Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, after almost 20 years of standstill, workers will finally be better protected against asbestos at work. And that is right, because unfortunately today a lot of people still bear the consequences of using it. Every year 80 000 workers die from unprotected exposure that often occurred more than ten years ago. As a child, I was told that asbestos couldn't hurt as long as you didn't drill holes in it. That's bullshit, of course. Unfortunately, today we know better, because by weathering, by the removal of asbestos, fibers are indeed released and those fibers are life-threatening. In Flanders and throughout Europe, our buildings are full of asbestos and with the renovation wave in full swing, our plumbers, our construction workers, are at enormous risk. We need to improve the protection of our workers, and that is possible with this directive. The exposure limit is going down considerably, as we as a Parliament have demanded. Workers get better training, better equipment, better prevention. I really call on the Member States to introduce this law as soon as possible, because every asbestos death is one too many. There's no time to lose. The renovation wave starts now. And finally, Véronique, dear colleague, thank you for your unwavering support, your commitment to people's health. I would like to dedicate this vote to you.

Mr President, Commissioner, you are making a statement here today about the increase in poverty in Europe. I have to say: That is not a minute too early, because President von der Leyen did not mention it in her State of the Union address. Today, one in five Europeans live in poverty and homelessness is on the rise. This impending poverty brings a great deal of fear and insecurity to millions of people across Europe. Tackling poverty is, however, the top priority for our citizens. dixit the Eurobarometer. A few years ago you came up with the European Pillar of Social Rights yourself, but today it is nothing more than a piece of paper. This Parliament has demanded a living wage above the poverty line in all Member States. You yourself state that some Member States are deteriorating. Where is your binding proposal on this? Because that really helps people in poverty move forward. Commissioner, you spoke of the working poor. Well, a fair transition that leaves no one behind means that we will only support those companies that really work on good working conditions, decent wages and social dialogue. Make that work. This is social climate policy.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are voting tomorrow on a new regulation on critical raw materials that we need, among other things, for the transition to 100% renewable energy. That is important, because the demand for those raw materials is exploding. In addition to China, the US now also wants to invest in batteries, solar panels and windmills. It is good that Europe is waking up, but let us avoid a new race for raw materials. To do this, we need to use these critical raw materials smarter and better. For example, by focusing more on reuse and by opting for bicycles, public transport and electric shared cars, instead of wanting to replace every car with an internal combustion engine with an electric one. This way, colleagues, we simply need less energy and fewer raw materials. The benefits are enormous, because we protect people and the planet. We are reducing our dependence on dubious regimes like China. We get more pleasant and liveable cities. Er komen meer lokale jobs in de circulaire industrie en economie. Our items last longer and the invoice goes down. Colleagues, that is good for the planet, good for the economy and good for ourselves.

Mr President, our products break down way too quickly and that costs us a lot of money. This is also bad for the environment. Smartphones that are broken after a year and a half or a coffee machine that fails immediately after the warranty. And if our stuff breaks down, they're hard to repair. The parts are glued, there are no spare parts available or they are too expensive. There are no repairers around, so what do we do? We buy a new device and the old one goes to landfill or is destroyed in an incinerator. But with this new Ecodesign Regulation, we are swapping our disposable economy for a true circular economy. This means that our clothes, our furniture, our electrical appliances last longer, that they are more repairable, that they are reusable and recyclable. And that means that our jeans will last a minimum number of washes, will be easier to recycle and will consist of more recycled raw materials, that our washing machine or our smartphone will be cheap to repair and guaranteed to last longer, that we will receive mandatory information about the lifespan of our products and how easily we can repair a device, and that we will finally ban the companies today from destroying the unsold goods and the returned packages that we order through webshops. We are finally going to put an end to this kind of scandalous practice, colleagues. And that's good for our portfolio, that's good for the climate and that's good for the environment.

