Speeches

You want a European sanctions mechanism, a "global" sanctions mechanism. Like the United States, you want to punish the whole world. I mean, not the whole world, just the countries that don't obey you. Countries that do not follow the policy of European imperialism. Those who do not open up to European multinationals. Because let's not pretend that human rights matter to you. You have never sanctioned Israel or even threatened Israel with sanctions, despite the country’s violations of international law. You don't want to name this Magnitsky Act mechanism, like its American counterpart, because you know that this American instrument is unfamiliar. Unfamiliar because US sanctions killed from the Middle East to Latin America. The first victims of your sanctions are and always will be workers, women, families. Your unilateral mechanisms undermine international law by circumventing multilateralism within and through UN institutions. That's enough. Peace and indivisible human rights require diplomacy, respect for international law and international solidarity involving workers, trade unions and social movements. Not by sanctions imposed by governments defending the interests of their multinationals.

We are asked to fast track an Act in Support of Ammunition Production. Commissioner Breton wants to give huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to extremely profitable multinational companies, but refuses any democratic debate. Let us be clear: this proposal goes far beyond supporting Ukraine – it aims at creating a European network of arms producers, a proper EU military—industrial complex. The proposal diverts funds away from economic recovery and the green transition towards arms multinationals that are already making massive excess profits because of the Ukraine war. The proposed act also explicitly undermines workers’ rights. Article 18 proposes to bypass the Working Time Directive, which imposes minimum daily and weekly rest periods, annual leave, breaks, maximum weekly working time and night work. This way it sacrifices social rights for militarisation, giving a free pass to industry to introduce working weeks of over 48 hours. The Treaty on the European Union, Article 41.2, prohibits expenditure arising from operations having military or defence implications from being charged to the EU budget. Labelling this act as an industrial project, the Commission deliberately circumvents these provisions. Let us build peace on our continent and invest in socio—economic recovery, and a public switch for the climate.

The latest COVID variant omikron boosted the stock prices of Pfizer and Moderna considerably. Pfizer saw its share close 6.1 percent higher, about $17.5 billion in additional market value. Competitor Moderna even saw its shares increase by 21 percent. A virus variant such as . This is particularly cynical. After all, it is precisely Big Pharma's patents that make new variants more likely. Patents shield vaccine technology from other countries and companies. This limits vaccine production and increases global shortages at the expense of global health. In poor countries, only 3% of the population is fully vaccinated. These vaccine shortages facilitate virus circulation and hotbeds for new virus variants. The Omicron variant shows how urgently this needs to change. A open source-approach could allow researchers around the world to work on adapting the vaccine to new variants. This would allow the activation of unused production capacity and the creation of new production units within a few months. The removal of patents has never been more urgent. This Parliament has already voted in favour of it three times. What are you waiting for? Are Big Pharma's profits really that much more important to you than human lives? Basta lockdowns. Basta pandemic. Share the technology. Save lives.

Mr President, colleagues, you want to sanction Chinese members of parliament because they voted for a law, they proposed a law on – what is it? – regional languages in the country, right? First of all, there's probably a lot that can be said about that law, but I'm convinced that most of you speaking here have neither read nor understood it. It's also a little bit arrogant, I think, because first of all, many of us come from countries in which minority languages are not even recognised at all. So we need to be a little bit careful because, before we also want to go and rule China, I think there's some modesty here. I could understand this if it were a sincere consideration for human rights, but then I ask you: why did you never ask for sanctions against India in regard to the discrimination that the Muslim population is experiencing there? Why are there still no sanctions against Israel? I think there are very clear double standards there, right? I mean, there's a very clear double standard. (In response to comments from a Member) Yes, you do not like democracy. What I'm wondering is: is it because you want to avoid more European autonomy? Because if we want more European autonomy, we do not need sanctions against China – we need to cooperate with China, with Brazil, with India and with other partners. You are undermining European autonomy.

