Debate contributions by Murielle LAURENT

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the situation in Guinea-Bissau is extremely worrying; It calls for an immediate international response. Today, the priority is above all to protect the population. This population is very vulnerable, as Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world. There is no justification for the excessive use of force against civilians, and we denounce the violent crackdown on activists, journalists, human rights defenders and civil society actors. Intimidation, censorship and persecution must stop immediately, and human rights violations must be thoroughly and independently investigated. But for now, political instability must end and the rule of law must be restored, starting with the immediate publication of the results of the 23 November elections. Together with the Socialist and Democratic Group, we call for the immediate restoration of constitutional order and the release of those arbitrarily arrested in this context.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, last month we were already talking in this Chamber about the abduction of pupils in Nigeria. Here we are again today, when a new tragedy struck the country. I lack words to describe anger, misunderstanding, but also tiredness in the face of the repetition of these crimes, in the face of the disappearance of innocent children. Instead of threatening Nigeria with military intervention, the US president would do better to restore development aid funds, which allow the people of that country to be supported and to avoid the spiral of ‘precarisation, poverty, violence’. There is no silver bullet to Nigeria’s complex problems, but it is certainly not martial postures and hate speech – which can be heard here – that will solve them.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the humanitarian disaster in Sudan is getting worse and worse. Every day, more atrocities are committed against civilians: murders, mass executions, sexual and gender-based violence, ethnic cleansing. We must clearly name the facts. This systematic violence is unsustainable. It is a war crime. All perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice, without exception. We know that these atrocities were facilitated by the continued support of the United Arab Emirates to the Rapid Support Forces. This support, but also the less visible intervention of other countries, widely documented, directly feeds the war. It perpetuates a cycle of endless violence. As long as foreign sponsors continue to arm the belligerents, no peace will be possible and violence will only increase. The European Union must be intransigent vis-à-vis these authors. Their quest for international legitimacy is an essential lever that the Union must use to end the war in Sudan.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the seventh European Union-African Union Summit is being held in Luanda, Angola, on 24 and 25 November. It marks the 25th anniversary of the partnership between our two continents and comes at a pivotal moment. While the United States has suspended some of its aid to the populations of the most vulnerable African countries, the European Union must live up to it more than ever. It must be a reliable, supportive and predictable partner for all African countries. This partnership, which is a priority for European socialists, must be truly balanced, based on reciprocity and common values. Together, we must fight breaches of the rule of law and democracy, violence, inequalities and disparities in education. More than ever, strengthening our cooperation in key areas such as peace, health, the green and digital transition and human development is essential. I am convinced that together we can address global challenges and create shared opportunities for a more just and sustainable common future, without miserabilism, simply as equals in a changing world.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are appalling situations for which words are lacking, and Haiti is one of them. How can we describe the extreme violence that led to the Cabaret massacre? How can we describe the atrocious circumstances in which dozens of innocent people, including children, have died? But it is not because we lack words that we must remain silent and, above all, remain passive. The EU has the means to act. It can push to stop this cycle of violence, help a just transition and prosecute criminals to finally break impunity. I am delighted that Haiti is on the agenda of this plenary session and that our Parliament is adopting a resolution on the dramatic situation in that country. This is an important and expected signal, but this resolution must be up to par and followed by concrete action. The European Union must engage concretely with the Haitian people, because there is no inevitability, there are only political renunciations that I refuse to resolve.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, a few days ago the United States Federal Agency for International Assistance ceased to exist. According to a recent study, 14 million people could die of hunger and disease within five years due to lack of support. A startling number. And yet, while the urgency is obvious, some European Member States, including France, are also reducing their commitments. In this Chamber, the preparatory text for the Seville conference was rejected by a now well-established alliance between the right and the far right. Meanwhile, the climate, health and geopolitical crises are accumulating, famine is on the rise, the debt that is strangling the poorest countries is at a critical level, and the most vulnerable, women, children and refugees, are paying the high price. We have five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. So let us not sacrifice our historical responsibility and demand an ambitious, predictable and up-to-date European budget.