Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as the great Karl Marx said, nature abhors emptiness and capitalism abhors the absence of profit. Today, one in three internet users is under the age of 18 and web giants have decided to turn this reality into a market. Their logic is simple: capture attention, create addiction, cash in on the benefits. For this, they built an arsenal: interfaces that trap, ads that camouflage, mechanisms like loot boxes that hang, like in the casino. Faced with this, we are tightened up with the pseudo-miraculous idea of the digital majority. But, let's be serious, the ban for those under 15 would not solve anything, circumventable in two clicks thanks to a simple VPN and clearing the platforms of their responsibility. Because the problem is not the children, the problem is the big tech companies. If we want to protect the miners, we have to go after those who make the traps. In concrete terms, we need safe and inclusive social networks for everyone, minors and adults alike. Because what is toxic to children is also toxic to parents. We need a European framework for influencers and a ban on addictive devices. All this must be at the heart of the next Digital Fairness Regulation. To protect minors, we must not let big tech companies set the rules of the game. Our responsibility is exactly the opposite: Take back your hand and build an internet that protects.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Shein, Wish, Temu, Alibaba: I'm telling you, these platforms are thugs. The sordid case of child pornography dolls is just the umpteenth episode in a long series: smoke detectors that detect nothing, cancer-causing balloons, dangerous toys... In these online marketplaces, 80% of products do not comply with European standards. This unfair competition destroys our local businesses. But beware: our role as European legislators is not to point the finger at precarious consumers who place orders on these platforms. The European Union must shoulder its responsibilities, take action! There is the Digital Services Act, you will tell me. Well, I answer you that, on this subject, this regulation is the house that drives you crazy, with a billion steps before a hypothetical sanction. We might as well wait for the sky to fall on our heads! It is time to act. Penalty procedures need to be accelerated and platforms held accountable for products sold on their site. It is on this condition that the European Union can be respected in the face of these giants without faith or law.

Mr President, Madam President of the European Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to remind you of something important. The European Parliament is made up of legislators, i.e. people who have been elected to build laws, rules that improve the lives of Europeans. It seems obvious, but I think it is essential to remind you, because for the last sixteen months and the beginning of this new mandate, I personally have the impression that the Commission expects us to unravel the laws rather than legislate. Duty of vigilance, Green Deal, digital regulation, all these texts that we have adopted to protect Europeans, you unravel them, you bypass them, you scuttle them with your many omnibuses and now a "citizen omnibus". What is it? We don't know. We expect the worst. You call this simplification? This work of undermining, we undergo it on a daily basis here. A few months ago, there was a consensus for directives on the right to disconnect, on artificial intelligence at work, on subcontracting and today all this seems to be called into question. In the realm of simplification, regulating has almost become an outrage. Mrs von der Leyen, I propose that we go to the end of your logic. We will simplify democracy, we will abolish the European Parliament and we will let you govern alone, quietly, the European Union, a European Union without faith or law.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, after several years of investigation, the European Commission has finally decided to sanction Google for its abuse of a dominant position. This fine is a reminder of the obvious: The European market is not a Wild West at the mercy of the GAFAM. But throughout this sequence, what a heartbreaking spectacle the European Commission has proposed to us. A vice president, Mr Šefčovič, trying to postpone the decision so as not to offend Donald Trump. Another Vice-President, Mrs Ribera, is here to announce the decision on a quiet Friday afternoon, without press. Two sides of the same coin, two faces of the same Commission, hesitant, divided and far too submissive to the US digital giants. Commissioner, the European Parliament will remain on the lookout. The rustines announced by Google in the operation of its search engine will not be enough. The fine must be paid by Google. The digital sovereignty of Europeans must be defended. And to show us the way forward, we don't need Google Maps.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we had to dare. A World Summit for Social Development: So far, everything's fine. But to hold this social summit in Qatar is a provocation. In Qatar, 6,500 workers died on the construction sites of the football world cup. In Qatar, migrant workers are exploited and their passports confiscated. In Qatar, trade unions are muzzled. How can the European Parliament endorse this charade by sending a delegation, also after Qatargate has splattered our institution? Talking about social development in Qatar is insulting the memory of the workers who died, it is trampling on the values of the trade union movement. All this is indecent. Social development is measured not by the height of the skyscrapers, but by the dignity of the workers. And on this ground, Qatar is anything but an example.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, dividing for better rule is an effective technique for exploiting workers by preventing them from organising themselves. Ways to break up collectives include uberisation, precariousness and subcontracting. The commercial franchise model is one such strategy, and its best advocate is McDonald’s. A Big Mac, whether cooked in Paris or Bratislava, has the same taste and leaves the same burns on the hands of those who prepare it. But because these restaurants are franchised, McDonald’s workers do not have the right to a European or national works council. In the revision of the European Works Council Directive on which we will vote tomorrow, Parliament initially wanted to address the problems posed by the franchise model, and I regret that the final version of the text does not mention this. European Works Councils remain an important tool for the organisation of workers, and we will vote in favour of this revision, which strengthens their role. However, the franchise model must cease when it is used to prevent the organisation of workers. Let's continue the battle for the workers of McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway and all the multinationals that use the franchise.

