What João spoke about.

21

Nov

2023

PT Speech

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Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

Mr President, in this debate it is necessary to recall the process of imposing the Treaty of Lisbon in the absence of the peoples, demonstrating the contempt and disrespect of the institutions of the European Union for the popular will, expressed in several countries, to clearly reject the said European Constitution. Now, and once again, starting from the farce that constituted the Conference on t…

21

Nov

2023

PT Speech

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Packaging and packaging waste (debate)

Mr President, there is no denying the need to reduce over-packaging. This requires intervention on production and marketing in order to limit the use of useless products, as well as the effective reduction of the production and use of disposable and useless products. We reject a logic of transferring to the final consumer the responsibility and costs of options that the industry does not want to c…

20

Nov

2023

PT Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, the consequences of Israel's cruel escalation of aggression against the Palestinian people are becoming more acute every day. Faced with the massacre, what is required is to stop war, death, destruction. We regret that today Parliament has refused to add a resolution to the ceasefire debate that would materialise this long-standing demand. We appreciate, in contrast, the letter addre…

20

Nov

2023

PT Speech

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UN Climate Change Conference 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (COP28) (debate)

Madam President, we will attend COP28 in Dubai. The demands for the necessary responses to the environmental problems we are facing are high. But in view of the experience of previous conferences, expectations can only be low. There we will be demanding a paradigm shift, counteracting market measures with the necessary and fairer regulatory approach that focuses directly on emissions, starting fro…

8

Nov

2023

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, from here we welcome the action promoted by the CGTP, the general fight for wage increases, which has been taking place since 25 October and culminates on 11 November. From here we welcome the many hundreds of initiatives under this action: the thousands of workers involved in plenary sessions, concentrations, shutdowns and strikes in workplaces in all sectors, throughout the coun…

8

Nov

2023

PT Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

Madam President, I note that, once again, von der Leyen and Charles Michel do not stay until the end of the debate. Madam President, nothing can erase the gravity of the aggression that Israel is imposing on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and other occupied Palestinian territories. According to Save the Children, among the more than 10,000 deaths, the more than 4,000 children killed in a…

18

Oct

2023

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Mental health at work (debate)

Madam President, pressure and exhaustion in the workplace are growing among workers. The mental health status of a worker is inseparable from psychosocial conditions: their economic and social condition, poverty, social vulnerability, low wages, precariousness, demands to increase work rhythms, pressure to prolong and deregulate working hours, the organisation and nature of work, pressure during p…

17

Oct

2023

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Commission Work Programme 2024 (debate)

Madam President, the priorities identified here reflect the mobilization of resources needed for confrontation and war and for the arms industry. People no longer want war, they want peace. They seek to deceive the peoples with a so-called European sovereignty, which is nothing more than the sovereignty of the main European powers over the other states. The millions and millions for war and for se…

17

Oct

2023

PT Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2024 - all sections (debate)

Mr President, in order to deal with the difficulties faced by workers, peoples and countries such as Portugal, what answer do we find in this budget? A small budget, with a nominal increase of just over 1%. More clearly, for regional development and cohesion, social investment, the environment and natural resources, and given inflation, there is a real cut in investment possibilities. By contrast,…

17

Oct

2023

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Fisheries control (A9-0016/2021 - Clara Aguilera) (vote)

Madam President, ten months ago, we adopted a report by a large majority on the situation of small-scale fishing, confirming the growing difficulties facing this fishing segment, and proposing recommendations that have yet to be implemented. Today, Parliament is called upon to adopt a regulation stressing measures of a technical, bureaucratic and punitive nature, which could have significant impac…

16

Oct

2023

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, we have contacted hundreds of healthcare professionals and users from north to south and islands in Portugal. Beyond propaganda and false solutions, here are the real problems they are deliberately imposing on the National Health Service: closed hospital emergencies, absence of night-time emergencies in primary care, suppression of specialties, concentrating them in fewer units, m…

16

Oct

2023

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Fisheries control (debate)

Madam President, I also note that, once again, the Commissioner responsible for fisheries chooses not to be in this important debate. Let us be clear, the main targets of the revision of the Fisheries Control Regulation, those who will most feel the weight of these measures, are the segment of small-scale coastal and artisanal fishing, predominant in countries such as my own, Portugal. The Europea…

