Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what a marvel! After years of mobilization, you are forced to admit that indeed, it may be time for the rich to pay some taxes. Frankly, it is not too late – well, not too soon rather. You still have to explain to me: You're all for it, but in the governments you're a part of, there's almost no one among you who actually enforces it. However, the question arises in Europe. Oxfam has calculated that Europe's five richest billionaires have seen their fortunes grow by just over €5 million per hour in recent years. Basically, these people sit on their couch, watch a football game and, chi-ching, 10 million more on their account. Unsurprisingly, at the same time, more or less 99% of Europeans have seen their fortunes diminish and become impoverished. The rich have taken our money. This is thanks to the system you have installed in Europe. That's why today we have to tax multimillionaires and billionaires. We don't have to wait until tomorrow, let's do it today. What are you waiting for?

Mr President, in my country, in my city, in Brussels, Audi risks closing a factory and sending back thousands of well-trained workers who are now victims. Victims of what? Some say it's China's fault or the Green Deal's. No, today they are victims of a lack of industrial strategy. That's because we allowed Audi or other manufacturers to say: "We're going to prefer big cars and cars on which you can make a good profit, rather than investing in affordable cars." You remember, there are workers who tell me that at the time, all workers were driving the car from their factory. Today, it is no longer imaginable. What we need today, first of all, is a moratorium on these plant closures that we need for the transition. It is effectively imposing job retention, forcing these manufacturers to build cars that people can really afford, and investing heavily in infrastructure, because otherwise there will never be a competitive industry of any kind in Europe.

Madam President, what we are seeing today in Lebanon is nothing more than the export of the genocidal logic that Israel is already applying to Gaza, and now wants to apply to Lebanon. Carpets of bombs on Beirut, which Netanyahu justified by the absurdity of saying "they put a missile in every kitchen, a rocket in every garage" and that gives him, according to him, the right to target anyone, any house and kill en masse in Lebanon as he does in Gaza and as he does in the rest of Palestine. The worst part of all this, ladies and gentlemen, is that none of this would be possible without the active support of the Western powers and the European Union. Because after a year of war and genocide, we still see no measures, no sanctions against Israel. On the contrary, you continue to deliver arms to this state which today is a rogue state in the Middle East, let us say so. Let's stop it! Embargo on weapons now.

Madam President, Mr High Representative, this tribute to the more than 1,200 victims of Hamas' murderous assault on 7 October is important. It is our duty to commemorate the innocent victims. Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza today. Today is an important day. The question I want to put to this House is this: When are we going to hold a day here to pay tribute to the more than 40,000 Palestinians killed by Israel? Aren't there tens of thousands of Palestinians today, civilians killed, hundreds of thousands injured, millions displaced? When is this assembly going to pay tribute to them? Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insinuates that without the Hamas attack, Israel would not have done so. But Israel had already killed, well before October 7, thousands of Palestinians. October 7 is certainly a tipping point, but the story did not actually begin that day. In 1948, Israel expelled more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, and since 1967, Israel has illegally occupied the rest of Palestine. If we want, and we want, to see an end to the violence, we must, as the International Court of Justice is calling for today, dismantle illegal Israeli settlements and impose a military embargo.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I really don't understand you. You say you are concerned about human rights in Cuba and the conditions of detention of a detainee. Okay, but why don't we talk about the massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of the entire Cuban people, which is the U.S. blockade? As we speak, this blockade is depriving the Cuban people of essential medicines, food or technologies. Cuban families cannot send money to their loved ones because the United States has arbitrarily included Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. However, Cuba does not export bombs, Cuba exports doctors, all over the world, even to Europe, in solidarity. But here some deputies dare to invoke human rights to reinforce a blockade that massively violates the human rights of the Cuban people. What a contradiction and what a hypocrisy! They should do just the opposite. If they really cared about human rights in Cuba, they would have to defend two measures: the lifting of the US blockade and the removal of Cuba from the list of States that promote terrorism.

Madam President, you know, in school, when I was a kid, I was told the story that Europe was about human rights, international law, democracy. It is the same story, moreover, that European diplomats and politicians all over the world will tell: We are good, we are human rights. And then we see what is happening in Palestine and Gaza, and we see that the European Union is supporting. Because, let's be very clear, the ongoing massacre and genocide there would be impossible without the support of Westerners. This is a genocide perpetrated by Israel with the full support of European countries and governments. The International Criminal Court should issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu. The International Court of Justice uses the word "genocide", declares Israel's colonization of Palestine illegal, but here in this Parliament you are defending this policy. You spit on the dead as if they had no value. Why? Because when it's your allies who commit the crimes, it's okay? You're closing your eyes. Is that Europe? Is that what you stand for? How is it that in the evening, when you go home, You can still look at your children and wish them good night.? I don't understand. Have shame.

