Speeches

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 the Future of Europe, we are trying cautiously, by raising problems, to cover up the real fundamental objectives, including the end of the principle of unanimity in the decision-making process in the Council, calling into question the equality of states in the decision-making process and the legitimate prerogative to refuse decisions against the interests of their peoples, or the strengthening of mechanisms of conditioning, blackmail and interference, aimed at imposing neoliberal, militaristic and power-concentration policies on supranational institutions dominated by the great powers, which disregard the sovereignty of states and the interests of workers and peoples. Not a word about the changes that are really required: the repeal of the Lisbon Treaty, the Fiscal Treaty or the Stability Pact, among many others, which would pave the way for a Europe of effective cooperation between equal sovereign states in rights of social progress and peace.

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 counteract. Better and more appropriate management of municipal waste involves public management of the sector, which implies the reversal of privatisation processes and the restoration of public control throughout the sector. In this regard, consideration should be given to the diversity of starting points in the Member States, which entail separate efforts to meet the targets set. Therefore, the targets set and the intensity of implementation should be appropriate for each Member State, ensuring the necessary time flexibility for the feasibility of meeting the country-specific targets, and strengthening the means available to Member States, particularly those with lower collection and recycling levels, to promote the necessary investments for capacity-building and infrastructure for this purpose.

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 addressed to the institutions of the European Union, signed by 64 parliamentarians from various countries and five political groups, calling for an immediate, lasting and sustained humanitarian ceasefire leading to the cessation of the current escalation of violence, as called for by the United Nations General Assembly. The institutions of the European Union have been advocating the two-state solution for decades, but they do not do what is necessary to implement it in practice. We therefore call on the European Union and the 18 Member States that have not yet done so to move from words to actions recognising the State of Palestine, a contribution to compliance with international law and the relevant UN resolutions, to compliance with the national rights of the Palestinian people that have long been unfulfilled.

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 from a common but differentiated responsibility. To demand changes in the production model, promoting local production and consumption, shortening trade chains, ensuring the sovereignty of each country in essential areas such as food. There we will be defending collective public transport, the recovery of public control of strategic sectors such as energy, the fair regulation of international trade, calling for peace and cooperation among peoples. Stop painting capitalism green. The urgency of environmental policy change goes hand in hand with social and economic policy change that guarantees peoples the right to development and a better life.

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 country, demanding a general and significant increase in wages and the improvement of their working and living conditions. Reality demands the fair, necessary and possible demand for a salary increase of at least 15% and a minimum of EUR 150. Raising wages and pensions is a national emergency. The workers, the Portuguese people, can count on us in this fight, in defense of the right to housing, health, education, in the struggle for a sovereign and independent Portugal of development, progress and social justice. On the 11th we will be, with you, in the streets, side by side, with the thousands of workers who, in Porto and Lisbon, will cry out for a better future.

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 month by Israeli forces have surpassed the number of children killed in every conflict in the world since 2019. The UN Secretary-General notes that the number of UN officials killed is the highest ever in the Organization's history and that the number of journalists killed is the highest in the last 30 years in any conflict. In the face of this undeniable reality, how can the institutions of the European Union remain silent in condemning Israel? Where are the sanctions or appeals to the International Criminal Court now? How can they remain silent in demanding an immediate ceasefire? History will judge you: hypocrisy and complicity with Israel's policy of occupation, which deliberately impedes the achievement of the State of Palestine.

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 pregnancy or illness, harassment of various kinds. Key elements in the fight against and prevention of mental illness will be: promoting employment with rights, decent wages and regulation of hours and reduction of hours; strengthen the National Health Service by ensuring regular mental health coverage in hospital and primary care services, addressing occupational health and medicine shortages at work, contributing to prevention, diagnosis and treatment; promote the empowerment and social and labour integration of people with mental illness, through personalised rehabilitation, promoting occupation, tackling stigma.

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 securing the interests and profits of large economic groups are lacking for investment in public services, health, housing, transport, the fight against poverty, the promotion of economic and social cohesion. Added to this is the brutal rise in the cost of living and the policy of low wages to the heavy consequences of rising interest rates. These are the concrete, worsening problems with which workers and peoples are confronted and which your policy promotes - however green they may paint it - and for which, once again, they have no say. This path is not inevitable. There are other urgent, necessary and possible policies of progress and social justice, of sovereign development and independence of states, policies on which another Europe of workers and peoples can be built.