Mr President, Haiti, when we talk about it here, it is often in the passive sense, that is to say that Haiti is a state that has failed, a state that is collapsing; It is a people in misery, victim of destiny, we almost want to say. But Haiti is first and foremost a glorious story. This is the story of Toussaint Louverture and, indeed, Jean-Jacques Dessalines; it is the story of a people, of the first slave revolt that succeeded; The first independent Black Republic, which dealt a fatal blow, we can say, to two European colonial empires, which helped other national liberation struggles. So today, what is happening is that this people, since then, has suffered the blows of imperialism and neocolonialism of the United States, but also of other forces. We here, as Europeans, who say that the United States is our best ally, should first point the finger at the United States to let the Haitians decide their country.

Mr President, listen, I am very uncomfortable when I hear colleagues whining at me about the situation in Sudan without being clear about the role that the Western powers actually play. Let's be clear. Because the colleagues here today say: "Ah yes, but the role of the … Emirates," they are right. But they are the same ones who, tomorrow, say: Ah! But our partners in the Gulf must be supported." Let's talk about the role of Saudi Arabia, the European Union's strategic partner. What about the European weapons that are already arriving in Sudan and therefore fuelling the conflict? Let’s talk about it – no, we don’t talk about it. You yourself say: "No, we have to send European troops." No, that's a colonial vision. Let's stop hurting already. Don't go into the "We're going to solve the case" thing – no. Humanitarian aid is good, but let's stop feeding these conflicts. Let the Sudanese decide their fate, because Sudan is not a poor country. There are hundreds of millions of euros of gold coming out of this country. Where are they going? We are plundering this country and then we come to whine, "Ah yes, it is serious the situation on the spot." Let us take our responsibilities, colleagues.

Mr President, Israel has invaded, occupies a good part of Lebanon – another country – and the consequences are terrible: There are more than a million Lebanese on the run, we have seen that they throw 100 bombs in ten minutes on urban centers. It's really hard to imagine. They kill journalists, first by hitting the car, then the journalist flees to a house, they hit the house, when the ambulance arrives, they block the ambulance; These are unimaginable war crimes. When Russia invades Ukraine, what does this Parliament, this European Union, say? "We will sanction the aggressor, Russia, and we will support, arm Ukraine." What do we see in Lebanon? We can't even really condemn. We are not asking for sanctions against Israel, and we are even asking – the US has been very clear, it does not want the Lebanese army to be able to fight Israel – so we are actually asking the Lebanese to say: "In fact, the only right we have is to be massacred by Israel, to lose half of our country to the Israelis." This is what the European Union supports today, maintaining its partnership agreement with Israel. This is unacceptable complicity. Stop it!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have a concrete question: You don't want Russian artists to enter competitions in Europe, because Russia is waging an illegal war in Ukraine. But you accept without any problem the participation of Israel in these contests, and in particular in Eurovision. While Israel starves and executes children, tortures and rapes prisoners, wages illegal wars in an entire region, occupies Palestine, occupies Lebanon, occupies Syria … But you still want to dance and sing happily with the representatives of the Israeli state. Russia, no; Israel, yeah, it's okay. It is this hypocrisy that torpedoes all your credibility, Commissioner. As long as it's your friends who kill, it doesn't matter, it passes. Massacres bother you when others do it. When they're your allies, they're fine. But now, when you speak – and you too, ladies and gentlemen – of human rights, because of this double standard, citizens no longer listen to you, they hear ‘bla bla bla’, because they know that you have no values; They know you have no principles. If you want to start redeeming yourself, exclude Israel from Eurovision and boycott this contest.