5

Oct

2023

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Urban wastewater treatment (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the Commission's proposal favours large economic groups, particularly in the sewerage technology industry. It treats equally realities that are very different. It lays down requirements that will require substantial investment in infrastructure and the acquisition of new technologies, with a corresponding increase in operating and maintenance costs, and which, in severa…

4

Oct

2023

PT Speech

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European green bonds (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the financialisation of the environment has come under a number of pressures: the bet on perverse market mechanisms, namely emissions trading, a so-called green taxation that shifts the burden of environmental degradation from the capitalist mode of production to the workers, the transformation of development banks into green banks, the propaganda around financial produ…

3

Oct

2023

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The 10th consecutive increase in reference interest rates decided by the ECB and its consequences (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, this timely and necessary debate highlights the cold indifference of the ECB, the European Commission and the Council, who are absent from the debate, to the serious consequences of your policies for millions of families and small and medium-sized enterprises. In the face of inflation, insane increases in interest rates; against the suffocation of families, contain wage…

3

Oct

2023

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Medicine shortages and strategic healthcare autonomy in the EU (debate)

Mr President, the dramatic reality of the ever-increasing shortage of medicines is a problem, first and foremost, for the patient whose treatment is compromised. This is inseparable from the increasing concentration of the pharmaceutical sector, an industry that acts not in the interests of public health, but rather the accumulation of ever-increasing profits, even through speculation, production …

3

Oct

2023

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Interim report on the proposal for a mid-term revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 (debate)

Madam President, we knew that the budget was insufficient since it was adopted. A budget that, today, is even tighter in the face of rising interest rates, inflation that goes hand in hand with the consequences of sanctions – such as speculation and profiteering, and which, as they say in the report itself, increases the value of tassels to Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, re…

2

Oct

2023

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, the Portuguese Government announced the fourth attempt to privatise TAP a decision contrary to the national interest, a submission to the will of the European Union and the interests of the major airlines it defends. Previous privatisation attempts have almost destroyed TAP and brought massive losses to the country. In the latest attempt, a scam involving Airbus, which is known to…

2

Oct

2023

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Order of business

Madam President, there are already ten consecutive increases in interest rates that stifle millions of households and small and medium-sized enterprises. They are homes, businesses, jobs, millions of people at risk and even the serious risk of an economic downturn. The ECB doesn't shy away from further increases and tells us that high interest rates are there to last. It is a shocking insensitivit…

12

Sep

2023

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Ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (debate)

Mr President, the impact of air pollution on health and the environment is enormous. Despite the measures taken in recent decades to promote emission reductions and much propaganda around them, there have not always been improvements, particularly in urban centres. More and better green spaces, permeable areas and functional green corridors are needed, all open to the enjoyment of the population. …

12

Sep

2023

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Towards a more disaster-resilient EU - protecting people from extreme heatwaves, floods and forest fires (debate)

Mr President, here we have formalised numerous proposals and concrete measures to deal with the natural disasters that are yet to materialise. It is important to reduce regional disparities and disparities between Member States, to promote prevention in those with high risk exposure and lower economic capacity, promoting a balanced occupation of the territory and economic and social development in…

12

Sep

2023

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Composition of the European Parliament (debate)

Mr President, the Council's decision on the composition of the European Parliament excludes transnational lists for the time being, containing the impetus of those in this Parliament who advocate an artificial federalist proposal, far from reality, made at the expense of the election of Members by each Member State, indirectly benefiting the most populous Member States. A positive element, which d…

11

Sep

2023

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, the impact of the brutal increase in interest rates decided by the ECB, with or without further increases, will continue to be felt. Under the subservience of governments to these measures, as in Portugal, the people are paying with their palm tongue for the consequences of these decisions. Families in Portugal are increasingly struggling to pay for their homes, while large economic …

12

Jul

2023

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Tax the rich (topical debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, in the thousands of contacts we have made in Portugal, it is clear that people's living conditions are worsening. It's the money that doesn't stretch to pay for the house service, the light rent, the supermarket bill. In June, Commissioner Schmit said here that poverty and social deprivation are estimated to have increased by five percentage points due to inflation. …

10

Jul

2023

PT Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, in March 2022, the Ukrainian security service arrested Aleksander and Mikhail Kononovich, members of the Ukrainian Communist Party, who were also being prosecuted. After more than 100 days in unknown whereabouts and without trial and as a result of an international solidarity campaign, Aleksander and Mikhail Kononovich are now under house arrest. However, unacceptable threats to t…