Debate contributions by Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE

Madam President, madam Commissioner, dear President Costa, in the words of California Governor Gavin Newsom, it is time to buck up and have a backbone, and growing a backbone will take more than words, even though I do appreciate President von der Leyen saying yesterday in Davos, nostalgia will not bring back the old order. And that is why I would like to remind you and all of us in this House, that the United States is currently threatening Europe of getting rid of the visa-free travel to the US if we do not give them free access to our biometric police databases. And why on earth is the Commission going along with this? And why did the Member States approve a mandate to negotiate with the US on this in December, when we could all see the direction that things were taking? The Commission must put all negotiations on this matter on hold. We will not be blackmailed.

Madam President, colleagues, the days of Viktor Orbán at the head of possibly the most corrupt government in the EU are numbered. And so I guess he thinks that desperate times ask for desperate measures. And that must be exactly why Hungary has requested billions from Europe, this time from the SAFE loans programme, despite vowing – vowing! – to stay out of the same defence cooperation which SAFE aims to strengthen. It's just more taxpayers' money to get his hands on. And I get it: you do you, queen! But why on earth do the Council and the Commission think that it is a good idea to lend Orbán EUR 16 billion while he keeps rolling out the red carpet for Trump and for Putin – and that without any real improvements to the rule of law? So to me this is like a '6-7' situation where I really don't understand what's going on. So let me ask the Commission and let me ask the Council to be the adults in the room here, to do the right thing and not to lend any money to Orbán, to protect our safety and protect our budget.

Madam President, colleagues, we have heard many, many good things today, but I think that we have heard too little about enforcement and why it's taking us – why it's taking the Commission – so long sometimes to publish investigations, to come up with the fines, to enforce the rules that we already have in place. I wonder: might this have something to do with the threats that we're getting from some tech oligarchs in the United States and their protector in the White House – as has been said in this room today? I think that there are a lot of Europeans who are looking at us on this day, this week of all weeks, as the week of truth. What are we going to do as the European Parliament to break our tech dependency on the United States and claim not only our digital but our general sovereignty? I think this is the moment of truth, and I call on the Commission to take action swiftly in this domain and also other policy fields.

Madam President, what we are trying to do here is to guarantee supply of medicines for which inefficient supply would result in serious harm or risk of serious harm to patients. Now, let me remind you that there are a lot of women in Europe who are still not enjoying the right to safe and legal abortion, and this situation will only become worse if we do not include abortion medicines in the list of critical medicines. Please, when you are going to vote tomorrow to decide whether we do include these medicines in this list or not, think about friends, think about sisters, think about daughters. Think about what happened if they, for whatever reason, including medical reasons, needed an abortion and the medicines were not available. Do you think that there would be fewer abortions? No there won't. There will be more unsafe abortions with health risks and deaths as a result. Please reconsider your position.

I was shocked to hear that, in trilogues, essential medication for women was simply dismissed as non‑essential – I am talking about abortion medication – and this while women in Europe still die today because of lack of access to safe abortion. Now, we could be solving this on a European level, and groups such as yours still refuse. Your party leader, Marine Le Pen, supported enshrining abortion as a fundamental right. So, I do expect you to vote tomorrow for the amendments which try to achieve this at European level. Could you confirm that you will do so?

That was not my argumentation, because I appreciate every single thing that is done for women to become more independent. I am talking about all those men in Hungary who, influenced by social media platforms which are totally out of control, now think that women should be under their direct financial control. That is what I am talking about. You are not responding to that.

I would like to speak about Hungary. In Hungary, 68 % of men think it is acceptable to control the financial situation of women. That is 22 % higher than the European average. And among young boys, especially, 72 % think that it is the task of men to earn money – that is 30 % higher than the European average. I think that we should be shielding Hungarian women from this development, and I was wondering if you agree with me that this is something concerning, that you should not want this for your country, and that social media platforms do have something to do with this?