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, for militarisation, a nominal and real increase in funds is expected, with an 8.9% increase in commitments. For the European Union, the priority is war, the profits of the big economic groups, the interests of the big powers. For us, the priorities are the people, the workers, the right to the sovereign development of each country. The budget should be increased by mobilising more resources for financing public services, combating poverty, inequality and asymmetries, supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, developing national production, defending cooperation and peace.

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 impacts on small-scale fishing. The correct objective of gathering accurate elements of all that is caught at sea cannot be done to the detriment of small-scale fishing. That is why we have tabled a number of amendments aimed at maintaining important derogations currently in force, which aim to safeguard small-scale coastal and artisanal fishing. We therefore call for these amendments to be voted on and subsequently adopted, so that this Parliament does not once again contribute to the decline of this segment, which accounts for 75% of vessels in the European Union.

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, more than 1 million without family doctor closure or restriction of community-based services, a health response increasingly distant in territory and time. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals are lacking, who are denied the appreciation of careers and salaries, facilitating parasitization by the private sector, to which about 6 billion euros per year are transferred from the state budget - the Government guaranteeing the fast route to profit to the business of the disease. Enough! Stop dismantling the National Health Service! Mobilise these resources - so many - to execute the necessary investment in the National Health Service, valuing its professionals, ensuring that it continues to serve the populations.

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 European Commission insists on deepening the bureaucratic and technical plot of the control measures that are out of step with the reality of this segment, the characteristics of the vessels and the age of the operators. Questionable surveillance measures are determined from the point of view of technical application or their consequence on the preservation of resources. The removal of important derogations for small-scale coastal and artisanal fishing is yet another corset in a segment in difficulty, further facilitating the concentration of fishing activity on larger, economically stronger operators and large vessels. Emphasis is placed on the centralising nature of the Common Fisheries Policy: more power to the European Commission, less powers to the states that should be under its purview, moving us away from the necessary proximity management. And Parliament will regrettably support this path. No, I don't... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker.)

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 several cases, do not bring clear gains. All in a short period of time, without the necessary financial means to achieve it. It is clear as water the option of deepening the path to reflect in the tariffs the costs of sanitation systems and the large investments required in this proposal, attributing these costs to the populations. The best way to achieve high levels of waste water quality will be to reverse the liberalisation and privatisation of water supply systems and to keep these systems and their management in the public dimension. This is the only way to ensure close management of populations that meets their needs and interests and democratic control over these key public services.

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 products for the application of savings. The so-called green bonds, without bringing particular innovation, do not fail to fit into this line. Commissioner, contrary to what you say, it is not the people who have reason to celebrate. Financial capital, of course. Because the European Union's environmental policy is very much based on the creation of speculative mechanisms, designed in the logic of sacrosanct self-regulation of markets at the service of the profits of large economic groups, those who bear the greatest responsibility for environmental degradation and whose result has had harmful effects from an economic and social point of view. The defense of nature and the environment requires other policies, from the defense of local production to the promotion of public transport, from the normative approach to the reduction of emissions and the promotion of energy alternatives in the public domain, the defense of peace and cooperation between peoples.

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 wages, cut support, contain public investment. Your false answers are like alcohol spilled on open wounds. Enough of policies that serve the interests and colossal profits of banks and economic groups. Enough impoverishment and inequality. This is not an inevitable path. There are alternative solutions and policies that respond to the problems, that serve the interests of workers and populations, that promote the development of each country. The rise in interest rates must be reversed, the colossal profits of banks must be made to pay the increases in credit instalments, speculation and profit must be combated, the profits of large economic groups must be taxed significantly, the right to housing must be defended and resources must be mobilised to create public housing, wages and pensions must be raised, prices must be fixed for essential goods and services must be raised, national production must be promoted. Absolutely necessary measures that the European institutions lack and that are rejected by the Government and the right-wing parties in Portugal.

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 restrictions or the high costs of medicines. COVID-19 has mirrored this reality well, such as the collusion of the European Union institutions with pharmaceutical multinationals. Another drug policy is needed, guaranteeing the sovereignty and independence of states and ensuring that patents are not a barrier to production and supply. In Portugal, more resources are needed for the National Medicines Laboratory to ensure the production of medicines with the highest use at breaks or with supply shortages, expanding the production of generic medicines, contributing to self-supply, cheaper reserves and medicines, free of charge even for those over 65 years of age, for those with economic needs or for chronic patients.

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, reducing their contributions, which other countries have to pay – and the diversion of money to the war. The answer that Parliament advocates is hardly surprising: more money for war, for political choices determined by the interests of the major economic groups and the major powers of the European Union, the insistence on new own resources, through which they seek to diminish the redistributive function of the budget. What the difficult situation requires is an increased budget, based on the gross national income of the States, whose investment options must be aligned with the real needs and the economic and social reality of each of the countries. More money for public services, to develop national production, to combat inequalities and asymmetries, to defend cooperation and peace.

