Speeches

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.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in France, 1 in 4 young people live below the poverty line, and 1 in 2 students is forced to skip a meal a day. Remember those endless queues for food aid during the COVID-19 pandemic? These images, they had traveled around the world. That was four years ago. And what has happened since then? Nothing. Why is the EU not asking governments to offer the 1 euro meal for students? Why do we continue to act as if poverty were a weather phenomenon, a kind of natural disaster? No, poverty does not fall from the sky. Without inequality, there is no poverty. Bernard Arnault, the richest man in the world, has seen his fortune exceed EUR 200 billion, more than Slovakia’s GDP. Imagine what we could do with this amount. We could do 200,000 hospitals, 40,000 schools. Do you want to act against poverty? Tax the richest, tax multinationals, get the money where it is.

Mr President, in Paris, the city where I live, it becomes almost impossible to stay, even when you have a stable job. Across Europe, housing is becoming a luxury. So, of course, when the European Commission announces a big plan for affordable housing, that's good news; But if we want all Europeans to have access to dignified and affordable housing, we must break with the dogmas of the market and competition. Housing is not a commodity, it is a fundamental right. I have come here with three concrete proposals that fall within the competence of the European Union. First, to rethink the rules on state aid. Member States must be allowed to invest in the construction of affordable housing without being sanctioned or accused of unfair competition with the private real estate market. Secondly, we need a directive to regulate short-term rentals, all the Airbnbs that, from Bratislava to Paris, deprive our inhabitants of housing and fuel the rise in rents. Thirdly, and finally, we need a European investment plan for energy renovations, in order to put an end to the thermal sieves that are blowing up the bills of European households. So, ladies and gentlemen, I solemnly ask you to commit yourselves to these concrete points, otherwise this great housing plan will be nothing but a despairing bunch of good words, with no effect on the lives of Europeans.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in all your countries, when elections are held, the leading coalition is responsible for forming the government. And it is in this coalition that the candidate for the post of European Commissioner is selected. But in France, it doesn't happen that way. Here, President Emmanuel Macron clings to power and refuses to recognize the outcome of the elections. After two months of democratic denial, he once again trampled on the French people. He imposed on the post of European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, boss of the presidential party – a presidential party that was a major loser in the elections. I take you as a witness, ladies and gentlemen: It is not only Hungary that flouts our democratic and fundamental values. There is currently a serious autocratic drift in France. So don't abandon us, don't leave us alone in the face of President Macron's authoritarianism. Beyond the interests of the French people, what is at stake is the defense of democracy, it is the defense of the rule of law.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is still quite cynical to hear all of you self-congratulating on social Europe, even though yesterday you all rushed to vote for the return of austerity. This return to austerity will have concrete social consequences for European workers and households: less money for hospitals, class closures in schools, cuts in unemployment insurance and, as a result, more poverty, more poor housing, more inequality – in short, the worsening of the social crisis. To condemn the peoples of Europe to an unprecedented austerity cure is to prevent social progress. So we have to stop with these hypocritical speeches. I am proud that the only group that has opposed the Stability Pact is France Insoumise, the only group that really puts the social at the top of its priorities. I hope that on 9 June, voters will remember this and give us the strength to change everything here in the European Parliament.

Madam President, the Israeli government is slaughtering Gazans with impunity and it is the criticism of the same Israeli government that is being criminalised. This shrinking democratic space in Europe is very dangerous. Denounce the IDF’s actions or warn about the risk of genocide is genuinely censored. In France, this may even lead to a summons to the police station for apology for terrorism. A few days ago, a conference by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Franco-Palestinian jurist Rima Hassan was banned. Gatherings in support of the Palestinian people have also been banned. We must defend democracy with all our might, which is now endangered by these attacks on freedom of expression. That is why I would like to make a proposal to add to the agenda for Wednesday.

