Speeches

Madam President, I wish to thank the Commissioner for being here. So the European Year of Youth was obviously very necessary. I mean, if we speak about the future of Europe, or even the future of our European institutions, we need to make sure that the youth is engaged and that they participate also in the decision—making process. I think a lot of good things happened in relation to the European Year of Youth, but what’s also very necessary is that our processes and engagements are inclusive. So I would like to touch upon the participation of the youth coming from the overseas countries and territories. I know that there is the OCT Youth Network. I think that’s a very good step. But we also need to have a strategy to structurally engage the youth from the overseas countries and territories. So my question to you would be: what is your strategy going to be to make sure that they are engaged and that they participate, and what are you also going to do to make sure that they can participate on a structural and equal level in the education programmes we have, like, for example, Erasmus+?

Mr President, thank you, dear colleagues, for your support and the valuable contributions. You know, I’m not going to waste any time anymore in this House to explain that we have gender inequality in Europe. I’m just not going to do that anymore. I’m going to fix it, because it needs attention, it needs time to fix gender inequality. The administrative burden for companies, I hear. Really? You want to talk business? There is a well-known report in the Netherlands from McKinsey saying that the Dutch economy is losing billions because of the lack of gender equality. Administrative burden? While you’re losing billions? Come on. The statistics show a 13 % gender pay gap in Europe. That’s the statistics here, and it’s significant. What's your solution? Contribute to the solution then. Fix the issue then. Because it’s still 13 % and we’re still talking. Now we are really doing something. It’s the very first step to close the gender pay gap. And it’s a right. It’s a European right. It’s in our Treaties to treat men and women equally. So I don’t understand the issue here. And I’m very proud because this legislation is progressive, it’s modern, it’s feminist, it’s liberal, it’s intersectional. So today is a good day. And I’m going to celebrate. I’m going to celebrate because we have true legislation in place from now to give women their rights specifically to be paid on an equal basis. So I’m going to celebrate big time because it’s a good day for women in Europe.

Mr President, good morning, dear colleagues, good morning, Commissioner. Today we will make history. I am incredibly proud to stand in this House and to say to all women in Europe, ‘We are here for you’. In fact, we can say this to all workers in Europe. This directive says you deserve to be treated equally and you deserve to be paid fairly, regardless of your gender, your background or your physical characteristics. With this directive, we have secured the right to information in Europe for all our citizens, and we will finally have the binding legislation we need to tackle pay discrimination in all our Member States. If we had left it up to the markets, the gender pay gap would only correct itself by 2086. How could we justify this to women? How could we explain this to ourselves? We cannot. And for far too long the economy has been organised with men in mind. Women were not the norm and you can see this in the representation of women in leadership positions, in the pay gap, in the pension gap. There is a structural problem here and we can’t just smash the glass ceiling. We need to rebuild the entire house. And today we are doing exactly that. Deze wet inzake loontransparantie geeft alle vrouwen in Europa de handvatten om te achterhalen of zij gelijk worden betaald. Je hoeft voortaan niet per ongeluk te horen dat je mannelijke collega in dezelfde functie met hetzelfde profiel toch meer betaald krijgt. Je hoeft dit helemaal niet meer te accepteren. We maken met deze wet een juridisch kader om de genderloonkloof tegen te gaan met stevige middelen waarmee we een cultuuromslag gaan realiseren. We werken toe naar echte gelijkwaardigheid op de werkvloer. Bedrijven die de regels aan hun laars lappen en vrouwen ongelijk betalen, komen er niet meer mee weg. En als de zaak bij de rechter komt, dan moet het bedrijf zelf maar bewijzen dat er geen sprake is geweest van loondiscriminatie. Ik ben zo ongelofelijk trots op deze inclusieve en moderne Europese wetgeving. Voor het eerst noemen wij expliciet non-binaire mensen in de wetgeving. Voor het eerst erkennen wij intersectionele discriminatie en mag de rechtspraak dit als verzwarende factor meewegen bij zaken over loondiscriminatie. Dit was voor mij een persoonlijk punt, want ik was weggelopen van de tafel als dit er niet in zou komen. Ik zit in de politiek om de norm te veranderen en die norm moest veranderd worden. Emancipatie is een werkwoord en dat is waarom we in de politiek zitten, om ervoor te zorgen dat emancipatie ook echt emancipatie is. I know there are those in this very room that will vote against this directive. I know that they will hide behind hollow words such as ‘gender ideology’ or ‘administrative burden’. The truth is that the women of Europe are watching and they will remember your vote. They will remember how you put corporate interests before their lives. They will remember how you did not show up for them today. Take that into account. I am incredibly proud of my colleague Kira with whom I led these negotiations, thank you very much. Together, we show what modern, inclusive European legislation looks like. I am honoured to have done this with you, with our team, with dedicated advisors Claire, Julia, Myrthe, Asta, Laura and Hoba. And I thank our excellent negotiation team from all political groups, because today we will make history together. I am glad that we could constructively work together with the French Presidency, with the Czech Presidency, with the Commission. We have shown that if we want to reach true equality for all people living in Europe, we need to work together.