Madam President, Commissioner, there is a nurse who came to see me and said: Mr Botenga, you are in Europe. Talk about it, because I do more than an hour to get to work, an hour to get home by car, and, with fuel prices, it's just more possible. He's right, because he, unlike the European Commission, doesn't have a plane, he doesn't have a private jet, he doesn't have a private driver, he doesn't earn 34,000 euros a month, but he has to get to work. The European responsibility is immense. First of all, this whole crisis, without your American ally, would not have happened. If Trump does not decide to attack Iran illegally, the Strait of Hormuz through which oil and gas pass remains open. Secondly, during this war, the big oil multinationals in Europe make 80 million euros in profits, overprofits, per day! Total, still today, has made almost 6 billion in total. It's still unbelievable. So why don't you take action? Block prices for people, tax the overprofits of these multinationals, rather than make boyfriends with them! Third, tell Trump to stop, please.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, every day, Iranian children are found dead or barely alive under the rubble of their homes. Every day, Lebanese and Palestinian children share the same fate. Yet their lives, their deaths, do not deserve a debate here, do not deserve a clear condemnation here. And why? Because the culprits are your friends, in Tel Aviv, in Washington. Even more so, on the very day that Israel advances a law allowing the execution by hanging of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, you are organizing a debate solely on the death penalty in Iran. Why this selectivity? Because I'm against these executions. Whether they happen in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Israel. But you close your eyes when the executioners are your friends. And it's systematic. You sanction Russia attacking Ukraine, but you support the US bombing Iran. You condemn Russia occupying Ukraine, but you support Israel occupying Palestine and Lebanon. You condemn Iran – a religious system, the fate of women, a lack of democracy – but you went to Saudi Arabia, a religious monarchy without democracy or women’s rights. You condemn Iran and its support for Lebanese Hezbollah, but do business with the Emirates, which arm genocidal militias in Sudan. You accuse Venezuela of lack of democracy, but you shut up when Qatar abolishes elections. When our allies occupy, annex, kill, there it goes, no matter, because it is for our oil, our interests, then quiet. Hell is always the others. We reproach the adversaries for what we allow our allies to do cheerfully and we will squeeze claws, all smiles, in Tel Aviv and Washington. The double standard of this Europe is not just a disgrace. It also creates a world of chaos and wars in which we don't want to live and we don't want our children to grow up. So be ashamed, because today, this Europe is not a force for good, but an accomplice to crime. That's enough!

Madam President, most of you don't condemn, even support Trump's and Netanyahu's war on Iran, yet claim to stand with the Iranian people. Now, I dare you to say that to the eyes of that seven-year-old girl, her backpack still beside her desk, that was killed when a US Tomahawk missile hit her elementary school. Dare to admit to the 167 other victims in that school that you are offering European bases to US killing machines. Tell the families of Tehran, a city of 10 million people, that you support the chemical warfare of Israel, as they poison the air with toxic fires and black rain that will cause cancers for decades. Tell the Iranian people how much you really love them, while from Golestan to Chehel Sotoun, Western bombs damage centuries-old cultural heritage. Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Iraq. Your bombs never brought democracy and never will. They bring chaos, death, destruction and the unbearable silence of children who will never come home.

Madam President, 100% of the Belgian population now lives in a PFAS risk area, and 20% even in a high-risk area. These so-called eternal chemicals accumulate in our bodies, are in the soil, are found in drinking water and are linked to cancer and hormonal diseases. But today, the European Union, rather than protecting people, is talking about deregulation. Soon, some large companies will no longer be forced to say what toxic, chemical substances they use, or even how much. And you even want to deprive public authorities of the time it takes to look at whether a project, yes or no, harms public health. Until now, two or three years were considered reasonable, but now I see that for extremely dangerous projects, especially those related to the defence sector, we are talking about two or three months that we would give as time. We obviously can't do a serious investigation into that time. And if we don't have the means to do the investigation: tacit approval. Extremely dangerous. It's going to mean profits for shareholders and cancers for people. It will never be our choice.