Madam President, I've been told that Viktor Orbán really cannot get enough of a Hungarian comedian called Somogyi András, because he does a wonderful impersonation of how Brussels is an evil conspiracy and how Ursula von der Leyen doesn't want anything to do with democracy and only wants to punish Hungary. And I understand why people in Hungary love him, because that's exactly what we have heard today – that Brussels is the evil conspiracy and that we are only trying to kill Hungarian democracy. But I think that you have to be very serious and very real. And Brussels is not the reason why Hungary is in economic decay. Brussels is not the reason why Hungary has an education system which is crumbling. Brussels is not the reason why people in Hungary have to bring their own toilet paper when they go to hospital. And Brussels is not the reason why 600 000 people have left the country. So, to the Commission, I will say: the next time that you have the opportunity to take swift action, please do so and apply conditionality properly, because the Hungarian people deserve our protection. Thank you so much in advance and please – please –do not leave it at promises. Take action.

Thank you, colleague, for your reading of the situation in Slovenia – which I do not share, because this initiative is not about Slovenian politics. This initiative is about providing women everywhere in Europe, regardless of whether they have the resources or not, with access to safe and legal abortion. But let me ask you something. Have you talked to organisations who help these women coming from Poland, for example, to the Netherlands? Because I have talked to them and they have told me their stories. Have you taken the time to engage with those doctors helping these women? Because I have talked to them and they have told me the stories. Have you?

Mr President, Commissioner, Mehdi Kessaci, lawyer Derk Wiersum, crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, Hakim Changachi, Mohamed Bouchikhi: They were all killed by drug criminals. A threat to our European security, freedom of expression and democracy. In the fight against international drug crime, we are not going to win with endless discussions about ‘sovereignty’ or ‘subsidiarity’, as we do in this house. Criminals don't have a message and laugh. Only by truly European thinking and doing can we master these criminals. That is why I call on the Commissioner to speed up action, with stricter European rules on criminal law, with more powers for Europol and Eurojust, without taboos, and with better cooperation with private parties in ports, such as shipping companies and port companies, and finally with prevention through education. We can win this.

Colleague, thank you for your answer. I was not implying anything about the personal circumstances of anyone who has had difficulty in becoming a mother – I do regret that and I hope that we can, as institutions, support those people as well, whether they are women or men, by the way. But my question was not that and you're not answering my question. So I would really appreciate if you answered the question that I posed to you. Thank you.

Thank you for taking my blue card. The regional government in Lazio, in Italy, is preparing to approve a law that would guarantee protection of the foetus from conception. I was wondering if you, Ms Magoni, agree with this proposal – that is my first question. My second question is, if you do, and you said that every woman has should have the right to be a mother, then would you also support criminalising women who might engage in dangerous behaviour with consequences for the foetus? Because, according to your view, they might be found guilty of failing to protect it from conception? Thank you.

Thank you, colleague, especially for your first reaction to the colleague from ESN and for presenting such a strong pro-European voice. I listened very attentively to your speech. I am very happy that you highlight the need to work together also with our regions. And at the same time, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed because when I look around in this room and when I look at the speakers' list from the EPP today, I was hoping to see a very strong voice from the Regional Committee, where we have been working very closely together with the colleagues from the EPP, but I don't see them, I don't know if they are coming, but I would like to hear their voice, because I would like to hear their voice, and from you, if you're still willing to commit to one of our main common demands, which is that regional chapters become a mandatory element of cohesion policy and the NRPPs.

Mr President, I really listened very carefully to the Commission President earlier this afternoon. I heard her saying that she will always listen, and I listened to her saying that she will always be open to find common solutions. I also heard her speaking of a sense of frustration among citizens, and also that in Europe we want to be 'masters of our own destiny'. And that's exactly what our regions want to be. They want to be and remain the masters of their own destiny when it comes to how we invest European funds in our future. So, I would like to ask the Commission President to listen very carefully to the opinion of this Parliament on her plans for the European budget, to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions, and to the opinion of many, many citizens who are expressing their concerns with us. Please keep the regions at the core of cohesion policy.

