Speeches

Mr President, thank you very much. Not another child. Not one more child should have to wake up to the sound of bombs falling. Not one more child should have to see and feel the horror of their parents' cramped embraces. Not one more child should have to see their home leveled to the ground and then be forced to flee for the fourth and fifth time on streets that only lead to walls and barbed wire. Not one more child should be orphaned and not another child should have to look for and find his siblings blown up and crushed under rubble. Not one more child should pay with his life for Hamas terror. We continue to call for a permanent ceasefire now and for the hostages to be released now. This is the beginning of the road to sustainable peace.

Mr President, thank you very much. We are reached by the headlines about the sexual violence every day, about the assaults and rapes. Often only she, the woman, is seen who is suspected to have been exposed. The fact that there is also always a he – a he who has made the irreversible – is not given the same headlines. His guilt, his deliberate abuses, are made invisible in news reports – as is the case in EU legislation. More than half of the EU's member states do not have a rape law based on the fact that anything but a yes is a no. It is a betrayal of all women who do not dare to go to the police in fear of not being believed, and of all victims of abuse who are told that what they have been subjected to is not a crime according to the law. This has to end. We have to put the blame where it belongs. We need consent legislation across the EU now.

Mr President, thank you very much. Beyond Putin's bombs, missiles and shell attacks, there is a silent war going on. It is the violence, abuse and rape that Ukrainian women and children are subjected to. It is not about single victims, it is about tens of thousands of Ukrainian women and children. Many of them are in EU countries, including Poland, which has denied them the medical assistance they need. We – the EU – say we want to help and do everything we can for Ukraine, but then we do not help victims of sexual violence. It is a disgrace to both the European Commission and the European Union as a whole. whereas access to sexual and reproductive health is the right of Ukrainian women and girls; Ensuring that their rights are respected is the EU's duty.

Madam President, thank you very much. The hatred of those who hate our freedoms and our open societies has once again materialised and taken lives. We mourn with those who have lost their loved ones, and we share the anxiety, fear and sadness that many feel. At the same time, it is how we react that defines us, that defines who we are. The goal of the extremists is to frighten us, to divide us. The testimonies from inside the arena yesterday told us the opposite. Thousands of Belgian fans showed their love and solidarity with the Swedish supporters who were stuck in the arena. They showed in action what the EU is, what defines us – united in diversity, United in Diversity. That is what defines us, what is our Brussels, what is our Europe. Let us continue – convincingly and uncompromisingly – to defend our freedoms and our open societies. To give up what defines us is to let hate and terror win.

Mr President, the survivors of prostitution and the sex trade cannot stand here today, so I will use my time to share some of their words: ‘It was not until after the exploitation had stopped that I could look back and see the horrible situation I was in when I was being exploited. I could not afford to do that. I needed to protect myself from realising the misery I was forced to live in.’ ‘I couldn’t view myself as a victim of violence. It wasn’t until after that I would see what the underlying causes were and that I had been exploited. It was never a case of liberation or free will.’ ‘Prostitution is violence. To be raped is not a job.’ I’ll end with a final quote from a survivor: ‘Support our report. Support this report. Don’t forget our voices’.

Madam President, thank you very much. The Swedish government, which allows itself to be controlled by the far-right, is currently planning new laws that will force public employees – teachers, medical staff, librarians, social workers – to indicate their pupils, patients and visitors. People who not Offences are to be locked up. Swedish police should be able to carry out what in practice becomes racial profiling checks on streets and squares. This is an effective way of realising and normalising the agenda of the far-right, where the most vulnerable pay the highest price. It is children who no longer dare to go to school, the pregnant woman who suddenly begins to bleed but does not dare to seek help. This is not democracy. It is an extreme right-wing ideal in which human rights are not universal but relative. We know what this leads to. We have to stop and stop.

