Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, listening to you, sometimes I wonder what theatre I have landed in, frankly. Because, this morning, you come here to say loud and clear that teachers are important, you see the lack of teachers, the poor state of school buildings, too many students per class, and, listening to you, I spontaneously say to myself: 'Ben chiche! They got it! That’s good! Let's put the money in, invest in our schools: better working conditions, more teachers, fewer pupils per class, etc.’ Well, no! This is for the gallery, your statements! It’s for the gallery! Because at the same time – and this is all your hypocrisy – what are you doing? Well, you bring back European rules that prohibit states from investing in schools and education. The European rules of austerity! The European fiscal rules, which will strangle the state budget. Here, in public, you come to declare all your support to teachers and students, but behind the scenes you put the rope on their necks. What cynicism, frankly!

Madam President, Commissioner, major producers of solar panels are threatening to relocate from Germany to the United States. Meanwhile, in my city, Brussels, Belgium, Audi workers are afraid that their company will relocate the production of an electric car. These companies, often, such as Audi for cars or Meyer Burger for solar panels, have obtained European or local public support. What a failure for your green industrial policy! For the past five years, I've been telling you: take this into your own hands, plan this publicly, including when it comes to installation! But you refuse. So I told you: at least attach conditions to subsidies, state aid. When the state gives money, supports companies, they must be asked to respect employment and invest. But then again, every time, you refused. These are the consequences. Today, these companies have replenished their profits, and they are now being encouraged by your main economic partner, your ally, the United States, to relocate. But, for workers, no guarantee. Today, European industrial policy protects profits, not workers. Basta!

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let us face it, if it moves forward today in several European countries, the extreme right is above all because people are looking for alternatives to traditional policies, those policies brought by the centre-right and the centre-left that today have caused people to be afraid even to go shopping, because it costs too much. Let us realize today what is happening, which is a social emergency in Europe. And then comes the far right, we know, saying "well it's easy, it's all the fault of immigrants, refugees and Muslims" and pretends to defend the workers; Obviously we know that it is a scam, because then here they accept the stability pact, which will force Italy to billions of cuts, or they oppose the minimum wage, a basic right for many workers everywhere in Europe but clearly not in Italy. To defeat this demagogy of the new extreme right, however, we must offer an alternative: No to the Stability Pact; Salaries must be adjusted to inflation; a decent minimum wage must be introduced, including in Italy; You have to give an income to those who don't have a job. We need dignity and hope for the workers. What are you waiting for?

