Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner Gabriel, when we designated 2021 as the European Year of Youth, we aimed to empower European youth by putting them at the centre, increasing their participation and listening to what they had to tell us. These young people have already spoken and spoken clearly and forcefully in forums such as the Conference on the Future of Europe. They want stable contracts, decent wages and social protection. They want decent and affordable housing. They want better education and better mental health. They want us to reassure them that no other young people are going to be exploited and used as cheap labor when they do an internship. Therefore, I would like to ask you: what assessment are they making of these conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe and what concrete policies are they going to carry out in that regard? Above all, it is no longer just about listening and letting young people participate, but also about doing what they ask of us. And, being the generation that believes the most in this project, I think we have to do it.

Mr President, Commissioner Johansson, when Uber's files came to light last July, we were able to check the modus operandi used by certain large multinationals: Believe yourself above the law and use ethically questionable tactics to influence the democratic process. The stark reality shows that work platforms like Uber have developed through a business model based on social backsliding and undermining workers' rights. While this Parliament seeks to protect more than 30 million people who, today, work through digital platforms in the European Union, guaranteeing them access to their social and labour rights, others aim to dismantle the European social model that has cost us so much to build. It is not very common for a negotiating mandate adopted in committee to be challenged and brought to plenary, especially when it goes ahead by a large majority, as happened in the Committee on Employment. In fact, it has only happened with seven of the 82 mandates announced in plenary during this legislature. Therefore, one cannot help but wonder what is behind the deliberate delay of the negotiations of a directive that aims to prohibit false self-employment on platforms, when the only ones who are against this legislation are precisely platforms like Uber.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, Minister, the pandemic, Putin's war and what this war has meant for the rising cost of living are calling into question the strength of our social protection systems. And what are the most direct consequences? Unacceptably high levels of poverty and inequality in Europe and especially among children from more vulnerable households. If we want to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty – because it is an intergenerational problem – we must strengthen the social protection of children and adolescents and universalise social rights through access to and enjoyment of inclusive quality essential services. We must universalize services such as health, which in some regions are being dismantled. But this will not be possible if we do not have an adequate budget to finance this European Child Guarantee, either by increasing the resources of the European Social Fund Plus, or by creating a specific programme, as has already been done in the past with other programmes, to find a solution. Children are the present and the future. It's time to rise to the occasion; Europe of opportunities starts in childhood.

Mr President, Commissioner, I can no longer agree with the conclusion you have just made. We agree that, in these employment guides, we have taken into account the green and digital transitions, and many other issues that directly or indirectly affect the labour market. Or are you going to tell me, the gentlemen on the right, that children who are at risk of exclusion and poverty are not because their fathers and mothers have precarious jobs and, therefore, are forced to have their children live in that situation? Or will the gentlemen on the right also tell me that there are others, of the many proposals we have made in this report, which do not directly or indirectly affect the workers we are talking about? Or are they also going to tell me that we are reviewing the employment guides every year? We have not reviewed them since before COVID-19. What are we talking about? We do not want the Commission to take away powers from the Member States. We have not said that at any time in this document. What is terrible is that the right is on the side of the most privileged, as it always does, and not of the most vulnerable, which is what we have to protect. Others talk about the subsidy culture. I tell them that we help the most vulnerable because they deserve the same opportunities as all citizens. This is supported by the IMF, the ECB and the OECD. I therefore see no mistake in the line we are taking to protect workers, the working class and the most vulnerable. And I also don't see a mistake in all those progressive policies of helping those who need it most. I think you should reflect and see if, perhaps, those who are wrong are you, who always defend the most privileged.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, before I begin, I would like to thank all the people involved in this report for their work. When I started working on it last June, we set ourselves three main objectives: the first, to protect workers; also strengthen, of course, the welfare state; and third, to ensure that the green and digital transitions were socially fair and left no one behind. The COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, Putin's war and the exponential rise in the cost of living call for us to put in place progressive policies that ensure a democratic, inclusive and socially just recovery. Europe's future lies in creating quality jobs and shielding social investment. Unlike those who bet on dismantling the social state and returning to draconian austerity policies, the Social Democrats defend that whoever has greater economic capacity contributes more. Fair and progressive taxation is the main tool to fight inequality and poverty. Strengthening the social shield is not an option, but an obligation, and more so in times of crisis. And I don't just say it myself: The International Monetary Fund itself was opposed a few days ago to the generalized tax cuts and demanded that Member States deploy inclusive and fair policies with a focus on the middle and working classes, which are currently in difficulties. Policies such as those we include in these guidelines and with which some groups seem to have certain difficulties. And I speak specifically of creating a social resilience package that ensures the financing of the TENs, which have helped both workers, and a social rescue mechanism for the most vulnerable. We have to keep moving forward. This has already been adopted in past resolutions of the European Parliament and we cannot go backwards. We have to move forward. I am also talking about activating minimum income schemes in all Member States through a directive. And I am also talking about ensuring universality in the case of health systems and quality care, which have been so necessary during the pandemic. No more free work, too. Europe must stand alongside its citizens and, above all, those of today, but also those of tomorrow. That is why we are going to make sure that all those young people who do an internship receive fair remuneration, have decent working conditions and access the social security system. Personally, I would have liked to go a step further by prohibiting unpaid internships, an action that seems to me to be a labor exploitation for our young people. But, once again, the right has lacked I do not know whether to say commitment or courage. And that is why we also call in these employment guidelines for up to €20 billion for the European Child Guarantee, to lift five million children out of poverty or social exclusion by 2030. Putin has provoked a war in Ukraine and Europeans are living the consequences of this war. Faced with this situation, it is more necessary than ever to strengthen the social shield, to have internalized what equal opportunities means. For all these reasons, I ask the other groups, no longer commitment or courage, but a little common sense when it comes to supporting the report as it came out of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.

