Speeches

Mr President, the excellent report by my colleague Michèle Rivasi points to the inconsistencies in our European policies and their decisive impact on our southern partners. Our development policies, climate, agricultural but also trade, must aim at one and the same goal: the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the European Commission does not sufficiently integrate the impact of trade agreements on biodiversity when negotiating with countries such as Indonesia, Brazil or others. Is it necessary to recall that the Amazon is home to exceptional fauna and flora, that it now emits more CO2 than it stores, and that it is home to indigenous peoples at risk of extinction? The consequences of EU trade policy – CO2 emissions, increased agro-industrial practices, deforestation, land grabbing and pesticide use – are devastating for biodiversity and local communities. Europe must therefore put its trade at the service of sustainable development and people's well-being, not the other way around.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, with the Pegasus scandal, spyware revealed once again by journalists and NGOs, we are entering a new era of surveillance. A surveillance that escapes the public authorities and becomes the fact of private companies whose search for profit makes them accomplices of governments, unscrupulous regimes. Journalists, political opponents, human rights defenders, lawyers, politicians, including a former MEP, have been targeted for espionage and repression. Each of us could have been on that list. The Israeli company that markets the software presents it as a decisive tool, exclusively for the fight against terrorism and organized crime. It was presumably misused for purposes other than its original objectives for surveillance, in violation of fundamental rights, but also outside any legal framework. This Parliament is currently working on a regulatory framework for technologies to combat crime. Here is a frightening example of the risks inherent in these instruments. In addition, the European Union is working with the States involved in this scandal through police and judicial cooperation. Are we really ready to enter into cooperation agreements with states that spy on us? We demand a moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of these monitoring technologies. We demand protection and reparation for the victims. Responsibilities must be established and the European response must be commensurate with the seriousness of the facts.

Mr President, floods and fires have claimed many lives this summer, causing tens of thousands of euros in damage and leaving indelible traces. While the climate crisis has been widening the north-south divide for years, it now also marks the social divide within our countries. In Pepinster, the floods hit the poorest families first. The social impact of the climate crisis is frontal. Victims, the thousands of volunteers still at work, two months later, European citizens for whom the climate and the environment are among the primary concerns, but also the latest report by IPCC scientists, call for urgent responses. Humanity is in red code. Emergency assistance and the Solidarity Funds as well as the availability of funds are essential to address situations of this magnitude. But structural measures are also needed. Investing in public services, civil protection, firefighters, emergency and health services, adapting policies and adopting climate change mitigation and adaptation policies that strengthen social cohesion: This is the real emergency.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Bangladesh is ranked among the ten worst countries in terms of workers' rights and trade union rights by the International Trade Union Confederation. The conventions on the organisation of work are not respected. The rights of workers, trade unions, freedom of expression, freedom of association and child labour are not respected. I know that the ILO and the European Union are working on this with the government of the country; however, pending the implementation of all these conventions that are announced in a few years’ time, I would like to draw attention to an agreement that has made a difference since the Rana Plaza tragedy in 2013. At the time, we became aware of the conditions under which clothes from well-known brands are produced that we wear on a daily basis, of the responsibility that we politicians, businesses and consumers bear when 60% of textile production, the country’s largest industry, is destined for the European market. Fashion brands had then embarked on an unprecedented agreement to improve health and safety in their factories and subcontractors – a binding agreement that has paid off for workers and especially women workers, but which is now on hold because some companies would like to end this agreement and only move forward on the basis of voluntary initiatives. However, since this experience in 2013, the agreement has shown us that in order for corporate responsibility to be effective and to benefit workers, the role of trade unions and NGOs must be respected. Negotiations between trade unions and trade marks are ongoing to renew the agreement on the protection of workers. We call on the European Commission to intervene with influential European players in the sector to encourage the conclusion of a binding agreement with an independent monitoring body. We also call for this agreement to be transposed to other countries that are affected by insecurity at work, such as India, Pakistan, Morocco or Egypt. We are all very much looking forward to the legislation on corporate social responsibility. But in the meantime, there is an agreement that needs to be renewed to ensure and guarantee respect for workers’ rights.