Madam President, Prime Minister, apparently we need to hurry up a little bit, because you still have to go to Davos. I am well aware that this is not the reality with the millionaires there. You will still take the time to listen to us for five minutes, because the reality of the millionaires in Davos is obviously not the reality of the working class in Europe today. Your government is leading a Europe in a catastrophic social situation. Wages are no longer enough. People are afraid of race prices, afraid to raise heating even when it is cold like today. And here, it is still extremely striking that, in this context, you do not dare in your speech to assume one of the central priorities of this Belgian Presidency: the return of the fiscal rules, which you are silent on, which is present in the document, in the plan, but here, in your speech, you are hiding the return of the European austerity laws. What does this mean? This means budget cuts in hospitals, schools, nurseries and even – as you know, in 2023, the European Commission has already complained about wage indexation in Belgium – even our salaries are at risk of being attacked with this mechanism. So do you really want to be the government, Mr De Croo, that will bring this straitjacket back and put the rope on the neck of the working people all over Europe? We must not bring this straitjacket back, we must bury it and as president, sabotage these negotiations, stop these negotiations on the Fiscal Compact. Rather than cutting our salaries, our services, Mr De Croo, read yesterday’s Oxfam report. Multinationals all over the world, also in Europe, make overprofits. Their profits will smash all records in 2023. In Belgium, your country and mine, 1% of the richest, own as much as 70% of the population. And yet no ambitious initiative for fairer taxation in your program. None. Have a minimum of ambition, please. Tax millionaires, large multinationals or financial transactions. Are you afraid to do so because after that, I don’t know, Bill Gates will not be moving to the Belgian pavilion later in Davos? Frankly, it is not this Europe that workers need. Het is toch waar, mijnheer De Croo. Nu België voorzitter eens van de Europese Unie is, wat zijn dan de prioriteiten? Gaan bezuinigen? Gaan we weer besparen op dingen die de werkende mens nodig heeft? Dat kan toch niet! Stop dat! U kunt als voorzitter zeggen: "Nee," said Europa zal niet meer besparen. Deze begrotingsregels, die willen wij niet en wij gaan die vergaderingen rekken, vertragen of daar in elk geval geen prioriteit van maken”. Dat is de verantwoordelijkheid van België, want 5 miljard EUR per jaar besparen op de komende jaren zou een drama zijn voor België en voor de rest van Europa. Want welk signaal stuurt u daarmee naar de werkende mens? Mensen die nude geen bus meer hebben? Die geen station meer hebben? Mensen die bang zijn hun verwarming op te zetten? Kijk naar Oxfam, Luister naar Oxfam en ga het geld halen waar het zit. Zet een ambitieus rechtvaardig belastingprogramma op poteen of neem tenminste een klein initiatief. Dat moet toch mogelijk zijn voor u. Ten slotte belooft u in uw document by Russische oorlogsmisdaden in Oekraïne niet onbestraft te laten. Goed, maar geen enkel woord over by oorlogsmisdaden van Israel. Waarom? Waarom geeft u Netanyahu een vrijbrief?

Madam President, Mr Commissioner, so following the Israeli attack on Gaza, Yemen has indeed been attacking ships, the Houthi groups, and denying freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. This has an impact on world trade. It also has an impact on factories in Belgium. It is, of course, remarkable, first of all, that those that are now calling for action against Yemen are the same ones that never called for action against Israel, protecting trade routes for some in this Chamber is clearly more important than protecting the lives of Palestinians. Now, we need to be clear, because those colleagues that say we need action seem to forget that there’s already been action. Last week, the United States, with a number of European countries, bombed Yemen, bombed cities in Yemen. This was not the first time. Barack Obama bombed Yemen. Donald Trump bombed Yemen. Joe Biden now bombed Yemen. Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen for years. And none of these interventions brought peace or security to the region. Rather, on the contrary, as these attacks were not covered by the Security Council resolution, which spoke about protecting vessels, not about bombing Yemen, this might actually deteriorate the image of Europe and the West in the world further. What we need is now a critical assessment of this policy and clearly look at the consequences and alternatives. And, of course, we need a ceasefire in Palestine as soon as possible.

Madam President, the climate summit will therefore have talked about fossil fuels. It's positive. But before posing, as Europeans, as climate defenders vis-à-vis the rest of the world, we must still look at the facts: Today, we are investing heavily in new terminals to accommodate American shale gas. The United States obviously multiplies its production to export it to us, and we know that this shale gas is more expensive and more polluting than conventional gas. This extraction releases methane, huge amounts of methane, which is a bit for the climate like coal. These investments lock Europe into a double dependency: in the United States, on the one hand, to fossil fuels, on the other. And in the meantime, the big project to turn the North Sea into Europe's wind power plant? With the current investments, we will not reach half of the 2030 target. So let's change course, let's not leave it to the good will of multinationals but let's take it back in hand, publicly, for green and cheap energy all over Europe.

Madam President, our trains are running late, our crèches are overcrowded, hospitals are overcrowded, and housing is becoming unpayable. And in this context, what does the European Commission propose? A new major investment programme for multinational arms companies! Yes, of course, while people are sorting, we will still guarantee gifts to companies that are among the most profitable on our continent and that, moreover, are doing a good business, currently, thanks to the war in Ukraine. We're going to produce more weapons. For our safety? Well, no! Europe already spends much more on weapons than Russia, India, South Africa, Brazil, etc. We can defend ourselves. No, you, your model, are the United States. You want to do like the United States, go to war all over the world. Look at Iraq, Libya: It is your wars, your weapons that have created instability and threaten our security here. Stop it! Stop it! Put that money in our services, in our transportation, in our utilities and in our hospitals. Make peace, not war!