First of all, we should differentiate between France and Belgium: I'm Belgian, it's another country. It's a bit like European geography. Secondly, any European initiative, any diplomatic initiative that can bring peace, that can stop the massacres, that can allow Europeans and Ukrainians to live in peace, we will support it, if it is based on international law, on sovereignty. And we do it everywhere. We do not have double standards like you who perhaps applaud the Israeli massacre in Gaza, but at the same time say that in Ukraine, international law matters to you. This hypocrisy is yours, not ours!

Mr President, I would first like to respond to the words of Kathleen Van Brempt, who claims that we would support Putin. Mrs Van Brempt knows that this is absolutely not true and that we have strongly condemned the war from the outset. She should be embarrassed to tell such lies. It is true that after two and a half years of war, we are asking ourselves questions about European policies and European reactions. And we are not alone, because the German general Harald Kujat, former chief of staff of the German armies, former chairman of the military committee of NATO, so really not a naive pacifist, has just drawn this balance sheet. What did he just say? He says Ukraine continues to weaken, lose territory, and sanctions have not brought Russia to its knees. As we see, it is still a double failure of European policy. If we add the growing number of victims, the negative consequences of the sanctions on the European economy, on the German economy too, and the money wasted on weapons that could have been used for our schools, hospitals and pensions, the failure is flagrant. It is also the case when it comes to bringing peace to European territory. "If our armies will now lend their support to hitting Russian nuclear defenses, for example, we risk passing a point of no return," the German general said. So, ladies and gentlemen, do you want to risk a third world war? I don't, especially since an alternative exists. In April 2022, more than two years ago, an agreement between Russia and Ukraine was close, and apparently according to the press, it was Westerners who wanted to torpedo this agreement. Can you imagine the victims we could have avoided? The responsibility is serious, so let us bring peace, let us now return to the path of diplomacy.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me speak today about the Audi factory in Brussels, my hometown. This plant is expected to manufacture electric cars, but workers are now worried about the closure. It is not your sacrosanct competitiveness that is the problem. The cost of labour in Brussels is no higher than in Germany, the factory has a good financial balance sheet, productivity is huge and workers work hard. No, one of the problems is that Belgium risks becoming one of the only countries in Western Europe with car factories, but without the production of battery cells on its soil. This obviously harms factories, such as Audi’s in Brussels, which need it. So the question the workers ask me is: Will these new European laws solve our problem? Will they guarantee a solution?" The answer, unfortunately, is no. No, because this text always allows multinationals to decide where to invest, when and what to produce. There is no guarantee of local production, even no preference or strategic choice over technologies considered to be truly strategic. On the other hand, there are grants and gifts to multinationals, in the hope that they will be nice to us and that they will be willing to invest. We have to reverse that logic, otherwise we're going straight into the wall, really.

Mr President, what people are really allergic to is when politicians promise one thing and then do the opposite. And that risks happening here again. Indeed, on the one hand, there are good promises from the castle in Terhulpen – better wages, better pensions – and on the other hand, at the same time, there is a vote for austerity targets that ensure that there will soon be attacks on our wages, on our wage indexation, on our pensions. You can't, people aren't stupid. That is why, in the measures we are taking, we must listen a little more to the working person — which is why I am also proud that we will soon be trying to send a working person, a trade union person from Flanders, to the European Parliament with the PVDA, my comrade Rudi Kennes. Mais il faut vraiment arrêter de prendre les gens pour des imbéciles. Vous ne pouvez pas à la fois dire «L’Europe va vous garantir des pensions, des salaires de qualité» et, d’autre part, dire «Ah, il y a l’austérité, vous devez vous serrer la ceinture. L’indexation, c’est un problème. Les guesthouses, ça ne marchera plus. Les services publics, les transports en commun, désolé, il faudra faire des coupes.» Ça, les gens ne le laisseront pas passer. Vous serez punis pour ça. Il faudra une rupture le 9 juin.

This is the fundamental difference between you and me. When Hamas commits terrorist acts or war crimes, I have no problem condemning that. But when Israel commits war crimes or terrorist acts, you fail to condemn. That is your hypocrisy. You are talking about the release of Israeli hostages, but you are silent about Palestinian children being held hostage in Israeli prisons. You condemn the war crimes of those you dislike, but on the Israeli side, you fully support them. That is your hypocrisy. And it is very easy for you. You have a fundamental hypocrisy, namely support for Israeli war crimes.

