Debate contributions by Ana MIRANDA PAZ

Madam President, as an observer of the European Parliament in the elections in Honduras, I would like to confirm that on election day the people of Honduras came out freely and massively to vote, but the pre- and post-election situation has been full of flaws, alerts, legal obstacles, lack of transparency and, above all, political polarisation. On the data transmission system, what to say?, we were able to check its defects live: the duration of the recount for more than one month and that 30 000 votes have not been counted. But above all, we saw live, and also through the networks, the interference in the process by President Trump by supporting the candidate Papi to the Order - at the order of his master - and by threatening to cut off funding if the Honduran people did not vote for his chosen one. On top of this, Trump releases the former president sentenced to forty-five years - nothing more and nothing less - for drug trafficking, in whose mandate peasants, environmental defenders, such as Berta Cáceres, and human rights journalists were murdered with impunity. Juan Orlando Hernández, tried and extradited to the United States for drug trafficking, is now released by Trump just in the election campaign. Isn't that interference? Our Group is very concerned about the interventionist interference of the President of the United States in the political and electoral processes in Latin America, including unilateral interventions, which weakens international law and peace and puts democratic stability and, of course, international stability at risk.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen of the PP and the PSOE, remove the accusers from your parties and do not come and give lessons in feminism, because you have a lot of dirty laundry to wash. We have to be on the side of women, both if the allegations refer to the president of the Diputación de Lugo, as to the Fisheries Counsellor of the Xunta of Galicia — that the PP government kept him in office for four months, concealing the complaint against him for sexual assault. Manda (inaudible word) He resigned with applause. This complaint, of course, only went on public television in my country. Besides, gentlemen of the People's Party, do you remember Nevenka Fernández? He is still waiting for a public apology from his party for the sexual and labor harassment he suffered 25 years ago. And to PSOE, we tell you that inaction is never a good decision. Right now, we advocate zero tolerance for macho violence. Come from wherever you come from and affect whomever you affect. Cases of sexist violence cannot go unpunished and we must always be on the side of women. We're sick of it. Feminism is more necessary than ever.

Mr. President, Israel continues to violate the ceasefire in Gaza, the illegal occupation and the apartheid It allows illegal settlements in the West Bank to become more and more numerous. Just look at Oxfam's recent report, which says the number of settlements is high and clear. But, in addition, I ask the Commissioner: Can the Commission confirm to me, after the question I asked in May, whether the European Union is trading in agricultural products coming from illegal settlements? And I want to know because I am going to go all the way on this issue and I hope my colleagues will too, because if we are trading in products from illegal settlements we are complicit in genocide and we are complicit in apartheid and we are also complicit in occupation. The obligation to prevent genocide has not stopped, Commissioner and also Mrs von der Leyen. What have we done, what has the European Union done when Francesca Albanese's report Genocide in Gaza, a collective crime Does it say that relations with Israel should be suspended? The European Union is the largest trading partner and has to suspend the Association Agreement.

Mr President, fellow MEPs, if you think you are going to stop abortion with your vote, you are wrong. Abortion will happen with or without your permission. Women will keep needing abortions, so women will keep having abortions. What we are deciding on is whether these women can have the choice and chance for a safe and affordable abortion. The minimum is to make sure that an unwanted pregnancy is not a life threat for women in Europe. Quoting Nika Kovač, 'Women are being killed in hospitals because of abortion bans in Europe.' She is there. Approving this initiative, 'My voice, my choice', is essential to make abortions accessible for the women who choose to have them. Today, more than 20 million women around Europe do not have access to safe abortion. Tomorrow, we have the opportunity to make history and protect women. This is about guaranteeing basic health and safety conditions. We need to be united in this decision. We can save lives. We need to stand up for our women. Abortion is a basic right.

Madam President, Commissioner, in my country, Galicia, the automotive industry is of great importance, since the Stellantis factory in Vigo, my city, is one of the industrial engines of the Galician economy and industry. In fact, Stellantis itself obtained benefits of EUR 718.9 million in 2024, while, on the other hand, the policy of outsourcing component production, and relocating, is leading to the closure of Galician companies. The crisis in the sector is a reality. Redundancies have occurred in recent months in the Centro Tecnológico de Automoción de Galicia itself and in other companies. Specifically, in the last 12 months, the Galician car industry has lost 5% of jobs and 1 400 people have been laid off, as the Galician trade union of the IGC says. In this context, it is essential that the process of electrification of the automotive sector is accompanied by a specific plan that takes into account the social impact of decisions.

