Speeches

Madam President, this is a proud moment for the Parliament. It sends a powerful message: no woman should be forced to choose between her career and embracing the beautiful, yet desirable, experience of maternity. We recognize the basic, medical and physical dimension of pregnancy, ensuring that the merit and commitment of these women are not erased by a temporary physical condition, so that they can serve, lead and be mothers without being removed. Motherhood should never be an obstacle to women's participation in public life. Motherhood is not an obstacle, it is life. And no woman should ever be penalized for it. This is also an important political moment. It was a priority of the EPP, assumed from the first moment, a surgical alteration, balanced, limited to maternity. We show that when there is political will, the institutions know how to act quickly, responsibly and with a sense of justice. Today, we are not only making a decision for the women in this room, we are opening a door for all the women who will come after us. And for that too, Madam President, we thank you.

Madam President, Commissioner, the Spanish Government acts outside European responsibility and knowingly subverts the European Union's common migration policy. A dangerous signal is sent: illegally entering, circumventing the asylum system and challenging return mechanisms pays off. And when returns fail, traffickers prosper, and citizens lose confidence in a system that works, we pretend to be surprised. As the European Union moves to strengthen border controls, harmonise rules, strengthen the asylum system, increase return rates under the asylum and migration pact, Spain deliberately chooses the reverse path. It is therefore not a national decision, but a European problem, with direct consequences for the security, free movement and credibility of the European Union's migration policy. But the most revealing comes later: When it is shamelessly explained that regularizing today serves to grant nationality tomorrow and obtain votes later, even to sweep away adversaries, everything is clear. This is not integration, it is political calculation, it is electoral engineering. A dependent electorate is manufactured, roles are exchanged for votes and human fragility is instrumentalized as a tool of power. "Sweep the fachas," they say. They only forget one detail: When social engineering replaces politics, the answer comes at the polls, because in a democracy social engineers do not decide, the Spanish electorate decides, and usually knows very well who to sweep first.

Mr President, Commissioner, we have said this many times: There is no immigration policy without law enforcement. And today, in the European Union, only 20% of return decisions are complied with. It's not a technical detail, it's proof that the system fails. The Pact on Migration and Asylum is necessary, we support it, but it is not enough. Without effective returns, the pact is rhetorical; without consequences, the law is decorative; And without control, the border is a fiction. This is not about ideology. This is about credibility. Those who do not have the right to remain must return - not by punishment, it is the mechanism that ensures that the right to asylum does not collapse, that legal immigration is not devalued and that citizens' trust is not destroyed. Cooperation with third countries, Commissioner, can no longer be an exercise in good intentions or an empty diplomatic ritual. Visa policy is a security tool, not a symbolic gesture. Either it is used firmly to prevent abuse, curb risks and ensure effective cooperation, or it becomes part of the problem. That is why a responsible migration policy requires coherence between principles and action. Protecting the right to asylum means combating illegal immigration. They are not opposite goals, they are not parallel paths, they are the same demand for justice and credibility. The SDC advocates fair migration, migration that requires control, effective return and consequences. Commissioner, a Europe that decides but does not execute, that promises but does not deliver, loses authority within and beyond its borders.

Madam President, for too long Venezuela has been held hostage by a man who mistook the state for its mirror. He tortured to rule, persecuted to stay in power, exiled to silence, and made misery a deliberate mechanism of social control. The country was abducted, democracy is abducted, international law is abducted. Venezuelans have chosen another path. They voted, they decided, whenever they were allowed. The day will come when Venezuelans will recover what should never have been confiscated - the sovereign right to decide their own destiny. On the streets of Venezuela, there is a silent heroism, the heroism of those who have already lost everything but dignity, courage and the will to be free. We demand the release of all political prisoners, not because it is generous to release them, but because it was criminal to arrest them. A Democrat doesn't ask if it's opportune to defend freedom. A Democrat always chooses a side, and it's never the tyrant's side. Long live Venezuela free!

Mr President, Commissioner, who can guarantee that the choice of the future of Europe will be free, informed and immune from invisible manipulation? That is exactly why this debate is urgent. We live in a time when algorithms decide what we see, even before we know what we're looking for. We live in a time when foreign interference has become a constant, methodical and highly sophisticated strategy. Today we are discussing Europe's ability to remain an area of freedom, choice and truth, and the foundations begin here: first, to safeguard the integrity of the information space, because without truth there is no free choice, and without free and independent press there is no truth that survives; second, strengthening institutions, from electoral processes to attacks on critical infrastructure; Third, strengthen social resilience with civic participation, because democracy does not defend itself with decrees. You can legislate a lot, regulate even more, create centers and mechanisms, but nothing replaces an informed, demanding and critical citizen, because when nothing is credible, everything is manipulated.

Madam President, this is a very important day for us, for Parliament. We, as a Parliament, are ready to take an important step for mothers who want to be pregnant and to also play a role in politics.