Mr President, after the bombs and shells, hunger is causing death in Gaza. By refusing to allow humanitarian aid trucks in, Israel is knowingly starving more than 2 million Gazans. I would like to recall here that UNSCR 2712 specifically calls for ensuring the supply of food. Conversely, Israel organises famine. Just a few hours ago, today, Israel bombed one of the last UN food distribution centres, two weeks after the IDF fired on a food distribution. They came to get bread, they received bombs... The Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war in its genocidal enterprise. So, in the face of this carnage, we need not only resolutions, we need sanctions. The European Union must now impose an arms embargo and suspend the Association Agreement with Israel. Not in a month, not in a week: action must be taken immediately.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, on average EUR 1 055 for a rental in Paris, are you saying that this is the price per month for a small studio? Well, not at all! Be careful, this is the price for only one night in an apartment in Paris rented on Airbnb during the 2024 Olympics. Yes, 1 055 € per night, we reach records! And unfortunately, these records have nothing to do with sport. Why would a landlord continue to rent his property to a resident tenant when he has the opportunity to multiply his rent during the Olympic Games? The recipe is simple: first find a pretext, often illegal, to terminate the lease of its tenants, even if they have always conscientiously paid their rent. Then put the apartment on Airbnb at dizzying prices that only tourists can afford. And if the locals don’t have enough to pay for an apartment this summer, too bad for them, they will only have to go elsewhere, far from the city, because in any case, Paris will soon be filled with tourist accommodation without inhabitants. We need to act against Airbnb, which is emptying cities of its housing. The first step is the proposals contained in the report by my colleague Kim Van Sparrentak. It is then necessary to go further and limit short-term rentals to owner-occupiers, for a limited period of time.

Mr President, twice an agreement has been reached in trilogue, and twice the Council has decided to reject it. This is unheard of: 23 out of 27 Member States approved the agreement reached on 8 February on the Digital Platform Workers Directive. Only four Member States did not want this agreement, choosing to trash years of work and a directive that would bring rights to millions of workers. I have a particular thought, of course, for the president of my country, France, who spends his time trying to sabotage this directive, President Macron, who really deserves his badge as Uber’s chief lobbyist. But I will not waste more of my speaking time tonight to talk about him, because it is a lost cause. I would like to address the Prime Minister of Estonia, Ms Kallas. On 11 March, the Council has a new opportunity to validate the directive. Prime Minister Kallas, do not give in to blackmailing platforms, including Estonian platforms. I was last week with Uber drivers and Deliveroo drivers. These workers are a priori very far from the political world. They have so much hope in this directive that they organise demonstrations in front of Uber headquarters with the European flag on their shoulders. There are European elections in three months. Keep opposing this directive and you will feel that the European Union is for lobbies. If, on the contrary, you decide to unblock this directive, we will for once be able to show that the European Union can improve life. It is not for Uber or Bolt to make the law. It is not up to lobbies to make the law.