Madam President, Commissioner, the Ortega-Murillo couple did it again: In Nicaragua, he persecutes people for their ideas, and his last victim has been the Catholic Church with the arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez. What's next? What else are they gonna do? In Europe we do not forget what is happening in Nicaragua and we have shown this in the harsh resolutions that we have been drafting. We continue and will continue to demand the release of each and every one of the political prisoners who have been arbitrarily imprisoned, and we do not forget those citizens who have been forced to leave the country for their safety, since today they do not see the possibility of returning. Therefore, it is important that you do not cease, that you do not cease, in your peaceful struggle to put an end to the dictatorial model that the country lives. Let us focus on what is important and act accordingly by taking the necessary measures: The Nicaraguan people need to live in freedom, dignity and democracy.

Madam President, Commissioner, in recent months we have witnessed the clear instrumentalisation of justice as a repressive tool in Nicaragua: a new attempt at repression by, exclusively, the Ortega regime against an ever-peaceful opposition. The Nicaraguan courts have dedicated themselves to issuing absolutely disproportionate sentences against political prisoners in processes that are clearly corrupt, lack transparency and offer null guarantees to the accused persons; that is why this resolution – and that is what we have to focus on – calls for sanctions against judges, as they are agents of repression, they are helping Ortega with that repression. Today, more than 180 people continue to be arbitrarily detained, deprived of their fundamental rights, and, from the European Union, we must continue on the side of Nicaraguans demanding an end to the use of cruel and inhuman treatment against detainees and their families, and we demand the release, of course unconditionally, of all those political prisoners.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, today the European Union is surely a better region in many respects than it was thirty or forty years ago. Young people live in a reality richer than that of our parents, healthier, more globalized and freer. However, let this progress not lead us to deception. If we asked anyone under the age of thirty or thirty-five to define their situation in a single word, surely that word would be "precariousness." In all aspects of your life. The European Union cannot allow companies to compete in an advantageous way on its territory at the expense of its workers. It is our moral duty to defend stable employment contracts, decent wages and social protection. And he was wondering about answers, wasn't he? So, in this European Year of Youth, let us legislate to ban unpaid traineeships at once. Let us take this European Year of Youth as an opportunity to carry out concrete policies to ensure that young people have a present, because we are present, but also a decent future.

Mr President, Madam Vice-President of the Commission, Mr Secretary of State, we are talking in this debate about empowering the European youth, that generation – my generation – that we grew up marked by the disastrous austerity policies defended by the right in the financial crisis and its consequences: unemployment or precariousness. Because yes: Despite the fact that unemployment figures are already at pre-pandemic levels, job instability remains a huge slab that exposes us to a greater risk of poverty and social exclusion. In a year like 2022, the European Year of Youth, we have to address all those young people with no future prospects, because the success of Europe will be the success of those who today have the greatest obstacles to emancipation, who unfortunately have the face of young people as well. Empowering young people means making youth policies a horizontal priority embedded in all EU policies; It means guaranteeing them rights by creating quality jobs, ending temporary employment by guaranteeing stable contracts, ensuring that the wages we receive are decent and open the door to decent and affordable housing, prohibiting new forms of exploitation – such as unpaid internships – and preventing us from being discriminated against in wages and minimum incomes just because we are young, but, above all, making mental health also a real priority. Let us not forget that we young people are the ones who believe most in the European project; That is why Europe has to believe in us and guarantee us the opportunities we deserve.