Madam President, I would firstly like to thank the honourable Member for his question, because it gives me the opportunity to explain the portrait left by the Socialist Government, which the honourable Member has supported on immigration. It was eight years of a socialist government that left Portugal with a chaotic system of expressions of interest that quadrupled the number of immigrants and turned the irregularity into official policy. They called it a reception policy; in practice, it was a policy of abandoning the state, the law and the very idea of authority. When this government came to power, it found 400 000 cases pending, 400 000 cases pending, 400 000 people waiting for a state that did not know who it was or why. Today, all these cases are resolved, and if it bothers you, it is because someone has definitely decided to put the house in order.

Madam President, Commissioner, we have failed for years. Too improvised, too many emergency summits, too many promises evaporated. And my country, Portugal, was no exception. For years we lived with open doors, without control, without criteria, without knowing who entered, how he did it, for what purpose. They called it solidarity, but it was a lack of political courage to distinguish right from wrong. It was the moral comfort of improvisation. Europe, and Portugal with it, must show that solidarity is not synonymous with naivety. Because welcoming those in need with dignity is only possible if there are clear rules. No return, Commissioner, there is no credible migration policy, because return is the other side of solidarity, it is the respect due to those who abide by the rules and to those who enter legally. The new pact is therefore an important step, because it restores to the word solidarity what it lacks, responsibility, and because it restores to Europe the notion of limit and authority.

Madam President, breast cancer requires science, research and early screening. slogans. It requires respect and non-use. It is therefore deeply regrettable that the left has chosen to turn this debate, which should unite us in empathy and responsibility, into a stage of political attacks on Andalusia. Cancer has no political colour and fighting requires respect. Because, ladies and gentlemen, to govern is not to stir up problems, it is to solve them, it is not to shout louder. But I understand, when there are no results, there is theater. Breast cancer, ladies and gentlemen, has no political colour. Opportunism, yes, it does.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I could start this speech in many ways, but I choose to do so in the only way worthy of this Parliament: with deep respect for the victims. 230 people died in a modern European country with technology, resources, promises of security and speeches of progress. They died in garages, they died in cars dragged by the current, they died in circumstances that no warning should allow, but that all the signs announced. DANA wasn't just a weather storm: It was a human collapse. It was a disaster that exposed system weaknesses, delays in alerts, coordination failures and a vulnerability that transcends borders and governments. Today is a time of solidarity, with the families who cry, with the communities who have lost everything, with the firefighters, technicians and volunteers who have resisted to the limit. But it is also time to learn. We do not yet have a true culture of readiness, we do not have a solid and integrated structure to respond to crises of this dimension, and when luck replaces preparation, risk ceases to be chance and becomes destiny. And that is why, ladies and gentlemen, this tragedy should not be remembered only with tears, but with shame: civic shame, moral shame, shame that we have created a time when catastrophes are repeated and responsibilities are diluted. Perhaps this is the true test of our time: If we can turn pain into duty, memory into action, and power finally into service.

Mr President, today we remember Daphne Caruana Galizia, eight years after her brutal assassination. Eight years of struggle, eight years of promises, eight years of illusions. Each year we return to this Chamber, each year, the same reality confronts us. In Malta, justice is still delayed. The rule of law is still eroding. The system remains captured by power. The culture of impunity that made her death possible still governs the country. The Commission's latest rule of law report flags no real progress on convictions, no effective protection for journalists and blocked media reform in Malta. Eight years on, justice is still incomplete. Justice for Daphne means more than arrests, it means dismantling the corruption she exposed and ending the impunity that killed her. Anything less is complicity, anything less weakens the rule of law at the heart of our Union. When a journalist is silent, society is blinded. When impunity prevails, democracy decays. Daphne was murdered for telling the truth but the truth does not lie. It waits, it resists, it returns. Our duty, this Parliament's duty is clear to make truth impossible to kill – for Daphne, for her sons, for every journalist who still dares to write. Let Europe prove that courage cannot be killed.

Mr President, few professions carry as much weight as a police officer, often at risk of his own life. Europe has changed. Crime today is transnational, technological and borderless. And those on the front lines of our cops feel that change every day. The new internal security strategy, Commissioner, is a decisive step. Criminals are already operating without borders. It is time for justice and security forces to do so too. European justice must be as agile as the crime it fights. This also means equipping police forces with modern and effective means. We do not fight the crime of the future with instruments of the past. But, Commissioner, no strategy wins if it is left behind by those who implement it. Without respected, trained and valued police, there is no European security. Today, the number and violence of attacks against law enforcement officials increases. What was once an exception has become routine. What once shocked me was tolerated. And a Europe that wants to be strong must start by respecting those who defend it.