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, South Sudan is once again in a critical situation. Imagine for a moment more than 165,000 displaced people in just three months. The 2018 peace agreement is faltering again. Violence is escalating and political tensions are escalating in the run-up to the elections. It's always the same people who pay the price, the civilians. People are suffering and we know the consequences: famines, epidemics, displacement, sexual violence. And where will the populations go in territories already in great difficulty? The European Union must rise to the occasion. We need to secure humanitarian corridors and protect civilians, especially women and children, who are often the first victims of violence. Finally, every effort must be made to achieve real and lasting peace. Commissioner, let us act now and with courage and compassion so that South Sudan is not engulfed in a new hell of violence and famine.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 16 September 2021, 7.59 a.m. Doesn't that date mean anything to you? For the mayor I was at the time, it was the date of the eviction from a Roma camp in my city. In three expressions: social distress, lack of humanity, indifference of the French state. That is why I am delighted that the European institutions are putting the situation of the Roma back on the agenda. In recent years, discrimination against them has been ignored, while in the past many initiatives have led to positive developments. One piece of data, in my opinion, illustrates the scale of the problem: 80% of Roma live below the poverty line. This is intolerable. The European Commission must be firm with those Member States that do not want to do anything or use fallacious arguments to evade their obligations in this area. The Commission has proposed minimum targets for 2030, i.e. tomorrow. There is urgency in all areas: education, housing, employment, health. Although it no longer seems very fashionable to support minorities, the EU must show that it is founded on values of solidarity towards all its citizens, without exception.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the debate that has just taken place this evening shows this: Sexual violence, including the use of rape as a weapon of war, must cease. The collective indifference around these acts is simply unacceptable. Moreover, since the Sudan War in 2023, more than a million people have fled the fighting to Chad, which, I recall, is one of the poorest countries in the world. At the end of February, I visited the Adré camp in eastern Chad, where a large number of Sudanese refugees live in precarious living conditions, despite the important work of NGOs. Humanitarian aid needs are immense and funding is either cut, like U.S. funding, insufficient, or at risk. We must live up to it and the European Union must help these millions of people, who need it most.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a directive that becomes a regulation does not always bode well, especially when it comes to fundamental rights. The Return Regulation is therefore launched, with its share of more than worrying, dubious and fiscally excessive measures, at a time when savings are being demanded in a fragile geopolitical context. We are being told about return hubs, forced departures and longer detention periods, even for minors, who can be detained for two years, even though they have not committed any crime. We are not fooled; all this has only one objective: increase expulsion rates. However, migrant inflows are declining. Our group expressed yesterday, as did the NGOs, its concerns and its categorical opposition to certain elements of this text. We want a comprehensive and coherent approach to migration policies, not unilateral decisions without a human objective.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the tone is set. If we still had little hope that Donald Trump would care about the climate crisis we are experiencing, global health or development aid, his recent announcements and decisions leave no doubt about his will to the contrary. Every decision made by the American head of state takes us a step further away from the international collaboration in which we have collectively engaged for decades to confront global crises, but also to save lives. For him, health, health crises must no longer be managed by a globally recognized organization such as the WHO, even if it means endangering the health and lives of all citizens, American or not. And what about the freezing of international aid? This suspension has immediate and dramatic consequences for thousands of vulnerable people around the world. Commissioner, what will be the European Union's concrete response to this disaster?

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, will recalling the millions of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced people caused by the M23 have an impact here? I'm not sure. To affirm our unwavering support for the Congolese population nevertheless seems to me to be essential. The M23 must halt its advance and engage in peace negotiations. Each party involved in this conflict must make a definitive commitment to work for a way out of the crisis, otherwise we can continue here to deplore the appalling human toll, it will not change anything. In the meantime, there is an urgent need to ensure that humanitarian actors have safe access to civilians and that international law is respected. Every human life lost is a catastrophe and the situation has lasted too long. All actors in the conflict must move towards a peace process, as a matter of urgency. The European Union has the means to act and must act quickly.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 2024, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that, for the African continent alone, more than 71,000 people were missing as a result of armed conflicts, violence and migration, 75% more than in 2019. These disappearances are one of the most disastrous and lasting humanitarian consequences of conflicts. Let us remember that behind every missing person, many others suffer from uncertainty and this is inconceivable. If this were to happen in Europe, it would be unimaginable not to look for the missing, especially children. There is an urgent need to talk about these people, to recognise the suffering and despair of families and to draw the attention of the European Union, to prevent and resolve the disappearance of people, whatever the circumstances. Finally, I would like to recall that many migrants disappear during their journey, which is all too often perilous, to Europe, or once they arrive. It is essential that the European Union assesses the impact of its migration policies on the risk of migrants disappearing and facilitates rescue operations at sea in order to avoid tragedies, which too often make headlines in our newspapers.