Madam President, the debate on the time change returns to the European Parliament, as we discussed in 2018. As a Galician MEP, I return to the most striking case in Europe, which is the case of Galicia, my country. Did you know that Galicia is one of the countries in the world with the greatest gap between the official time and the so-called solar time? There's a two-hour difference. Two hours. This time lag was imposed by dictator Franco in 1940, who changed the time to adapt it to Nazi Germany. It's time to democratize the time zone. If in the Spanish state there is a delay of one hour in relation to the solar time, in Galicia, there are two. Two hours difference. This means that in countries in the same time zone as ours, the sun rises two hours earlier. It turns out that, geographically, Galicia should be in the Western European zone or GMT-1, but the official time is Central European time, GMT+1. In summer, the westernmost areas of Galicia, such as the Costa da Morte, even have a difference of two and a half hours compared to solar time. Same time as in Belgrade. That's two hours less of a difference. In Galicia, adjusting the time zone and correcting this time lag would have undeniable benefits for the quality of life of Galicians and Galicians and for streamlining timetables with regard to the current time zone, Commissioner, which does not respond to any kind of energy saving or improving the lives of citizens. Adapting the time to the same geographical meridian, as in the cases of Portugal, Ireland or the Canary Islands, would be the most appropriate way out. In 2007, our senator in the Spanish Senate, Francisco Jorquera, presented an initiative to ask the government of Galicia to adapt its natural time, with the aim of improving the use of sunlight. Already that time he explained that the change of time, according to data from the Energy Institute of Galicia, only implies less than a 1 % saving in energy consumption compared to the 5 % of the Spanish State as a whole. This low saving is explained by the fact that our country is located in a time zone that does not correspond geographically to it. It is up to Europe to decide on the change of time and to the Government of the Spanish State to take into account Galicia's natural time and not the political time decided by Francoism, as my party has been calling for for two decades. It's time, it's time to change the time zone.

Madam President, we have this debate on tomorrow's European Council and Mrs von der Leyen has already left. Where were you these two years? Tomorrow, the European Council can sanction Israel for the genocide in Gaza and suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. If you don't, we will maintain impunity. Do you prefer to maintain impunity? The ceasefire is welcome, but not enough; In fact, Israel continued to murder more than a hundred people after the truce. Trump's plan maintains the occupation, does not contemplate the end of the apartheid Nor does it guarantee respect for the Palestinian people. There is no peace without justice and no peace without dignity. Trump's plan violates international law and contradicts the advisory position of the International Criminal Court, which orders Israel to end the occupation in the West Bank. This plan maintains structures of oppression, and therefore – let us not forget – impunity for genocide cannot be allowed.

Mr President, the Committee on Petitions is responsible for ensuring that citizens' concerns reach the European Parliament here, considering that it is a fundamental element of participatory democracy as the Commissioner said. It is the Commission where citizens can be heard by all of us so that we can decide how best to solve their problems. However, this is not always the case. 2024 has been a black year for the Committee on Petitions. A year in which it has been used by putting the agreements between right-wing and far-right groups before a good democratic functioning of this committee that would guarantee the plurality of all political groups and, above all, what is most important and should prevail, which is the right of citizens to petition. Unrealistic issues have been brought in, such as the absolutely manipulated issues in Catalonia, and the manipulated issues have not been brought in because citizens have had their right to petition boycotted. That is why I defend the right to appear of groups that always submit a petition that is accepted because it refers directly to European regulations, which must always be above the decisions of the political groups when those petitions have been initially accepted. This is what has happened in the last year with two requests from my country, from Galiza, such as Altri or CRTVG. That is why, Mr Beleris, I am writing to you: if you want to have the positive support of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance in this report, I would ask you to support our amendment 13, which calls for every democratic group to have at least one petition proposed per session in the Committee on Petitions. If it happens, we'll vote in favour. This is the only way to be constructive and to ensure the proper democratic functioning of a committee that has had a horrible year. Hopefully 2025 will be less horrible and we can have democratic dialogue.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion of order on the T-shirt. I don't care what I wear, but others are not allowed to wear T-shirts, even if they wear Galiza or Palestine or whatever, nor are we allowed to wear the kufiya. And so I want to call it into question because, if no one is left to us, neither can the rapporteur who has just spoken be left.

