Debate contributions by Maria ZACHARIA

Madam President, the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba is the only institutional tool based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect. I therefore ask the High Representative to explain to us with what right the suspension of the agreement is attempted for essentially politically selective reasons. Political dialogue cannot be subject to political considerations. Cuba does not need sanctions but equal relations. If we want progress for the Cuban people, let us invest in exchange, in science, in agriculture, in culture; not to blockade and colonial pressure. Closing the door on the only official channel with Cuba is not a principled stance; It is an act of self-cancellation. In particular, it is a failure of European Union diplomacy. Europe must not imitate the sanctions of others. He must lead with political responsibility.

Mr President, let us speak the truth here. What social Europe are you talking about? We have a jungle. At the same time that workers count the change in their pockets, prices rise, basic goods become luxury and social protection is dismantled piece by piece. In countries such as Greece, collective bargaining has been abolished by law, the right to strike has been restricted, public health and education have been dismantled. On the contrary, the European Union is preparing for armaments, wars, military industries. EUR 800. Not for health and education, not for work, but for weapons. You forgot the man. Bury him under numbers and statistics. You have been absorbed by growth rates, interest rates, surpluses, competitiveness. And as you watch the numbers go up, people in Europe are sinking into misery. And when a man ceases to hope, he is no longer afraid. And when millions of people stop hoping, then history begins to be written.

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, how do you talk about strategic autonomy in metals when in Greece, with the participation of the European Union, Larco closed down? The only industry in the European Union that produces ferronickel, crucial for the green transition, has been driven to destruction. A government that for years destroyed this industry, private entrepreneurs who left the factory looted, and in the end the Commission instead of protecting this strategic pillar, fined 1 million euros for illegal funding, leading Larco to permanently close and divest assets. Nine months now hundreds of jobs have been lost, skilled staff. This priceless factory was dismantled, and an entire area, Larymna, was plunged into unemployment and abandonment. I urge the Commission to immediately revoke the fine and press the Greek government to relaunch Larco under public and social control and to rehire all dismissed workers. ‘...’

Madam President, we must admit that there is neither democracy, nor the rule of law, nor, of course, civil liberties in Turkey. The Erdoğan regime imprisons intellectuals, politicians, Kurds, mayors, trade unionists... And what is the stance of the European Union? Promote the deepening of the European Union's economic and trade relationship with Turkey by upgrading the Customs Union. Promote defence cooperation and Turkey's integration into Europe's defence planning. We can't go on like this. We must place the European Union's relationship with Turkey in positions of principle. Turkey should respect the rule of law and human rights at home, but it should also stop threatening and harassing Greece and should demonstrate a willingness to solve the Cyprus problem by ending the occupation of European territory and the illegal imposition of settlements.

Madam President, you are telling us to be ready for 72 hours, to have matches, lenses and cans. Why is it? To be said ready for crises, pandemics, natural disasters and external interventions. That is, you are spreading terror in the world to accept the militarization you are doing in Europe. You who have brought us thousands of times with your policies into crises such as the energy crisis and climate change. You who first destroyed public health and then left doctors and nurses struggling with the pandemic. You who cut pensions, reduce wages and are ready to finance military spending from depositors' money in banks and from workers' insurance funds. Now you're telling us to be ready. For us, however, there is a radical solution. To build a Europe of peoples with democracy, transparency and social justice. A Europe that is a peace-keeping force and not a sponsor of wars.

Madam President, Commissioner, you admit that with the Savings and Investments Union you will take the savings of citizens and insurance funds and play them on the markets. It is the trick you have thought of in the Commission to finance the war industries and capital in general. And if the people are going to finance the companies, why should they be privately owned? Let every citizen hear it well: Your money will no longer be deposited in the bank. They will not be covered by any deposit guarantee. If something goes wrong, the damage is passed on to the citizens – although no one will have asked you whether you want to risk the hardships of a lifetime or not, or whether you want to finance a war. I tell you clearly: Put your hands down. Don't you dare. You will not play our lives on the dice of the markets. We reject this trap design. Put your own money if you think it's safe. Not the hard work "..."