Mr President, so obviously the Government of Iran has completely lost their legitimacy when they decided to systematically discriminate against women and minorities. And what is so much important right now is that there will be a legitimate investigation. To make sure that the UN can do a fact-finding mission to Iran to also make sure that we have an investigation that is legitimate and that is fair, because we need girls in the world to have education, that is their right. And it’s absolutely absurd what is happening right now. Iran is violently repressing their own people and, therefore, the Member States should make sure that we make available humanitarian visas for women and girls that are so much in need right now. That’s the best we can do at least. And let us also make sure that the IRGC will become a terrorist organisation, will be put on the terrorist list, because it is very important now that as the EU, we make use of our instruments, we make use of our voice and we make a strong statement towards such a regime who does not respect women’s rights and girls’ rights.

Mr President, it’s very important that we discuss the topic today of anti-discrimination legislation. Equality is one of the fundamental values on which the European Union is founded, and it is through legislation that we can protect the fundamental rights of citizens. And it is therefore very important that we continue with implementing anti-discrimination legislation. The numbers don’t lie. We have so many surveys, so many researches, so many statistics and numbers that show that people feel discriminated, that people are still excluded because of who they are, what they look like, what your name is or what your skin colour is, you name it. And therefore we have a responsibility. And I think the European Parliament already took that responsibility to make sure that we have legislation in place. So the request to the Council is to make sure that you make work of it and that you do that as quickly as possible. Because the European Union is also founded to make sure that fundamental rights of citizens are protected. And this is exactly what we can promote in the world. And if we want to promote human rights in the world, then we need to do the same, and we can do that through legislation.

Mr President, apparently we now live in a continent where women can be punished for wanting to help each other and enable safe and legal abortion. Is this a free Europe for women? Now that's the question we face. This case should never have gone to court. What am I surprised to read in the media today? That the European Commission does not wish to respond to individual cases. Nor does the President of the European Parliament make a statement on this matter. That just can't be true! Because this would never have happened if we had acted on time and firmly against the Polish government, against the rule of law that it does not respect. So I very much wonder – I have a concrete question for President von der Leyen in particular – what she is going to do now to hold Poland to account, to ensure that there are no more examples as we have seen at Justyna. Because I'm telling you, this isn't just going to happen to her. This is going to happen to more women. So come on, say something. Women are not safe in Poland and perhaps not in other European Member States that can follow this example.

