Speeches

Mr President! March 11 in Beirut: Delal, one of many civilians who can only be accommodated in the tent. She prepares food for her children when the bombs strike. I found bodies on the floor. I saw a man who was still alive but was too badly injured to get up. Then came the second attack and he was killed. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is him crawling in front of me. Delal is one of many victims. The perpetrator is Israel. Israel is using massive force – the force of destruction – in Lebanon. Glyphosate is used, agriculture is deliberately destroyed, life is made impossible. Israeli ministers say it frankly: They want to create a Greater Israel. And we see the same patterns as in Gaza. And just like in Gaza, the European Commission is silent. You must finally terminate the association agreement with Israel! They must finally ensure that no more weapons are delivered to Israel! This requires protest on the street.

Mr President! Fundamental rights are under pressure worldwide and also in the EU. This is particularly visible in Germany in the context of Palestine solidarity. Critical voices are being restricted and protests are being banned, which is the result of uninhibited geopolitics. Since the war in Ukraine, the EU has been expanding its sanctions toolbox. Journalists have also been affected by this. One example is the German Palestine solidarity journalist Hüseyin Doğru. Colleagues, internal sanctions against journalists without charge, without conviction – this is an attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press. It doesn't matter how you relate to these people. This changes journalism, promotes autocensorship and must be over. So, little by little, liberal democracy is eroding. And we have to defend them. Finally lift the sanctions against Doğru!

Mr President! Undemocratic, antisocial and militaristic – this is how the European Commission’s draft budget can be summarised. The Commission creates gigantic, non-transparent pots with less democratic and parliamentary control. Everything, really everything, is subordinated to two goals: competitiveness and militarism. With 500 billion euros for the competition fund, Ursula von der Leyen is putting together a mega fund in which education, research, industry and rearmament are thrown together. This shamelessly shifts money away from necessary social spending to armament – at a time when more and more people in the EU have existential fears. Colleagues, the military logic runs through the entire budget, environmental sustainability is losing importance and people's interests are virtually non-existent. From the former promise of the EU of equal living conditions are now sprouting weapons factories and hefty profits for the corporations. If there is anything good that can be said of Mrs. von der Leyen, it is that, like Mr. Trump, she no longer even maintains the appearance.

Madam President, Global Gateway is sold by the EU as a major future project, as an investment in sustainable development, in partnership. But if you take a closer look, you will see that these beautiful words do not stand up to reality. Because Global Gateway is not a real development project! It is above all a geopolitical instrument, a counter-model to the Chinese Silk Road, driven by competition for markets, resources and influence. Development funds are diverted for the purpose of enforcing the EU's strategic capital interests. We as the Left say clearly: Real development policy would not be a tool of geopolitical power games. If you want sustainable development, you need real development aid. But above all, they serve the profits of European corporations. Practice shows that projects often serve to secure raw materials and markets for EU companies. In Africa, you are not talking about partnership on an equal footing, but about countering migration and the exploitation of wealth, about fossil projects – this is neither sustainable nor fair. Many civil society organizations from the so-called Global South rightly criticize this as neocolonial. This is precisely the point: if development policy strengthens dependencies rather than dismantles them, then it is part of the problem. That is why we reject this report because Global Gateway is not a step forward, but a step backward. Public money belongs in real development cooperation, not in the pockets of large corporations.

Madam President, When the U.S. and Britain bombed Iraq, this was justified by alleged poison gas weapons. When the US and all European NATO countries bombed Afghanistan, it was allegedly in the name of democracy and women's rights. And Iran's current bombings are justified by the fact that the country has nuclear bombs. Evidently, these are all war lies. Iran has none, Israel has none. The United States is not really concerned with democracy or human rights, they are concerned with the reorganization of the Middle East. Israel is escalating and spreading the war to Lebanon. The US wants to defend its global dominance here. But the population worldwide pays for this: rising prices, death, suffering, destruction for the people of the Middle East. What about the EU? In its conclusions, it does not say a word about the US, remains silent about Israel, but only condemns Iran. This is your double standard, ladies and gentlemen. You could act. They could close the military bases for this war from Europe. They could finally not deliver weapons to Israel. They could terminate the association agreement with Israel. You don't. This is your double standard. You are once again an accomplice in this war!