Mr President, Commissioner, speaking of the budget, I have read that the Commission wants more money for private jet travel. Finally, you don't call it a "private jet", you talk about "air taxi", it goes better. We take the taxi, certainly it flies, but it remains a taxi. However, within a few years, this budget has increased by 50% – I think we are now at, what, 15 million? – and I said to myself, as you defended – ‘Yes, but it is for emergency trips to the other side of the world’ –, I said to myself, OK, and then I looked at:me van der Leyen uses it to make Brussels-Luxembourg, it's 200 kilometers, or Brussels-Strasbourg, while there is a train that does this in 3 hours. So tens of millions of European workers cannot afford a week's holiday a year, but the Commission insists on more private jet travel. And besides, nothing to do with the climate either, because a private jet, it emits, what, between five and 40 times more CO2 than a commercial flight. So, colleagues, let us say no to these kinds of privileges that are bad for everyone, also for our climate.

Mr President, we know that on any construction site now in Europe – whether it is a hotel, hospital or building site – the prime contractor displays his name in a big way, but in reality the workers work for different companies, different subcontractors – one for pouring concrete, the other for scaffolding, etc. A study has identified up to 188 subcontractors on the same site, 17 levels. And we see it in other sectors: industry, agriculture, food, etc. It has become a business model. To maximize profits, the rights of workers, of unpaid wages, of workers literally killed, are put under pressure. And then the unions, the workers mobilize. What do we see here? The right which comes to explain: No, no, workers, you didn't understand anything. We know, we don't need a law. We know better than workers, better than those who literally die at work. That is unacceptable. Today we need a European law to limit these practices, to limit this social dumping, and we are counting on you. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, we'll keep pushing.

Madam President, it is terrifying to imagine masked militiamen to the teeth who not only attack protesters who demonstrate peacefully, but in addition to seeing Robocop To kidnap Liam, a five-year-old child, and then to have the far right come here just to do its theater to applaud these fascist practices, to hope that this happens also at home. It's terrifying. Trump sends his police, his private ICE militia, terrorizing working-class neighborhoods and schools, and you applaud? Oddly, I can't hear you asking for the same treatment for billionaires. Epstein files. These, you don't want to worry them, I wonder why. But we must also say that Europe does not have this moral superiority. We see Mme von der Leyen is unable to condemn because it is the United States. We see that Frontex, our version of the ECI, is militarised, lacks transparency, and will now be able to send small children to countries where they have never been. So we are putting ourselves on a slippery slope that is likely to get us on exactly the same path as the United States. Well, we will be in the resistance, dear colleagues, goodbye.

Mr President, I want to point out the elephant in the room, because you've mentioned the sovereignty of Syria, but no one here condemned the fact that Israel wiped out the entire Syrian military infrastructure, taking advantage of the regime change. No one here is condemning the fact that the United States still have troops in Syria, and they should withdraw. Otherwise, we cannot speak of sovereignty. No one here dares to speak about territorial integrity. Why? Why can we not say that the Israeli troops that are illegally occupying parts of Syria should withdraw? And then look at the Kurds – the Kurds celebrated in 2015 as the forces that were fighting ISIS, Daesh. They got US support. The US took advantage of it to establish military bases in the oil-rich regions of Syria. Today, they can be killed because now we support the other leader. They are learning basically what some US analysts already said: being an enemy of the US may be dangerous, being its friend is fatal. If this is true for Europe as well, we are a shame.

Mr President, Mr Costa, Mrs Kallas, last year the President of the European Commission, Mrs von der Leyen, was in Washington and took some orders. We saw her with her little notepad. How many American weapons do we have to buy? Okay, it's okay. How much of your gas? Okay, okay. And how much do we pay him? It's okay. Total bid. We fell silent when the United States spied on our leaders. We fell silent when they bombed eight countries in a single year, from Venezuela to the Middle East. And even today, while Trump says he wants to annex Greenland, the president of the European Commission comes here saying: But we are still aligned. But Stockholm syndrome, it's powerful, it's very clear. If we make so much carpet, necessarily that we end up on the menu, it does not surprise me. Today, American imperialism has the honesty to say that it is the greatest threat to peace and security in the world. So what to do with it? Unite with others. Americans are powerful, but they are not all-powerful. And all over the world, from Brazil to China, from India to South Africa, the powers of the South are fed up with American imperialism. So let us unite, let us make the United Nations for peace. Ah but the United Nations exists, let's go!