Speeches

Madam President, We fought very hard – and thank you, Commissioner, for your commitment – for finally having homelessness, housing on the European agenda. We were expecting a lot and at the end of the day, Sorry to say - We have more or less an economic report, not a social report. When we talk about homelessness, when we talk about poverty - and here, Commissioner, the poverty strategy is also being prepared by the Commission - I expect people like the single woman, the person who works in the health sector, to be named when it comes to housing. The right to property is good and beautiful, but what about the right or human right that I can live in dignity? There has always been talk of lowering standards. Why do people with little money have no right in society to dignified, standardized living? I don't understand. Does cheap have to be bad? We expect a lot from the Commission in the coming months and years.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner! We do not have a problem of knowledge, it suffers, there is a lack of political will to implement it. We supposedly don't need regulations, no transparency directive, because that's all going on by itself? This has been going on for over 100 years simply so nicely by itself with the fair remuneration, with the same burden, relief of parents, of families? Yes, then we don't even have to stand here today. Then we can also remove the issue from the agenda. No, it's on the agenda again. Because we still face the same problems as women. Because we are still mostly on our own when it comes to organizing childcare. If you have to remind the partner that he also has a child who also has to be picked up from the daycare centre, and then first of all a schedule – and I saw such plans when I was an au pair, I could hardly believe it – you really have to write schedules so that the man sometimes thinks of his child and does not have to justify himself for it. We're still a long way from equality, so we'll be back soon.

Madam President, He who is poor is himself to blame, he has not paid attention in school, he has drunk his rent, has become homeless; No one in the European Union needs to be poor. This is the current narrative, the belief of many that it is self-inflicted. No, no! Poverty is often family-related. I live in the wrong street, I have a wrong name, because of discrimination I don't get the job I'm applying for, and there I can apply x times, I don't get the job. We have a chancellor in the Federal Republic of Germany who is of the opinion, as in the 1990s: "Create, create, build houses", and then that will happen. We are in Just transitionarea; we must adapt to change and leave no one behind; we need investment in child protection; we need to make funds available; Women's poverty can no longer be commonplace. The European Union must finally understand this. We have to put money in.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I had a conversation with Malak this weekend. Malak comes from Syria, and she had made it to Germany under difficult conditions in the case. And now you can expect a sad story here. But why do we have to tell these stories? Because people like Malak are not in parliament, or because the parents of Malak and women are not here in parliament, because they have always been told: Well, it's going to be difficult, and you won't be able to do that. Access to education is not only: I have the right to education, I have the right to school; but: Who supports me? The fact that I am allowed to be here in this House today is not due to a German system. I owe this to teachers who said: You're cool, you can do it; These were parents who believed in me and who always thought and knew and were convinced of it: You can do it. And if things aren't going well and you can't go to school and maybe you can't go to school for four weeks because you're sick – you can do it. Compulsory education yes, but never outside or under pressure from children affected by illness, including school ...

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Madam Executive President of the Commission! We are talking about social justice again today – and we are doing it over and over again because it is right and important. Poverty alleviation – we will soon be presented with something from you – is only credible if we also put money in it. If we don't cut through the back door on the MFF. At the end of the day, you fight poverty with money. Education is important, empowerment It's important, but at the end of the day, people will see: What does Europe, the European Union, do for me? And if I get out of poverty, do I have the chance to play a role in this European Union as a child with a history of migration, with a disability? What does the EU do for me? Therefore, it is important that we strengthen social rights here, continue to write, continue. Dennis said it right. Because if we as the European Union want to survive and remain competitive, and that is the song that is always sung – competitiveness – then I can only do it by not being visible to people who are not seen, many have disappeared after the coronavirus pandemic, because of ME/CFS diseases, which today hardly anyone talks about anymore. That people work in care and work themselves sick and are no longer able to carry out their work. Then we have a problem in this society and then we have a problem in the European Union. Therefore, it is important to make people visible and to present concrete plans here.

Madam President, I can't hear the Mimimi of the big airline companies anymore. It is your job to ensure that we consumers, customers and citizens in the European Union come safely and safely from A to B. That's the job! It goes without saying that I sit next to my child, next to my mother, when I book a ticket. Who else do I want to sit next to? As a disabled person in a wheelchair, it goes without saying that I want to get my wheelchair back safely and safely. We must not re-saw the rights of consumers and let ourselves be lulled by the fact that climate change or the high, high standards are to blame for sawing our rights, the consumers. The European Parliament – our role is to protect the rights of consumers. What does the European Union do for me when I travel from A to B? Protect my rights! And what we have fought for is non-negotiable.

