What Saskia spoke about.

8 Jul

2026

FR Speech

Defending European democracy and the integrity of the European Parliament in light of revelations that an MEP was subject to surveillance by illegal spyware (debate)

Watch

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, July 2021: Investigative journalists and NGOs reveal that thousands of people have been illegally spied on using Pegasus spyware, which accesses absolutely all your data on your phone without a click. July 2023: Parliament adopts a set of recommendations so that no one can be spied on illegally, thanks to strict regulation. July 2026: while there are no more …

8 Jul

2026

FR Speech

The abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of Maria Shahbaz and the protection of girls in Pakistan

Watch

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, our resolution is addressed to the authorities of Pakistan. The abduction, forced religious conversion, forced marriage of 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz, and through her of all other girls subject to the same regime, are contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against…

6 Jul

2026

EN Speech

Order of business

Watch

Madam President, colleagues, I would like to include on Wednesday evening's agenda a Council and Commission statement entitled 'Defending European democracy and the integrity of the European Parliament in light of revelations that an MEP was subject to surveillance by illegal spyware', without a resolution and with roll‑call vote. Five years after the revelations of the illegal use of spyware, thr…

15 Jun

2026

FR Speech

EU-US trade deal (joint debate)

Watch

15 Jun

2026

FR Speech

Order of business

Watch

20 May

2026

FR Speech

Recruitment of children by organised crime (debate)

Watch

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, from the streets in Antwerp, to the neighbourhoods in Marseille or Brussels, via Snapchat, TikTok, but also Roblox, these places where our children and teenagers are on a daily basis are also used by criminal networks to recruit them and to commit the worst crimes and illegal activities. Crimes, murders that are being perpetrated more and more in Europe. Our …

20 May

2026

FR Speech

Rights, support and protection of victims of crime (debate)

Watch

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, protecting victims seems self-evident. Yet what shocked me the most when I worked on this issue, met with victims’ associations and listened to the victims of the attacks, particularly in Brussels, was the abandonment they felt from the Belgian State. We could not prevent the deadly attacks, but it was our collective responsibility to accompany, protect and s…

29 Apr

2026

FR Speech

The need to combat antisemitism and protect Jewish life in Europe, following the recent attacks against the Jewish community in the Netherlands and Belgium (debate)

Watch

Madam President, the "poison" is how Simone Veil, former President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor, described anti-Semitism. Knife attack this morning in London, explosions in front of the synagogue in Liège and a Jewish school in the Netherlands in March: Anti-Semitic acts and violence are on the rise all over Europe, all over the world, but are also fuelled by the suspicion of …

11 Mar

2026

FR Speech

Situation of the rule of law in Greece, following the Court decision on Predator spyware (debate)

Watch

11 Mar

2026

FR Speech

Child sexual abuse online: protect children, not perpetrators (topical debate)

Watch

21 Jan

2026

FR Speech

Case of Joseph Figueira Martin in the Central African Republic

Watch

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank the collective work we have carried out under the aegis of Hilde Vautmans for the second time here in the European Parliament to free Joseph Figueira Martin. Joseph Figueira Martin is a Belgian-Portuguese aid worker who has decided to dedicate his life to helping and protecting others. Today we need to help and protect Jose…

16 Dec

2025

FR Speech

Bilateral safeguard clause of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement and the EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement for agricultural products (A10-0254/2025 - Gabriel Mato) (vote)

Watch

15 Dec

2025

FR Speech

Murder of Mehdi Kessaci - urgent need for ambitious European action against drug trafficking (debate)

Watch

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, relegated to working-class neighbourhoods, to attacks between gangs, the fight against drug trafficking has long not been considered a priority in order to benefit from the resources commensurate with the threat. It has thrived in the heart of the local economy, our institutions and cities, taken hostage, causing hundreds of unseen deaths and putting our freedom…

24 Nov

2025

FR Speech

Enhancing police cooperation in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings; enhancing Europol’s support to preventing and combating such crimes (debate)

Watch

24 Nov

2025

FR Speech

Order of business

Watch

12 Nov

2025

FR Speech

Protecting EU consumers against the practices of certain e-commerce platforms: the case of child-like sex dolls, weapons and other illegal products and material (debate)