Madam President, so I think many of us would agree still that Brexit was a strategic, political and economic mistake. It was expected to have a negative impact on our trade, on our companies, on our jobs and on our people. But we need to move forward. And therefore the Windsor framework will give now economic security for a lot of people who were waiting for this security. So I would like to applaud also the European Commission for doing so much and putting so much effort in it, because we need to make sure that we have effective trade and economic relationships now with the UK. We need to keep working together to make sure that we can face the new geopolitical challenges in the world. And we also need to make sure that we stick to the rules. And this is exactly why we need a framework, this is exactly why we need an agreement. I am pretty sure that we can work on sustainable trade relations, that we can work on the creation of more jobs – green, fair, responsible. But we need to make sure that we stick to the rules and that we will keep having these dialogues to make sure that we can do this together effectively with the UK.

Mr President, the transition must be clearly green and, above all, fair. It is important that European citizens stay warm at home. Unfortunately, many citizens can hardly pay their energy bills or sleep in the cold. The transition must be fair and inclusive. The industrial sector has a very important role to play here. We need to help the industrial sector tackle the transition in a sustainable and innovative way. We already have the necessary knowledge and resources. The industry must not collapse, but change along with it. We must ensure that the 96.5 million Europeans in the EU are not at risk of poverty, for example because of high energy bills. We can make good use of our trade agreements for this. Let us ensure, through trade agreements, that our partner countries meet our standards and that trade agreements include chapters on sustainable development, so that the whole world goes along with this crucial transition and ultimately becomes climate neutral.

Mr President, I am indignant by this debate, and I am very surprised. The whole debate is about whether the Istanbul Convention is the right instrument, and whether the European Union can impose it on the Member States. Then I think to myself: “Why are you here? Why are you a member of the European Union?" Do we understand what our job is? Our task as legislators is to protect the rights of residents and, in this case, to stand up for women, for victims. And all the pathetic stuff all the time in this debate! You know what's really sad? All those women who are victims, children who lose their mothers because of violence. That's really pathetic. That is why we must ensure that the European Union joins this treaty and ratifies it as soon as possible. Because we have a responsibility to protect a new generation of women and girls in Europe. After all, a large part of them are at risk every day and are victims of violence, day in and day out. Do we think that's normal? No, that's not normal. So stop the fuss about whether this is the right instrument. Yes, this is the right instrument. This is our job. This is the work we need to do in Europe: protect the fundamental rights of women and girls.

Madam President, the situation for women in Afghanistan is very alarming, more than that. What is happening in Afghanistan right now is gender apartheid. That’s what it is. It’s not gender segregation, it’s gender apartheid. We have a duty as the international community to first understand that the Taliban will not restore the situation of women and girls. They will not do it. They will keep doing this, undermining women’s rights in Afghanistan. The international community should not be naive. We should offer these women and girls in Afghanistan a way out. That’s why I’m asking, Mr Borrell, for the EU to introduce special visas for Afghan women and girls. That’s their way out to make sure that they have a safe life in the European Union and that they can continue their lives and can choose their own future. Let me be clear, we knew that this would happen. We were waiting to see what would happen, and so many people were already warning for this. So let’s take our responsibility now. The Taliban has shown that they don’t know anything about women’s rights. They don’t respect women’s rights. And they will never do so!

Mr President, it’s obvious: democracy is under attack worldwide. And let us begin with condoning the storming of the democratic institutions in Brazil, because that is awful and that is really bad for our democracy worldwide. What I see here is a pattern. The US Capitol, the prevented attack of the German Bundestag and now Brazil. This is a pattern; this is a dangerous trend. And what I also see here is that it’s the anti-democratic Trump playbook to undermine our democratic values. That’s what is happening here. We need to prevent that these damaging strategies are basically implemented here in Europe. By protecting other democracies, we are protecting ourselves. And this is why we need to enforce strong legislation. Take, for example, the Digital Services Act. But we also need to develop new legislation to make sure that fascism, extremism cannot spread around and that we prevent radicalisation. It is not the question if it happens here in Europe. But I believe that nowadays it’s the question when will it happen in Europe? And that’s a very confronting question. So, we should support Lula and his government and the democratic institutions in Brazil. We need to support the investigation that’s now going on in Brazil. And we need to cooperate with our democratic allies in the world to make sure this will not happen to other democracies any more.