Mr President, Commissioner, the sweatshops are still running at full speed. The victims are the invisible hands that make our cheap clothes. It is about millions of workers in the ‘fast fashion’ industry, especially women, who today work in very unsafe working conditions and on hunger pay. A stronger duty of care law should really make a fist against this. It is time for a radical change. The cowboys, they have to get out. This law will ensure that the entire chain is scrutinized. So no more referring to subcontractors, which means that abuse persists. But colleagues, you are entitled to this as a consumer: That which hangs on the shelves is made in a responsible way. This is also very important for the producers who are doing well. They are asking for this law, because in this way we really create a level playing field, a level playing field without competition on the workers' roof.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, the Porto Summit two years ago promised to tackle poverty in Europe. Unfortunately, nothing is less true. The longevity crisis has left even more people in poverty. Banks and airlines are saved with billions of euros in state aid, but are freeing up money to really reduce poverty? Unfortunately, these investments are not being made. Inflation, the energy crisis and the skyrocketing cost of living are begging for additional social measures. For the greens, that means decent and affordable living for everyone. That means energy as a basic right: We don't put anyone out in the cold. Living wages in Europe must be above the national poverty line. We need to support Member States in case of high unemployment through a SURE 2.0. We need to invest in education and healthcare. This is the only way to truly protect millions of people in Europe from poverty.

Mr President, colleagues, for the longest time, Europe stood for one word: ‘austerity’. And as we will have Chancellor Scholz here later with us this morning, I truly have to say that I hope that we don’t return to the fetish of the ‘schwarze Null’. The fact that the Council has scratched out social investments and has put defence instead – I think that is extremely worrying. Colleagues, when in the past our alarms went off because of debt creation, we now need a real social golden rule. To go back to austerity politics in the middle of a cost of living crisis – that is a social bomb. It will drive people straight into the arms of the extreme right. We have to make a choice here: if Member States are unwilling to create the needed EU funding for social and green investments, well then the national budgets need to be able to fill the gap.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, with this new legislation, we are finally making heavy industry pay for their pollution and strengthening our climate goals. At the same time, we are ensuring fair competition with the rest of the world through the introduction of the carbon border tax. I welcome this step forward for the climate, although the phasing out of these free emission allowances could have been a little faster for us as Greens. But socially, this package is far from sufficient. We cannot make it happen to the most vulnerable families with a carbon tax on heating or transport. Yes, the Social Climate Fund will be a step forward to help families out of mobility and energy poverty. But no, this is not enough as compensation. The fact that the Member States cut this fund during the negotiations is really incomprehensible to me. So it is now really up to those Member States to make this right. Invest massively in real social climate policy, isolate social housing, invest in more and better public transport. Climate policy and social justice must always go hand in hand. Everyone has to be on board if we want the climate transition to succeed. Let's work on that together. In this way, the Green Deal becomes a social deal.

Mr President, colleagues, Commissioner, Minister, the Green Deal offers huge job potential. Just think of the many jobs in the construction sector thanks to the newly voted renovation wave for buildings or the enormous opportunities that lie in the circular economy for recovery, for recycling, which really offers opportunities for both low- and high-skilled labour. That's really about thousands of jobs that can't just be moved abroad. And this new industrial strategy also offers a lot of opportunities. But there, ladies and gentlemen, the shoe is still wringing. Want uiteraard is het een heel goede zaak dat we massaal gaan investeren in de vergroening van onze industrie. However, the Commission remains rather vague when it comes to the quality of these new jobs or the involvement of employees in the transition. And that is in stark contrast to what they are doing in the United States, for example with concrete conditions on collective wage bargaining, on opportunities for young people, even on providing childcare. Having a job does not always guarantee a quality life, because there are many Europeans who live in poverty, despite having a job. Commissioner, just focusing on skills is not enough. Where is the Commission’s strategy to achieve a fair transition, with businesses, with trade unions, with workers? Today, in many companies, we mainly see extensive flexibilization: Work harder, work longer. Use that transition as a lever to really involve the employees in the transition and to create quality jobs. Commissioner Schmit, I am counting on you to make that happen.

