Speeches

Madam President, the talent pool is the tool our businesses have long awaited. It is the clearest example of what we, together in this House, can achieve when reason prevails and when we listen to our companies and businesses. It is rooted in the understanding, also, that migration is not just a challenge, but could be a part of a solution. At a time when irregular migration has significantly decreased, let us instead reinforce our legal pathways. Read the legislation just once and you will see: this is about addressing labour shortages that cannot be filled at the national level or EU level. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all shadows who have supported me. Together, we have done outstanding work to bring forward this innovative tool and to strengthen Europe's competitiveness.

Madam President, today we heard the story of Nicole Fox and the courage of her mother, Jackie. The fight reminds us of a difficult truth: violence against women does not always leave bruises and marks. It spreads through screens, through humiliation, through images weaponised to shame and silence girls and women, generated without consent and replicated at massive scale. What happened to Nicole was not an isolated tragedy. Across Europe, misogyny is organised and amplified online, because that is exactly where the anti-gender movement thrives. And misogyny – that is normalised by some in this House who refuse to vote for women's rights every single time this Parliament decided to act. But Europe must act. Our laws must be enforced. Platforms must remove abusive content faster – or rather, never allow it to be uploaded. Digital violence against women must be recognised for what it is: violence. Because girls in Europe must never pay that price.

Madam President, yesterday we celebrated the progress on women's rights, but today we have to confront the backlash because across Europe an anti‑gender movement is growing, spreading conspiracy theories about feminism and attacking women's rights. And yes, we see it here in the Chamber because the patterns of the vote is always the same: you say you want to protect women, but when we vote, you always vote against protection from violence. You say you want to defend women's dignity, but when we vote, you attack reproductive rights. And tomorrow, when we vote on closing the gender pay gap, many of you once again will vote against it. So, let us be very honest about what this is: women are paid less, receive smaller pensions and carry the unpaid care work that are keeping our societies running. Yet, some of you still weaponise women's suffering to serve racist and misogynistic agendas, turning our bodies into your ideological battlefields in your cultural wars. Europe's women are not your propaganda, our bodies are not your battlefield and our rights are not negotiable.

Mr President, we are not witnessing strength in Iran. What we are witnessing is fear – a regime terrified by its own young women, terrified by students, terrified of a generation that has stopped being afraid. In the hospitals, medical workers are reporting that they are walking in blood. Dead young bodies are arriving to the morgues faster than what hope can do. This is what regimes do when they know their power is slipping away – they shoot their own children. To the mullahs, to the Revolutionary Guard: you can imprison bodies, but you will never be able to imprison history. Your crimes against humanity are documented and they will be prosecuted. You will answer in the International Criminal Court. See you in The Hague.

Thank you so much, Mr Sieper for your question, it is a very considerate one. Of course, I am checking a lot of the boxes: I am a woman, I consider myself still younger, I am of a migrant background and I am also a Muslim. So, I am ticking a lot of the boxes that correspond to who are the victims. What it makes me feel is that we need to work harder on this issue, we need to work on all levels, and we need to actually hold the platforms accountable because freedom of speech has never been about making me feel like less of a human.

Mr President, somehow, a debate about the dire situation in Syria has turned into a migration debate by the far right. That's amazing. But President, dear colleagues, when al-Sharaa took power, we all accepted him with a very bitter taste. So today I'm standing here in Kurdish traditional dress to honour the Kurdish women and the people who have paid a very high price for their freedom. When they answered our call for help in trying to face Daesh, ISIS – the most horrible terror organisation, they were not only defending their homes, but they were also defending our freedom. Kurds are asking for our help now. The roles are reversed. Protection that is denied is injustice. And injustice that is postponed is a justice that is denied. Kurdish women are not left alone even when dead, because when they die, the terrorists cut off their braids. The attacks on the Kurdish areas have to stop now. A ceasefire has to come now. And the de facto siege on Kobani has to be lifted now. Kurds: we see you; we hear you; you have more friends than the mountains in the European Parliament.