Madam President, The dignity of man is inviolable. This is a basic rule that we agreed upon after the Second World War. The fact that women whose rights are not respected are being humiliated, exploited, that it is a business model to do business with their bodies and earn money, that consumers, especially EU consumers, have to fight over and over again for protection and dignity, is nothing new. No, it's not just against Elon Musk. It's about a group of men, let's say, who have written it down on the agenda, those who stand for the rule of law and dignity, like the women of HateAid, to fight and exploit women, to continue to earn enormous amounts of money and generate enormous amounts of power. The fear of losing this power is visible. We see this every day when we see Mr. Trump will see if we have Mr. Putin see – it is about the rule of law. Consumers need to be protected. That is the Commission's task. Stand up for it!

Mr President! Ladies and gentlemen, I would be delighted if we could stay on the topic and perhaps take such a step back and perhaps not only talk about ourselves, if you are not affected by discrimination, but really stay on the topic. It is about discrimination. If I can't get on the train because the assistant is not bookable, then I can't go to my family at Christmas because of the lack of accessibility. Then I'll just stay home. I was unlucky. This is what we convey to the people in our Member States. It's not just about disabled people, because a person is not just white, male, in a wheelchair. I can love a woman and be blind. I can also be a trans person and be deaf. Disabled people – we are not a homogeneous mass, we are not some group unknown somewhere. I experience discrimination every day and I am privileged, for example; I can afford assistance. But of course, if I don't get on the train or break my neck, if I try to get on the train, that also makes my work very difficult. Discrimination occurs every day. We want to fill gaps with this anti-discrimination directive. Where things are going well, I like to explain that again, no one needs to feel threatened. And I am also specifically addressing the Federal Republic of Germany, which is still blocking and blocking and blocking. And for information: We in Parliament have a decision-making position. We are not opening up or renewing anything here, but we are talking about the Member States and the Federal Republic of Germany, which is leaning back here and saying: It's too expensive, we don't need it, it's complicated. So I think you have to name Ross and Reiter again.

Madam President, When I was whistled for the first time in my life on the open road, I was eleven and the men were around 30. What's going on in a man whistling after an 11-year-old girl on the open street? I think it's hacking! When I was told as a student: You're a girl, you can't do math – that was my old white math teacher. Violence, humiliation, that does not happen in the open street – and that is the top, that is the top of brutality – in the open street, with murder, with femicide. It starts in school time. I don't belong to anyone. I'm not your daughter, I'm not his sister, I'm me. We women stand for ourselves. And we see this clearly here in this hall, how many women are here in the hall, how few to no men are here in the hall and how many men are silent or suddenly recognize our rights. Where were you when the trial for Madame Pelicot ran? Where were you? That's what I'd like to know. I find this debate just hypocritical.

Mr President! Mrs von der Leyen, I listened very carefully to your speech on the presentation of the programme. You always mention the concept of competitiveness and defence. If Europe, the European Union, wants to be defence- and competitive, we need to be visible – and a great many citizens are listening here. What does this Europe bring me? Why am I here, and what good is the European Union to me? The European Union is visible when I can pay my rent. The European Union is visible if local authorities are supported in tackling homelessness by 2030. The European Union is visible when we no longer have child poverty. I am still waiting for us to finally take a serious political approach to combating child poverty. We just need money to fight poverty. We can't get around it. When it comes to an Anti-PovertyStrategy goes, we have to provide money. We need laws, we need rules. If we want to be competitive, we must finally help the people affected by Long Covid. So there is a lot to do. It must be visible.

Mr President, Commissioner! Today we have the Middle East on our agenda. And here I would like to look at Gaza and Israel, where it is justified to have a debate about it and to throw a spotlight on it. But I also want to throw a spotlight on Syria. This is the neighboring state of Israel, and Israel is currently militarily present in Syria, I say. Since the summer of this year, the region around Suwaida, the region of the Druze, is under siege. People are doing badly. There is talk of massacres, of murders, which are clearly documented. What happened in western Syria – the Alevis, but also the Christians – is documented. Twenty-five years ago, Bashar al-Assad came to power, and we rolled out the red carpet to him because it was thought: A young man, a president who can speak English, that must be renewing for Syria. Where did we end up? Now, ten months ago, we rolled out the carpet again to a young new so-called president, and we're looking at what the new Syria can look like. I don't want us to have to be guilty again in 25 years, that we're here...

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, We are going to Qatar for the World Summit on Social Development – the second one – and I am very pleased to be able to travel there with my delegation. This is already an honour, and I hope that we will also show Europe a united face. Yes, we have achieved a lot in the last legislature. I hope that we will achieve even more in this legislature when it comes to combating poverty, discrimination, exclusion in the labour market, but also the exclusion of people affected by poverty. These are migrants, these are children, these are people who may never really have had a good, fair start. In the Member States, we often have the situation that where you come from, you will land or end up most of the time, to say it very badly. Classicism is still the big issue here. I think we can go to Qatar with our backs strengthened, but we should also not forget to talk to others to listen. What can we learn, what can we take with us? Because, of course, we did not eat wisdom with spoons, as we say in Germany, but I believe that we also do well to peddle with our successes, but we also do just as well to listen, to learn: What is better, where are we not good, and where can we get better? Of course, this has everything to do with money. I hope that we will see social justice again in the budget. I look forward to our journey.