Mr President, our democracy is under pressure. The core, the heart of Europe, is being attacked by the extremist ideology that we see not only in our Member States, but also here in the European Parliament. Theories that are harmful, theories that are also spreading here in the European Parliament. Just a few months ago, I heard a colleague here talking about the theory of population repopulation. That is the poison we see here in Parliament. We have an exemplary role. We need to be aware of that. We must exemplify this role by showing that we do not accept these delusions and conspiracy theories. We must stand firm for the fundamental rights of our citizens. We must fight extremist ideas and right-wing extremism, also here in our Parliament. Stop trivializing. It's time to respond. Structurally. We can no longer ignore it, because our values, our rights are under pressure from right-wing extremism.

I hear a lot of, I would say, complaining that we speak a lot about the rise of extreme right movements. I would like to know from my colleague, are you basically saying that the extreme right is not at all a problem in Europe? Like, are you recognising that we have a serious issue with extreme right movements? What exactly are you recognising or not in this regard?

Mr President, it is indescribable that one in three women worldwide has to deal with physical, psychological or sexual violence. In the Netherlands, in my own Member State, eight women die every day from violence. These are not just statistics, these are human lives. Think of 16-year-old Humeyra who was shot dead at school. She and her sisters called the police 28 times in the last seven months of her life. Clarinda, a 34-year-old woman who was stabbed to death by her ex-partner in Den Bosch. A 45-year-old woman, Debora from Mijdrecht, who repeatedly filed a complaint against her ex and was eventually murdered by him at home. We are talking about an epidemic of femicide, and women who ring the bell are not helped or at least not on time. We're done with this invisible battle. It's really unacceptable. There must now be a proposal that effectively protects women. It can no longer be the case that they do not dare to make a report or that if they do a report, that there is no immediate action. Nothing like that can ever happen again when I talk about the examples I just mentioned. I hope that together we are aware that women still experience this every day and every second. Now is the time to intervene.

Madam President, so, you know, this is just this famous common argument that it is about knowledge. It’s about expertise. Like, seriously, do you really think that we would attract women for such positions if they would not have the knowledge, talent and competencies? Of course, you know, we will look for competent women. That’s not the issue here. We have enough women who are competent. The issue is that constantly men choose their men. Men choose their preferences. You need to be in that old-boys network to become one of those. That’s the issue here. It’s a cultural problem why these women are not being seen. And you know that it’s not an issue of women lacking competencies. We have enough women with competencies. So it’s a false argument. The argument here should be that we neglect, we ignore women with competencies. And the issue is how do we get them in the positions that they deserve? And I did not hear anything about a concrete solution. So also for you to question what is your solution?

I heard a lot about what is not actually possible, what actually should not be done, and then you end up with the conclusion that we need fair competition. Like, seriously, how do we reach fair competition? If we have the conclusion now that women significantly lag behind, like how do you want to intervene in the first place on that specific fact? So I wonder, how would you like to organise fair competition if women significantly lag behind already? What will be your first intervention? I’m fine with listening to the whole speech about what is not possible or about how bad this idea is, but then come with a concrete solution. I would like to hear how we organise that fair competition with the facts that we have in place now.

Mr Hoogeveen, I have a question for you: what exactly do you say about the usefulness of a quota? Because I hear you say that we should accept that there are gender-specific characteristics and we should accept that this plays a role within certain sectors. But you are aware that the companies we are talking about here, the organisations we are talking about here, are in principle not so much concerned with gender-specific characteristics? These are just large multinationals in many sectors in many areas where both men and women should play an active role? The problem is that there is "we know us", favouritism. This has nothing to do with women not being able to sit at the top of such a large, powerful consultancy firm. So what do you mean by that? Because I really think you're reasoning wrong.

