of gas, which had already been rising in previous months, and the people were paying. Gas storage targets are set for Member States to meet, but as economic groups do not want to make such investments, states and the people will pay. Some dependencies are replaced by others, more distant and environmentally more harmful, more expensive, and the people pay. This is more than just because there is a need for state intervention and capping, but it is insufficient. We need to go further. The exploration, supply, production, transport and marketing of different forms of energy should be in the public sphere, under public and democratic scrutiny. It is the only way for the people not to pay for the war, the sanctions and the profits and profits of the multinationals in the sector.

Madam President, last Friday Tatjana Ždanoka, a Member of this Parliament, was arrested in Riga with other Protestants who were demonstrating publicly and peacefully against the demolition of a memorial to Soviet soldiers in Victoria Park. His detention deserves repudiation by this Parliament. From here we express our solidarity with Tatiana and those who do not give up defending the historical truth, the rights and freedoms that the struggle of the peoples has guaranteed. The same European Union that seeks to assert itself as a champion of human rights and democracy in different parts of the world lives harmoniously with these violations or even promotes them. An example of this is the imposition in the European Union of censorship of the media, which already extends to cultural and sporting activities, contrary to national competences and laws, such as the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, imposing a logic of unique thinking. The destruction of historical heritage is yet another facet of historical revisionism and the attempt to rewrite history in order to erase the achievements achieved by the Soviet Union and the Communists and the rights and achievements achieved by the struggle of the peoples.

Madam President, this debate and the accompanying resolution are yet another piece of the systematic exercise by the European Union and its institutions of cynical instrumentalisation of rights and values to seek to impose their dominance over sovereign states. Not by chance, the resolution ignores the policy of interference by the United States of America and the European Union in Belarus, insisting on the promotion of internal destabilization and the policy of sanctions aimed at stifling the country, creating greater difficulties for the peoples. Policies in clear conflict with international law and the Charter of the United Nations, including the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of each country. There is also a two-pronged view which they seek to impose on different subjects, such as the principle of neutrality, omitting the role of NATO and its expansion to the east. This is an exercise that does not contribute to the necessary de-escalation in the region. Rather, it adds to the escalation of confrontation, which is contrary to peace in Europe and in the world.

Madam President, I would like to begin by highlighting the role of women in the defence of peace, calling for an end to a war that should not have begun through a political solution to the conflict, with the aim of an immediate ceasefire that the escalation of confrontation does not provide. Among the different types of violence to which women are subjected is violence in the context of war, in any war. In this context, the violence adds up. Women and girls are at greater risk of sexual violence and exploitation, of falling into human trafficking networks and subsequently becoming victims of prostitution and other violence. It is therefore important to minimise the suffering of women fleeing war by ensuring that multiple discriminations, whether of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or language barriers, are tackled. Ensure also safe transport and safe routes, decent housing in the host country, the right to health, including access to sexual and reproductive rights, social and labour rights and decent working conditions, ensuring that they are not victims of labour exploitation and that the path to attack established labour and social rights is not taken on this pretext. On this point, the resolution we are voting on today could and should have gone further. As far as the financial means are concerned, too, the resolution falls short of what is desired, tying up support for the association agreement and the neoliberal policies enshrined in it. For the necessary measures to support the reception of refugees, it is necessary to provide additional resources from the European Union, without withdrawing funds from the Structural Funds that do not stretch and are already insufficient for other necessary responses. Finally, we want to express our solidarity with Ukrainian women and welcome the mobilisation that their suffering and struggle has generated in the European institutions. May this solidarity mobilization be extended to all women who suffer the same drama in Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya or any other region of the world beset by war.

Madam President, I would like to remind you that, some 20 years ago, a process similar to this was initiated which now ends, even in name, the so-called Convention on the Future of Europe. This process eventually resulted in a so-called European Constitution enshrining the neoliberal, federalist and militarist policies of the European Union, which was rejected in referendums. And what has the European Union done? It imposed the Treaty of Lisbon against the will of the peoples. They have now recovered a new Convention to insist once again on the deepening of their policies which, in fact, are at the root of social inequalities, development asymmetries between countries or relations of domination. versus dependency within the European Union. With the same recipe, the results will not be different. The answer to the problems of workers and peoples is to break with these policies and for a Europe that defends sovereignty and democracy, rights, enabling alternative paths for the future, justice, progress and peace.

Madam President, artificial intelligence, as a representation of the technological and scientific advances we are witnessing, must be put at the service of improving the living conditions of workers and peoples. It must be at the service of peace, development, wealth creation and well-being. But this is not what this report advocates. On the contrary, it focuses on the sacrosanct market with the aim of putting these advances at the service of the profit of a few, with the increase of exploitation and the deterioration of the living and working conditions of many others. It puts the development of science at the service of militarism and war, not peace. We distance ourselves from this mercantilist and warmongering vision and argue that advances in artificial intelligence should promote, among other things, the reduction of working hours without loss of income, the reduction of hardship at work and should be directed towards key sectors, such as health. We believe that artificial intelligence should contribute to social progress and not be the engine and alibi for further exploitation and social and labour setbacks.