Monsieur le Président, chers collègues, vous demandez de nouvelles sanctions contre l’Iran parce que l’Iran a clairement violé le droit international en répliquant à la destruction de son consulat par Israël. But why don’t you call for sanctions against Israel when it bombs Syria and Lebanon, hospitals in Gaza, an Iranian consulate or when Israeli missiles even fall in Iraq? You call a part of the Iranian army terrorist, but will you also talk about state terrorism by the Israeli army? You sent jets, European fighter jets, to protect Israeli military bases. But in six months, no Palestinian child has earned your protection. None. Is an Israeli military base worth more than the lives of 15,000 Palestinian children? So either international law applies to everyone in the same way, or we sink into a world where the law of the strongest reigns and chaos reigns. We have nothing to gain from this. And your double standards are torpedoing at an unprecedented speed the lack of credibility that the European Union still had on the international stage. Frankly, we can't go on like this. (The speaker agreed to answer a "blue card" question)

Mr President, today we all agree to put an end to this absurdity, but let us be clear: it is only a treaty and it is only a rule. I see it as a deer's foot, a foot in the door, with which we must open the debate on the whole trade policy and socio-economic policy of the European Union, for which we must indeed reverse the logic and say that today, what is a priority, is the social and the climate. We need a lot of public investment because otherwise this transition will be neither social nor sufficient for the climate. This means that at some point the question will also have to be asked: Why do economic freedoms in the EU take precedence over social rights or public investment, including in environmental matters? We won't let go. We are encouraged and strengthened by this victory, which is the victory of a great mobilisation, a lot of pressure and a lot of work. Believe me, this fight will continue throughout EU policy, trade policy and socio-economic policy. Let me also reinforce the message of thanks, first of all to Anna Cavazzini and the whole INTA team, who worked on this, to my colleagues in the ITRE Committee – to the shadow rapporteurs, but also to the Chair of the Committee, Mr Buşoi – and of course also to the European Commission, which put on the table what had become absolutely inevitable thanks to pressure from people and mobilisation. Thank you very much and good vote tomorrow.

Madam President, Commissioner, last year, a multinational fossil energy company, Klesch, decided to take the German state, Denmark and the European Union to court. Why? Because these authorities had discussed and wanted to introduce, potentially, taxes on overprofits. You think you're still walking on your head. How is this possible? Today, we live in a European Union where multinationals can take legal action and seek compensation and financial compensation because states take measures in the public interest, whether to promote renewable energy or to have some money, recover some of these overprofits and invest them elsewhere. Still, it is absolutely crazy that multinationals have the right to complain that this may reduce their profits, or that they will earn less. Frankly, no one outside of this assembly could understand that. You come out of this assembly, you're going to explain this to the people, they're going to tell you: “What are they doing here, Europe?” Indeed, this is completely absurd. I was interested in the question of how it is possible to sign this kind of treaty as a European Union. But in fact, even in the European Treaty, at its core, there is a bit of the same logic: Since markets, big markets and competition are given top priority, multinationals must necessarily be given rights. So, we end up with things like in Belgium, for example, where at one point there was Femarbel, owner of nursing homes, who had been asked for a minimum of caregivers and a cap on costs. The European Court of Justice has squarely intervened to say that this whole sector must be opened up to competition, to the detriment of residents, at least in terms of price. In the Netherlands, there were real estate developers who felt that capped rents for social housing posed a threat to their profits. In Slovakia, the European Commission found that prohibiting private insurers from distributing profits to shareholders, rather than using those profits to invest them in healthcare, was contrary to the free movement of capital. Still, it's crazy. So we have a logic within the European Union, which is to give the right to large companies to attack states when they take social or environmental measures. And we will export at international level, at the level of the European Union’s trade policy, the same logic. We will say that we are going to conclude an energy treaty or charter which means that, in fact, while we are all talking about the Green Deal, while we are all talking about renewable energies, it will potentially be the workers who, through public money, will have to pay to guarantee the profits of multinationals. So, logically and fortunately, a large part of European citizens and civil society has mobilised, and is still mobilising, to break with this logic and get us out of this treaty. Today is a first step. In the end, it took years and years of struggle, but it shows that we can win and that we can impose another way to take back the wheel, publicly, of our energy policy to get out of this treaty.