Watch

Madam President, have Europeans ever wondered why Shein does not sell in China? Shein is not only a brand of cheap clothing, it is the symbol of a system that derails, where speed, profit, overconsumption crushes everything: human rights, the planet, and even our most fundamental values. Behind the broken prices, underpaid workers, illegal copies of creators, dangerous and non-compliant products, …

21 Oct

2025

FR Speech

Stepping up funding for Ukraine’s reconstruction and defence: the use of Russian frozen assets (debate)

Watch

Madam President, European solidarity in the face of the war in Ukraine is second to none. Sanctions packages against Russia hosting Ukrainian refugees, criminalising sanctions circumvention and freezing and confiscating assets. And using Russian assets seized in Europe for the benefit of the Ukrainian people is a commitment we have made, a moral commitment for the reconstruction of schools, hospit…

21 Oct

2025

FR Speech

Changing security landscape and the role of police at the heart of the EU’s internal security strategy (debate)

Watch

Mr President, yes, there is a real urgency in giving the means to local police, police and justice equipped to fight all forms of organised crime, drug trafficking, sexual violence against women and children, terrorism. But our leaders, who are mostly right-wing, Mr Tobé, do not see it with that eye. The police are the tool at the service of a security agenda used to access more and more of our da…

7 Oct

2025

FR Speech

The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Watch

Madam President, a twenty-point colonial plan, or any other peace plan, does not exempt our governments or the European Union from acting to break the humanitarian blockade imposed by Israel and end the genocide. The moral and legal obligation to act is committed. It is on this obligation, on the recognition of Palestine and on the adoption of sanctions against the Netanyahu government that the me…

10 Sep

2025

FR Speech

Implementation of EU-US trade deal and the prospect of wider EU trade agreements (debate)

Watch

Mr President, what a stupor this summer to discover the deal, the capitulation of the European Commission to Trump by accepting tariffs at 0% for American products, at 15% for European products. Claiming it's easy, obviously we won't do it. We have had several exchanges here in the European Parliament, and it seems to me that the European Parliament has been very clear. We want European unity in t…

9 Jul

2025

FR Speech

Arbitrary arrest and torture of Belgian-Portuguese researcher Joseph Figueira Martin in the Central African Republic

Watch

Mr President, Joseph Figueira Martin, a Belgian-Portuguese aid worker, must be released. It has been more than a year since he was abducted by the Wagner Group in the Central African Republic, before being arbitrarily detained without trial and in a worrying state of health as a result of ill-treatment. It is with a heavy heart that I address you today, because it is not normal for Joseph’s family…

7 Jul

2025

FR Speech

Product safety and regulatory compliance in e-commerce and non-EU imports (debate)

Watch

Mr President, 70% of Europeans buy regularly online. In two clicks, you buy this toy from China, delivered at home, which will not comply with European health, safety and price rules in 80% of cases. Ditto for this jacket found online on Shein, on Temu, or for makeup stuffed with chemicals found on Amazon. Last year, 4.5 billion small packages of less than €150 were ordered, or 12 million small pa…

17 Jun

2025

FR Speech

Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Watch

Mr President, thousands of citizens have taken to the streets, are on hunger strike, in resistance, are marching on Gaza. Dockers are mobilizing to refuse to load the boats. Acts of resistance to the complicit inaction of European governments and institutions, to the horror and genocide of the Palestinian people. The European Union is the largest trading partner. But did the announcement of the re…

17 Jun

2025

FR Speech

Combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (recast) (debate)

Watch

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, one in five children is a victim of violence or sexual exploitation in their lifetime in the European Union, four to five children in each school class, one to two children in each football team. Sexual violence against children is a silent pandemic that does not say its name and continues online, where our children spend more and more time. The text we propo…

16 Jun

2025

FR Speech

State of play and follow-up two years after the PEGA recommendations and the illegal use of spyware (debate)

Watch

Mr President, first of all I would like to express my full support for the citizens, journalists, activists and elected officials who are victims of illegal espionage in Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Spain and elsewhere, and who remain unanswered. Getting Spy Through This Little Thing (speaker shows mobile phone) leaves an indelible imprint on personal, professional life, the entourage. It is a …