Mr President, we are only halfway through the month, but for a lot of European citizens now the struggle begins. Transaction denied when you’re trying to buy food at a supermarket. You’re feeling guilty keeping your child at home because of a very expensive school trip. You’re ignoring the calls of your landlord on your phone when he’s asking where the rent is. Today, a minimum income doesn’t lift people out of poverty. Too many people are struggling every day, putting all of their energy into a fight for survival. The soaring cost of living crisis is hitting the most vulnerable households the hardest. How do we lift people out of poverty? We need an adequate minimum income that ensures that every European citizen is able to buy food, to afford their rent, to be able to pay their electricity bills, and to be able to find a good job. This is about a young Spanish guy that, with no support from his parents, can now afford a good education. This is about a middle-aged Belgian woman who took care of the children instead of working, and whom we need to protect so she doesn’t end up in poverty after a divorce. This is about supporting people with long-term illnesses who cannot work in order to make sure that they don’t end up in poverty. These are the people that would benefit most from minimum income above the poverty threshold, but as of today, not one of our Member States has decided to implement this. So tomorrow, colleagues, the choice is yours: do we continue on the same path and let the most vulnerable people down, or do we give these people the hope and the perspective they deserve by supporting the resolution of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL)? I ask you, vote tomorrow for a directive on minimum income. Vote for the most vulnerable people’s future.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we need to move much faster towards 100% renewable energy and electric cars. For the climate, of course, but also to reduce our dependence on rogue states such as Russia. But to produce those solar panels, windmills and batteries, we need critical raw materials, and we do not have them, or to a limited extent, in Europe. We must absolutely prevent a new dependence on authoritarian regimes such as China. That is why we need to use our raw materials much more efficiently and better, for example by ensuring that our products last much longer and by 100% reusing and recycling our batteries and appliances. This way we keep these raw materials here in Europe and we also create a lot of new jobs in the circular economy. A new commodity rush or a new trade policy in that direction is not a solution. On the contrary. Circularity is the future for our economy, but also for our autonomy.

Madam President, as everyone is aware, I’m sure, there will be a strike on Thursday and that means that some Members will not be able to vote because they want to join the strike or perhaps they have other travel arrangements. So, as the rapporteur on minimum income, I would urge you to postpone this vote to March. It’s a very important decision when it comes to getting some action done on the eradication of poverty in Europe and I think it’s important that all Members that want to vote can be present.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what China has been doing for its state-owned enterprises for years, the United States now also wants to: Distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to U.S. green technology companies. Greening our industry requires investment. But we should not seek out trade wars ourselves through protectionism. Only relaxing our state aid rules is a bad idea, because then especially the big countries with the deepest pockets, such as Germany, will win. This divides our Union, just when we desperately need European solidarity. We, as Greens, are calling for a permanent solidarity fund, along the lines of the Coronavirus Recovery Fund. I am very pleased that the Commission - Commissioner Breton - is now also aware that these additional resources will really be needed. We need to invest at least 1% of Europe's GDP every year to meet our climate targets. We need a coherent plan for the future of our industry to invest those resources in specific sectors. I am thinking in particular of the circular economy, which offers enormous potential for local, sustainable and quality jobs for Europeans. At the same time, it is an opportunity to make us less dependent on countries such as China, when it comes to rare critical raw materials. This is an opportunity that we cannot ignore.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is dumping millions of tonnes of plastic waste in countries outside the EU that cannot cope at all. We all know the terrible images of plastic on the beaches. We know the gigantic garbage dumps in Turkey, for example, where that plastic waste disappears into the ground or is burned. And where it is processed, it is often in very dangerous working conditions, and often with child labour. That is completely unacceptable. If we incinerate that plastic waste or put it underground, we will cause air pollution, soil pollution, and the emission of hazardous substances. This huge waste problem is our responsibility. Belgium is in the top ten exporters of plastic waste. That is why I was very pleased that the Commission has proposed to tackle the dumping of waste and its illegal export. We, together with Parliament, have strengthened this proposal on crucial points. I am very pleased with the cooperation across the different political groups, and I am pleased that we were able to convince them, especially of the following: an export ban on all plastic waste outside the EU, because: 1) this is the best solution for our plastic problem, 2) we finally take our historical responsibility, and 3) It really is an incentive to start using less plastic, to design it better and also to tighten our recycling capacity. I believe 100% that our industry can handle this and that it can be an advantage for our circular economy. I am also pleased that all waste treatment facilities outside the EU now have to meet the same high standards as the European ones – something that was not originally in the proposal. It's time we cleaned up our own mess. Vote therefore for a ban on the export of waste outside the EU and for stricter regulations on waste shipments.