Mr President, in recent months, European digital sovereignty has been on everyone's lips in Brussels. But in fact, the European Commission is subject to Trump. She acts as a vassal of the United States: it is a Commission that refuses to tax GAFAMs, that wanted to appoint a former Facebook executive to head its competition policy and that unravels its own regulation to please Washington. Always with the same chorus: GAFAM complains, Washington orders, Brussels obeys. But digital sovereignty is not decreed. It is built by establishing a true European preference, supporting our own infrastructure and digital public services and finally taxing the colossal profits of the internet giants. Digital sovereignty at the service of Europeans, not subject to Silicon Valley shareholders or the fantasies of pro-Trump billionaires: This is the sovereignty we defend.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, 14% of the European Union's GDP, EUR 2 trillion, public procurement is an essential part of our economy. So yes, the revision of the Public Procurement Directive will be a key moment in this legislature. Currently, it is the criterion of the lowest price that governs. Town halls must choose the cheapest providers, with the result: extension work, defects and despicable working conditions. By improving the award of 1% of public contracts, EUR 20 billion would be better distributed. Public procurement must serve as a lever to defend workers and promote our economic sovereignty. But this requires mandatory social conditionalities and a genuine European preference. Unfortunately, that is not what the report says that we will vote on tomorrow. It is still possible to change the situation by supporting the amendments we have tabled, because Europeans' money must be used to improve working conditions and support the European economy. The European economy, not the Chinese economy, not the US economy.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, toys stuffed with carcinogens, motorcycle helmets that do not protect, clothes made from forced labour: Temu, Shein and AliExpress flood Europe with dangerous, counterfeit products that do not meet social or environmental standards. Europe needs to legislate to stop these practices, remove the exemption from customs duties for small parcels, hold online platforms accountable for the products they import and sanction them if necessary. This is a first step. But by voting for this text, which is a step in the right direction, we will, ladies and gentlemen, have come only halfway. Because effectively combating the online sale of dangerous products or ephemeral fashion means also fighting against the practices of companies that are well-established in Europe, and not only against Chinese platforms. Amazon is the perfect example: unacceptable working conditions in its warehouses, resorting to everything to avoid having to implement the Digital Services Act, refusing to respond to the multiple summonses of our Parliament ... Amazon has nothing to envy to Chinese platforms. Finally, some, to the right of this House, deplore the effects whose causes they cherish. When they call for burying the Due Diligence Directive or the European Green Deal, they are actually facilitating the sale of dangerous, polluting and forced labour products. This hypocrisy must stop.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, whenever there is talk of innovation, some here have only one mantra: Unravel, remove and then bury the rules that protect our standards, social rights and digital freedoms. You can repeat it as many times as you want: The European Union's delay in innovative technologies is due to the lack of public investment and not to the rules put in place to protect us from the digital Wild West. Actually, you're low-level Milei. You bow your back in front of Elon Musk, you kneel in front of Donald Trump. Buy American Act, Chips Act, Inflation Reduction Act: Washington has always protected and supported its industry and innovation. What have European leaders done? Close your eyes first, then query, finally answer, but so little. Supporting the continent's digital sovereignty and our innovation is all about massive public investment. But for that, ladies and gentlemen, we must agree to put the price on it.