Mr President, today, when you look at the evolution of rents in Belgium, I think that over the last five years they have increased by 12%, and in Brussels, over the last ten years, by 30%. Buying a house or apartment for a young person or a young couple is almost impossible. And when you get there, it’s a lucky thing to find a crèche, because you have to have registered your child before you have even conceived it, otherwise you can’t find a crèche. All these problems, we can solve them. There is no need for a magic wand to solve them, but it requires investment. That means we have to invest in housing, we have to invest in public services. We can all cry here about the plight of young people, which really matters to us, but if you come back with austerity, with European rules that oblige us, that oblige states to cut public services, to spend less, to stop social investments, we will return within six months to cry again, to complain about the plight of young people. Investments are needed. No to austerity!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, UNICEF is talking about a war against children. Currently, more than 7,700 Palestinian children have been massacred by Israel. When the same thing happened in Ukraine, you were talking about genocide. Today, a number of you justify Israel. I will not answer you, because there is no political difference between you and me, there is simply a difference in humanity. Those who defend Israel today either do not hear what the Israeli leaders say, because the Israeli leaders themselves say that this war is a war against the entire population of Gaza. They want to drive them out. Two million Gazans must leave Gaza, and you applaud? Congratulations! Congratulations! I hope that one evening you will still be able to look at yourself in the mirror without shame on your face. Today, the European Union remains complicit because it remains bound to Israel by an Association Agreement. It continues to hand over weapons to Israel, weapons that will then effectively kill innocent people in Gaza. Let's stop this complicity!

Madam President, the European Union is preparing to tell you again that we need to tighten our belts, that there is no money for health or for schools. Yes, it will be necessary to tighten the belt, except that it will be up to the workers to do it, because the multinationals, frankly, they, they profit. We talk about the ‘crisis’, but it is not the crisis for everyone. This is not the crisis for multinationals in the pharmaceutical sector, which replenished profits during COVID-19. This is not the crisis for multinationals in the armaments sector, war obliges. And in these times of energy crisis, the big multinational energy companies have obviously filled their pockets. How is it that when we talk in this Parliament about taxing multinationals, it is always backwards? The European Commission never wants to do it, and Parliament never succeeds (“But let’s do it temporarily!...”). Workers are not taxed temporarily; They are taxed all the time. So we have to stop with this story, that multinationals are too big to be taxed! No, no, no! We must tax these overprofits! Secondly, a little story – because, at the head of these multinationals, there are rich people. The richest man in Belgium is Eric Wittouck, who is worth around EUR 10 or 11 billion. By way of comparison, the average Belgian worker would have to work and save his entire salary for 2 355 centuries. We go back long before Jesus-Christ and before the Roman Empire: this is almost at the time of the onset ofhomo sapiens. So why can’t we introduce a millionaire tax? What is blocking you? Well, what is blocking you is that you have chosen your side. You're on the millionaire side. We are on the side of the workers.

Mr President, frankly, people are fed up with the fact that the European Union comes with dictates every time, saying ‘you have to cut the budget of your schools, your nurseries, your hospitals, you have to work longer, for less money’. Frankly, neither can people have this Europe without transparency, without democracy, without being listened to. And in this context, what does a coalition of Green Socialist Liberals propose here? This means more power for the European Union and less democracy within it. Frankly, aren’t you ashamed to even propose a commissioner, ha no pardon, a secretary for austerity? This means that this austerity, these budget cuts, you want to institutionalize them even more. People can’t do it anymore, it won’t pass. And you propose, what? No more war? You want to take away the right, for example from Belgium, to say no when it comes to sending Belgian soldiers abroad. Because that is the shift from unanimity to majority voting. You don’t admit it, you don’t assume it, well people won’t accept it.