Madam President, I believe that the time has come to look ahead and dare to make inroads that will protect workers from the automation that technology will bring, for which automation I think we should discuss from now and set the framework that the surplus value that will be created will be reaped by society and not by the capitalists, because it is society that has financed its development. My colleagues, what does the chapter behind the word "restructuring" hold for workers? Unemployment, employer promiscuity and violation of labour law. Today, restructuring processes are often carried out without meaningful employee involvement. Their representatives are summoned on a pretext, simply to be informed, without any possibility of meaningful intervention or negotiation. That has to change. Only in this way will jobs and rights be guaranteed in practice and not on paper, when workers have legislated, real, meaningful interference in their work. What I would like to say to colleagues on the right is that slavery has ceased since the 18th and 19th centuries. Let's come to reality. Oh, thank you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the direction of the Union of Skills is problematic. Education is the cornerstone of democracy, equality and social cohesion. We cannot allow competitiveness to set its goals alone. Education is not just a tool of workforce production but the way to cultivate free, critical and active citizens. When education policies serve only the market, we neglect the importance of humanitarian education and social justice. We must invest in an education system that promotes knowledge, critical thinking and values of solidarity, that promotes culture. Artistic education is unfortunately not equally recognised as higher education – an example I say. Education, then, must shape people, not just workers. To bring talent back, we must first ensure decent wages, terms and conditions of work, social benefits, freedom and funding for scientists' research, and a quality of life that ensures their well-being. Those are the reasons they're leaving. Oh, thank you.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the religious reverence with which European leaders worship the numbers, markets and profits of businesses has led to the destruction of the welfare state. It has sacrificed society on the altar of competitiveness. This is the root of the demographic problem. Mrs Mînzatu, support for collective bargaining and collective agreements everywhere, without exceptions, without special zones of exploitation, is non-negotiable for workers. As far as artificial intelligence and quantum technology are concerned, we will not accept a new technological feudalism, where shareholders reap the surplus value and workers pay the price with layoffs and poverty. The surplus value that this progress will produce belongs to society. My fellow Members, I will vote against the European Semester, which is a noose around our necks, because it glorifies competitiveness over the well-being of peoples, and I will fight for a Europe that respects and defends its people and is not the long arm of the employers. Oh, thank you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, after welcoming the criminal jihadists into the Syrian government with smiles and statements about supposed democracy, the European leaders are now deafeningly silent about what they call an inclusive Syria. Now that there is genocide in Syria, where is it? Massacres of civilians, women, elders, children and infants being butchered. Christians, Druze, Alawites, Kurds, innocent victims. I denounce shame and hypocrisy. It's a disgrace! When the European Union is silent in the face of crimes against humanity, it becomes an accomplice. When innocent lives are sacrificed for interests, that's not politics, it's complicity in slaughter. Take measures now with immediate effect to fully condemn the crimes by the European Union, impose sanctions on those responsible for the massacres, break all diplomatic relations with the forces that are bloodsucking Syria, send humanitarian aid to the affected communities. Stop the massacres of Syria now.

Madam President, I can see that the President of the Commission has run away. Mrs von der Leyen, where are you entitled to take 800 billion from the pockets of European citizens to give to the war industries? I read that you handed out the contracts to gun lobbyists like Pasatempo and walked away from the German Ministry of Defense. Is it true? Now you want to sacrifice the whole of Europe for their own interests. Random? - Yeah. And you are also calling on Turkey in European defence; Turkey, which owns half of Cyprus, is threatening Greece with casus belli. Turkey, Mr Costa, is, according to you, a strategic partner. In fact, he is an intruder on European soil. But I forgot: Cyprus does not have rare earths. Ladies and gentlemen, you have abandoned peace and diplomacy to fill the war industries' coffers. Our taxes will become weapons instead of health and education, while hospitals will be closed, schools will be devastated, pensions will disappear. I call on all European citizens to take to the streets to stop the war. Yes to peace.

Madam President, the report, for which the Committee on Employment has made an enormous and indeed remarkable effort, really gives some new dimensions, which I am also pleased to have tabled with an amendment to the Committee on Employment. It therefore gives families with many children, single-parent families, people with disabilities, the unemployed the possibility, through the European Social Fund, to become beneficiaries and to be able to help these people in a quagmire of accuracy and a very big blow from the market. I also underlined with an amendment the importance of workers' representatives in collective bargaining, which is currently a problem in several countries of the European Union, as well as the need for decent wages. I would like to call on all my colleagues to vote in favour of this report. It is very important for European citizens and for our peoples.