Mr President! Anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism. There is nothing to relativize about this. I don't fight anti-Semitism with racism. Anti-Semitism has never been gone. He didn't suddenly fall from the sky two years ago. It did not fall from the sky in 2015. No, he's been in Europe for hundreds of years. He's never been gone. He's never been away in education, in media. When we ask Jews, they tell us the same thing. I don't fight misogyny with misogyny. We should also be very clear: Those affected by discrimination, exclusion and hatred and hate speech – and these are very, very many – who have been victims of fascism and those who suddenly stand in solidarity on one side or the other – this is hypocritical. So we also need to be clear: What can fight anti-Semitism? It is not the reduction of democracy projects, as is happening in Germany in the context of budget consultations. It is not about giving good speeches – I fight anti-Semitism at different levels. That must be clear to all of us. For this we need money, structures and no more hatred and hate speech and false solidarity from the right.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, First of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur for the good cooperation and cooperation – I believe that this should also be mentioned – and that we are now entering the negotiations in a well-closed manner. I once worked in my previous life as a call centre employee for a larger company in Hanover – the one with the three letters; I do not advertise – and then of course you have people on the phone who call spontaneously and of course are happy that there is a real person, a phone number that you can call, and there is also a real person and not some computer voice. Then there is someone dissolved in tears with three children, standing somewhere and saying: Boah, I can't get any further. Can I get my money back now? What's the situation for me? You save all year on your vacation. We just got out of the summer break; We may still be able to afford it with our budget. But who supports me? Who answers my questions? What does Brussels do for me? We protect your holidays, dear citizens, perhaps this can be said so clearly; whether it is a holiday abroad or a stopover in our Member States. But we protect consumer rights and hopefully enter into good negotiations.

Madam President, dear Commission! Climate change is not a phase, rabbit. That's not something you've come up with, that just fits, and then infantile behavior kicks in, and I close my eyes, and climate change doesn't even exist. At the beginning of the week, yesterday, we talked about the areas that are drying up, where there are forest fires, where people are losing their homes; And then it says, yes, climate change, but actually it doesn't exist. We will not be able to stop climate change, but we can mitigate the consequences for the poor. What is the housing situation for homeless people? We have a decision to end homelessness in the EU by 2030. We need to support the local authorities, because they say: “I like to do it, but from what money? And who gets it?” I believe that the acceptance of the EU and the work we are doing here is: What does the EU, this Brussels, do for me? Can I live off the rent? Can I get housing as a poor person? How can a commune of Brussels benefit? And that strengthens democracy, and that is our task – shortening, non-transparency is not a solution.

Mr President! I said to myself some time ago: Human rights are not the hot shit in this House or even in the European Union. If I look at the speeches here and listen to them, this is all very well meant, but then the next moment Ableism kicks coldly again. That's wording of helping, doing good, the poor, somehow we have to... I, too, always hear criticism of these institutions and workshops: Where do people go then? Commissioner, you said it right, it does not make sense to move them from one butt to the next. We are just before the summer holidays, then where to go with grandma or where to go with the dog? I'm hearing a bit of a discussion tonality right now. What are we going to do with the child? What do we do with the child after school? Where'd you go? They think of the end. These children are prepared for old age and death, but not for life. The question must always be asked: Do I want to live and work in these conditions? If the answer is no, why disabled people? Then why young people? When I was 16, everyone in my class got career advice. Everyone could say what they wanted to become. For me, career counselling went straight to the institution counselling and I didn't even need a school-leaving certificate, because, that wasn't necessary. They got the money and that's why I call: We are now dealing with the long-term budget. Where do these funds go, where do EU funds end up? If we are still funding these institutions with EU funds, I do not want to hear anything more in this House about: We are ready and we have guidelines. At the end of the day, what do we do with coal and finance inclusion or exclusion?

Madam President, Hurrah, we have a paper, but we no longer have an anti-discrimination directive. Hey, it's an advantage. I am referring here to my colleague Marc Angel. People with disabilities are 100 million people in the European Union. And when it comes to the rule of law - and we visited the UN last week with the LIBE, EMPL and PETI committees - we are counting on ourselves, on the EU, on human rights, on the rule of law. The rule of law is human rights, and I miss it here. And when we talk about human rights, we talk about women's rights, we talk about LGBTIQ, and we talk about Romani, even if it's difficult to express. And the fact that it is still being debated and we are happy that we have a paper, but no laws yet, and these laws are being undermined, strangled, cancelled, have no real value – that is the scandal in the European Union. That is why in the next EU - I call on you, Commissioner - we finally need an alternative to the Anti-Discrimination Directive.