Madam President, when it comes to industry, people are basically interested in two things. First, a quality job, and second, a healthy living environment. And what do you propose to us today in this text? First, to give full support to businesses in the name of competitiveness, without strategic priorities and without strong conditions, especially without strong social conditions. And we know this strategy in Belgium, companies pocket gifts, thank, and then, when they receive a better deal Elsewhere, they relocate anyway, we know the little song. Then deregulate. Deregulation means flexibilizing, e.g. obtaining environmental permits. But where are we going to stop. Will we end up cutting down forests to install wind turbines? Perhaps you have heard of the PFAS scandal? In Belgium now, in some regions, people are sometimes afraid to drink drinking water because of pollution. And we want to make it easier? I know we have two former CEOs here presenting the new technological industrial strategy, but still... the state must not be at the service of the private sector, employers and profit, but at the service of the people.

Mr President, Commissioner, your self-satisfaction is truly unbearable. Frankly, you are talking about a success of European politics, while Belgians, for example, still pay twice as much for their energy as they paid before the crisis. Is that success, bleeding people, raising their bills? You dare call it a success? Please start by breaking the power of multinationals, by breaking this market. Bloquons les prix et taxons les surprofits des multinationales. Qu’est-ce que vous attendez? Then you will come back to talk to us about success if you manage to do the minimum of the base. Let's talk a little bit about the morality of your policy, too, because you have decided not to import Russian gas via pipeline. All right, all right. This obviously increased prices, but you said it was moral because we do not want to finance Russian war crimes in Ukraine. All right, all right. And then, what are you doing? You're going to make a gas deal with Israel. So not only are we paying more now, but we are also funding Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Congratulations! Clearly, a Palestinian child is not as valuable to you as a Ukrainian child.

Madam President, the Parliament has rightly scheduled a debate to condemn the attack – the 7 October attack of Hamas on Israel. Since then, however, the Israeli attack on Gaza has killed 725 children. Water, food, electricity has been cut off to Palestinian homes and hospitals and over 1 million Palestinians have been ordered to leave their homes. The UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories has said that in the name of self-defence, Israel might seek to justify what would amount to ethnic cleansing – and we have indeed seen Israeli government officials speak in that direction. Yet Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has not even asked Israel the very basics: to, for example, respect international humanitarian law. The Parliament needs to send a clear message that all war crimes are unacceptable – be they on behalf of Israel, be they on behalf of Hamas. You know, a Palestinian life is not worth less than a Ukrainian life and therefore we propose to change the title into ‘The despicable terrorist attacks of Hamas against Israel, Israel’s threat of expulsion of 1.1 million Palestinians and allegations of Israeli war crimes against and in Gaza.’

Mr President, Commissioner, thousands of medicines are lacking in the European Union, country by country, life-saving medicines, and the medicines available are often too expensive. States are paying absolutely crazy prices. But we must also dare to say why this is the case. The explanation, the reason is clear: You have decided to leave all the power to the big multinational pharmaceutical companies. They decide what to produce, when to produce, how much to produce and at what price to sell. Some of them even have the personal number of Ms von der Leyen. So if you are serious about the need for accessible, affordable medicines, there are two things you need to do. First of all, stop giving unconditional free money to these multinationals. Let's set clear conditions. Let's ask that the drug is actually accessible, actually affordable. Secondly, let us develop an infrastructure, a public company for research and development and for the production of medicines. You know, it exists in Canada, in the United States and even in Cuba, a small blockaded country that has managed to develop vaccines.

