Speeches

Madam President, there is one message to the Commissioner: when you go out of this plenary room, take this Parliament seriously. This agreement can be really historic. We are representing the citizens of Europe, and this can be a really great moment. Denn was muss denn noch alles passieren, damit endlich wirklich diese riesengroße Vermögensungleichheit weltweit auch echt angegangen und geändert wird? Ein Krieg vor der Haustür, die Lebensmittelpreise gehen in die Höhe, die Energiepreise explodieren, Wohnungspreise sind viel zu hoch. An einer weltweiten, faireren Besteuerung von Unternehmensgewinnen führt kein Weg vorbei. Multinationale Konzerne haben überproportional von den Corona-Hilfspaketen profitiert, auch der Onlinehandel, die Streaming-Plattformen wurden überdurchschnittlich genutzt. Durch die Einführung dieser globalen Mindeststeuer für Konzerne kann eine echte Umverteilung von Konzernen auf Arbeitnehmer, Arbeitnehmerinnen stattfinden und können Steueroasen trockengelegt werden.

You have hopelessly overdrawn your time. I tried to turn off the microphone, it didn't work out right away. But now I have to be strict. We have a lot of speakers who overwhelm the time.

Since very, very many of you are exceeding speaking time, I ask you once again to be really disciplined in dealing with speaking time. The debate is delayed. Of course, I fully understand all the objections, because this is such an emotional and important topic. Nevertheless, we want to stick to our schedule on the whole. Therefore, now my request to the next speaker, Mrs Isabel Wiseler-Lima, really not to exceed the one minute and 30 seconds.

I know the subject is very emotional, the heart goes over, and speaking time passes very quickly. I ask all speakers to really stick to the limited time you have been given.

Mr President! And above all, thank you, Commissioner, for the excellent work you are doing. Women in Ukraine were forced by the war, alone or with their children, often with the children of their neighbours or siblings, to leave their homeland behind from one day to the next. By fleeing, they have lost their homes, their social environment and often their financial autonomy. We need to help women find their way around the new day. And for their independence, they therefore need unrestricted access to educational institutions, care facilities and fair-paid work. These women are often traumatized by the war. Not only the fear of bombs and the fear for their relatives seem debilitating. Sexual violence and rape by Russian soldiers – war crimes under the rules of international law – is targeted as a weapon against girls and women. Of course, we cannot undo these extreme experiences of violence. But that's why it's all the more important and our responsibility to help those affected process the trauma. Psychological care and access to emergency contraception and, if necessary, legal and safe abortion must be possible in every Member State of the European Union without bureaucracy and free of charge. And here I am thinking in particular of Poland, where civil society is doing great things, but the government must also do its part to ensure that women have quick access to emergency contraception and abortion, if necessary. And I am also thinking of what President Macron of France announced at the beginning of the Council Presidency, namely that the right to abortion should finally be enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. We need it urgently.

The next item on the agenda was the debate on the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe (2022/2648(RSP)). I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, with the exception of the first two rows, which are reserved for the chairmen of the political groups, there is a free choice of seats. You can use your voting device to request spontaneous interventions and insert blue cards after inserting your voting card. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern. However, this does not apply to spontaneous interventions, blue cards and interventions on the Rules of Procedure.

I can see just now that a ‘blue card’ has been lifted by MEP Francisco Guerreiro. Are you ready to accept this ‘blue card’, Mr Pimenta? The answer is no, and this ‘blue card’ cannot be given either. Accordingly, I would like to ask Mr Francisco Guerreiro if he only wants to make a statement, because a statement is possible for 30 seconds, no question.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Nicolae Ştefănuță, on behalf of the Committee on Budgets, on the general guidelines for the preparation of the 2023 budget, Section III – Commission (2021/2226(BUI)) (A9-0062/2022). I would like to remind you that, with the exception of the first two rows, which are reserved for the chairmen of the political groups, there is a free choice of seats. After inserting your voting card into the voting machine, you can then use your voting machine to request spontaneous interventions and blue cards. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern, with the exception of spontaneous interventions, blue cards and comments on the application of the Rules of Procedure.