Madam President, Latin America and the Caribbean are natural partners of Europe, but we must ensure relations between equals, with respect, relations not between subjects, but relations – I stress – between equals. Latin America is not a colony, but a series of sovereign countries that must have diplomatic, cultural and economic relations also among equals, not with criteria of extractivism or threats to sovereignty. The truth is that, seeing this empty Parliament, with deputies sponsoring coups d'état, someone would already like to be like President Lula, like President Claudia Sheinbaum or like President Gustavo Petro, who is crying out against the genocide in Gaza. As President Lula recently said, advocating multilateralism and calling for eradicating world hunger and generating well-being and equality, it is necessary to redefine Latin America's place in the new global order. Sovereignty and democracy are non-negotiable, as are the right of self-determination of the peoples of Latin America and the indigenous peoples. From our Group, we will always support Latin American civil society in the denunciations against repression, against inequalities, against discrimination and against the violation of human rights.

Madam President, does the European Union hear the outcry and dignity of the streets from Santiago de Compostela to Amsterdam calling for an end to the genocide of Israel in Gaza? No. What did the European Union do to defend the courage of the people who were in the humanitarian flotilla risking their lives to denounce the genocide? Nothing. The issue that is moving the world is genocide in Gaza, because what happens in Palestine will condition international relations and the future of human rights. The passivity of President von der Leyen, her hypocrisy and inaction in these two years demonstrate the complicity with the genocide committed by Netanyahu. What we are saying on the streets across Europe is that we are ashamed of the position of the European Union. Sixty thousand people killed, babies without food, hospitals destroyed, buildings bombed. Really, don't they have humanity or sensitivity? We can't wait any longer: rupture of diplomatic and trade relations, arms embargo, suspension of the Association Agreement, sanctions on the State of Israel and not on Trump's plan. We cannot continue to allow this violation of human rights, occupation and apartheid. Faced with the hatred, lies and mockery of the right and the far right: our solidarity. Stop...

Honourable Member, do you think that the Sumud flotilla in Gaza was defended by the European Union, diplomatically and also humanitarianally?

Madam President, as a Galician MEP, I am here to defend Galician interests. For months we have encountered a serious lack of transparency and multiple difficulties in accessing procedures on various Galician topics. In Galicia, my country, we are particularly concerned about the refusal we received to access the documents on the procedure opened four years ago for the illegal extension of the Atlantic motorway, the AP-9. In 2001, the People's Party government committed a robbery for thousands of Galicians and Galicians, keeping the tolls until 2048. It ignored that justice will already dictate the incompatibility of this extension with EU public procurement rules. I submitted several parliamentary questions and requested access to the documents for non-compliance with European regulations in the extension of the AP-9 concession. That is why I conveyed this lack of transparency to the European Ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho, at the meeting we had in July. Today, in Galicia, we are paying tolls collected illegally and we believe that Galician society deserves to know the transparency of this procedure.

Mr. Millán Mon, you live in Madrid, don't you? Do you live in Madrid? I don't know, it looks like he lives in Madrid. It should be noted that you are not aware of the day-to-day policies of the Junta de Galicia. It is very, very noticeable, because it is totally alien to the reality of the country. Have you read the report of the European Court of Auditors which states that precisely the preventive policy of the Galician Government chaired by Mr Rueda has been reduced? Tell me if you've read it, because I think you're indicating totally incorrect data.

Mr President, as a Galician MEP, I have promoted this debate because I have a responsibility to denounce the loneliness that Galicia, my country, has suffered in these terrible fires of devastating fire. Burnt houses, dead animals, trees and agrarian lands, lost crops converted to ashes, destroyed lives, apocalyptic images and devastated landscapes. The Galician people were left alone. Only thanks to the inexhaustible work of firefighters, neighborhood and solidarity people extinguished the fires. That is my recognition within the European Parliament. Look at the impactful data: 145,000 hectares were burned, according to Copernicus, Commissioner, such as the city of London. Ourense has 10% of the burnt area. Commissioner, the Galician people knew the real magnitude of the fires by Copernicus, because the Galician government hid data in public media. My country has been burned by incompetence in preventing fires, by misusing European funds which, instead of being earmarked for preventive policy, are not spent. All of Europe should know that there is one responsible: Alfonso Rueda Valenzuela, President of the Galician Government. A People's Party government that once again shows its incompetence. They hid reality and lied, they lacked transparency. The PP government minimized the tragedy of my burning country by saying that only stones and bushes burned. With the fires, the rural way of life, people's livelihoods, agricultural holdings and biodiversity were lost. We need urgent measures, such as using RESTORE, which could finance the affected infrastructure. How do we want in the Bloc to move from ashes to life with a future plan for the rural?