Mr President, yesterday thousands of workers took to the streets on the occasion of International Workers' Day. They denounced the serious increase in the cost of living, whether in fuel, energy or food. It is necessary to tackle, once and for all, the speculative rise in prices by the big oil companies, the big distribution groups and other economic groups that are driving up the prices of essential goods and services. Concrete solutions to problems in the areas of electricity, fuels, gas are needed to defend the food sovereignty of states, increase cereal production, improve the agri-food chain, support agricultural production and small-scale fisheries and, of course, to increase wages and pensions. If wages are not raised, if the cost of living is not stopped, and if more military spending, sanctions and weapons continue to be applauded, the situation will only get worse. The workers and the people, who are already paying the bill, can count on our intervention in the defense of a better life and peace.

Madam President, organic farming can play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change and restoring biodiversity. We advocate a short supply chain approach, not subject to market orientation, but to people's food needs and their ability to produce the food they need. Quotas of agricultural land under organic production vary significantly across the European Union and there is no single agricultural model that suits all countries and regions. It is therefore important that the national or regional organic farming strategies promoted by the Member States respond to their needs and the objective of ensuring food sovereignty and that these strategies ensure adequate support for farmers, especially small and medium-sized farmers. We also warn of the classification of organic salt, which should only be classified as such when it is produced according to natural processes, without additives or carbon emissions in its production, which characterize the production of sea salt.

Mr President, Roma communities have been victims of racism, xenophobia, prejudice and stereotypes for centuries. Europe’s history is tainted by persecution and discrimination against Roma communities, hostility and expressions of hatred in public and political discourse against them. From the Inquisition to Nazi-fascism, to the present day, there are too many examples of the marginalization of the Roma and the poor socio-economic conditions in which many of them live. The situation for Roma women is even more serious and they face multiple discrimination in accessing employment, education, health, social services and limiting their decision-making. National strategies, framed within a common European framework, continue to prove ineffective. There is an urgent need to put an end to policies that perpetuate the condition and persecution of Roma communities, and there is an urgent need to implement policies that dignify and defend the rights of Roma communities. Developing community programmes that strengthen social relations with the Roma community and the educational integration of children and young people is one of the ways forward.

Madam President, if we want to talk about research and innovation, we must necessarily talk about their agents, researchers and their working conditions. Many of them experience the uncertainty of the renewal of the research fellowship, the fixed-term contract, the outcome of the tender and the funding of a project. What they need is stability in a bond. To publish the results of their research, specialized publishers, who live at the expense of the work of these researchers, even ask for payment for the publication of articles. That is, researchers, often under pressure from the evaluation of their position, produce science that they publish in scientific articles, which are provided free of charge or on payment to publishers, who in turn use scientific reviewers free of charge and then sell these articles to other researchers and institutions. We need open access policies and a guarantee that institutions and researchers will not have any cost to publish and access scientific articles, ensuring that publishers will not profit from researchers' scientific work. One last note: the sharing of scientific knowledge and its application should be at the service of humanity and the well-being, peace and health of peoples, rather than being hindered or even prohibited.

Madam President, the proposal put forward raises a number of doubts and concerns which do not allow us to accompany it. I only list a few that are not properly safeguarded. The trend towards digitalisation of administrative law and the subsequent development of the interoperability of systems, allowing the interconnection of freely accessible databases or databases with different levels of access, may pose a risk associated with the concentration of data that, in general, should be avoided, which may compromise the right to the protection of personal data. The sharing of data between companies for remuneration, in a mercantilist logic of personal data, is contrary to the principle of looking at personal data as an extension of the human personality, removed from any forms of marketing, which aims to legitimize practices that are today illegal and legally null and void. The necessary guarantee of consent in any communication of personal data should be duly taken into account and the introduction of an alleged figure of a personal data sharing intermediary raises reasonable doubts as to its independence and civil liability. It is the preservation of the interest of the individual, and not of the large multinationals, that should guide these initiatives.

Madam President, the measures on energy issues announced by the Council leave the essential aspects of the energy market untouched, including the wholesale pricing methodology, which is responsible for brutal differences between production costs and consumer prices, ensuring huge profit margins for private oligopolistic groups. The current situation highlights not only the need to regain public control of strategic sectors, such as energy, but also to promote domestic production, mitigating productive deficits and external dependence on states. The approval of the so-called strategic compass constitutes the militaristic path that the European Union insists on deepening, a path that absorbs increasing resources for this militaristic drift, while resources are lacking in combating productive, energy, food, technological, democratic deficits, in fully financing public services, in combating poverty, injustices and social inequalities. This is a path that will not bring greater security to Europe, but will bring greater risks. Arms escalation and sanctions policy do not serve the interests of the peoples or the necessary path to peace.