Mr President, it is a historic moment. Finally, we will get more women in important decision-making positions in a few years' time. It's about their future, it's about the future of a new generation. It should just be the case in 2022 that we as women are also sitting at those tables to decide on important issues in society. It provides more innovation and creativity. Businesses are only going to do better because there is more gender equality. And it's also profitable. How beautiful is that? Female leadership is profitable. In short, we will all benefit from it. There are companies that already understand this. That's very good, they're already working on it. Thanks to this law, these companies are also seen and the companies that are already doing well end up on the list. The companies that are not on it really have to do their best. I am proud of this proposal. I would like to thank my colleagues for their excellent cooperation. What a beautiful historical moment. Let's celebrate today.

Mr President, we live in a world where digital surveillance has become common. CCTV and face recognition are part of our daily lives, whether we want it or not. However, we fail to understand and address how these already uncomfortable circumstances can become very dangerous for members of racialised groups. There is ample evidence that artificial intelligence tools heavily discriminate against black people and people of colour in general, and women of colour in particular. After all, AI is built by humans and deployed in systems and institutions that have been marked by entrenched discrimination, from law enforcement to housing, to the workplace, to our financial systems. And this racial bias is even in the data used to train the AI data that is often discriminatory or unrepresentative for people of colour, women and other marginalised groups and can rear its head throughout the AI’s design, development, implementation and use. Therefore, I want to state that the monitoring of racial bias as proposed in this report is not enough. We need a clear directive that specifically states that institutional racism is unlawful. Only then we can make sure that victims of unlawful discrimination get justice.

Madam President, finally, we have a very important proposal on fighting gender—based violence. But it is very important that this proposal works for all, and that all women are included. This is about intersectionality. So I really much wish that we pay attention to the victims of marital captivity. A lot of women were manipulated into a bad situation, and at the end they end up in their marriage, and they are captured and they cannot go anywhere. They cannot escape the situation, they are vulnerable for domestic violence, all kinds of violence they are vulnerable to. And also when it comes to honour—related violence, and this is something that we need to emphasise in the debate. This is something that we need to pay attention for, because this issue is in the dark. It is basically a shadow in this proposal, and it’s a dark reality for these women. It’s a difficult issue to detect, it’s a difficult issue to monitor. But this is exactly why we need to find solutions to detect this issue, and to protect women that are victims of marital captivity.

Mr President, I hear some colleagues say: “It is a matter of undermining, it is a matter of unsubstantiated criticism.” No, it is not! What matters is that the far right pollutes the political debate with anti-feminist, anti-migration and anti-LGBTI rhetoric. Disgusting rhetoric that puts people away in society. The far right does not want to acknowledge this. But sometimes I think: They know damn well what they're doing. I can tell you that as a woman of color I have long been dealing with extreme right-wing terror, as a politician within the online domain. It's not safe for a lot of people online. You open your social media and here it comes again: Racism and sexism from the far right. Polluting the debate, that's what the far right does. We need to make sure that we name what the far right does: Putting people away and using and applying disgusting rhetoric. Let us continue to speak out against this and ensure that it does not win and takes precedence in our society.

