Speeches

It was interesting to hear from you, Ms Loiseau. I would remind everyone who listens to us outside that the salary of a Member is more than EUR 7 000 per month. I personally think it is an indecent remuneration, completely disconnected from the reality and everyday life of the European citizens you are talking about. I will continue to defend not only the reduction of Members’ salaries, but also the prohibition of ancillary salaries. How are you going to justify, during the elections, that there are MEPs who are paid heavily by lobbies and companies, when we are supposed to be making the law?

Ms Loiseau, you have had quite a lively plea concerning the fight against external interference and the fight against corruption, but I wonder about the distance between words and deeds. There have been many good statements following the ‘Qatargate’ corruption scandal, but I note that when it came, for example, to voting on the ban on ancillary remuneration so that Members, in addition to their very generous elected officials’ allowances, would not be paid by lobbyists, you voted against it. Have you changed your mind or are you still standing up for lobbyists?

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, just a year ago the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the European institutions broke out: ‘Qatargate’. Members sold themselves to a foreign state for ticket cases, and today we even learn that Commissioner Schinás would be involved, which I pointed out a year ago. I remember each one of you here, ladies and gentlemen, coming to this rostrum and saying your hand to your heart: Nothing will ever be the same again. One year later, nothing has changed. The vast majority of the promised reforms have been buried. Members can quietly continue to be paid heavily by lobbies or states with impunity. Forgotten, the Independent Ethical Authority that you have promised us since the beginning of your mandate, Ms Jourová. Corrupt people, ladies and gentlemen, are like vampires: They hate the light. But opacity remains the absolute rule in all negotiations. I'm sorry for the slap in the face, but I honestly believe you're not giving a damn about us. I won't let you go. And count on me, on us, on my political camp, to continue to lead the battle, to drive out all the lobbies and external interference of the European institutions, so that, once and for all, ethics take precedence over money.

Madam President, one third of Europeans do not eat enough, and the 25% increase in food prices does not come out of nowhere. Even Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, acknowledges this: more than half of inflation comes from increased margins. Clearly, companies, large companies that are bingeing on our backs. People are tired of it. Tired that complicit governments politely demand price cuts that never come. I am sorry that the European Union is choosing this moment to re-impose austerity, right now, and is asking the States to cut the budget of our schools or hospitals, even though the solutions exist and you could now support our amendments on the taxation of superprofits and superriches and on the blocking of margins and prices. How could you, ladies and gentlemen, vote against and refuse to take back, as Abbé Pierre said so well, ‘those who have taken the whole dish on their plate, leaving the plates of the others empty’? Organising the big sharing or letting the big gavage take place is basically the dividing line that separates us here in our Chamber, and here is the choice that will have to be made for the next European elections.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as you know, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is apocalyptic. Nearly 20,000 civilians have died under Israeli bombs, the entire humanitarian system has collapsed, the UN is talking about genocidal risk and, without the US veto, the UN Security Council would have adopted a resolution in favour of a permanent ceasefire. But here the good news is that the US is not represented. We must succeed where the UN has failed and pass a clear resolution to end this carnage, to call for a permanent ceasefire, to call for the entry of International Criminal Court investigators into Gaza, to suspend our association agreement with Israel and demand an immediate embargo on our arms deliveries, to take sanctions against illegal settlers in the West Bank. By voting on a resolution, ladies and gentlemen, we could clearly take a position. The European Union, if it so wished, could use its leverage to intervene and no longer be complicit. This is up to us.

Mr President, ‘I thought I was dying’ is the words of a French Member of Parliament, Sandrine Josso, who was drugged without her knowledge by a senator with the aim of abusing her. And what was the reaction of Senator Joël Guerriau questioned? His cat was dying. Yes, yes, colleagues, you heard that, because her cat was dying, it would allow her to assault a woman. But what sense of impunity must be achieved if such a defence is to be dared? Often, aggressors benefit from a power relationship. He is the radio host Sébastien Cauet, accused of rape, or the famous real estate agent Stéphane Plaza, prosecuted for violence. But these attacks and this sense of impunity are not just about celebrities. They are ubiquitous and affect all women. Predators are everywhere: in the street, even in our homes, at work or in private, from inappropriate remarks to beatings, from repeated harassment of raped bodies. How many of us here have not already suffered one of these attacks? I note, moreover, that all these debates on women’s rights generally bring together a few colleagues, and only women. It is always the same pattern, every time the same difficulty for women to speak, every time the same impunity. But we will not let patriarchy win. With more than 100,000 rapes taking place in the EU each year, France is blocking negotiations on a crucial text against sexual violence by wanting to exclude the definition of rape from EU legislation. I want to repeat it here in this gallery. Emmanuel Macron does not mind, sexual intercourse without consent is rape. