Speeches

Mr President, every step towards women's rights began with a woman who refused to wait for permission to be equal. They were called difficult, emotional, demanding. I will never wait for permission either. Today we are witnessing, across Europe and beyond, a global backlash against gender equality and a growing anti-gender movement that yesterday was outside the House – today they hold seats in this House of democracy, trying to roll back decades of progress on gender equality and silence our voices. The roadmap that the Commission presented is very welcome. It is a renewed commitment, and I would like to thank Commissioner Hadja Lahbib for her strong and dedicated leadership for women, for a more equal Europe and world. The priorities are clear: a world free of gender-based violence, equal opportunities and education, sexual and reproductive health, and rights for everyone. Every step towards gender equality was once called uncomfortable, impossible or necessary until it became undeniable. Endorsing the roadmap is our next step to stand firm when gender equality is under attack, not just with promises, but with concrete, real actions.

You said something very interesting: that the Afghan women were born oppressed, on the one hand, and on the other hand that we women in Europe are already gender-equal. What is your answer to the women in, for example, Malta or Hungary, who are not allowed to have a safe and legal abortion? Many of them have damage for life, and some of them have actually lost their lives.

Mr President, allow me to speak directly to my sisters in Afghanistan: all my respect for your fight and resilience, for your strength and courage. We see you, we hear you, and we are going to fight with you. Because we – women in Europe – know the fight for gender equality too well. But those who are trying to oppress us here just come in nicer suits. I know that gender equality is possible in Afghanistan, even if being a woman today in Afghanistan feels like being trapped in a nightmare. There is no doubt there is a gender apartheid in Afghanistan. And Madam Commissioner, we have to, as an EU, work towards having gender apartheid as a crime against humanity. We need also to focus on and prioritise women and girls in our humanitarian response, because we have to be the force that carries and the force that empowers girls and women in Afghanistan.

Madam President, today we are thinking about the victims of the terrorist attack on 7 October and their families. Peace is needed and it has been needed for the last 70 years. So let's talk about the peace plan then, and here, I really need the Commission to listen, because this plan comes at a time when several international organisations and bodies of authority and human rights organisations have concluded that after two years of violence, the atrocities in Gaza meet the threshold for genocide. What are the risks with this plan then? First, it risks locking in impunity, because how can two parties that are deemed by the International Court of Justice being war criminals, actually will lead to responsibility? Secondly, it risks to rewrite the responsibility of the attack, of what is going on. Thirdly, the outcome will be for the powerful ones and not for the victims. Fourth, the gains that are won on the battlefield will be permanent political gains. We all know that there cannot be peace without justice because it is very much needed...

Madam President, Robert Fico – you are following the schoolbook of the crackdown on democracy and human rights. We've seen it before; you go after the LGBTQI+ persons, you go after the right of safe, legal abortion. You then go after the next group and the next group. You incite corruption. The freedom that you are enjoying, the democracy that brought you to power, the rule of law that is protecting your rights as much as anyone else's rights; these are principles and values that were fought for by the Slovak people long before you came to power. They were fought for with sweat, tears and blood. These are not for you to be used for your own agenda. You are turning your own country into Putin's Trojan horse, inside the very Union that contributed to the prosperity of your country. Not as a favour to you, but because the Slovak people belong in Europe. I am convinced that with the Slovak people, and because of our colleagues in progressive Slovakia, democracy will prevail and your attempt to turn your country into an autocracy will fail.

Madam President, this debate is both factually and morally wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. And two factual wrongs you will find already in the name of this debate. There is no mass migration to Europe, but in fact, there is a 66 % drop in the applications of asylum. The second wrong is the EU-wide data shows that sexual violence is committed by EU nationals, by men who are known to the women in their own homes. The common denominator here is spelled M-E-N, men. That is where the wrong is. The far right are twisting facts into an ignorant, hate-fuelled portrayal of migrants. Correlation does not equal causality. Women's rights organisations are rejecting your cynical weaponisation of our pain for your racist agenda. I have my voice. Don't you dare claim to represent it.

Mr President, nine years ago, Ahmadreza Jalali was arrested in Iran with fabricated charges of espionage. He was sentenced to death without a trial. Under the influence of torture, he is held in the notorious prison Evin and at risk of being executed at any time. Jalali has constantly been denied medical care and held in isolation without any contact with his family, and in the last year his health has severely deteriorated. In May this year he had a heart attack and after all of that, no medical attention or help. Sweden and Member States and the External Action Service bear a responsibility to increase their pressure on the regime in Iran for his immediate release. And to you, Ahmadreza Jalali, we have not forgotten you. You're always on our minds. And I would like to extend the gratitude of the Members of this House to his family, especially his wife, for always reminding us about his case, for always being there. Thank you for your fight for Ahmadreza Jalali. Release Ahmadreza Jalali now.

Madam President, for too long have we spoken of Palestinians suffering. For too long have we done close to nothing. Just sending money over is not enough anymore. I know that there is not so much you can do, Madam Commissioner. But there are some things that actually you can take a lead on, and be the one who will redefine how history will look at us. There are 40 000 displaced in the West Bank; nearly 60 000 people dead in Gaza. But we still lack an EU common action. We need actions. No more words. Stop the Association Agreement – that's where you can take a lead, Madam Commissioner. Sanction the Netanyahu regime, like we have done with the Russians – there you can also take a lead, Madam Commissioner. Sanction the settler economy – there also you can take a lead, Madam Commissioner. We need a leadership of action. No more words. No more hiding behind 'We are sending money', because when the money is there, the aid is stopped. It's not reaching the starving people.

Mr President, earlier today, 51 Palestinians were killed by Israeli tanks just because they were standing in line for food. They were starving. They were not armed terrorists. The Israeli‑backed humanitarian fund is nothing else but a war strategy of Netanyahu. In Stockholm, in The Hague, in Brussels, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets showing a red line, marching for a ceasefire, for ending this war on the people in Gaza, showing more leadership than many of those who are European leaders today. Thank you to all of you who are demonstrating or taking to the streets, showing us that Europe is not only its leadership. Next week, the leaders of the EU have the opportunity to actually take action. And you, Commissioner, you have the chance to be one of those who will define history. You have the chance to be one of those who will rewrite our complicity with the silence that we have. Europe should not reward war criminals and acts of war crimes with trade deals. It's time to end the Association Agreement with Israel.

Madam President, Commissioner, representative of the Council, dear colleagues, I'm tired of having this debate in this Chamber. So now I'm speaking to the people of Europe directly. I know, like me, the eyes of the starving children in Gaza, the pictures of the shredded bodies of the children in Gaza are haunting you. 14 000 children are on the brink of death – 14 000, by the end of today – as a direct result of the Israeli siege. And finally, we have seen some movement yesterday. Finally, the Council agreed to review the Association Agreement with Israel. And it is thanks to you, the people of Europe, you made that possible. So don't stop now, don't look away. Write to your Members of Parliament, call your government, email your representatives, ask for them to push for the stopping of the Association Agreement with Israel during the review time. It is a history-defining moment. Let the people of Europe be the ones who define that history.

Madam President, thank you for giving me the word on the point of order. I noticed that both Ms Bentele and Mr Leggeri had symbols on their jackets that resemble the association that you also made to the symbols of Ms Boylan and I wish to just draw your attention to that. If we want to have no symbols at all, then I suppose that we should not have symbols at all.

Madam President, Madam High Representative, the world is in turmoil. In the heart of all that are the attacks on human rights: war, sexual violence, crimes against humanity, climate crisis, man-made disasters, state-capturing oligarchs that tear down humanitarian aid. The ICC is being threatened; the ICJ is undermined; international law as we have known it is no longer existing. Nobody is coming to the rescue either. This fight will have to be ours to take. There is much to talk about defence now, but if we cannot even defend our fundamental human rights, what are our armies going to be defending? The fight back must start now, and this is how: put the right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; create a consent-based definition of rape; prohibit discrimination across the EU; strip anti-democrats like Viktor Orbán of powers. Enough of democratic backsliding, anti-gender backlash and racism. The buck must stop now.

Mr President, there will be a time when it is too late to act. Bosnia and Herzegovina is wrapped up in a conflict that is driven by Milorad Dodik and his boy band: Putin, Orbán and Vucic. Together they struck a serious blow to the Dayton peace agreement. Mr President, Commissioner, esteemed colleagues, let us not fail the people of Bosnia again. We failed them as we watched the first genocide after the Holocaust unroll in front of our eyes in July 1995, in Srebrenica. We failed them when we watched concentration camps built where Bosnians were systematically murdered, tortured, raped, starved. We failed them when we watched Sarajevo be under siege for three long years. The time for press releases is over. It's time to act! Impose swift sanctions on those who are breaching the Dayton peace agreement. Strengthen our EUFOR mission so we can keep the peace. And continue the support to the Bosnian legal system and institutions, with the aim for them to become members of the EU. Do not let the people of Bosnia down again. Never forget Srebrenica!

A lot of what you said was utter nonsense, among others, about being a Muslim, that if you are against Islam, then you are for women's rights. Of course, that is just utter nonsense, because in the Islamic world there are women that are so much stronger than you are. Nevertheless, to my question: you don't see yourself as a threat to women's rights? Because I am so much more afraid of you and what you can do with your power here – to my rights, to my girls' rights – with your anti-gender approach and with your racist approach. Don't you consider yourself as a threat to us?

Dear colleague, you said that the patriarchy that we are talking about that has been oppressing women in Europe, and even in this House to some extent, at points when you see the number of chairs that are women or the positions that are, you know, given to women in politics, but also in finance and all of that and boards. Is that a made up concept or is it a reality that we actually are living day to day? And then you also say that there is an ideology that is called gender equality. So you do not adhere to the fact that women are also humans and they have also human rights?

Mr President, on behalf of the Renew Group, we would like to welcome the Commission's Roadmap for Women's Rights. The backlash on gender equality is here, ongoing every day, and now it's cheered on by President Trump. Every victory we have made for women's rights, it has been a hard fight to win it and it has brought prosperity and development to the entire humanity. This movement is so eager on attacking fundamental rights and human rights. The EU is no exception. Ladies and gentlemen, the anti-gender movement is growing in our continent and in this House. The trend of mainstreaming misogyny must end now. We have to mainstream gender equality. This is a call for action to us all feminists to mobilise, unite and to rebuild a better world based on feminism free from patriarchy. We must increase funding for gender equality in the next MFF; enshrine the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; criminalise rape with a consent-based definition of rape; and finally, the EU needs a feminist foreign policy. It will take us 130 years to eradicate extreme poverty for women and girls, and 60 years to reach gender equality in Europe. It is time to put in a higher gear.

Mr President, Commissioner, representative of the Council, dear colleagues, President Trump says that he is committed to buying and owning the Gaza Strip. He says that the Palestinians can get much better housing in neighbouring countries. Wow. I did not know, actually, that the conflict in Israel and Palestine was about better housing. And you know what? Surprisingly enough, Prime Minister Netanyahu says it's an innovative proposal. And the world is silent. It may come as a surprise to you, Mr. Donald Trump, but neither people, their rights nor their lands are up for sale. On 25 February, the EU-Israel Association Council is meeting, and we from this House do not expect anything less than the utmost pressure on the Netanyahu Government to commit to a long-term peace, and let me tell you how it starts. It starts with seriously committing by the Israeli side, by Netanyahu, to the ceasefire deal, ending the violence in the occupied West Bank and lifting the ban on UNRWA. And the EU must invest in the rebuilding of Gaza without forced displacement. Let this be very clear: you cannot have safety and peace in Israel if you do not have safety and peace in Palestine. All human rights matter, enough with the double standards.

Thank you, colleague, for your question. Are you aware of the fact that the vast majority of young people who are now in the criminal gangs were born and raised in Sweden? They have gone to Swedish preschool, they have gone to Swedish school. How can you make the connection to immigration? They are a Swedish product, nothing more. It is the Swedish failure that we need to talk about, not about migration. I am also a product of migration. But here I am, just like you. What's happened? Then what has happened?

Madam President, I would like to thank you for your Sweden is shaken by the brutal gang violence. Children acting as drug couriers, teenagers acting as torpedoes and greedy gang leaders whose ruthlessness and brutality have no borders and who control their illegal activities outside Sweden's borders. This is certainly a European problem. From 1 January to today, there have been 33 detonations and explosions around Sweden. We have a government in Sweden that promised a paradigm shift in the election campaign. Unfortunately, we can only conclude that the current government's policy has not succeeded. There are many things that should have been done differently, which should have been done in the past. Not least, the policy should focus more on strangling recruitment to the gangs. Our first line of defense here is parents, teachers, school staff, social workers and field assistants. It is the school and it is our preventive work that will determine whether these gangs remain in the future. So far, the digital platforms, where much of the recruitment of these young people takes place, are not forced by law to remove content such as advertisements recruiting children. If you talk to customs in Sweden, you can see pretty quickly that they are understaffed. There are now 200 people. They would actually need to be 400 people, and the EU Port Alliance has criticised Sweden precisely for this deficit. But instead of investing more in school and giving young people an alternative, instead of investing in better customs work, more staff and better machines, politics has been boiled down to a competition in tougher penalties and tougher measures against immigrants. Migration policy is not the tool to solve gang violence. And one question: How do you know that there are African gangs in Sweden? When was the last time you were in Baghdad? What kind of bullshit is this?