Mr President, the European Union-Mercosur agreement is presented as an opportunity for European businesses. But let's be clear. First of all, we are not the European Parliament of multinational companies. Multinationals also increase their profits in such an agreement. But European farmers and ranchers are being crushed by unfair competition. And what do our citizens gain? Cheaper products of dubious quality that do not meet the strict standards of the European Union. Will we accept to fill our shelves with products produced with banned pesticides, without any environmental responsibility, with deforestation of the Amazon continuing unchecked? Will we tolerate products derived from animals that have been bred in conditions that Europe considers inhumane? Do you want to make a deal? Make a deal with European farmers. Their demands are fair. They want fair prices, reduced production costs and protection from disasters.

Mr President, Turkey continues to trample on any notion of justice with the recent arrests and dismissals of opposition mayors. This is a clear crackdown on democracy and human rights. At the same time, Turkey continues its provocations against Greece, harassing the area northwest of Crete at the moment, while illegally occupying European territory in Cyprus for fifty years. It is inconceivable that the European Union should finance a country that acts as an authoritarian regime and threatens the stability of the region. I propose the immediate cessation of all European funding to Turkey, as well as the imposition of a complete ban on imports of Turkish products and exports to Turkey for 6 months or until it complies with international law and the law of the sea. It is time for Europe to move from words to deeds.

Mr President, in honouring the memory of the ill-fated journalists Jan and Martina, we are also honouring the right to freedom of the press. Commissioner, I agree with the text and would draw your attention to the following: In Greece, free and objective journalism is persecuted. George Karaivaz was assassinated on 9 April 2021. The culprits are free today. Thanasis Koukakis was watched with Predator June to September 2020 at the behest of the government. The media is funded by secret government lists. In total, 45.5 million euros went to selected SMEs. Tempi crime 2023, 57 dead. The freight train was smuggling hydrocarbons. The government hastened to disguise smuggling, and the controlled media the responsibilities of the government. Every voice calling for justice was censored. Millions of people took to the streets. State television never saw them. Direct government intervention on public state television ERT, on social networks, SLAPP silencing lawsuits is something you should investigate in Greece, please. Greece is faltering in authoritarianism.

Madam President, the Competitiveness Compass is not a compass for people. It is a map for the impoverishment of workers. Promote layoffs, cheap labor, violation of rights. You want to use artificial intelligence, not to improve working conditions and reduce hours without wage cuts, not to protect jobs and uphold labour laws. You are only interested in how big companies will increase their profits. With the 28th legal regime, as with the simplification of rules, you want a Europe where labour law only applies when it does not disturb the profits of the few. This is not a Competitiveness Compass, it is a broken compass and its place is in the waste bin, because it leads people deeper into poverty. Your growth cannot be done on the ruins of workers' rights. We will stand together with the peoples of Europe.

Mr President, Europe is facing an unprecedented health crisis with huge staff shortages. However, the situation in Greece is even more dramatic. Our hospitals are on the verge of collapse, with terrifying shortages of infrastructure, materials and human resources. Working conditions are desperate, with exhausting hours and inadequate pay, while the government is indifferent and disdainful towards health workers. The Minister of Health, Mr. Adonis Georgiadis, instead of taking action, targets the workers by calling them miserable and left-wing communists. This offensive attitude cannot be tolerated. The numbers are irrefutable. By 2030, Europe will face a shortage of six hundred thousand doctors and 2.3 million nurses. The European Union must put pressure on governments that undermine their public health systems. Health cannot be a field of political expediency. We demand quality public health for all, direct recruitment, better working conditions and respect for health professionals.

Madam President, the failure of the negotiations in Busan on the UN Treaty on Plastics is a scandal. How much longer will we tolerate the interests that are polluting our planet? How much longer will we let our oceans drown in plastic and our communities pay the price? The European Union must stand up, take action now, adopt a directly applicable regulation for all Member States that holistically addresses the life cycle of plastics, from production to disposal, to protect the environment and human health, and invest in reuse systems. And if global negotiations fail, let's show that we can lead. Our health, our children and our planet are in danger. Let's take our share of responsibility.

