What Ernest spoke about.

Mr. President, my first words are to unequivocally condemn Hamas' acts of terror and to call immediately for the release of the victims, those still abducted by the organization. Secondly, and it must be said unequivocally, the punishments that Israel is inflicting on the Gaza Strip are collective punishments constituting war crimes. Cutting off water, electricity and electricity to two million pe

Madam President, the world embarrassedly witnessed what was a despicable act of sexual violence. An aggression on the part of Mr Rubiales which must be condemned by this Parliament. But the world also witnessed the rise of the feminist movement in Spain, in Europe. An increasingly necessary feminist movement to denounce. Because we no longer tolerate these attitudes. And that ultimately led to Mr.

Mr President, dear colleagues, one year has passed since the tragic death of Jina Mahsa Amini in Iranian custody. Her death sparked months of rallies during which more than 500 people lost their lives and seven were executed. As the anniversary approaches, the Iranian authorities are stepping up their efforts to control unrest and protests. Women’s rights advocates, students, journalists and the f

Madam President, the ECB once again raised interest rates, a strategy which, as we have already said, is profoundly wrong. Inflation comes mainly from energy and very high corporate profits, as the Commissioner has pointed out. But the ECB remains committed to telling us that there is a demand component to current inflation. If there was a significant demand component to inflation, we should have

Mr President, the digital euro is a potentially transformative project that can have positive consequences for society and the economy as a whole. First and foremost, digital gold has to enable us to defend monetary sovereignty in an increasingly digitised world, i.e. to keep money as a public good; This is the most important thing right now. In addition, depending on how it is designed, it can be

Mr President, I would like to thank everyone for all the comments. I want to briefly touch on some of the issues that have been raised. Lídia Pereira mentioned – and I can only agree – that we don’t have to block innovation, that our rules need to be technologically neutral. I fully agree on that. I think that here the issue is more that we need to apply the same rules for the same risks. I think

Madam President, Commissioner, the MiCA and TFR recast mark the end of the Wild West era for the unregulated world of crypto-assets. For over a decade, the lack of regulation has resulted in massive losses to many first time investors and provided a safe haven for fraudsters and international criminal networks. MiCA represents an important and necessary first step to bring the crypto sector under

Mr President, the truth is that one has lost all hope that the Spanish right will behave with institutional height in the face of the Presidency. Once again, a debate. This time they bring us a debate, also proposed by the PP, with the support of VOX and Ciudadanos and the vote in favor of some independence party. Then they tell us about "Frankenstein coalitions". The one you have set up to have t

Mr President, day by day, the situation worsens in Iran and the feeling of outrage grows among Iranians. The deliberate poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls is the latest cruel attempt at intimidating girls and women for their bravery and courage in a country that represses them. Teenage girls and university students have been at the forefront of the countrywide protests that have been held since

Madam President, Commissioner, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and two other smaller US banks is a cause for concern, as this is the biggest failure since the great financial crisis of 2008. Unfortunately, I have to say that the lessons of the 2008 crisis seem already forgotten. We have long been warning from my group about the risk of the ongoing reversal of financial regulation. And the Silic

Madam President, the European Semester process remains largely a financial year. The European Parliament should support putting economic and social convergence on an equal footing in the next review of economic governance. In a paper published before the Porto Social Summit in May 2021, the governments of Belgium and Spain proposed an instrument to address social imbalances: the social imbalance p

Mr President, the new geopolitical context and the war in Ukraine underscore once again the need for a genuine EU foreign policy that is consistent and effective to adapt and respond to today’s challenges. EU external action continues to be embedded by a number of barriers that go from an insufficient common diplomatic culture, a lack of trust between Member States and duplication and interinstitu

Madam President, President Lagarde, Commissioner, the assessment of inflation is a matter of concern for our citizens. However, I have to say that the ECB's decision to tackle the problem by aggressively raising interest rates is not the right recipe. We are facing the most pronounced increase in a year of interest rates that many countries in Europe have known. However, we know that inflation is

Madam President, REPowerEU was a much needed programme to ensure energy independence. However, it is well known that we in the Green Group could not share the fact that this need was used to repeal the principle of not significantly harming the environment or to jeopardise our climate objectives. That is why I am pleased that in the negotiation we have managed to limit this derogation to a small p

Madam President, identifying jurisdictions that pose a threat in terms of money laundering is extremely relevant for our policy in that field. Unfortunately, we know in the last years this exercise of listing has been highly politicised. That is the reason why my group suggested to have this debate in this plenary today, because when the Council decided to postpone the deadline to adopt the delega

Madam President, the People's Party today brings us a debate on the rule of law in Spain. I believe that the problems of the rule of law in Spain in recent years have been twofold: corruption, with hundreds of elected officials of the Popular Party, with very serious damage to the institutional functioning of our country; and, secondly, the boycott of the People's Party, because when they do not w

Madam President, Commissioner, four young men have been executed for their involvement in the peaceful protest in Iran following the death of Jina ‘Mahsa’ Amini. All of them were subject to expedited trials that did not meet the minimum guarantees of a fair trial and due process, and in some cases their families were only informed of their execution after it happened. Those are the first of anothe

Mr President, I would also like to give my full support to this proposal for the creation of a European Capital of Proximity Trade. It has already been said, I believe that it is part of European culture, which is something that must be preserved. It is essential for the economic activity it generates, for the jobs it generates, for the social cohesion generated by having local commerce in cities

Mr President, Commissioner, the European Union must ban shell companies. I hope that this directive will start to lead the way in that direction. The shell companies are at the center of all the tax scandals of avoidance and evasion that we have known in recent years: Pandora's papers, LuxLeaks... Even the International Monetary Fund points to them as a fundamental structure of circumvention. The

Madam President, the US Inflation Reduction Act has caught the EU unprepared and has also exposed the limitations of our economic policy. Times are changing and we know that the building—up of a new green and social contract will require greater involvement of public authorities in investment and market intervention. But, on the other hand, we need to size well the risks that the US measures pose

Mr President, my first words are to thank and support the Belgian justice system and the Belgian police for uncovering this very serious case of corruption. Of course, the main perpetrators are those who have allowed themselves to be corrupted and also those who have corrupted themselves. Both equally. And I must also say that we cannot think that this is simply an isolated case that does not affe

Madam President, FIFA and Mr Infantino have robbed millions of football fans of their World Cup dream. First of all, the seat chosen has been in a process full of irregularities that is being investigated by the French justice system. Secondly, a headquarters with infrastructure whose construction has cost, according to some estimates, up to 6,500 dead, a figure that had not been seen in any sport

Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, the world is meeting in Egypt these days in the face of accelerating climate change. The United Nations tells us that the current trajectory is 2.6 degrees. The World Meteorological Organization says Europe is where temperatures have risen the most in recent years. And one question flies over the negotiations in Egypt: Will the European economy turn back to fossi

Mr President, Commissioner, Mr Vice-President, today from Strasbourg I would like to convey, first of all, all my support for the French workers who are today mobilising for fair wage compensation because of inflation. In Europe, Putin's war has only intensified a social bomb that has been forging after decades of neoliberalism and a financial crisis that put our social contract in check. The curr

Mr President, Mr High Representative, the shocking events unfolding in Iran have reached an unprecedented magnitude in the last week. From here, I want to send all my support to the women and protesters who have taken to the streets in recent days in defense of their rights. At least seventy-six people have died, as protests continue in Iran against the death of Mahsa Amini, who was beaten and tor