Madam President, you all warmly welcomed Cuban doctors during the COVID crisis. We did not hear you at that time calling for an end to the Association Agreement between the European Union and Cuba. For 63 years, the Cuban people have been suffering, and today you should be ashamed. Shame on calling for the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Cuba. All this has only one purpose: Once again, you, to the right of this Chamber, to the far right, what interests do you serve? The interests of Donald Trump! The interests of the United States! Shame on you. I hope that you have heard the message, Mrs Kallas, and that you, like the vast majority of countries in the United Nations, will demand an end to the American embargo. It is a question of international justice, of solidarity, but also of European sovereignty.

Mr President, 'Capitalism carries war as the cloud carries the storm': This sentence of Jean Jaurès was pronounced at the dawn of the First World War and it is more relevant than ever. The European Union has just announced $800 billion in investment to prepare for war. The Maastricht criteria and the 3% straitjacket when it comes to the arms race have disappeared. What the European Union should do to guarantee peace is first of all to offer a dignified life to its citizens and to protect workers. Instead, the war economy is imposed on us as a new pump for finance, with the mantra of competitiveness, deregulation and simplification. Social policies are under the carpet. 800 billion were found to produce tanks, missiles and guns. I ask for 800 billion to build housing, hospitals and schools; 800 billion for our social model, for decent wages everywhere in Europe, for directives that protect workers, reduce their bills and make social cohesion possible. Social cohesion is the best guarantee of peace.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, it will soon be the birthday of my daughter and nephew. So, to celebrate, I made purchases on the internet. My nephew is a fan of manga, so I bought him small One Piece figurines. My daughter, right now, loves animals. I found a lot of bath toys in the shape of cows and hippopotamuses. For the decoration, I ordered a lot of balloons. I'm far from suspecting that I'm about to poison all of us, my daughter, my nephew and me. These objects come from platforms like Amazon, Shein and Temu, which escape European regulations. By swelling these balloons, I will swallow carcinogenic substances called nitrosamines; Playing with their cute, colorful gifts, my nephew and daughter will breathe phthalate, a chemical that alters children's hormonal system and brain development. If we get sick, no one is responsible, because these sellers are outside the European Union. This impunity must be brought to an end. Platforms must be responsible for what they sell. These objects have their place in the trash, not in the hands of our children (Speaker presents some examples of toys).

Madam President, Commissioner, Renault in Flins, Audi in Brussels, ArcelorMittal in Reims, Michelin in Cholet... The list of factory closures is growing. The green and digital transition has become the new pretext for the destruction of millions of jobs, while on the contrary the transition can and must create jobs. However, this requires support for industry; vocational retraining needs to be supported; we need an interventionist policy, a thousand leagues from the dogma firmly rooted in Brussels, which believes that the market and the economy manage themselves. Today, our factories have to close. They are not doing well in the face of competition from solar panels and hyper-subsidized electric cars from the United States and China, which subsidize at billions. What is the docile Europe doing during this time? She watches the trains – or the Teslas – pass by. Let's wake up! Let's condition public support for maintaining jobs! Relocate the industry! Let's subsidize production! Ensure the involvement of workers in retraining projects! This is how we can both create millions of jobs, ensure our industrial independence and empower our continent on the international stage.

Madam President, ‘these hundred days seem as long as a life’, said Ursula von der Leyen. I assure you that they are even longer when you have to choose between filling your fridge and paying your bills. For a hundred days, the European Commission has been preaching competitiveness, simplification and defence. This is being done against the people of Europe, who are increasingly suffering from austerity: against workers, carers, teachers, researchers, farmers, students – against all those who hold Europe together. You find €800 billion for armaments in a hundred days, but in six years you have not deigned to find a penny to guarantee dignified wages and fight inequality or the housing crisis. Imagine if you had put as much effort into unlocking investment in housing as in unlocking military spending. The urgency is above all the social and climate emergency. That, Mrs von der Leyen, should have been your priority in a hundred days. How long it is, a hundred days – and there are still 1,725! Courage to the Europeans to stand during these thousand seven hundred and twenty-five days!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, in France a few days ago, a 20-year-old woman died after hours of waiting on a stretcher in the emergency room. This tragedy is the result of political choices. For years, public health has been attacked as a cost to be reduced, a market to be privatized. Hailed as a hero during the pandemic, healthcare workers are now abandoned. Our health systems stand up thanks to these exhausted, underpaid and understaffed caregivers. Across Europe, hospitals are struggling to recruit, services are closing and resignations are ensuing. We must get out of the logic of austerity that destroys our public services. Investing in public health must be a top priority, hiring massively under stable status, raising wages, caring for those who care for us, improving their working conditions. Health is not a market, it is a fundamental right. If we do nothing, there will be a shortage of four million caregivers in Europe by 2030. The work of carers is essential for all Europeans. It is time to make it essential for the European Union.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you about Aleksandr Yarochuk, a trade unionist imprisoned in Belarus. His only crime is to peacefully oppose the Lukashenko regime. In prison, Aleksandr has the right to see his wife only once a year. He only gets out of his cell a few days, a few minutes a day. As an enemy of the regime, his sentence can be extended without any reason. In Belarus, you know when you go back to prison, but you don't know when you get out. Maksim Pazniakou, a trade unionist in exile, told me all this. He told me about how the regime crushed the voices of workers in a country where independent trade unions have been banned since 2022. You have no choice: either you sign for the only authorised trade union, Lukashenko’s political puppet, or you agree to live in terror and oppression. For Aleksandr, Maksim and everyone else, Europe must react. Colleagues, there is an urgent need to take sanctions against the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and, first, to demand the release of the 1,200 political prisoners. Free Belarus is watching us. Let's be at the rendezvous!

Mr. Speaker, once upon a time there was a reactionary, megalomaniac Silicon Valley billionaire who decided to buy a very powerful social network to make it his propaganda toy. Elon Musk was not elected by anyone, yet he has a disproportionate political weight. After working to influence the US elections, he now decides to tackle the European elections. Under the guise of freedom of expression, he actually defends the obligation to think, the obligation to think like him. So he will, here and there, support the candidate of the German far right, direct heir to the Nazis, promote reactionary content or attack the British Prime Minister. And how does the European Commission react? With a small press release to say that our democratic values are fundamental. It is the wolf against the lamb, but here the lamb does not even try to fight. Commissioner Virkkunen, Commissioner McGrath, what are you waiting for? That Elon Musk eats us whole? We have to react. We must first impose on X the transparency of algorithms, as allowed by the DSA. And if we don’t get that, we need to ban X, which is interfering on our continent. It is also high time to create a public and European social network. The European Union must not be an open bar for Musk and his friends. If they want to be present on our continent, they have to respect the rules.