Madam President, thank you very much. 40 million people in the EU live in energy poverty. It is women, it is poor pensioners, it is single parents who are forced to choose between paying the electricity bills or feeding their children. The situation has worsened following Russia’s war of invasion in Ukraine. The main victims of the energy crisis are those who already had too much month left at the end of their salary. But there is a solution as simple as effective, as cheap as fair: energy efficiency. Thanks to the Green Group, a much tougher proposal is on the table than the Commission's original proposal. Unfortunately, the Swedish Presidency struggled to lower its ambition. Now we have a chance to make sure they don't succeed.

Madam President, thank you very much. Water scarcity is a global crisis. We know that about two billion people do not have access to drinking water in countries far away from us. But now the crisis is here too. Europe is drying out in the sun. From north to south, the maps are red. Last summer was the warmest summer in 500 years recorded in Europe, and this year we are already breaking that record. Much of it is due to climate change, but not everything. In the EU, we consume more water than ever, both in households and in industry, and huge amounts of water are polluted and wasted. That is unacceptable. We need to do everything we can in Europe and globally now. We have the tools. What is needed is political will.

Madam President, thank you very much. It is often said that the most dangerous place for a woman is the home. It should be said that there is no safe space for women at all. It is sick that we have become accustomed to this, that headline after headline about murdered women does not lead to mass protests. It is equally inconceivable that it is precisely women who do the most to work against men's violence against women. It is women who are pushing the issue politically, it is women who are debating, who are demonstrating, who are screaming, that this must end. Where are all the men who think it's too damned that women are hated, threatened, beaten and killed? The EU's commitment to the Istanbul Convention is a big deal. That the EU wants to combat and follow up on the work against men's violence against women. Now we need to make the words a reality.

Mr President, thank you very much. Uganda's new bill punishes love with death. The crime they committed is to be who they are and love who they want. The law must be annulled, and the hunt for LGBTIQ people in Uganda must end. Our condemnations have stopped similar laws before, and it must be ours. defaultstate – now more than ever – that when the human rights of LGBTIQ people are violated, we protest loudly. And when the death penalty is used against LGBTIQ people, in Uganda and around the world, it will have severe consequences for those in power. But in order for words not to stop being beautiful words, we must also offer our protection to persecuted people. The EU should be a safe haven where LGBTIQ people can live in freedom.

Mr President, thank you very much. Desperate people in search of conditions for life are dying in the Mediterranean and we, the EU, allow that to happen. It doesn't have to be like this. There are alternatives. We could do things that reduce the risk of people putting their lives at risk, that reduce the risk of poverty, that reduce the risk of people being forced to flee. Unfortunately, there are politicians and governments, like those in Italy and in Sweden, who want people to believe that their barbed wire policy is an inevitable alternative. That's not true. There are alternatives. There are policies based on solidarity with those who are forced to flee. Policies that create the conditions for life. policies that are sustainable in the long term.

Mr President, thank you very much. For 14 years, the EU has had the chance to make discrimination illegal across the EU. For 14 years, they chose not to. The citizens of Europe deserve better than this. Gays, who are denied the right to rent a hotel room, deserve better. The girl with the hijab, who gets kicked out of a cafe, deserves better. The wheelchair-bound woman, who does not receive the care she is entitled to, deserves better. The 14 years since the proposal was presented show that the EU accepts that we have first- and second-class citizens. Some of us can enjoy the rights and protections of the law and others can't. Those who are primarily to be held accountable for this, for this division, are the Council. They are the ones who govern and those who govern the EU member states. Now, at last, the Swedish Presidency has put the issue on its agenda, and the Spanish Presidency has promised me that they will take over. That is why my question to the Council is: What does the schedule look like? When do we make discrimination illegal across the EU?

Madam President, thank you very much. The far right's dream of a Europe surrounded by walls with barbed wire fences is becoming a reality. The hundreds of millions of euros spent on preventing people from entering the EU will not put an end to poverty, wars and natural disasters. Everyone who thinks about it knows that. All EU prime ministers and governments know this. They also know that it will instead make people more desperate and take greater risks. The winners are the security and defence industry. The losers are people fleeing for their lives. Walls and fences do not solve the big problems. We need to be able to do better than this. We can do better than this.