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 'physical border protection structures' is the title of this debate. It's actually just politically correct verbiage to talk about walls, barriers, barbed wire. This semantics reminds us of a very dark period in our history. The European Community was built on an ideal of peace, unity and openness. Our goal is not to erect walls, but to bring them down, as was the case on 9 November 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Financing such infrastructure would be an insult to European integration. Rather than building walls, we should dedicate our budget to defending democracy, which is threatened by populists and not migrants. As I said yesterday, right here, in the debate on the links between crime and migration: Only by taking on positive migration, putting in place legal pathways for migration and engaging in serious partnerships with other countries can we achieve this. No, it's not idiocy, it's common sense. Respect for fundamental rights is common sense.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, studies show that: migrants are more victims of organised crime than perpetrators. We must stop distilling this kind of populist ideology, which only brings hatred and withdrawal. Maintaining the negative discourse on migration by putting this discussion on the agenda of our debates, as well as wanting to build walls at borders, is not the solution. Migrants do not leave their country with the aim of participating in organised crime. They leave their country because war, famine, poverty and other climatic events force them to do so. The fight against criminal groups and the establishment of legal channels of migration are needed in order to destroy the economic model of smugglers. Only by taking on positive migration and engaging in serious partnerships with other countries can we achieve this. I say it again: the fight against crime must be a priority and not an excuse for a strong European approach to migration.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 150 000 dead, more than 11 million displaced, the use of rape as a weapon of war, the United States’ designation of Darfur as a ‘genocide’, are apparently not enough to make headlines. Yet this is the terrible reality of what has been happening in Sudan for almost two years. This evening's debate is therefore essential, although we can deplore its advanced schedule and the low presence in the Chamber. The European Union must put pressure on the actors in the conflict, including foreign ones, to restore peace in Sudan. The arms embargo must be respected. Effective access to populations must be guaranteed, and humanitarian organizations must be able to do their work. We have the diplomatic, human and financial means to put an end to the atrocities committed in Sudan. It is up to us to rise to the occasion and tell the Sudanese that we do not forget them.

Madam President, Madam Ombudsman, ladies and gentlemen, this debate on the European Ombudsman’s annual activity report is an opportunity for me to congratulate Ms Emily O’Reilly on the immense work she has done for almost a decade. It also gives me the opportunity to thank her on behalf of European citizens for her tenacity, stubbornness, rigour and absolute willingness to be transparent with the highest European authorities, when it comes to ensuring the functioning of public life, but also respect for the rule of law – the rule of law that most people in Europe do not seem to care about. These qualities will be indispensable for his successor, whose election will take place tomorrow. This role, which is too little known, is nevertheless essential in order to keep European democracy alive and to protect it. I very much hope that the next Ombudsman will be up to the challenge, as Ms O’Reilly has been.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, the protection of the external borders is an essential condition for the preservation of free movement within the Schengen area. The exchanges we had on Monday, during the debate on the reintroduction of internal border controls, are proof of this. However, border protection does not mean fortress Europe. This is neither realistic nor desirable. Strengthen Frontex, why not, but above all we need safe and legal migration routes and a Frontex agency that respects fundamental rights. This is essential. It seems silly to say so, but in the current context, and even more so in view of the forces that are going through this Parliament, I would like to recall that migration is an integral part of our histories and that it will continue to exist, regardless of the walls erected.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are all familiar with the principle of the Schengen area, namely the freedom of movement so dear to European citizens. Under the Schengen Borders Code, the reintroduction of internal border controls is the exception, not the rule. Their effectiveness against security threats is not obvious and real. Since 2015, citing a threat to public order, more than half of the Schengen Member States have reintroduced internal border controls. The Commission cannot oppose Member States in their decision to reintroduce border controls, but it must use infringement procedures when these controls are abusive and do not comply with the rules. So I ask you these questions here in this Chamber, with all the symbolism that it represents. Are we really prepared to call into question one of the fundamental principles, one of the most important reasons for the existence of the Union, the freedom of movement to which we are so attached? Are we ready to return to the pre-Schengen situation with border posts all over the Union? Do we really want to see the gradual disappearance of the Schengen area? For my part, I dare not believe that this need for security goes through this withdrawal into oneself and this regression of our freedoms.