Mr President, Mr High Representative, we all know: The elections, it has already been said, of November 7 in Nicaragua were a farce, a pantomime that sought to humiliate the Nicaraguan democratic opposition and also its people. But that day the opposition was noticed with a silence that rumbled throughout the country. The dictatorship of Ortega, Murillo and theirs are an elite that parasites the institutions of a country that once raised its fist and rose to put an end to a decrepit dictatorship. That is why I do not and will never lose hope that Nicaragua will rise again. And I do not lose it because it is the citizens of the country who are the first to be convinced that sooner rather than later they will achieve it. They will regain democracy, but peacefully. For this reason, we in Europe can never lose that hope. Let us contribute to making visible that great Democratic majority of the population. Let us continue in the country to help them and let us also help all the exiles, because all of them are indispensable to correct the situation through truly free and fair elections; to free political prisoners, to get parties, international organizations and NGOs to cooperate again in the country. To achieve change, let's count on all Nicaraguan Democrats and continue working to achieve democracy in the country.

Madam President, Commissioner, Europe has to choose: Either we are an autonomous actor in the world, reducing the tension of dangerous bloc politics, or we join it. I believe that both this Parliament and the Commission are clear that we want to design and pursue our own global strategy to strengthen the multilateral order. But the right, especially the Spanish, seems to forget about this when it comes to our relations with countries like Cuba. The S&D Group is consistent. We condemn human rights abuses no matter what country we are talking about. The right, on the other hand, prevents us in this Parliament from talking about human rights violations in Latin American countries with conservative governments. The S&D Group is also responsible for Europe's political position in the world. We defend the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement that was approved in this Parliament with 85% support. It is a framework that allows us to contribute to the political, economic and social development in Cuba. The EPP seems to now prefer to knock him down and isolate Cuba. Isolating Cuba has never been a useful strategy. Look at what the U.S. blockade is all about: as a scapegoat for the Government of Cuba. Europe must be there to help the societies of the world, not to hinder their development. By helping, we can surely contribute to improving human rights. Isolating? I'm sure not.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, a little over a year and a half ago society was beginning to face its greatest challenge to date. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economies and labour markets called into question the strength of our welfare and social protection systems. We have managed to adapt and we are moving forward, partly because we have left behind the erroneous conservative policies of austerity, betting on a more social, more inclusive and more sustainable recovery that puts people at the center. However, this capacity for adaptation and resilience is not equally distributed. Socio-economic conditions are a determining factor, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us every day over the past year. This makes it necessary to collect quality disaggregated data on the consequences of the pandemic at work and social level, to ensure that investments in the national recovery and resilience plans contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights and to update, for example and in a much-needed way, the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States to better reflect the changing labour reality that has accentuated the pandemic. For all these reasons and many more, we need progressive political proposals, including legislative ones, that guarantee a democratic, inclusive and socially just recovery. All employment must be based on equal rights, good working conditions and fair wages to eliminate worker poverty and provide a decent standard of living. Precarity cannot be the basis for tomorrow's work.

Mr President, Commissioner, a couple of months ago, a servant in this House argued that labour mobility in the European Union should move towards a freer, fairer and safer model. However, the practices we have seen in the aviation sector in recent years are not only far from being an advance for all workers in the sector, but are contrary to European law: wages below the inter-professional minimum; zero-hour contracts; pay-per-flight programmes; illegal transfer of workers; workers who are replaced by false self-employed; lack of legal protection; obstacles to unionisation and collective bargaining; and so on and so forth. This is the reality of what is happening today in the European Union. A race has been created towards the abyss, towards the abyss of the precariousness of a sector, such as the air sector, which is vital for Spain and, above all, for Europe. The inadequacy of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 means that companies that base their business model on precariousness avoid complying with the law. Do you not think that it is time for us to proceed to the immediate revision of this Regulation? Don't you think it's time to develop legal measures to ensure a level playing field and legal certainty for crews? The single market is not a jungle. Let us act to prevent it from being used as a pretext to undermine fundamental rights and perpetuate precarious working conditions.

Madam President, Mr High Representative, in recent weeks we have witnessed a wave of blatant repression in Nicaragua. We haven't seen anything like this in Latin America since the 1970s. Mr Ortega, Mrs Murillo, how can it be that you have ended up instituting a regime of terror very similar to the one you fought yourself? How can it be that, in the face of an opposition that has always been peaceful, the government's response has been repression? There are already 108 000 Nicaraguans who have fled their country. There are at least 130 political prisoners, 27 of whom have been arbitrarily detained in recent weeks and whose whereabouts are unknown. And more than 300 people were killed and 2,000 wounded in the crackdown on the 2018 protests. The European Union will always be on the side of Nicaraguans and respect for human rights. From here we demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners. In addition, there is an urgent need for the Government to provide proof of life for the 27 people detained in the past month. We do not know where they are or how they are, and this is unacceptable and inhumane. Enough repression in Nicaragua, Mr. Ortega.