Madam President, thank you very much. For some of us in here, the threats from right-wing extremists have persecuted us since we were young children. They have characterized us, built us, and throughout life reminded us that just because you look like you do, there are people who hate you so much that they are prepared to resort to violence. We also know that behind the extremists there are right-wing populists who, with words of contempt and hatred, not only sanction but activate the violence. These right-wing populists are here in the European Parliament and they are in the Swedish Parliament. If we want to put an end to the threats, hatred and violence from right-wing extremists, then we must also put an end to right-wing populists.

Madam President, thank you very much. Sweden – the new EU presidency – is led by a puppet government that carries out, in many areas, the policies of the far right. The Swedish Presidency thus puts its finger on the question: Is it beautiful ideals or our actual actions that define us as union? I ask because Pandora's box is wide open. In Sweden, it was the Prime Minister who opened it when he invited the far-right to the table, and it was the Liberals who gave him the key. Sweden's prime minister is not stupid and not fooled. He knows what he's doing. He thinks it's worth it. Right-wing extremism is something that comes to the fore in order to gain power. And unfortunately, he's not alone. The extreme right-wing wave we see in the EU is often made possible by conservatives and liberals. Hédi Fried survived the Holocaust. She reminded me and many others that grains of sand are added to grains of sand. And before you know it, there's a whole pile of sand in front of you. What was unthinkable just a few years ago is now the new normal. Without being embarrassed, say one thing and then do another. To speak beautifully and widely about the green transition and the rule of law, but let climate deniers, with Viktor Orbán as the model, hold the reins. We must be many who dare to continue to point out the grains of sand, who refuse to accept that human rights do not extend to all but only to some, and who protest when unscientific decisions are taken in the midst of a burning climate emergency. Future generations will judge us harshly and divide us into those who made it possible and those who resisted.

Madam President, 30 years ago, we agreed that minorities’ rights need enhanced protection and promotion, and in only a few weeks’ time, Sweden will take over the presidency of the Council, a country with a government that is in practice run by a party established by Nazis in the late 80s. The European Union has committed to protecting and promoting minorities’ rights, but for the next six months the work of the Council will be led by a country – my country – which in area after area is doing the opposite of just that. I refuse to accept and pretend that the EU stands up for values that we do not implement in reality. In a democracy, the majority has a responsibility to promote and defend minorities’ rights. Why are you so many that choose to shy away from that fundamental responsibility?

Mr President, thank you very much. The EU should be a sanctuary. A community where all of us who live here should be able to express our opinions, engage, be vocal in our protests and powerful in demonstrations, without registration of opinions or other sanctions. That is not the case today. Not for everyone. We know that foreign agents are persecuting EU citizens here in the EU. A fact and an oppression that, among other things, the Iranian diaspora has lived with for decades. The Islamist regime in Iran not only wants to intimidate the people of Iran into silence and obedience, but is also persecuting our citizens here. The EU must put an end to Iran's agents. They will be tried, they will be sentenced and they will be expelled. No one is free until everyone is free.

Mr President. Why? Why are you discussing how to criminalise people and organizations that save lives; instead of putting the pressure on the EU governments that shy away from their responsibilities? And how dare so many of you define yourself as Christians and repeat that you are defending Christian values when your ideas and your actions are proof of the opposite. There is no doubt about responsibility when it comes to saving lives at risk at sea. Thank God for the ones that do what needs to be done. We need to discuss how we shall do what they are doing.

Madam President, police opening fire at civilians, children being killed, girls being raped in prisons by security guards to make sure that they are not virgins and, therefore, will not go to heaven when they die. Thousands upon thousands imprisoned and at risk of state-sanctioned executions. For many, it is already too late. But it does not mean that it was all for nothing. If we want to be on the right side of history, we have no choice but to continue and to do more, much more. All other alternatives would mean that we let the murderous Islamic regime continue to dictate the terms. So we have a choice: be silent or act in solidarity with the extraordinarily brave Iranian people who, day after day with their own life at stake, continue to fight for their freedom. Woman, life, freedom.