Mr President, ‘Look!’ says my friend, and she shows me this certificate. It says: “You are not a fraud” and apologies are offered. She had to adjust her dreams, because she got into a fight with a system that took away her human dignity. And now a certificate, but the recovery process is stalling. I'm relieved that we're finally discussing the impact of the supplement affair here. Commissioner, I know that you will feel uncomfortable with the questions I am about to present, but I ask you to give a worthy answer on the basis of your European duty of care. What has the Commission done about this clear violation of the fundamental rights of EU citizens justifying the opening of the infringement procedure? How has the Commission addressed this issue, given the EU anti-racism action plan and recognising structural racism? How will the Commission monitor the process of compensation and legal assistance for victims? Now I know that the Commission will perhaps state that this is the competence of the Member State, but this way of violating fundamental rights also affects international law, especially in view of the fact that the Dutch tax authorities did not comply with laws. How does this fit into the rule of law and how can that be without consequences, Commissioner? The Tax and Customs Administration of the Netherlands used algorithms as part of risk profiling to detect fraud. But this system broke down. Tens of thousands of parents lost their jobs, property and future prospects and ended up in debt. And those parents were deprived of the opportunity to give full and dedicated care to their children. Thousands of children. We need to make Europe aware of this. If systems take over, the human measure is lost. The algorithm mainly chose parents with a non-Western background. This is institutional racism and has in part been fully recognised by the Dutch government. That is why I call for a moratorium on the use of this method of profiling. Commissioner, make sure that this practice stops immediately, otherwise I can guarantee you that the Dutch supplement affair does not stand alone in Europe. So take responsibility for this, for a new generation in Europe.

Mr President, (off-mic) ... Ethiopia, and it was terrible, terrible to see how women are being used as a weapon of war. You often hear about it, but now we could really hear about it, see it, and we could really speak to these women. And the situation is so bad. And often we see in war and in conflict that women and girls are being used as a weapon of war. And this is why this situation needs to stop right away. And it’s very important that the European Union assist and help also the women that are in danger. Their lives are at stake and we need to make sure how we can offer them essential services, how we can make sure that they have access to contraception and SOHR because their lives are at risk and this is about the perspective of many women living in Ethiopia. So please make sure that we have services available, that we have assistance available, so that we have shelters for these vulnerable women and so that we have access to health care for these women. This is where we can now right away help women and girls in danger in Ethiopia. And this is what it really needs to be about right now, because this is about a future generation that will grow up with so many traumas, with so many problems. And I just hope that the European Union can assist in it right away.

Madam President, so I think by now a lot of us already had access to a glass of water. We have bottles with water. And for us, it’s very easy to access water. For us it’s very common to just drink water whenever we want, whenever we feel like it. But for so many people in the world this is not a guarantee. They do not have access to even this glass of water. And this is why I find it very important, also as an SDG ambassador myself for clean water, for SDG 6, to have this debate and to have this discussion because in the first place we need to have a mentality change on how we treat water and how we are going to work together in the world when it comes to access to water. Even here in Europe water scarcity is a problem, is an issue – name for example, Italy, Spain, Portugal. It’s not something that only happens outside the EU, outside Europe. So we need to be very much aware of how this is going to affect the whole world when it comes to water scarcity. Access to water is a human right, and that’s the new discussion we need to have. And that’s something that we don’t realise a lot still. And I think that the private and the public sector should work together, should work together on how they can generate and create more innovation technology to make sure that access to water stays a human right. When it comes to the gender dimension, so many girls and women don’t have access to water. And it is very important that we also have this emphasis in a debate making sure that human rights, when it comes to gender, when it comes to women and girls, when it comes to indigenous people, are being discussed and emphasised in this discussion. Thank you very much, and it’s very important that we are going to cooperate in the world, together with our partners, to make sure that access to water is a human right.

Mr President, since the murder of Kurdish Mahsa (Jina) Amini, 92 people have died in Iran. Only because a brave woman stood for her individual choice. And the individual choice of women in Iran is at stake. And all these women have fathers, just like Mahsa (Jina) Amini had a father – a man. And I’ve been thinking of what’s been going on in his mind. Did I protect my daughter enough? Did I give enough resistance as a man in Iran to the morality police? Is this because of a piece of fabric and her identity that I lost my daughter? What if all fathers stood up against oppressors of our daughters? Questions like these will continuously go through their minds in Iran. And only when these fathers, together with the strong women in Iran, stand up, they can change the regime of Iran. Commissioner, we are always clear about what we are against, but let’s also be clear on what we stand for. These strong women currently in danger need a safe haven. And therefore, I’m asking the Commission to investigate whether Europe can offer this to them.