Mr President, Commissioner, you are drowning the fish a bit. You're drowning the fish. There is a terrible social emergency in Europe today. Terrible. In Belgium, a quarter of parents are unable to feed their children enough. Three quarters of teachers have already faced starving children in school. Students can no longer find a kot, a student accommodation payable. And if today, as a worker, you have to take public transport, you know that: accumulated delays, stations and trains removed. Do not get sick because hospitals are understaffed, they do not have enough equipment. If you happen to reach retirement age, you know that your statutory pension is unlikely to be sufficient to cover or guarantee the costs of a nursing home. But what you are not saying is that this is also the consequence of European policies: the liberalisation of the energy market, the austerity you have imposed, and worse. And here too, it is necessary to be honest – a bit of intellectual honesty, in the face of the worker who is working – that today the European Commission is proposing a return to the fiscal pact, with cuts, therefore, in public services. And this is unacceptable. We're going to fight him.

Madam President, Commissioner, as you have heard, these workers and firefighters who save us in difficult situations are 300% more likely to develop cancer. So let's recognize this work as painful and carcinogenic. Why does it take so long? Don’t we want to save them? Why can't it go faster? But let's not pretend that this will solve everything. Because a big problem is obviously the fact that these workers are understaffed. This further complicates already extremely difficult working conditions. So you have to hire professional firefighters and firefighters. But you, the European Commission, want to reactivate austerity, the fiscal pact, which is pushing for cuts in public services. This is contradictory. You can't cut public services and pretend you want to help firefighters. This is hypocrisy. So, give up this austerity. Second, the European Commission is still pushing for an increase in the pension age. A firefighter who has to work up to 64-67 is just not feasible. Do you know that a firefighter has a life expectancy seven years below the average? They cannot be made to work until they are 64 or 67, it is not feasible.

Madam President, Madam President of the European Commission, you have expressed with great eloquence all your contempt for the working class in Europe today. I know you earn 30,000 Euros a month, but do you know that today in Europe 30% of people have to skip a meal because they do not have the money for three meals a day? Do you know that 46% of Europeans are afraid to turn on heating, and therefore do not do so and stay in the cold? That 100 million Europeans are at risk of poverty? And what is your balance sheet, your own balance sheet? Have you blocked energy bills? No, no. Did you tax millionaires? No, no. Have you tapped the overprofits of multinational energy, pharmaceutical, military companies? No, no. So what are you doing today? Today, you are flooding, you are guaranteeing billions of euros to the military sector, to the multinational arms companies, while the workers are proposing the return of the fiscal pact, the return of austerity. Von der Leyen, this Europe – your Europe – will never be ours, we will fight you and your coalition.

Minister, I am surprised that you do not see the plundering of African resources – which is still widespread in Africa, whether it is fish in Senegal, gold in Mali or, indeed, uranium in Niger – as one of the causes of the anger of African populations against Europe and European policies. But I want to ask you a question. Your Special Representative for the Sahel, Emmanuela Del Re, said in the newspaper La Repubblica whereas "European sanctions are beginning to have an impact: lack of medicines, food and electricity, even more than before. We must maintain these sanctions. Do you agree? Is it the European line to starve a population, to deny them access to medicines, or do you dissociate yourself from your special diplomat for the Sahel?

Minister for Foreign Affairs, when more and more states in Africa are asking for the departure of European troops – first of all French, then other countries – there is a whole series of potential explanations that are provided, with varying degrees of relevance. Afterwards, when you listen to Emmanuel Macron’s party representative, you get the impression that France in Africa is almost an NPO – it is a charity association that is only there to do good. You gave a little bit of the same impression about the European Union. But what is not raised here is the social and economic issue that many Africans, especially young people, are facing today. As for Niger, there are 10 million people, 43% of the population, who live in abject poverty, despite the fact that Niger still supplies the European continent with uranium – and is underpaid for this uranium – which obviously creates rage, anger against European policies. My question is: In your opinion, what European, economic and trade policies do we need to change to stop this dynamic of destroying Europe's image in Africa?