Madam President, would protecting workers become illegal in the European Union? In any case, this is the opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union, who recommends the complete annulment of the Directive on minimum wages in the European Union. What is the basis of this decision? The fact that the Directive goes beyond the competences of the European Union, which, according to him, should be limited to managing the market and not the social sector. Once again, the market, your sacrosanct market, is the problem and not the solution. The market is brandished as a pretext by the Advocate General for not taking social action. This directive on minimum wages is not perfect, but it has the merit of strengthening collective bargaining and combating anti-union practices. Mr Advocate General, workers are not commodities, whose competitive bidding would make them happy. Whether you or your colleagues in the European Commission, the more you continue to see everything through the prism of the market, the more you will move away from the interest of the people.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, some of you have probably ordered your Christmas gifts on Amazon. In warehouses or behind the wheel of trucks, Amazon employees replace Santa's elves a little more every year. The other day, Habib, Janin and Judy, employed in a warehouse in northern France, alerted me to the alarming number of accidents at work and the daily obstacles to their trade union rights. I salute the courage of these women and men who, all over the world, are going on strike at the height of Christmas. They demand decent breaks, dignified wages and working conditions – basic requirements, far from a letter to Santa Claus. Amazon does not stop there. The American firm is also trampling on our democratic institutions, ignoring our summonses and sabotaging our parliamentary missions. Here, we punched our fists on the table, and since then, Amazon lobbyists’ EP access badges have been deactivated. We need to keep up the momentum. Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there is no little Santa Claus who will come down from heaven with rights in the thousands. It is up to us to ensure that this Parliament is respected! It's up to us to enforce workers' rights!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it will be 2°C in Strasbourg tomorrow morning. For millions of households, it will be necessary to choose: choose between paying your energy bills and refilling your fridge; be cold or hungry; taking cold showers or skipping meals; keep your coat at home and still have a cold nose. Because we live in a thermal sieve or because bills are skyrocketing, and even as the profits of energy suppliers reach records. Since this morning, it's official: The European Union has a Housing Commissioner. But for what? To tell Europeans to wear turtlenecks, as the French government dared to do? Please do not add contempt to contempt. There is now a need for a European policy to combat energy poverty, and this requires three concrete actions first. Firstly, to block energy prices, secondly, to get out of the absurd rules of the electricity market and, thirdly, to renovate thermal sieves, without increasing the price of rents. Heating is a right that must be guaranteed to everyone, not a luxury for a few.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I propose this oral amendment concerning the European Parliament crèche, which is intended to replace Amendment 68, which I originally tabled, but part of which is now obsolete in the light of recent events, because the People and Baby Group, which manages Parliament’s crèche, is affected, is tainted by a public scandal in France, which prevents it from responding again to the call for tenders. Here is the reformulated amendment, which I believe can bring together a large majority of this House: "Recognises that People and Baby is the group that currently manages the European Parliament crèche, warns of the excesses of People and Baby made public by the investigations of journalist Victor Castanet in France, considers that this group and its branches should be excluded from the future public contracts of the European Parliament crèche, calls for the European Parliament to directly employ the staff of the crèche, as the European Commission does, and ensures the proper functioning of the crèche by protecting staff, ensuring decent working conditions, fair remuneration and quality of services."

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, self-inflating balloons stuffed with carcinogens, toys with parts that can be swallowed, children's motorcycle helmets that in fact do not protect at all, smoke detectors that do not detect smoke... These dangerous products are no exception: they abound on online sales platforms such as Amazon, Temu or Wish. Consumer associations have tested them, and the finding is alarming. How is it possible that these objects could invade the European market? The answer is simple. For e-commerce giants, the priority is: profits, and the European market is the jackpot. It is a triple jackpot, in fact. First, a jackpot on security standards, because these platforms ignore the security standards in force at home. They are flooding the EU with products that do not comply with safety regulations, putting Europeans at risk. This is a jackpot on working conditions, as these products are produced under unacceptable conditions, exploiting workers and destroying the planet. It is a jackpot on tax obligations, because, to top it off, these platforms find a way to escape their tax obligations. And all this allows these e-commerce platforms to break prices and crush our European businesses, which cannot compete against this unfair competition. Colleagues, it's time to sound the end of recess for Amazon, for Temu, for Alibaba and company. The EU spends a lot of time discussing, legislating on the weight of apples or on the pulp of pears. I am not saying that it is not interesting, that it is not important, but I believe that there is more important and more urgent standardisation in the single market. E-commerce platforms must live up to their responsibilities and abide by our common rules. They must be held responsible for the products they sell, just like any trader in reality. If they want to play in our backyard, then they have to abide by our rules. No right-hand pass. The health and safety of European women and men comes before their profits.