Madam President, listen today in Gaza, every day there are mass graves and mass graves, which are the symbol of all genocide. Hundreds of bodies, sometimes in medical uniform, sometimes apparently handcuffed, executed summarily. Images of children shredded around a foosball table can be seen. What is the European Union doing about this? There are colleagues here who have the courage to support Israel. Frankly, be ashamed, go home and don't go out. But above all, what is the European Union doing? She promised Israel millions more. It did not impose an arms embargo. Yet it can do so, because in recent years embargoes and military sanctions have been imposed on Belarus, the Central African Republic, China, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Turkey, Yemen, Zimbabwe. But to Israel, no. They're immune. Why are they immune? Because their colonial project is supported by European imperialism – it must be said, in fact – with weapons and millions. That is why the massacre of the Palestinians, which would not be possible without European complicity, continues.

Madam President, but what contempt! Frankly, this morning the President of the European Commission, Mrs von der Leyen, must have been there for an hour, an hour and a half. This is the last sitting of the European Parliament, she has to report for an hour and she walks in the middle. Already, the Council is not there, Charles Michel has nothing to do with it, and in addition, Mrs von der Leyen despises us like that. Anything! However, someone who is accused – because I have met a lot of people lately – so Mrs von der Leyen is accused of a conflict of interest in buying vaccines that would have been bought too expensive, even nepotism – she is accused of appointing a senior official – but she is running away. What people hate most about this European Union, this European Commission, is this contempt: the Green Deal, which is imposed but paid for by workers; These multinationals receive aid while wages are not enough. This contempt for workers is what makes people today demand a break-up. And this break-up will be imposed on you on 9 June.

Mr President, listen, after more than 12 300 Palestinian children killed by Israel, which is more in a few months than in four years of war all over the world, Israel is now starving an entire population, and dozens of children have already died of malnutrition. Those who deny it have not listened to the Israeli leadership: already in October the Minister of Defence had announced this. He said: no water, no food for Palestinians, no food for these human animals. So they announced their genocidal policy! In the face of this, what have you done? Nothing. Nothing! Worse: the European Union has strengthened its ties with Israel, investing, giving the green light to a new gas pipeline that will connect it to the Jewish state, granting it advantageous loans, expressing its full support. Nothing! You're complicit! We need a military embargo now, otherwise your hands will be filled with blood!

Mr President, listen, we are living in a state of social emergency in Europe. Our schools lack teachers, hospitals lack resources and carers, transport is subject to more and more delays if not cancellations, and in this context, what is the brilliant idea of the European Union, celebrated by the Belgian Presidency – the Belgian government here? It’s about imposing cuts on national budgets! Not to go and get money from the super-rich, those millionaires, those multi-millionaires who don’t know what to do with their money – no, not at home! – but among workers, once again! We'll tell them: "Listen, your pension is too high," "Your salary, you know? This automatic indexing? It's not very good, we're going to cut in there.” I want to bring here the voice of the workers and trade unions who were mobilized yesterday in Brussels in front of the Schuman building, saying: ‘No way, we won’t pay!»

Mr President, Commissioner, today we have a Europe where Big Pharma, the big multinationals, decide which medicines to produce – or not – and at what price to sell them. Consequence: we often pay far too much for our medicines and we have shortages all over Europe, thousands of medicines missing – not least because Big Pharma shareholders are no longer interested in producing them. You have been told here for four years that binding licences are needed to break the Big Pharma monopoly, allow more companies to produce, increase supply and lower prices. Finally, today we are about to go in that direction. Congratulations! Of course, you are giving in under pressure, and I welcome that. Well, even in the middle of a crisis, you still want to negotiate in the first place with Big Pharma, guarantee their profits a little – probably not too much to hit the buddies – but, above all, you want to prevent us from sharing the technology or even exporting these medicines! So how are you going to explain to the Latino, African and Arab peoples – who already remember that during COVID-19 we did not want to share technology as the European Union – that even today, according to your vision, they are not entitled to medicines? It’s still a disgrace! That is why the peoples of the South despise this European policy. Change course!

Colleagues, in Flanders, in Belgium and actually throughout Europe, people are afraid. Fear that they cannot afford the renovation, the insulation of their house and some fear even having to sell their house. And then there is a European directive, a European framework, and then you think: Yes, well, but then you expect that it will guarantee that people do not have to pay everything out of their own pocket? Unfortunately, this directive does not guarantee this. It is left to the governments, but the directive includes fines, if it does not go fast enough, if your apartment is not isolated fast enough. We have already seen in Flanders what a bad idea that is. The Flemish government came up with a very strict version of this renovation obligation two years ago: fines if you buy a home and the energy label does not improve quickly enough. For example, because the works are dragging on or because you no longer have the money. You'll get monster fines. Absurd ideas. At one point, I believe, a young working couple in Ghent was fined EUR 13 000. You don't think that's possible, because those renovation works drag on because you don't have the money or because it goes less quickly than expected. And then you get a fine on top of that. Yes, of course it does not go forward at all. What we need here is not a renovation plot, but a renovation plot that ensures that everyone can not only renovate, but also be helped to renovate by, for example, a third-party payer system. In Germany, over ten years, 4 million projects were financed through a public bank. Let's look at that. Let's take that as a model. That is the Europe we want. People should not pay for this climate transition again.