Madam President, Commissioner, at the time of the Covid pandemic, indeed, many states closed their borders to keep certain goods and services at home. There was a reason for this: This is because these states often lacked medical equipment, for example in hospitals, due to years of austerity imposed on these hospitals. Another reason was that often there was insufficient productive capacity in different states, inequalities within Europe due to the liberalisation imposed. So today, rather than tackling the fundamental causes of the internal market and competition, you are coming up with a repressive, let’s say, approach that simply pretends to prevent states from doing so. It's not gonna pass. And what worries me a lot, Commissioner, is that in your cabinet you seem to have become accustomed to attacking workers’ rights. In your military production law, you tried to blow up the limit of 48 hours of work per week. In this text, you tried to weaken the recognition of the right to strike, which ended up in a non-binding part of the text. Fortunately, twice, thanks to the mobilization of the unions, we managed to get you back. If you try to get back into your future production defense law with a new attack on workers' rights, I promise you, Commissioner, we will push you back again.

Doesn't the war in Ukraine affect workers in Europe? Of course I do. And that is why I have thrown you a little in the face of the complete absence of diplomatic proposals. For the past year and a half, you have refused to take any diplomatic initiative to stop this war, so that Ukrainians no longer die under the bombs, so that we European citizens no longer face a war on our borders. You do not, and that is where your hypocrisy lies. You only want to invest in weapons; the diplomatic route, either you do not know it, and you have to go back to school, or you have to change your policy.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we live in a paradoxical situation in Europe: today, on the one hand, states are investing massively in so-called militarisation, i.e. research, production and purchase of weapons, worth billions – 100 billion, 200 billion – and on the other hand, we are experiencing an incredible social emergency. We lack crèches, our schools lack teachers, our hospitals lack equipment and staff, and our public transport is disintegrating across the European Union. In this context, what is the priority, the urgency for the European Union? It is about boosting the demand for weapons, funding and helping states to buy more weapons. Do you realize that this is totally crazy and absurd? Instead, let's choose another alternative, a different policy: First, let’s work on peace, diplomacy – a word that most of you have forgotten, and then let’s invest in public services, in people’s needs. (The speaker agreed to answer a blue card question)

Madam President, what always strikes me here is that when we talk about taxing billionaires, it is as if they have an army of Members at their service, ready to defend them. We obviously have the macronists crying out: No, no, no, let's not tax the rich! You don't know? Let's work on tax evasion. You who are in government in France, you could perhaps start there. Maar ook het Vlaams Belang. Als wij yesterday zeggen: “Belast de miljardairs”, die 1 %, die 37 miljardairs die we in België hebben, staat het Vlaams Belang op z’n achterste poteen. Waarom? We kunnen daarmee eleven financial scholen. We kunnen daarmee investeringen doen. We kunnen daarmee eleven ziekenhuizen herfinancieren. And then there is a myth maintained by people who say that billionaires are useful, it’s important. Seriously? It is not the billionaires, it is not the rich who create wealth. It is the workers. It is the workers who produce, it is the workers who create the added value. You need to review your economics courses! Let us also ensure a democratic dimension. Because these people who concentrate all this wealth have an obvious influence on the political world. And it is an unhealthy influence that needs to be broken.

Mr President, cluster bombs are terrible weapons. They are weapons that do not differentiate between civilian and military populations. They are bombs that disintegrate and remain in the environment, that hide, that do not all explode, until a child sets foot on it and is killed. This is why the majority of European countries have banned these weapons and more than 100 countries worldwide have banned them. So what I do not understand is the silence, the lack of reaction from the European Union and almost all colleagues here when the Americans, the United States, decide to supply these weapons to Ukraine. Because this is a war crime perpetrated by the United States. It has been said, and you always repeat it, Mr Verhofstadt, that when the Russians do, it is a war crime. But when the US does, it’s a war crime too! You don’t like your allies being attacked. But the Russians are committing war crimes, and that is not acceptable. And when the US does, it is not acceptable either!