That was 20 years ago. The babies of the time have become the trainees of today. Nothing has changed. A labour force that is hard-working, skilled, motivated, disposable, almost free, without rights. Businesses, the civil service and NGOs use and abuse trainees. Why deny it, since this disguised wage-earner is legal everywhere in Europe? The traineeship was to be a gateway to employment: it is an obstacle to recruitment. The exploitation of trainees must stop. Commissioner, make a directive to regulate traineeships and pay trainees with dignity, but above all - above all! – to prevent employees from being replaced by trainees.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 2005, together with the Generation Precarious collective, we called for a strike by trainees. This call was ironic because the trainees did not have the right to strike. To ensure our anonymity and avoid sabotaging our entry into working life, we wore these white masks. These masks made it possible to make visible the millions of invisible, lawless, interchangeable people who were running the economy. That was 20 years ago. The babies of the time have become the trainees of today. (The President interrupted the speaker)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this moment of commemoration is an opportunity to look back on the decisions taken during the whole period when Jacques Delors chaired the European Commission between 1985 and 1995, because these decisions shape the architecture of today's Europe. Jacques Delors, like the great majority of the political leaders of the time, believed that the relaunch of European integration must go first and foremost through the deepening of market logics and that, of course, social was important, but that social harmonisation would naturally happen once allegiance was made to the dogma of competition. Instead of social Europe, we were entitled to a brutal Europe, a Europe that hurts: austerity, free trade, single act and single thought, Maastricht, ever more sacrosanct competition, relocations in turmoil. Experience has shown us that social has not arisen spontaneously from the market and that, if we want social in Europe, we need political will, we need concrete decisions in this area. But then, some, among the most fervent defenders of liberalism, panic as soon as they find themselves faced with a European text that could improve the lives of workers. They are also the same people who claim to be the heirs of Jacques Delors in the desire to relaunch a European construction and who stand in the way of texts that improve the lives of workers at European level. To put it clearly, I rage to hear leaders like Emmanuel Macron position himself on the national scene as a great defender of a Europe that protects and at the same time to see this same Emmanuel Macron, here, at the European level, working hard to bring down a directive that should give some rights to platform workers, all in order not to offend Uber's interests. In a few months the European elections will take place. Believe me, we are going to make sure that European citizens know that those who boast of being the most pro-Europe are actually those who are blocking advances that could improve the lives of millions of Europeans. To the most zealous defenders of European integration, I say: By taking up the dogmas of brutal Europe, you will achieve European destruction.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, peace is buried under the rubble of Gaza. Peace is the first word of the Schuman Declaration. Since 1950, the world has been told that peace is the raison d’être of the European project. And when it’s time to put the founding principles into practice, what is Europe doing? The war. In Gaza, Israeli bombs rain down on hospitals. In schoolyards, children are massacred by IDF missiles. What is Ursula von der Leyen doing? She's on the bomb side. It could have demanded a ceasefire, recalled its ambassador to Israel, suspended the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Nothing. Europe has failed. That is why we want to table a motion of censure against the European Commission. This is a power that the European Parliament has and that we must use today. Colleagues, the world is watching us. Therefore, I solemnly ask you to bring your signature to this draft motion of censure to demand a ceasefire, the only way to achieve peace.

Madam President, Commissioner, you took your time to present your proposal for an independent ethics body. We thought that if you took so much time, it was because you were preparing a solid and ambitious proposal. Last week, you finally presented us with your proposal, and then we said: All this for that! Parliament asked you for a body that sets ethical rules; you propose a working group for common minimum standards. Parliament asked you for an independent ethics body; your organization is made up of members of the institutions who make their own self-assessments. Parliament called for the ethics body to have the right to investigate potential conflicts of interest and to have a sanctioning power; you do not propose either. In short, despite its pretty name, this organization will not serve anything at all. Commissioner, your proposal is an affront. We ask you to withdraw your proposal and consider an independent ethics body, as proposed by Parliament, so that the European Union finally ceases to be the kingdom of lobbies, secrecy and opacity.

Madam Speaker, I think it's really starting to show: I am pregnant and in two months I will give birth to a little girl. (Applause) Thank you! This is good news, it is true. But this is not necessarily good news for those who elected me. Because I necessarily asked myself whether I was entitled to an absence for maternity leave. Well, then I found out that no: in the European Parliament, nothing is planned, as if, when you were a Member of the European Parliament, you had to give up having children. As if, in the end, to be a Member of the European Parliament, one had to be a man who was a Member of the European Parliament. The problem is not so much for us. The problem, as I said, is for those who elected us. There is a democratic problem of representativeness. So, Madam President, please hear this call, and make maternity and paternity leave possible for elected officials. One should not have to choose between exercising one's mandate properly and giving birth to a child.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like here, from the Chamber of our European Parliament, to alert you to the situation of social dialogue in France. The French government has authoritarianly pushed back the retirement age by ignoring all the demands, all the proposals of the social partners, refusing to negotiate with the trade unions, and then ignoring and flouting parliamentary representation. As you have understood, this reform, which will have a significant impact on the lives of French people, was adopted without a vote, without dialogue, either with the social partners or with the national representation. The government went one step further yesterday, going so far as to withdraw the constitutional right of amendment from opposition MPs. Political manoeuvres, attacks on social dialogue, on trade unions, all this marks a dangerous authoritarian drift. Colleagues, as European parliamentarians, this way of flouting social democracy, this way of attacking trade unions, this way of attacking democracy must alert us to the utmost.