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 the European Commission, put TAP to be bought with its own money. This is a path of national abdication, a crime against Portugal, its economy, independence and sovereignty, which is imperative to stop. It is necessary to preserve one of the largest national companies, the largest national exporter of services, the thousands of skilled jobs, the wealth it guarantees to the country, the role it plays in the connections to the outermost regions and our diaspora. The workers of TAP and the aviation sector can count on the members of the PCP, also here in the European Parliament, in the fight against this crime and in the defence of a public TAP at the service of the people and the country.

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 insensitivity to the desperation of families and small and medium-sized businesses as banking accumulates astronomical profits. We are facing a gigantic process of transfer of wealth, sponsored by the ECB, families and workers to large economic groups. But the ECB and the European Commission say that it is not enough and call for an end to support for families and small and medium-sized enterprises and for more budgetary constraints. And not a word about the significant taxation of the colossal profits of large economic groups, about combating speculation, about raising wages and pensions, about defending the right to housing. This Parliament cannot remain indifferent. We must return to this 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. But it's not enough. It is essential to invest in collective public transport, to develop the different modalities that best respond to the needs of the populations and spatial planning, from rail to metro, from road to river and maritime transport, ensuring interoperability and accessible intermodal social passes, which evolve towards free transport, which is not limited only to urban centers, but has expression throughout the territory. It is also important to change policies in energy, trade, agriculture, reducing dependencies, defending national sovereignty and independence, the right to economic development and national production, the right to social progress and counteracting the perverse market approach with a normative approach to reducing emissions.

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 harmony with nature. An appropriate financial framework for disaster prevention support needs to be ensured, strengthening and linking instruments such as cohesion policy, rural development policy, regional policy, the Solidarity Fund, environmental protection and the response to climate change. On the contrary, we see the reduction or diversion of Cohesion funds and other funds to feed the profits, among others, of the energy and armaments economic groups. It is necessary, among other things, to strengthen human and technical resources linked to the prevention and management of the territory in the Member States. Valuing the price of wood as a condition for active forest management, supporting small producers. Breaking with the interests of economic groups in forest and land-use planning that override collective interests.

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 does not compensate for the negative has this composition proposal. The increase in the number of MEPs from some Member States leaves out, once again, other countries, such as Portugal, which lost, in relative terms, with the enlargements and the power relationship between states, laid down in the Treaty of Lisbon, particularly as regards the power to vote in the Council of the European Union. Using the maximum number of MEPs, 751, it was possible to ensure a redistribution of mandates between Member States that compensated those, in particular medium-sized ones, who lost MEPs as a result of enlargements, while complying with degressive proportionality in order to allow for a more genuine and plural expression of the will of each people.

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 groups, beneficiaries of the ECB’s policies to combat inflation, are accumulating millions and millions of profits, starting with banks – 11 million a day in my country. Enough! These increases need to be reversed. In the immediate future, it should be the banks and not the families that bear the impact of the increases already decided. Combating the impacts of inflation involves increasing wages and pensions, combating speculation, regulating the prices of essential goods and services, taxing the profits of large economic groups – in order to promote development and social progress – and boosting national production. Measures that are not heard from the institutions of the European Union. For our part, here we are in this fight.

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. At the same time, large economic groups take advantage of inflation to increase profits and still benefit from tax exemption schemes or benefits on those profits. The EU contributes to these policies that exacerbate injustice and lack of fiscal progressivity, while insisting on the rise in interest rates dictated by the ECB, which has further attacked the income of workers and people, creating difficulties for the financing of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and states, favouring large financial capital. It is necessary to halt and reverse the rise in interest rates, along with a fairer, progressive fiscal policy, which, among others, taxes less labor and effectively taxes the profits made, putting an end to tax exemptions and benefits to finance capital.

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 their own lives, including by law enforcement personnel, persist and increase. As democrats, as anti-fascists, we express our solidarity with Aleksander and Mikhail Kononovich, denounce and condemn the ill-treatment and threats to which they have been subjected, and demand their immediate release. Similarly, we express solidarity with all those in Ukraine, such as Aleksander and Mikhail Kononovich, who yearn for a Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals, for peace, collective security and cooperation among all peoples; peace, collective security and cooperation in Europe, which requires a negotiated solution to the conflict in Ukraine, respecting the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.