Mr. President, why don't people have children? Because they live in despair. You supported the elites, the rich, and imposed a relentless neoliberalism that crushed peoples, wiped out the welfare state, plunged citizens into poverty. In Greece public hospitals do not have staff, materials, infrastructure, school units do not have resources and teachers. Parents are struggling to pay tutorials for their children. Ask people how they will pay skyrocketing rents. How will they live on starvation wages and raise children? Large and single-parent families struggle with the beasts. Accuracy and misery strike every home, and hope has faded. You want births? Give people dignity, raise wages, support families, stop first-home auctions, give houses to stay, give money for health, money for education. The Europe of the peoples will either support social cohesion or die. The responsibility is yours.

Mr President, Commissioner, is temperature change another natural phenomenon or the result of your policies? For decades you have ignored the warnings of scientists and environmental organizations. You have chosen to finance polluting industries and ports, helped those who profit from the disaster, and let citizens pay the price with their lives and properties. This is the climate collapse caused by your policies: 2024 will be the hottest year in history. Do you want solutions? Tax the rich polluters, but put the oil and shipping companies together to find a fuel. This fuel has not yet been found. Is the measure ultimately collectible or should no one pollute? Find a solution to that. Otherwise we'll go from 30 to 40, to 50, to 60. Yes, invest in renewable energy, but this is not at the expense of forests and ecosystems. This situation cannot continue.

Mr President, I do not understand why we are not abolishing subcontracting altogether. Any employer who wants to hire an employee to hire him directly with structured labour rights. In Greece, especially in the areas of cleaning, warehousing, distribution, even in banks and air, land and sea transport companies, exploitation through intermediaries is widespread and subcontracting was created to break collective agreements and find cheap workers for businesses. That is, workers with a lack of collective rights, e.g. trade unionism, inadequate insurance, poor working conditions, without the required supervision and control, with incomplete protection measures, while subcontracting companies maximise their profits at their expense. Let us abolish them now throughout the European Union.

Mr President, the rule of law in Greece has collapsed when the right to strike is criminalised, collective bargaining is prohibited, courts serve repression and not justice. Why is Europe covering the Mitsotakis government? Together you are responsible for the measures taken against the workers. Why did you demand in the memoranda that collective bargaining on the minimum wage be abolished? Why did you allow the European directive to become ragged paper? Why did you make it impossible to sign collective agreements and bring workers to arbitration? Why do you not allow collective agreements to be extended to all employers in a sector? Why are nine out of ten strikes declared illegal by Greek courts? Workers cannot strike even when their colleagues die in work accidents. Why Do Businesses Make Billions While Their Employees Are Hungry? Why did you leave the people of Greece in poverty for 15 years? Together you have destroyed the right to work, together you have violated the dignity of our people. Thousands of whys. Will we get answers?

Madam President, the Greek Government is promoting policies that undermine citizens' right to clean, cheap and adequate water. The revival of the Acheloos river diversion project with European Union money violates European Directives 2000/60 and 2001/42, destroys Natura 2000 sites and ignores sustainable management. Instead of pharaonic projects, direct investments are needed in infrastructure for saving and enriching the aquifer. The Daniel Flood demonstrated the need to conserve and protect natural endpoints, such as Lake Carla. According to measurements by the Hellenic Authority for Geological and Mineral Exploration, 42% of groundwater is seriously degraded, while 24% recorded a stock problem. In many areas of Greece the quality of drinking water is unsuitable, while the government is also paving the way for its privatization through the Regulatory Authority for Energy. I call on the European Union to intervene in order to comply with European directives. Water is a fundamental right, not a commercial product. I call for immediate European action to ensure clean, quality and public water for all.

Madam President, you agreed among yourselves behind closed doors and brought us spectators to a rigged game. Hearings are a cheap show and you untalented actors in a badly played play. You have not kept your pretexts, since you have not cut a single Commissioner. There are "appointments" by the governments themselves, such as the Greek Commissioner Tzitzikostas in the Transport portfolio, with whom the President of the Commission repays the hospitality of Mr. Mitsotakis in Chania, to cover up the Greek government and at European level the scandal of the railway crime of 57 young people in Tempi in 2023. Those who vote in favour, unfortunately, become their accomplices. As a trade unionist, I find the absence of a portfolio exclusively for work provocative and unacceptable. This shows that social policy is well on the sidelines and that the world of work will be hit harder by its rights. Colleagues, I will vote against this theatre, but I will continue to fight for a Europe of values, transparency, democracy, peace, humanism and culture.