Mr President, temperatures are dropping sharply. At the same time, energy prices remain extremely high. This is exactly what we warned about earlier this year: People have to choose between eating or heating their homes. However, those runaway living costs are not just an insurmountable fact. We know the solutions to keep those prices under control, but they take far too long. We still do not have a European price cap on gas, and in the meantime speculation continues. We have a European law for higher minimum wages. However, Member States are still reluctant to apply them immediately. We still do not have an enforceable living wage above the poverty line. Europe can pay for this. I understand that people are frustrated and distraught. I think we now need to implement a number of measures quickly: a basic right to energy, a ban on evictions, a ban on disconnecting energy – even if you cannot pay the bill. If we don't do it now, we will push people even further into poverty.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in my home city of Ghent, I see people every day who can no longer pay their energy bills or for whom transport has become too expensive, while energy companies and other sectors are making record profits. That is to be furious, because we are not all in the same boat in this crisis. Cynically, it also produces winners. Those big winners do not produce any other product than a year ago, but they do become dormant rich through war. Therefore, we need to make sure that the excess profits flow back to the vulnerable families to isolate their homes, to install solar panels. However, the Commission's proposal does not go far enough. We have to skim half of those excess profits in all sectors that are now dormantly rich. This should be done retroactively, also for profits previously made, for example for pharmaceutical companies during the COVID crisis. We need to make sure that the Member States give those pennies back to the people who really need it, the people who today have to choose between eating and heating their homes.

Madam President, dear colleagues, Commissioner, last plenary I got the feeling that a big part of this Parliament is living on another planet. Poverty is rising in Europe all over and more and more people are unable to pay for their basic needs, like feeding their children or heating their homes. So, this should indeed send a huge alarm system to all of you and to our European leaders. But instead, you opted for business as usual. Colleagues, we urgently need minimum incomes above the poverty line. We need to implement the Minimum Wages Directive as soon as possible. We need to ban home evictions and energy cuts. Let this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty be a wakeup call to us all. Let us fight poverty together. There is no time to lose.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, after years of pressure from, among others, the Greens, all trade agreements must finally contain enforceable rules on social and environmental conditions. If they do not respect the Paris climate agreement, or labour rights, sanctions will be imposed. We see that for the first time in the deal with New Zealand, and that's good. But the question is: Does the Commission still want to be below that threshold for other countries? And does she still want to make bad trade deals for people and the environment? Look at India, where those talks are in full swing, but there hasn't even been a sustainability study done yet. For Australia, for the time being, there is no really strong protection of people and the environment, especially when we talk about critical raw materials or the climate. Mercosur is a disaster for the rainforest, for small farmers, for the indigenous peoples, and Mexico is also particularly problematic. We need to reopen those negotiations with Mercosur and Mexico to ensure that there are truly binding sustainability chapters. But it seems that the Commission wants a shortcut here and wants to split those deals in order to avoid the democratic debate in the national and regional parliaments. My message is clear: fix that content, because otherwise that kind of maneuvering will only make the resistance even bigger. Dear Commission, be consistent. We can only accept trade agreements with respect for people and the environment, and we will not accept anything less than that.

Mr President, we have been on the road for ten years, but now it is time! Finally we introduce a universal charger for smartphones, laptops, e-readers and so on. Finally it's done with those cabinets full of chargers. That is a triple win, because it is cheaper for the consumer, it is easier and we also reduce the gigantic amount of electronic waste with it. For smartphones alone, for laptops, for speakers, we save half a billion chargers. That is more than 13 000 tonnes! But colleagues, do not let us stop here, because there are still many savings that we can achieve for people and the planet. Let us therefore focus on the new ecodesign legislation on circularity and the right to repair. Because that's good for the consumer, good for the planet and good for our economy!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we see people getting into serious trouble due to skyrocketing energy bills. We are not even in autumn, let alone winter, and we are already seeing social dramas. That, ladies and gentlemen, must not be allowed to happen overnight, especially at a time when fossil-based multinationals are making billions in profits. We really need to throw the taboo of robbing off those excess profits overboard, and we need to use those billions to provide targeted support to the most vulnerable. We need to isolate the worst homes, we need to put solar panels on them, and let us finally work on that European price cap, as our Belgian energy minister Van der Straeten has asked. Because the announcement alone caused the gas price to go down. If we actually introduce it, we can really put those speculators on hold. Colleagues, by taking action today, we can prevent a social catastrophe this winter. So let's work on that. The time is now.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we have the opportunity to protect the people who are really struggling – namely the people with the lowest incomes – from high energy prices and inflation. There are millions of working people in Europe who are unable to pay their bills today because of wages that are too low. Let us massively support the directive on higher minimum wages as a signal to the Member States. Work on this now and don't wait two years, because this is the time to show our social ambition from Europe to the people who are struggling and don't know which invoice to pay first. Today, the average annual energy bill exceeds the monthly minimum wage in many Member States. 25 million workers can now receive higher wages. A minimum wage must be a living wage, and we must continue to fight for it together.