It's not campaign-related at all, Mr. Berendsen, but go ahead. You are talking about future-proof economy and competitiveness. We agree, I think, that this is very important. Do you also think that our regions should be at the heart of these plans? And do you agree with me that the European Commission's current proposal for the multi-annual budget reform is, however, pushing the regions aside and that we need to fix it?

Mr President, I was going to say something else, but, Mr López Aguilar, I am surprised and very sorry that the implicit accusation of your contribution is that we are incorrectly using the tribute to Mrs Caruana Galizia to accuse the Government of Malta of something for which it is not guilty. No, no, we are here denouncing that not enough has been done to bring justice to Daphne, her children and the people of Malta. We are here to defend the rule of law across the European Union, regardless of political or party considerations. So let's be serious and let's make things very clear. Nothing is being misused here. We remember Mrs Caruana Galizia and her work against corruption in Malta, which is the work against corruption throughout the European Union.

Mr President, thank you for allowing me the right to answer. You say that the Corruption Perceptions Index is not facts, but it is from Transparency International, the most respected index to measure corruption in its perception among citizens, which is important to us as representatives of the people. How can you say that that index does not reflect facts? What index would you like to choose instead of that one?

Thank you for taking my blue card. First of all, I would like to repeat what some colleagues have said: this Parliament is not acting against the Maltese people. The Maltese people are a European people and deserve our protection, just like in any other Member State, and that's what we're doing here. And now my question: you say there is no backsliding in Malta. How do you explain that? In the Corruption Perceptions Index, Malta has dropped five places since 2023 – a quite steep decline.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, Mr Lenaers just said it very well: Our agents are being harassed and spit on. But how are they being harassed? Attacked? Very often this happens with explosives that have the power of a hand grenade. Explosives that are legally produced in the EU and then sold. A Cobra 6 can be found online for a pinch. It has nothing to do with fireworks. Criminals like to make smart use of the possibilities of our internal market. The recent evaluation of the current fireworks rules shows that it is time for European action. This confirms what mayors across Europe have been warning about for a long time. Commissioner, please take this seriously. Make sure our agents can do their job safely. Give the people back our streets. Take this reaching hand and we'll get to work together.

Thank you, colleague Düpont, for taking this blue card. I am sure that you are also very familiar with the latest terrorist threat report – also from Europol from last year. We both share the concern that radicalisation on the extreme left and the extreme right poses a security risk for our Union. So, I wanted to ask you if you agree with me that any sort of cooperation with any parties on any side of the extreme spectrum should not be taken as a serious political possibility or option at this moment – on a national level, but also on a European level?

“Woman dies after stabbing incident in Groningen. Man arrested.’ ‘Woman shot and died in Sneek. The perpetrator: ‘Women stabbed and died in Lent. Man arrested.’ ‘Woman shot dead at home in Purmerend. Man arrested.’ ‘Deceased woman found in house in Heerlen. Man arrested.’ Five fatalities in one month, in my country, where the perpetrators were often in the picture. Femicide is a preventable epidemic, but femicide is ‘only’ the tragic tip of the iceberg. It is the extreme form of a worldview in which women are reduced to ownership, to ‘carriers of children’ or – in the words of Dutch university students – to ‘sperm buckets’. It is a worldview in which online hatred against women and vulnerable minorities is not only accepted, but even promoted. A worldview which, unfortunately, is becoming louder and louder in this House. I choose to fight against that worldview, for our rights and for our lives.

Thank you, colleague – I listened very attentively to what you said; you said equal rights have been achieved in Europe, and that's a good thing. But that's a lie. It's a lie that equal rights have been achieved in Europe. There are more than 20 million European women who are forbidden by law to decide on their choices and their own bodies, because abortion is forbidden for them. Why do you lie to the European public and say that equal rights have been achieved? Men do have those rights to decide what to do with their own bodies. Thank you.