Madam President, Commissioner, the revision of the visa suspension mechanism is a matter of security, credibility and a test of our political resolve. For too long we had a slow, bureaucratic mechanism that existed only on paper. A mechanism incapable of responding to reality and to a world that is no longer naive. In the last decade it has been triggered only twice; twice, at a time when Europe has been confronted with uncontrolled migration flows, regimes that play on our values and states that turn human beings into political weapons. That's over. We changed the system, we made it faster, clearer, more adaptable to real threats. When visa-free travel is abused, when irregular immigration increases, when third countries do not cooperate, when hostile forces test the limits of our security, Europe must and must respond. On hybrid threats, we have taken a firm, unambiguous stance and have a clear message: the instrumentalisation of migrants is a modern weapon of war and Europe will not be held hostage to immigration blackmail. When we received this process, the text was completely unbalanced, submissive to political correctness, blind to the security realities facing Europe. We helped correct it, removed naivety, and restored authority. Visa-free travel is a privilege, not an unconditional right. It is a pact of trust and when that trust is broken, Europe must rise. This is not about punishing countries. It is about ensuring that the Union has the tools to enforce respect and protect the integrity of its territory and its rules. This reform is crucial for Europe's credibility, because a Europe that does not enforce its rules, that does not defend its borders, that does not respond to provocation, is not an open Europe, is a vulnerable Europe. And vulnerability does not inspire respect; Vulnerability invites abuse. Today, this Parliament, together with the Council and the Commission, is giving Europe a future-proof mechanism. A mechanism capable of protecting the Schengen area and worthy of citizens' trust.

Mr President, my condolences to the victims and to all those affected by the fires, with gratitude for the courage of those who fight these tragedies. Ladies and gentlemen, when we talk about forest fires we are not just talking about hectares of forest or statistics - we are talking about people. Entire villages evacuated, families losing homes, farmers seeing life's work reduced to ashes, ecosystems and fertile soils that take decades to recover. This summer, the European Union burned like never before: more than 1 million hectares destroyed, two thirds in Portugal and Spain alone. Every year we know that the Iberian Peninsula will burn. Summers are longer and warmer. We are the front line of climate change. We are the place where Europe burns the most and we must also be at the forefront of European prevention. The European response can no longer be the routine of eternal emergency; We need prevention and preparedness. Commissioner, the rescEU mechanism must become a truly permanent firefighting force, with air assets and multinational brigades pre-positioned in the most risky regions, such as the Iberian Peninsula, ready to operate in hours rather than days. At the same time, the next Multiannual Financial Framework needs to channel significant funds to clean up fuels, rebuild resilient ecosystems and support the rural world. But let's not forget the other front: justice. A significant part of the ignitions is arson crime. This is a serious crime that destroys lives, villages and natural heritage. The law exists – what is lacking is firm justice, without complacency. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a moral and generational imperative. Either we rule the territory in the winter, or we will be ruled by the flames in the summer.

Madam President, if there is a risk that in my country, Portugal, we know too well, it is that of forest fires. In 2024 alone 137 000 hectares were burned, 16 lives were lost. The burnt area was four times higher than in 2023 and 2025 has already given us the hottest June ever. It's time to break with reactive logic. Europe needs a new culture of structural preparedness. There is a lot of talk about defense today and well. But if we talk about defense, then we have to talk about forest fires, because today, in Portugal, in much of southern Europe, defense begins in the forest, begins in the protection of the territory, begins in the anticipation of risk. In 2024, almost 5 000 Portuguese soldiers were involved in firefighting, army surveillance patrols. drones of the Air Force. This is the new theatre of operations. It's not a conventional battlefield, but it's about the same thing: the security of the population, the territorial integrity of the national territory. The real defense actually begins before the fire. It begins in the managed forest, in the care field, in the attentive communities, in the inhabited territory. And yes, we need to accelerate rescEU, more air assets, especially for frontline countries: Portugal, Spain, Greece. European readiness cannot be delayed when the risk is cyclical and predictable. We also need to mobilise cohesion, agricultural, prevention-oriented funds, not just reconstruction. And we need a European education campaign to prepare the school, the municipality. Resilience has to enter into everyday life. Resilience is a battle and it is a battle we have to win, before the flames, not after the ashes.

Mr President, how many scandals fit into a single government before it ceases to be a government and simply becomes a mechanism of self-protection? When judges, prosecutors and the Supreme Court itself raise their voices, it is not institutional formalism. The rule of law, gentlemen, does not negotiate, it does not adapt to the whims of those in power. In Spain, Sánchez heads a survival scheme where loyalty is bought with amnesties and silence is rewarded with impunity. It's not government, it's capture. Mr President, Spain has become a theatre where corruption is not denied, it is relativised; the crime is not committed, it is interpreted. And the rule of law, that old pillar of European democracy, is nothing more than an institutional and empty adornment. Democracy waits suspended as one who observes, with some shame, that no one dares to put an end to the farce. Because the Spaniards know it: Justice is not amnesty, let alone impunity. When Justice is manipulated from within, it ceases to be an internal matter of Spain to become a European crisis. Ladies and gentlemen, from that famous PSOE club there is only one man left to fall: Pedro Sanchez.

Honourable Member, let me remind you, because sometimes the memory is short when it is convenient, that you have been a staunch supporter of a government – the government of Geringonça – which has been responsible for the largest disinvestment in defence in decades. And, from our point of view, defence investment is politically viable, socially responsible and even strategically necessary, because much of what you are talking about is not possible without security.