Mr Orville, in the same way as Mrs Vedrenne, you indicated that you support the directive for platform workers. You know that at the moment this directive is blocked in the Council, where we have a group of states, first and foremost the French government, France, which is trying to ensure that exceptions, exemptions, suspensive periods are put in place, that everything is done to dilute the directive. Can you convey the message you expressed there to the President of the Republic and the French Government that he should stop sabotaging the directive in the Council and that we should be able to go along with the proposal made by Mr Nicolas Schmit for a directive to protect platform workers?

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, before, my political family and I felt like we were shouting in the desert. But the health crisis and the war in Ukraine have gone through this. And in the face of the terrible social consequences for European households, the importance of public services, hospitals and State aid was realised. A door was ajar. The lines have moved. The dogmas of austerity, of competition, these software have become obsolete. Yet, since the promises of the Porto Social Summit two years ago, what has happened? Full of good ideas, but all stopped in the middle of the ford. A directive on European minimum wages that does not set a threshold. A directive on pay transparency that will affect less than 1% of workers. A non-binding minimum income initiative. The door is ajar, but some, behind, push to close it. Next year's European elections are an opportunity to decide the debate. Will we decide to open the door completely, to put more than one foot in it, and to throw in the trash those dogmas that lead the European peoples into the wall? I want to issue a warning: If the European Union leaves citizens at the door, it will not survive.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today is Europe Day, and it is the day that platform workers from all over Europe have chosen to speak with a common voice to European labour ministers. These workers are waiting for the directive that will oblige their employers to respect labour law, and to pay social security contributions. In the European Parliament, we are ready. We have validated our position for three months already. But in the Council, it's blocking. It blocks because some countries, like France, do everything to torpedo the directive by adding criteria, multiplying the grounds for exemption. This is blocking, because France and Emmanuel Macron’s friends are trying to empty the directive of its substance. So I join the call of Uber drivers and Deliveroo deliverers. Ministers, do not try to sabotage this directive. European workers are getting impatient. They are waiting for the final phase of the negotiations, for it to finally be adopted, this directive which is crucial for the future of wage-earning. Ladies and gentlemen, show them that Europe is not about Uber, but about platform workers.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me warn you. Europeans are caught in the throat by inflation and you are about to tighten the rope that is strangling them. By validating the extension of the carbon market to buildings and transport, you will make households pay for the green transition. For those who have no choice but to put petrol in their car to go to work, you say: “Global warming is your fault. You will pay more, but it is for the good cause and do not complain.” Just because you make petrol more expensive does not mean that Europeans will consume less petrol or find the thousands of euros to buy an electric car. Just because you make heating more expensive does not mean that Europeans will suddenly find thousands of euros to invest in the thermal renovation of their homes. In this context, the Social Climate Fund is just a bandage on a wooden leg. Fighting global warming, yes, but not by making workers and the most precarious households pay for the green transition. The European Commission itself recognises that all this will have an impact on the household portfolio. Experts are talking about 50 cents increase per litre of petrol – and this is not the darkest scenario. Some here have short memories. I am thinking above all of my French colleagues and those of Renaissance in particular. We are in a good position in France to know that hitting workers in the portfolio under the guise of fighting global warming is counterproductive and creates social anger. Be careful, colleagues, not to add social injustice to climate irresponsibility. Be careful, colleagues, because if you decide that it is up to European workers to pay the bill for the green transition, you may well find on all the roundabouts in Europe this yellow vest that I am showing you as a warning.

Madam President, nine business class trips, all paid for by Qatar, are the nice gift given to the European Commission's top official in charge of transport. While Mr. was enjoying a five-star meal in the sky at the expense of Qatar Airways, his services were negotiating an air transport agreement, which turned out to be much more in favor of Qataris than Europeans. On the day of the revelations, the European Commission said: Don't worry, we checked it out. No, no, no, we swear, there is no conflict of interest. Commissioner, luxury travel paid for by Qatar's petrodollars while negotiations for an agreement with Qatar take place at the same time is a conflict of interest. One cannot be satisfied with a system in which senior officials themselves control whether or not the gifts they receive are a conflict of interest. That is precisely why Parliament is asking you for an independent ethics body. When you get caught in the bag, you stop procrastinating.