What Roberta spoke about.

Dear colleagues, dear champions, thank you for joining us to mark International Women’s Day in the European Parliament. Thank you for inspiring young girls and boys across the world, for proving that football is her game, too. Before we begin this ceremony, I would like to invite all of you to turn your attention to the screens to watch a short video clip prepared especially for today’s celebrations. (A video was shown in the Chamber) Dear colleagues, from leading businesses or households to steering nations, from breaking barriers in the boardroom to blazing trails in sports, women have changed the world. That is why we must continue to work harder to level the playing field and to make women’s contributions more visible; to ensure that every little girl and every little boy has role models to aspire to. And to do this, it is my pleasure to welcome to the European Parliament world champions Ivana Andrés and Alba Redondo, on behalf of the Spanish football team that won the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and, only a few days ago, the first Women’s Nations League. Welcome! (Applause) Bienvenidas, Ivana, Alba, we have seen you and your teammates shattering stereotypes, we have seen you reaching your goals – and scoring quite a lot of them, too! Your victory is a reminder that gender cannot and will not hinder the road to success – that hard work, ambition and determination are qualities that overcome all limitations. We know that this does not come easy. In sports, inequality persists – not least when it comes to media coverage, sponsorship opportunities and pay. More broadly, I think of the women who, despite all their best efforts, are still struggling every day to reach their full potential. This is a systemic problem and one that the European Parliament is working hard – day in, day out – to uproot. Everyone has a role to play here. It is up to each one of us to facilitate a paradigm shift in thinking and in working. To foster policies that will eliminate gender discrimination; to make it easier for women; to remove the unfair barriers that remain. That is why International Women’s Day is so important – as a day to celebrate women’s achievements, but also as a reminder of the remaining work that still needs to be done. And I am so proud that this House is a global leader on these issues and will remain a force for true equality. Thank you. (Applause)

The AFET and BUDG committees jointly decided to enter into interinstitutional negotiations, pursuant to Rule 71(1). The report which constitutes the mandate for the negotiations is available on the plenary webpage and its title will be published in the minutes of the sitting. Pursuant to Rule 71(2), Members or political groups reaching at least the medium threshold may request in writing by tomorrow, Wednesday, 13 March at midnight, that the decision be put to the vote. If no request for a vote in Parliament is made within the deadline, the committees may start the negotiations.

So can we please vote now on Ms Van Sparrentak’s request by show of hands? (Parliament approved the request) Therefore, we will have a statement. For Thursday, the Renew, Left and S&D groups have requested that Council and Commission statements on ‘Inclusion of the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights’ be added as the first point in the morning. I give the floor to Ms Hayer to move the request.

We will vote on the EPP proposal and, therefore, first on the debate, as amended by Renew. We cannot split the vote on the title. Next we vote on the resolution, but for the moment just the debate. (Parliament approved the request to hold the debate) Now we put the request for a resolution to a vote by roll call. (Parliament rejected the request to wind up the debate with motions for resolutions) Therefore there is no resolution, just the debate. Now we move to the next point. For Wednesday, the Greens/EFA Group has requested that a Commission statement on ‘Rising anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric and violence: recent attacks in Thessaloniki’ be added in the evening before the debate on ‘The time the European Commission takes to deal with requests for public access to documents’. As a consequence, the sitting would be extended to 23.00. I give the floor to Ms Van Sparrentak to move the request.

I have received an alternative proposal from the Renew Group, which I will read out: ‘The need to impose sanctions on the import of Russian and Belarussian food and agricultural products to the EU and to ensure stability of EU agricultural production’, with resolution. I will put to the vote first the request to add the debate. Then for the resolution I need to ask Mr Halicki whether he agrees with the alternative proposal of the Renew Group. We have an alternative title, as proposed by the Renew Group. I will give you one minute to think about it. In the meantime, we have some advice from Mr Waitz, it seems.

President. – For Tuesday, the Greens/EFA and S&D groups have requested that a debate on the oral question of the AFET and DEVE committees on ‘The adoption of the Special Measure in favour of Tunisia for 2023’ be added in the afternoon after the debate on Council and Commission statements on ‘State of play of the corporate sustainability due diligence directive’. As a consequence, the sitting would be extended to 23.00 and the debate would be wound up with a resolution. I give the floor to Mr Satouri to move the request.

We now come to the order of business. The final draft agenda as adopted by the Conference of Presidents on 6 March pursuant to Rule 157 has been distributed. I would like to inform you that I have received one request for urgent procedure from the ECON Committee, pursuant to Rule 163, on the following legislative file: ‘Subscription by the Union to additional shares in the capital of the EBRD and the amendment of the Agreement establishing the EBRD’. The vote on this request will be taken tomorrow. If adopted, the vote will be held on Thursday. With the agreement of the political groups, I wish to put to the House the following proposals for changes to the final draft agenda. For Tuesday, due to the postponement of the related Commission communication, the Commission statement on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, is removed from the agenda. For Wednesday, the following items, initially planned for a vote on Wednesday during the second voting session, are advanced to the first voting session: the reports by Mr Oetjen on reporting requirements in the fields of road transport and aviation (regulation), and on reporting requirements (decision); the report by Ms Virkkunen on minimum requirements on minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods in the occasional passenger transport sector; the report by Ms Clune on establishing the European Union Customs Code and the European Union Customs Authority, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013; and the report by Mr Van Overtveldt on Amending Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics. In addition, the reports by Ms Kalniete on temporary trade-liberalisation measures supplementing trade concessions applicable to Ukrainian products under the EU/Euratom/Ukraine Association Agreement, and by Ms Gregorová on temporary trade-liberalisation measures supplementing trade concessions applicable to Moldovan products under the EU/Euratom/Moldova Association Agreement are added to the vote in the second voting session on Wednesday. The deadlines for the report by Ms Kalniete are as follows: amendments by Tuesday, 12 March at 12.00; and split and separate votes by Tuesday, 12 March at 19.00. If there are no objections, these changes are approved. We will now move to changes requested by political groups. For Tuesday, the ID Group has requested that a joint debate consisting of a Commission statement on temporary trade-liberalisation measures applicable to Ukraine and Moldova, the report by Ms Gregorová on temporary trade-liberalisation measures supplementing trade concessions applicable to Moldovan products and the report by Ms Kalniete on temporary trade-liberalisation measures supplementing trade concessions applicable to Ukrainian products be added as the second item in the afternoon, after Question Time to the Commission. As a result, the sitting would be extended to 23.00. I give the floor to Thierry Mariani to move the request on behalf of the ID Group.

The Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups have informed me decisions relating to changes to appointments within committees. These decisions will be set out in the minutes of today’s sitting and take effect on the date of this announcement.

The JURI Committee has informed me of its conclusion that the request for defence of immunity of Eva Kaili announced in plenary on 12 June 2023 is inadmissible. The JURI Committee has therefore decided to close the procedure.

Dear colleagues, on 25 February, Belarus held another round of sham parliamentary and local elections under Lukashenka’s brutal regime, amid ongoing repression and worsening human rights abuses. This House will never turn a blind eye to Lukashenka’s relentless crackdown on dissent, and on people being arrested, tortured and imprisoned on politically motivated charges. These sham elections were neither free nor fair. They lacked any semblance of democracy. From here let me reiterate that the European Parliament stands firmly with those pushing for freedom and democracy in Belarus. In order to demonstrate our support to the more than 1 500 political prisoners in Belarus, I invite all of you, during this plenary session, to sign a postcard addressed to them, here in front of the Hemicycle. With this initiative – which is being organised as part of the Day of Solidarity with Belarus – we Members of the European Parliament would yet again express our strong stance with those repressed on political grounds by Lukashenka’s regime. And to those political prisoners, we say: ‘your name is not forgotten; people across Europe and the world admire your courage; we are with you and we know that one day soon your struggle for freedom will succeed’. (Applause) Dear colleagues, on the morning of 11 March, 20 years ago today, coordinated terror attacks targeting commuter trains packed with innocent people devastated Madrid, killing 192 people and injuring nearly 2 000 others. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever seen in Europe. The shock and profound grief in the aftermath of those 10 bombs detonated by al-Qaeda in Spain’s capital city left a scar on all of Europe. We mourn the loss of the loved ones taken from us too soon. We remember the victims. And two decades later, we reiterate our commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism. Nunca les olvidaremos. Estamos con el pueblo de Madrid y de España.

Dear members, dear colleagues, we gather here today to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, in the presence of his brave wife Yulia Navalnaya. (Applause) Dear Yulia, thank you for your readiness to speak in this Chamber to the world in such painful circumstances. It is truly an honour to welcome you to the European Parliament. Before we begin, I would like to invite everyone to turn their attention to the screens to watch a short video about the life and legacy of Alexei Navalny. (A video was shown in the Chamber) Dear Yulia, dear colleagues, on 16 February we received the tragic news of Sakharov Prize laureate Alexei Navalny’s death. For many in Russia and outside, he represented hope: hope in better days; hope in a free Russia; hope in the future; hope that courage can overcome. And while his killers sought to cruelly extinguish that hope, they failed. The hope he represented remains as bright as ever. This House and its Members condemn his killing in the strongest possible terms. It is a crime that deserves an international and independent investigation. The world is owed justice. While we pay tribute to his memory, I want to express our deepest condolences to you dear Yulia, to your children Daria and Zakhar, to Alexei’s parents Lyudmila and Anatoly, to his family, friends and countless supporters in Russia and across the globe. Alexei Navalny dedicated his life to the fight against corruption and for a democratic Russia. He did not give up when they tried to poison him. He did not give up when he was unjustly imprisoned. He did not give up when his sentence was extended in a sham trial. He did not give up even when confronted with suffering and injustice. And neither must we. Democracy takes bravery, and Alexei understood that. That is why he went back to Russia in 2021. That is why he could not be broken. And that is exactly what made the regime so afraid of him. But Alexei’s fight endures. The many brave people that took to the streets of Russia after his death show – yet again – the fragility of authoritarianism. I take solace in the fact that if history teaches us anything, it is that the pillars of autocracy, in the end, always – always – crumble under the weight of its own corruption and people’s inherent desire to live freely. And when they inevitably do, it will be thanks to what Alexei and your family did. So dear Yulia, on behalf of the European Parliament that stands in admiration of your courage, I thank you. The floor is yours. (Loud and sustained applause)

The next item is the joint debate on: – Council and Commission statements on strengthening European defence in a volatile geopolitical landscape (2024/2581(RSP)); – the report by David McAllister, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2023 (2023/2117(INI)) (A9-0389/2023); – the report by Sven Mikser, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2023 (2023/2119(INI)) (A9-0403/2023).

Based on the conclusions of the Advisory Committee dealing with harassment complaints concerning Members of the European Parliament and after taking into account the observations of the Member concerned, I have decided to impose a penalty on José Ramón Bauzá Díaz pursuant to Rule 10(6) and Rule 176, as a result of his behaviour towards his accredited parliamentary assistant, which constituted psychological harassment. The penalty consists of a reprimand. The Member concerned has been notified of the decision, and has not lodged an internal appeal with the Bureau under Rule 177. The penalty is therefore final.