Madam President, dear Vice-President! There is extreme wealth inequality globally and in Europe. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the high energy prices, the climate crisis exacerbate this wealth inequality even more. The OECD predicts that: Without rapid global agreement, we will incur high costs, which will again have to be borne by the broad mass of employees. The introduction of a minimum global corporate tax of at least 15 per cent – I keep stressing the word ‘at least’ – can mitigate this huge inequality, and we can also drain tax havens. The revenues generated not only relieve the burden, but they are also suitable for strengthening education and creating jobs. Nevertheless, the following applies: It is a minimum tax rate of 15%, as the name suggests. Our goals are higher. We need to get the most out of the OECD proposals so as not to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on "The need for an EU urgent action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine" (2022/2593 (RSP)). As we now want to gradually move back towards normality, at least as far as parliamentary work in plenary is concerned, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you can use your voting device to request spontaneous interventions and use blue cards after you have introduced your voting card. I therefore ask you to always bring the voting card with you. The instructions are in the Chamber for those who have forgotten it in the meantime. If you would like to register for a spontaneous intervention, I would ask you to do so from now on and not to wait until the end of the debate. This gives us an overview of how many Members would like to speak. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern. However, this does not apply to spontaneous interventions, blue cards and interventions on the Rules of Procedure. These are done in place. I would therefore ask you to keep an eye on the list of speakers and to go to the lectern shortly before the start of your speaking time.

Our next rapporteur, Irene Tinagli, is stuck in Strasbourg traffic and will therefore be given the opportunity to present her report later when she arrives.

The next item on the agenda is the joint debate on – the report by Irene Tinagli, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: Annual Sustainable Growth Report 2022 (2022/2006(INI)) (A9-0034/2022) and – the report by Helmut Geuking, on behalf of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, on the European Semester for economic policy coordination: Employment and social aspects in the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2022 (2021/2233(INI)) (A9 0040/2022).

On the PECH Committee decision to open interinstitutional negotiations under Rule 71(1), announced at the opening on Monday 7 March 2021, the President did not receive any requests to vote in Parliament from Members or one or more political groups reaching at least the medium threshold. The Committee can therefore start negotiations.

Mr President, gender mainstreaming is, at the end of the day, a powerful instrument. It’s about changing society, it’s about changing culture. It’s about changing our way of thinking and doing politics. And we, as the European Parliament, we should lead by example. With the 2020 gender mainstreaming report, we looked into how this principle has been adopted within our institution. Much has been achieved, mainly thanks to the engaged members of the gender mainstreaming network. There is so much cooperation. So thank you, Gwendoline, thank you, Irène, and thank you to all those engaged Members all over the committees in this European Parliament. How we push gender mainstreaming – this is an idea national parliaments should take over. So we adopted anti-harassment policies just last December. We’re advancing on tackling vertical and horizontal discrimination within our House. And we have a comprehensive gender action plan and roadmap to achieve the goal of gender equality. However, we also see that in the European Parliament, we also still have to do far more. For example, when it comes to the election of Members, we need parity from all political groups, not only from the left, also from the right. And we need to better institutionalise gender mainstreaming for more structure, more data and better indicators. So, in the end, gender equality is for all of us and should be as normal in our way of thinking as breathing.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the statements by the Council and the Commission on the deteriorating refugee situation following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine (2022/2575(RSP)).

The EPP Group has sent the President decisions on changes to appointments to committees and delegations. These decisions will be published in the minutes of today's meeting and will enter into force on the day of this announcement.

The President. – The meeting resumed. I wish you an excellent afternoon on this International Women's Day: A strong and robust European Parliament needs strong and robust leadership, including both women and men. (The meeting resumed at 3 p.m.)

The meeting resumed. I wish you an excellent afternoon on this International Women's Day: A strong and robust European Parliament needs strong and robust leadership, including both women and men.

Mr President, dear Commissioner Dalli, dear Secretary of state, climate emergency is our reality, as well as gender inequality and both are intrinsically linked. But so is the solution. When we take gender—responsive climate action, we further close gender inequalities. When we have more women in decision—making, we have better, more effective decisions also on climate mitigation and when we empower women, especially in indigenous communities, we protect Mother Nature. So yet, let us not forget Europe claims to be a leader in both fields. But we still are far from reaching equality and climate neutrality. The upcoming UN Session on the Status of Women in March is the place where we can show the commitment, but also take the necessary action.