Madam President, women and girls are a particular target of the Taliban and their absolute reactionism. They are denied the right to work, individual expression, autonomy, divorce, and the right to education. The attacks on women are a structural attack on Afghanistan's development, but they did not begin when, in August last year, the Taliban retook power from the void left, after 40 years of interference and aggression by the United States and its allies, including 20 years of invasion and occupation. The path of equality for Afghan women began to be denied when, some 40 years ago, the United States and its allies financed and armed the most backward and obscurantist forces to attack the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. From here, we express our solidarity with the Afghan people in the firm conviction that it is up to the people of Afghanistan, and specifically Afghan women, to solve their problems without external interference and to pursue their development.

Mr President, we have been advocating that the development of energy infrastructure should be aligned with national energy plans and should contribute to the existence of a high-quality public energy supply service at fair and affordable prices for all. The current situation is characterised by escalating sanctions that harm all peoples and speculative prices that weigh on the pockets of citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises. The so-called temporary exception granted to Portugal and Spain leaves untouched aspects such as the liberalisation, privatisation and segmentation of the sector or the wholesale pricing methodology that is responsible for scandalous differentials between production costs and consumer prices. Even the adoption of timid market regulation measures, which they now dare to consider, could and should have been implemented a long time ago. Public and democratic control of the energy sector is the only way to ensure an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable sector, ensuring stability and security of supply.

Mr President, the rising cost of living that workers and the people are feeling alarmingly is one of the biggest problems facing my country. If, on the one hand, strong and urgent measures are needed to curb the rise in prices for essential goods such as food, on the other hand, it is important to increase wages so that workers do not pay the inflation bill with their own wages. In this context, it is particularly important to increase the productive capacity of each country to ensure the supply of food, reducing external dependence, avoiding food shortages and curbing speculative price increases. For example, it is necessary to promote cereal production and improve the functioning of the food chain in order to ensure fair prices for production. Only by increasing the food production capacity that the population needs, storage and access to food, can we tackle the huge imbalances in our food balance. That's what we're committed to.

Madam President, despite the rain of recent days, much of Portugal is still suffering from severe or extreme drought. With sanctions on the pretext of war and criminal speculation, rising prices and shortages of raw materials further stifle small and medium-sized farms. It is therefore important to support farmers and mitigate the increase in production costs, starting with the fight against the speculative escalation of fuel, electricity, fertiliser and feed prices, confronting monopolies and large-scale distribution that crush prices in national production. It is also time to question the policies of the CAP and its model of super-intensive exploitation and monoculture, a water sink that we do not have. The water we have should be used for the food we need as bread for the mouth, for the promotion of our food sovereignty and our right to produce. We salute from here the farmers who tomorrow will take to the streets, in Braga, in defense of national production and their work.

Mr President, accidents at work, occupational diseases, safety and health issues at work are not inseparable from existing working conditions, precariousness, the rhythms of work imposed, or the deregulation of working hours. The right to safety, hygiene and health at work is a social right of workers which requires respect for the right to physical integrity, the prevention of accidents, occupational diseases, work-related diseases and the promotion of health in the workplace. In Portugal, this right is a constitutional right, with employers taking measures to guarantee this right and the State, through labour inspectorates, effectively monitoring compliance and taking punitive action in the event of non-compliance. Much remains to be done to drastically reduce work-related accidents, particularly those that are fatal. At the same time, it is crucial to increase social protection and effective accompanying measures for the return to work of workers affected. Some occupational diseases which, although not classified as such, are actually classified as such. Diseases such as some of the psychic sphere do not give rise to sick leave and this is a tremendous injustice since workers, victims of bad working conditions, brutal rhythms imposed on them, discrimination at work, psychological terrorism, are then classified as absentees. In the 21st century, the right to safety, hygiene and health at work cannot be a mirage.

Madam President, women's rights are to be fulfilled, to be continued and cannot be merely propaganda for an equality to be achieved. On International Women's Day, we affirm that we need to move forward in the fight against unemployment and job insecurity by valuing women's careers and socio-occupational status, increasing wages for all workers and achieving equal pay between men and women. Progress needs to be made in promoting the rights of working mothers, reducing working hours, complying with maternity and paternity rights and the right of mothers and fathers to accompany their children, ensuring that crèches are free of charge and creating a quality and accessible public network, equipment and support services for the elderly and people with disabilities. Progress must be made on equal access for all women to public services and social functions of the state, on the allocation of decent pensions and pensions, and on ending the increase in the retirement age. We therefore welcome the role of women and their representative organisations in the struggle to defend their rights. You can count on us.

Mr President, workers are subject, not always consciously, to the deterioration of their working conditions, their health and, ultimately, the loss of their lives. Protecting workers must be a matter of priority in principle and we cannot accept that, in the 21st century, this concern is not yet central. It is essential to guarantee the protection of workers, the increase of their rights and safeguards, which are often inaccessible or jeopardised due to precarious employment relationships, which are unfortunately too fashionable. If, on the one hand, it is essential to increase the preventive aspect of exposure, on the other hand it is essential to ensure, at the same time, fair compensation for the damage suffered by this exposure. Finally, it should be recalled that it is not enough for the law to have these rights enshrined. National inspection authorities, where human and material resources are too often scarce, must have real conditions for monitoring and intervention to enforce the law and workers' rights.