Mr President, I would like to thank you. My Sweden is in mourning and in shock. Last week was the worst mass shooting in Swedish history. Ten people were killed. A teacher, whose dream was to help others achieve their dreams. A mother, who never came home to her four children, and a personal assistant, who was loved and who was getting married this summer. The common denominator between them is that they had their roots elsewhere than in Sweden. Every person had dreams, a story they came from and a future that was taken away from them. I visited Örebro on Friday to pay tribute to the victims, to put candles and flowers outside the school and to show that Europe stands together with the Örebros and the whole of Sweden in our grief. I was met with a bottomless sadness, with anger, with many questions, but above all also with concern. Many parents wonder how they can let their children go to school. They wonder if they can be outside. Many feel trapped between racism and violent crime. Many are the questions and therefore it is incredibly important that the police get to the bottom of what was behind. Because we need real answers. I was also met by a united civil society in Örebro. The mosques and churches had opened their gates and were a warm embrace for those seeking support. Save the Children, Red Cross, social services and youth centers were all open there and there was support and help for all those who applied. I would like to extend my heartfelt and warm thanks to the police, emergency services and medical staff who were there on the ground and who are still there dealing with the situation. I'm pretty shaken up myself, because this could have been my parents who had been there on the spot. These are the people that this violence touches. We have a challenging and difficult time ahead of us in Sweden, but we can use it to build Sweden together. A Sweden for all.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, in 1991 I was fifteen years old, and my mother made the non-choice to send me with a smuggler to Europe because it was so expensive for us both to come to Europe. There were no legal pathways. She could not come here to work, though she has a master's degree in economics. My father was imprisoned in Abu Ghraib in Iraq for eleven years because he and my mum dared to question Saddam, dared to fight for freedom. That's why the entire family had a death sentence. These are the migrants who you want to punish, who you say are criminals. I hear Mr Leggeri and his friends calling for harder punishment. Yes, please do that, we all agree: harder punishment on the smugglers. But why punish the migrants? Why always calling them, putting them in the narrative of being criminals. It is not true. The report they are referring to – is it the UNHCR 2025 Global Appeal, where they say that there is a rise of 106 % of forcibly displaced persons, or 60 million women, who are at high risk of being subject to gender inequality? We are just treating the symptoms. When you talk about harder punishment and not the root causes, we have to have a comprehensive approach to migration. We have to build more legal pathways to the EU.

Mr President, Mr Commissioner, dear colleagues, the ongoing violence in Sudan and senseless war has gripped the nation and its people by suffering, displacement and fear. The status quo for almost two years now has been that of utter devastation and no one is safe. People are slaughtered on a daily basis, facing famine on a daily basis, fleeing on a daily basis. Women, men, children, mutilated, raped and abused. But let's not be mistaken. This conflict is entirely manmade. On purpose. Further fuelled by outside influences due to greed and power politics, limited aid is entering. Because of that, our role as a European Union is to put pressure on regional powers for sustainable, long-lasting peace and provide necessary humanitarian aid. Too long we have been quiet, too long we have sought to withdraw our engagement from the region? Too long we have idly stood by while millions of people are displaced, thousands of them are killed. Just how much longer can we wait? The EU must show leadership!

Mr President, for 470 days, the laughter of the children on the streets of Gaza have been replaced by bombs. Netanyahu has mass murdered over 40 000 Palestinians, leading to an arrest warrant by the ICC. But now we have a ceasefire that is very much welcome, leading to silencing the weapons – loved ones, both hostages and detainees coming home to their families. This ceasefire must become a sustainable peace. Netanyahu and his extremist government must understand that if it's peace and security they want for the Israeli people, then they should not be bombing Palestinians or the neighbouring countries. If it's peace and security Netanyahu wants for the Israeli people, it is by fulfilling the human rights of the Palestinian people. If it's peace and security Netanyahu and the Knesset want to build for the Israeli people, it is by stopping the ban on UNRWA. UNRWA is the only trusted and respected international organisation by the Palestinians, both in Gaza, the West Bank and the occupied territories. The needs of education for children and healthcare are overwhelming – it will take more than 350 years to rebuild Gaza. Netanyahu, you have 11 days to find a solution. And if the EU will do one thing right, it is to keep the pressure on Netanyahu to lift the ban on UNRWA.

I have two questions: you said that there are over 1 000 Palestinian criminals. Are you aware that these people are arbitrarily detained without a trial? There is no proof of being tried and there are several of them who are under the age of 18 who are now being finally released. My second question is, would you condemn the Knesset members who are saying that Palestinians are animals and do not deserve human rights, as you are condemning the so-called brainwashing of Palestinian children?

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, here comes another type of feminist, that is a characteristic apparently. End all forms of discrimination against women, eliminate all violence against women in private life and in public life. Stop practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation. Women's full participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels in society. Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Equal rights to economic resources. Ownership of land and property. Enforceable legislation for promoting equality and empowerment of girls and women everywhere. This is SDG 5, and with today's pace, it will take us 286 years to achieve. Really, are we on track to achieve this goal? Is this House prepared to do everything to achieve the SDG 5? Is the political landscape here, and I'm asking the far right and the conservatives, really conducive for achieving SDG 5? One clear thing is that with the rise of the far right and conservatism in general in our societies, we know that the attacks on women's and girls' rights, they are coming well-organised, well-coordinated and well-financed, and it is a very good question to ask: where does the money come from? So this puts a very special responsibility on our shoulders. We have to work together, we have to stand united against the oppression of women, because we owe it to the women without voices, to the girls without voices, and because if not us, then who? And if not now, then when? Merry Christmas and a happy new year.