Madam President, Commissioner, some things seem so self-evident, so obviously the right thing to do that we tend to believe that they will eventually just happen, that the persons with the most and the best qualifications take the seat in the room is one of those things. There are those who want to reduce the long battle to make sure women have a seat at the decision-making tables of companies to only be about fairness, when it is equally as much about competence. During the course of working with this legislation, we have again and again been told that it is a person’s qualifications and skills which should determine if they get a certain position, and that is exactly how it should be. After many years of hard work, we hopefully are a majority who can agree that the competences we need in companies in the EU are not only those of white middle-aged men. Experiences and knowledge comes in other shapes and colours that we need to make our companies, our Union, the best it can be. Women on boards should be the self-evident first step to take, but it is only the beginning of something that can become even bigger.

Mr President, thank you very much. Racism and discrimination are a reality that characterises people’s entire lives – their upbringing, their schooling, their opportunities and their daily lives. Racism does not only affect individuals. It affects all of us, whole societies and whole countries. Racism stands in the way of development. There are those who live and act in the belief that racism is not a problem. They're wrong. It shows all the research and all our history. Allowing racist ideas to have an influence in a country's politics, as happens in the EU, including in Sweden, is stupid. It's a short-term, expensive profit for a few. Racism is destructive. It's destroying. That is why we will continue to fight it, everywhere and all the time.

Mr President, thank you very much. Ideas are like energy. They don't disappear, they are transformed. Our responsibility is to understand which ideas provide the conditions for life and community, and which ideas create divisions, which build suspicions between people, which turn into hatred, which slowly but surely destroys. The nationalist ideas that were given space and emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, and that ended in the Holocaust, still exist. In today's Europe, they are carried by the far-right. But just as then, they are helped today, above all, by conservative and liberal politicians, who, blinded by their own gain, believe that they can tame monsters. Right-wing populism seduces easy-footed politicians. We see it in Italy, we see it in Hungary, in Croatia and sadly also in Sweden – the country that will soon take over the EU presidency. In order not to be forced to repeat our history, we must know it. We must understand how one leads to the other, and we who want to be on the right side of history must dare to make uncomfortable decisions. We have to dare to defend what we know gives our children a future to look forward to, and we have to put hard on hard against all steps in the opposite direction. And it has to be done now. It should have been done just now. We don't have a second to lose.

Mr President, thank you very much. It started with Jina Masha Amini, but the detainees, the injured, the murdered have many more faces and as many names. The perpetrators, murderers and accomplices – there are also many. But we know who they are and what they should be held accountable for. Then there's the rest of us, who are on the sidelines. We who can choose to live our lives as usual or do what we can with what we have. Peace and freedom do not come for free. The brave women, men and children who have taken to the streets all over Iran with their lives, they show how expensive freedom is. The reactions and perseverance of the outside world will determine whether their struggle, whether their death, was in vain or not. The freedom movement in Iran needs all the support it can get, while at the same time making it inconvenient for the Iranian assassination regime. (The speaker uses a non-official language).

Madam President, thank you very much. There are things in the world around us that we can say we didn't know or that we knew very little about. The situation of many Roma in the EU is not one of those things. For decades, we in power have received a report after a report describing in black and white all the grey scales of misery – from systematic discrimination in housing queues and the labour market to illiteracy, begging and sex trafficking of children – in the EU in 2022. Claiming that racism and discrimination against Roma in the EU is normalised is a understatement. Everyone knows, no one does enough. I hope that this report will be the exception that confirms the rule. Let it make a difference.

Mr President, thank you very much. Colleagues and visitors! This year we had to fight to find out the truth about the state of fundamental rights in our Union. The truth about the rise of racism. The Truth about Discrimination. The truth about the threats against journalists and investigative media. We had to fight the far right in this Parliament in order to be able to write down the facts at all. They wanted to make the facts invisible. They wanted to make invisible what affects people in Europe every day. But they lost, as racists, fascists and Nazis and their fellow runners always do in the end. No matter where they are, whether it is in the Swedish parliament and government or if it is in the European Parliament, they will lose in the end. But the path to their loss is a terrible journey. Those who pay the highest price are the ones who need the rights the most. I am so grateful and happy that we are still more human rights defenders in this Parliament. So far, the truth is on the table.