Madam President, Four years of war, four years of suffering, death, destruction – this attack by Russia in violation of international law must be clearly condemned! It is equally clear: The war must finally end. People die every day. We are exhausted! Of course, we want a negotiated solution, said a teacher from Kyiv, who was connected with me last week on Deutschlandfunk. Yes, colleagues, Ukrainians need our solidarity, humanitarian aid, a debt reduction, a reconstruction programme for the people. But they don't need geopolitical battle cries at the expense of their lives. Today, Ukraine is far worse militarily and economically than in the Istanbul negotiations, which were also interrupted with accompanying music from the UK, the USA and the EU. Of the 90 billion loans they have pledged to Ukraine, 60 billion are earmarked for weapons, mainly from the EU. Instead of more and more weapons and ammunition, the EU finally needs an exit strategy, a serious diplomatic effort to end the war. Recently, a refugee from Ukraine told me: "Ms Demirel, I know your Ukraine policy and would like to thank you." And yes, that surprised me, because here I know above all battle cries and defamations against peace votes. But this shows: Many people want one thing above all else – that the war stops. Peace is not everything, but without peace everything is nothing, dear colleagues. We don't need a sell-out of Ukraine, and neither Putin, nor NATO, nor their war ability will bring us closer to peace. What will bring us peace is the solidarity of the peoples and the peace movement.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, we are talking about migration – or rather about foreclosure. And once again, migration is declared the mother of all problems. But the real problem is that more and more people are being forced to flee. By dealing with those seeking protection in a society, one can actually see how much humanity or brutality exists. This brutalization is no longer a marginal phenomenon. It is in the system, it is spreading and it is getting louder and louder in this Parliament as well. In a world of wars, exploitation and climate destruction, flight is no coincidence. It is the result of boundless competition and an economic order in which profit maximization is placed above people. Frontex, foreclosure, deportation. People are dying in the Mediterranean. They work with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, which is known for pushbacks and violence and shots against civilian sea rescue. This is not a necessity, this is your political decision. Isn't it cynical that the arms industry deserves wars that force people to flee, and then deserves the same industry with drones at the external borders? Not only foreclosure, but also deportation is very much on your agenda. Now you want to declare other third countries safe countries of origin. That's why I say, because it's acute and topical: No deportations to Iran, no deportations to Syria, no deportations to Afghanistan! We want to fight for a world where no one is forced to flee.

Mr President! The old world is dying. The new one hasn't been born yet. "It's the time of the monsters," Gramsci wrote 100 years ago. And that's where we stand today. International politics is increasingly dominated by military power. War is no exception. War is calculation. And we see a European Union that is desperately militarised and afraid to get less of the world's cake. This is where the EU's annual report comes in. 86 digits, almost exclusively about rearmament, new weapon systems, military capability. Arms control appears once and is relativized in the same paragraph, namely nuclear deterrence. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not a security policy. This is the policy of war. International law has always been used when it was useful and ignored when it disturbed. But it has never been done as openly as it is at the moment. In Gaza, in the West Bank, war crimes remain inconsequential. In Venezuela, a head of state is kidnapped and nothing is heard of the EU. They even applaud. And our German chancellor speaks of a complex situation. Ladies and gentlemen, these contradictions are not accidental. They are an expression of existing power relations. You have a system. It's in the system. Donald Trump is now questioning NATO. They are sticking to this and at the same time arming the EU for independent wars. This, ladies and gentlemen, will become a policy of disasters. That is why we oppose it. And because no one has mentioned it so far: At the moment it is acute and in Syria the Kurds are being massacred. (The speaker ends the speech in a non-EU language)

Mr President! I only came to Germany at the age of five as a daughter of political refugees. But my grandfather was already part of the guest worker generation in Germany. He came from Anatolia. He was illiterate and did not understand the language. But he knew how to work. He worked shift by shift in the factory. He brought my grandma and his daughters to Germany. My grandmother was a cleaning lady. She insisted that her grandchildren study – so that you do not have to clean the shit of others, she always said to us. She was a woman who was ridiculed a lot, even though she was doing indispensable work. She can sing a song about discrimination. And probably my grandma would be called Aesthetic in cliché books. My grandfather came to return, but he stayed. He and his wife embody a whole generation of guest workers who helped build Germany and Europe, the cityscapes we have. And they did all this without rights, without votes, without recognition. To this day, people face discrimination – in the labour market, in housing, in education – often people who are not on the sunny side of life. And the right-wingers here want a cultural struggle. They're bragging about wokeness. No, I'm not going to fight a cultural battle with them. I'm not fighting for wokeness. I'm fighting for justice, for social security. And that is why I stand for an anti-discrimination law and call on the federal government to finally implement it.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. The EU's only active industrial policy is: Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. EDIP is the transition to a war economy. War economy means that all areas of public life and production are subordinated to the needs and needs of war. This program is a dangerous turning point, a turning point at the expense of social standards, environmental standards and occupational health and safety. Economically, this is also a mistake. Investments in armaments are dead capital. Armor can only be produced endlessly as long as there is a corresponding need in the event of war – or artificially produced. In wars themselves, the children of the elites rarely die. Instead of satisfying social needs, funds are diverted. Not only that: The crisis mechanism can explicitly suspend the Working Time Directive. Fundamental and hard-won achievements of the workers and the trade unions are currently at the disposition. This is not just about the 1.5 billion euros, but about the political choices. They systematically channel public and private investment into the defence industry. The militarization is financed, the finances are militarized. While more than 72 million people in the EU are at risk of poverty, social and civil budgets are to be cut. A non-transparent body can then force companies to produce. For employees, this means: Overtime, pressure and dismantling of trade union rights. We will reject this, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for allowing the interlocutory question. I have two questions for you because you keep telling this story that Russia will invade Europe tomorrow. How do you explain the fact that Russia has been at war with the much weaker Ukraine for three years and is not winning this war? They tell me Ukraine can win this war. At the same time, you say Russia can attack the EU, attack NATO countries that are much more equipped, militarily, by equipment, by spending. How does your story fit together? Or are you trying to sell us all for stupid?