Mr President, woman, life, freedom. Three words that shook the world. Today, they echo again through the courage of the Iranian people who are fighting on the streets. Yet we as Europeans have not raised to their courage as we did before. Am I angry with the grey, half-hearted statements by the European Union? No, I am profoundly furious. Be concrete – offer humanitarian visas for activists. Break the internet blockade. Designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. Engage with the democratic opposition in Iran to facilitate a democratic transition and invoke responsibility to protect the UN Security Council. These are not radical demands. They are our obligations because history will not judge us by our statements, but by whether we stood with courage or hid behind procedure while people were killed, because silence kills also.

Mr President, I would like also to start by giving my condolences to the people of Spain due to the horrible accident that has happened in the country. Madam Commissioner, thank you for being here and thank you for always promising and for delivering on your promises. And this will be an urge to continue to deliver on the promises that you have made, especially when it comes to the humanitarian aid and fragility context. I know that we are looking forward to a new strategy from your side, because never before has international humanitarian law been so challenged. Never before have humanitarian workers being killed in these numbers. Never before have humanitarian organisations been doubted, questioned, but also prosecuted by big international players. Never before has the UN lost so much. So, Europe, the EU and you finally are actually the last force standing. Consider this report a strength to you as well. We, the people, are saying that we have to stand up for international humanitarian law.

Madam President, while many children go to school, play with their friends and count down to the holidays, children in Nigeria live in fear of abduction and violence. As a mother, my heart breaks into million pieces. As a politician, I am furious. Families are pleading for international action and we must not look away. These attacks are a grave violation of international law and of children's fundamental rights. Every act of impunity fuels the next abduction, and this has to have an end now. We must better tackle the root causes of instability, extremist violence and resource‑driven conflict, and fight climate change. Children should not fear going to school. Let us take this fight together so that one day we can wish all children everywhere not just a peaceful holiday, but a future free from fear.

Mr President, Commissioner, Council, we have been building a Europe that excludes, a Europe that is not accessible for everyone, a Europe that discriminates with its structures and systems. We have built a Europe that is not for every European, and there is a debt to be paid by us back to all our citizens. Not only because it is about democracy, human rights and social justice, but because we are losing out on competition. We are losing out on income for the European Union. The cost of not having the legislation in place amounts to EUR 1.3 billion. And by extending protection beyond employment, this directive would improve access to education, housing, healthcare, transport and services for elderly people, persons with disabilities, religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTIQ+ persons. Ensuring equal treatment across these groups is not only a matter of fundamental rights, as I said, but also of economic common sense. Discrimination wastes talent. It shrinks markets and holds back growth. This directive is about fairness, but it is also about making Europe stronger, more competitive and more inclusive. We need this directive, and we need it yesterday.

Madam President, it came as a surprise to us who have been working with this text and resolution for a while that there was an alternative resolution invoking the principles of subsidiarity, given that the Commission has already stated that this Citizens' Initiative falls within the EU competence in relation to cross-border health services. Subsidiarity does not appear to be an issue for Mr Bellamy and company when the Commission proposed the EU financial incentives for cross-border support to cancer screenings within the EU4Health programme. That's why I would like to introduce an oral amendment as follows: 'Recalls that in its Decision on the registration of the ECI, the Commission stated that "there seems to be no straightforward targeted interference with the competences of Member States to define their own health policy and the organisation of their health services by the simple fact of providing financial support to provide this type of health service"; recalls that according to the Treaty, "The European Parliament and the Council … may also adopt measures designed to protect and improve human health and in particular to combat the major cross-border health scourges"; highlights that EU resources have been used to directly finance or co-finance health services in the Member States in other cases, within the EU's supporting competences;'. This oral amendment is done just to clarify and add to the facts of the alternative resolution.