Mr President, losing your life at work, not knowing what right you have afterwards is horrible, and it deserves to be discussed here. But let’s be clear: we lived it in Belgium, we live it every day and now there is this tragedy in Italy on this site. How many subcontractors were active on this site? How much? So there is a measure that we can take at European level thanks to a directive that limits subcontracting. This one has become a real business model used by companies across Europe not to grant workers the rights to which they would normally have access, not only those under the employment contract, but also, quite simply, human rights. And secondly, do not come and tell the states that they have to cut off their social services, their administrations and then complain that there are not enough social inspections, that there is not enough labour inspection. So stop this austerity too, we need strong social inspection and hard work all over Europe.

Commissioner, the masks are falling! To the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, we are talking about years of war, millions of deaths, countless refugees and untold war crimes. And you and the United Nations have pointed to the responsibility of the Rwandan government and the Rwandan army, which supports the M23 rebels and intervenes directly with missiles in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But in this context of aggression against a sovereign country, what is Europe doing? Will it defend tooth and nail, heart and soul, Congolese sovereignty, as it does for Ukraine? Well, no! Two weights, two measures. First, it offered last year, remember, €20 million to Rwandan forces. Recently, Poland has been promising all possible support and military aid to Rwanda. And now you are signing an agreement with Rwanda on raw materials, on Congolese resources. Because yes, it is: Here, we are, in fact, thanking and rewarding Rwanda for its aggression. How is this possible? Wasn’t Europe’s goal to defend peace, human rights? No, clearly not in Congo. There, apparently, you want the resources. Congo holds between 60 and 80% of the coltan, essential for modern technologies, and this war makes it easy to plunder these resources. An NGO report indicates that up to 90% of strategic minerals exported by Rwanda originate in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Commissioner, the Congolese can no longer rely on your neo-colonial approach in the service of European multinationals. So please listen to them and tear up this deal!

Madam President, on the phone with the emergency services, little Hind, a six-year-old Palestinian girl, is terrified: “I am so scared. Please come, pick me up. Are you going to pick me up?" In a car with his family, they are fleeing the Israeli bombs. They ran into an Israeli tank. Her uncle has set himself aside, but the Israeli soldiers have still fired and Hind is stuck in the car, in the middle of the bodies of her killed family. Then the call is interrupted. His body will be recovered a few days later. I will never forget Hind’s voice on the phone. His death alone illustrates the genocidal nature of the war Israel is waging. Nor will I forget that this house, this European Union, has not called for an end to arms exports to Israel. What complicity, what inhuman shame!

Madam President, Europe, with the complicity of the Belgian government, is constantly repeating to us that there is no more money, neither for pensions, nor for education, nor for health. On the contrary, we are told that Belgium will still have to save EUR 30 billion in the coming years. This is huge, while people are already unable to make ends meet! What do we have here? Obviously, the lack of willingness to tax millionaires, the lack of willingness to tax the overprofits of multinationals. But here today I am told that EUR 50 billion can be sent to Ukraine. So there is money, and there is money until 2027. But why is it that for war, for Ukraine, we always find money, but for workers, it is always a concern, it is always too complicated? And you, here from the Socialist Greens to the right, applaud. Instead, tax overprofits, tax millionaires, and invest in peace.

Mr President, Commissioner, you are in fact bothered by our work. The European Commission wants to take away our right of control over your agreements with other countries. Is it because we can read? Because yes, we know how to read, and so we looked a little bit, for example, at the association agreement you made with Israel: Strong support for Israel, which has seen Europe become the first trading partner of the Hebrew state. For example, 30% of the goods Israel imports come from Europe, and Israel even has access to billions of EU funding. But we know how to read, and we see in Article 2 of that agreement that it calls for respect for human rights. So logically, when the International Court of Justice says that there is a plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, what should you do? Suspend this agreement, stop this agreement, because otherwise you support and are complicit in Israeli war crimes in Gaza. But rather than suspending this agreement, Commissioner, you want to silence us. You want to exclude us. We're not gonna shut up, we're not gonna let you. This complicity is unacceptable, and we will continue to say so.