Mr President! “I always thought everyone was against the war until I found out that there are those who are for it, especially those who don’t have to go”. I had to think of this quote from Remarque very often in the last few days. Ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer the United States, as it was at the beginning, that is blocking a peace agreement. Russia shouts: We won the war, and the EU replies: We want peace, but first we have to win. What we are witnessing is already a hybrid war, and every day more and more there is a real threat of a great hot war, a great hot war between different world powers – economic and military. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask myself more every day: Have you forgotten the history of this continent with two world wars? I know that appeals to your reason no longer work. That is why I appeal to the people of Europe. Deny yourselves war, deny yourselves in Russia, in Ukraine, but also deny yourselves the war preparations of the European Union!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. You want to talk about more security in our cities? The growing crime? I'd love to. Let's talk about growing social inequality. Let's talk about how public authorities have actually been thinned out by the EU's stipulations in recent years, and also the public service. Let's talk about how many unpaid overtime hours the police push for unnecessary border controls. Instead of talking about the use of dangerous tasers or rubber bullets in Europe, let's look for real solutions. Dear colleagues! The current pictures of police operations speak volumes. You're burning the police for your wrong policy. We saw this in France when the police were supposed to beat up the workers for an anti-social pension reform. We see this in Germany when the police are to beat up pro-Palestine solidarity demonstrations on behalf of the German raison d'être. Colleagues, stop the authoritarian transformation of the state!

Thank you, Mr Colleague, for allowing the interlocutory question. You just stressed once again that Hamas would somehow break the ceasefire and bring terror to Israel and Palestine. I would like to ask you: Have you ever noticed that the Middle East conflict is much older and has been going on longer than Islamist Hamas exists? If you have taken note of it, would you please also take note of the fact that the Palestinians' right to self-determination is crucial in order to permanently pacify the Middle East conflict? This is the path to peace. And that's not what the Trump plan does. What do you say to that?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, It is not uncommon for employees and Euro works councils to experience closures or collective redundancies in the press. There must be an end to this! Companies that undermine the statutory right to consultation and co-determination of trade unions must finally be consistently sanctioned. Co-determination is not a nice-to-have. Trade unions are strengthened. Mass layoffs, attacks on workers' rights and social cuts are currently on the rise across Europe. The sleepy restructuring of the industry and your call for competition and war ability are causing casualties. It is clear: Hard struggles are imminent that seek to attack the social achievements of the workers' movement. But workers and trade unions are already showing how there is resistance, for example in Greece with the general strike against the extension of working hours or in Italy against complicity in the Gaza genocide. These examples need to be multiplied, and social clear-cutting needs to be repelled, ladies and gentlemen.

Madam President, “We need a drone wall” echoes from the defence industry. This follows the logic of escalation. Ladies and gentlemen, mutual hybrid warfare has been going on for a long time, and it is becoming ever more acute. It would be wrong to claim that hybrid warfare and attacks are an invention of only one actor, i.e. only Russia. The EU has also repeatedly resorted to such means: Regime change-discourses, sabotage, covert military operations, direct or indirect influence on developments in other countries - this is part of the standard repertoire of all major powers, especially the NATO states. Please don't misunderstand me. Any intentional, potentially dangerous violation of airspace is a clear violation of international law and must, of course, also be condemned. But the response to this should be proportionate, evidence-based, and de-escalating. What we urgently need are confidence-building measures: Negotiations and arms control agreements, such as the return of the US and Russia to the Open Skies Agreement. But instead, we are witnessing a hysterical debate with disproportionate demands that continues to fuel tensions and make a hot war more likely. A debate that avoids words such as peace and relaxation is extremely dangerous, dear colleagues. We don't have to be warlike, we have to be peaceable again. This is security policy. Please come back to real security policy in the interest of the people.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. The catastrophic situation of women and girls in Afghanistan is intensifying. The earthquake has exacerbated the situation. Under the Taliban, women in Afghanistan are effectively excluded from public life, education, aid, medicine. Gender apartheid prevails and the situation is marked by crimes against humanity. Colleagues! 20 years of NATO war have proven that war intensifies – not improves – violence against women. With the chaotic withdrawal, the Taliban has even been left with high-tech torture equipment and spyware. The current negotiations between the EU Member States and the Taliban for faster deportations have proven that they do not stand for noble values. Crocodile tears actually don't help the local people. What Afghans need are humanitarian aid, negotiations to strengthen women's rights, family reunification in Europe and an end to deportations to Afghanistan. What they don't need are considerations for new war games in the Middle East.