Mr President, 'My voice, my choice' exists because women in Poland are dying. Because women in Malta are treated as criminals. Because in Italy, access to abortion is only on paper, but in reality, it's blocked. Because in Hungary and in Slovakia, women's rights are being pushed back systematically under the banner of 'tradition'. 'My voice, my choice' exists because right-wing politicians in this House have been spending years blocking, delaying and denying women's rights. The result of that is women depending on borders. The result of that is freedom being conditioned just because you are a woman. 'My voice, my choice' is the citizens calling out our lack of leadership. Millions are saying to us, 'our bodies are not your battleground.' To those who still oppose this initiative: your ideology does not outweigh women's rights. Your discomfort does not triumph over fundamental rights for women. Let me be very clear: there is nothing responsible in endangering women's lives. One out of three women in the EU will at some point an abortion in her life – meaning your sister, your wife, your colleague. Criminalising abortion or making it inaccessible means putting women's lives in danger. 'My voice, my choice' is democracy knocking on your door, and history will remember who answered and who looked away. You can no longer claim that you support equality while voting against it in practice. So choose: stand with women or stand exposed, because a Europe that compromises on women's bodies is a Europe that has already compromised its soul. If Europe can protect banks, borders, budgets, then it can protect women. If Europe can fund roads, bridges and weapons, then it can also fund women's healthcare. Act, listen to the citizens and stop sacrificing women's rights to old-fashioned fears. Because a Europe that controls women's bodies is not a Union of values; it is a Union in retreat. Because a Europe that controls women's bodies is not a democracy – it's a warning.

Mr President, what we are witnessing in Tanzania is not the aftermath after elections, but a national tragedy. On 29 October, President Samia Suluhu Hassan crowned herself with a victory of 97 % of the votes after silencing the very people who challenged her. When citizens rose up – especially the young – they were met with bullets, brutality and a blockade on truth. Hundreds killed, hundreds injured, hundreds arrested – the entire country living in fear. Let us say his name clearly: Tundu Lissu, the opposition leader charged with treason, locked away simply because he exercised his democratic right to run for election. His imprisonment is a broader assault on democracy in Tanzania that is taking away all the promises to the Tanzanian people of their freedom. To the Tanzanian people: we have heard you. We are on your side. This House has chosen to stand by you.

Madam President, we stand in orange and we stand in fury. We are furious because still women are controlled, beaten, raped and murdered by men in the EU. Let me be very, very clear: this is not a woman's problem. Gender-based violence is a man's problem. And to the men in this Chamber, and beyond, unless you choose building safety over staying in your comfort zone, nothing will change. Unless you choose respect over dominance, nothing will change. Unless you are the ones who change the norms among the male population – call out that friend's sexist joke, challenge the lies, call out your uncle's shitty opinions about women around the Christmas dinner table. We wear orange for hope, but hope means nothing, if you are not courageous enough to look in the mirror and see how you yourself have been enabling gender-based violence.

Madam President, in accordance with Rule 118, I would like to make this House aware that on 28 October, the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, His Excellency Danny Danon, called the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian occupied territories, Ms Francesca Albanese, a 'witch', and her report a 'spell book'. I would like to ask you, Madam President, to call upon the Israeli Ambassador to the EU and remind him that that kind of rhetoric led Europe to burn women who were opinionated, who were free, who were inconvenient, alive. Remind him that that kind of rhetoric does not belong in a democratic conversation, because if we would have used the same rhetoric, we would be calling His Excellency Danny Danon maybe a sexist, a misogynist, or a douchebag, I don't know. But we won't, because when they go low, we go high, and that's why we invited Ms Francesca Albanese to this House. I would like to extend my personal invitation to the far-right colleagues to come ask your questions, say your opinions, because this is what we do in a democratic society. But something tells me that when wisdom comes running to you, you will find a way to run away faster.

I loved the tribute that you did to your mom. But have you ever asked her if she was seeing any violence? Maybe she felt it herself, she was maybe a victim of violence herself, and in that same question – were there migrants around her? Or was it a man? This is what you are not listening to when we are talking about men's violence. It's about the gender, it's not about the origin, because what is the common denominator is them being men – white, yellow, red, whatever.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, the EU has a violence problem, a gender-based violence problem. It's vast, it's severe, it's devastating. It is online, it is in real life. It is at home, it is in the workplace, it is in the public. It stretches from microaggressions to murders. This not only damages and changes a woman forever, but it is also costing the EU EUR 290 billion a year. So what's to be done, one can ask? Well, let's address the elephant in the room: we have to talk about men. Because even if it's not all men, it is always a man who is the perpetrator. And we have to talk to men because men have to be responsible for setting the norms among the male population in the EU. We also have to have consent-based legislation, because a 'no' has to mean a 'no' in Europe. And if we want to walk the talk, then we have to ensure that there is enough money in the next MFF to combat gender-based violence. It is high time for the EU to come back and come on track to the gender equality track.