Mr President, as a young mother, I am concerned about the safety of our children. Unfortunately, this concern is justified today. Nowhere in Europe are there as many children per caregiver as in Flanders. The workload is also unsustainable for the caregivers themselves. We invest too little in childcare and that leads to unsafe situations. However, quality and warm care, that is really where Europe can make a difference. With this report, Parliament wants to call on the Commission and the Member States to invest in more safe and quality childcare. We also need to pay attention to our elders. That is why we ask you to move away from the large healthcare institutions and to focus on neighborhood-oriented and small-scale care. After the scandals in the private care of the elderly and the tragedies caused by the coronavirus, there is also an urgent need for more public investment. We also need to better support and frame informal carers. Those who care for others deserve more than a round of applause. For me, good care means more hands in the workplace, better wages, a lower workload and more time for the people who really need care. Safe and warm care for our children, for the elderly, for everyone who needs it, that is what we want to achieve with this report.

Mr President, the EU must not be a market for products made through modern slavery. We must take responsibility and ban products that can be linked to forced labour. I would therefore ask you to work on this as soon as possible. After all, we know that such a ban is not only possible, but also works. We can see this in the countries that preceded us, such as the US and Canada, where tens of millions of euros in compensation have already been paid to victims. The European Parliament, with the Greens as the driving force, strongly advocates stopping trade at the border and ensuring that victims and NGOs can file complaints, so that authorities can detain products on that basis and, when forced labour ceases to exist, only release them once it has been established that the victims have received compensation. This way we can really make a fist against the Uyghur forced camps in China. Europe must create a powerful trade tool to ensure that products made with forced labour are no longer on the shelves of European shops.

Madam President, colleagues. Commissioner Timmermans, we’ve always said the Green Deal should also be a social deal and we have now a unique opportunity to actually make that happen. We have to support the most vulnerable in the climate transition and at the same time make the biggest polluters pay. Now we managed to protect families from a new carbon price and we will invest EUR 44.5 billion EU funding into supporting them in social climate measures. That means, for instance, insulation of social housing, that means more and better investments in affordable public transport. Now let’s make absolutely sure that we focus on lifting those vulnerable households out of energy and mobility poverty – not only SMEs as the EPP is proposing. We already have enough funds to support those SMEs and at the same time there’s nothing to support the poorest families. How is that even possible when people right now can’t even afford to heat their own homes? Finally, we need to make those biggest polluters pay, and that means getting rid of the free allowances as soon as possible. I’m actually quite amazed that the EPP wants to delay the phase-out of those free allowances even beyond 2030, especially with CBAM kicking in. Colleagues, let’s vote this down. Otherwise we can simply forget the people’s support for the climate transition, because social and environmental justice cannot be separated.

Madam President, , Commission President, we’ve condemned the horrible and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military forces many times before, and the European Union was highly united in its response. Severe actions were implemented, and just last plenary, this Parliament demanded an embargo on all Russian fossil fuels, including gas. However, these sanctions will not only harm the Russian economy, they will also affect the lives of European citizens, with a direct impact on their homes, their jobs and their wallets. This could lead to more social inequality, a rise in unemployment and an increase in energy poverty. We need to protect our citizens, specifically those at risk of falling into poverty – people who are afraid of not being able to heat their homes next winter. We need a strong social response to their fears. The EU has the choice to leave no one behind, to mitigate the rise in energy costs, to ensure decent and affordable housing for all. The EU has the choice to protect workers on the labour market against unemployment. The EU has the choice to ensure that climate transition is a fair transition where industry pays its fair share. We need minimum wages, minimum income protection for all and a European unemployment scheme. Colleagues, we have the possibility to protect our citizens against the hardships of war, and now is the time to act.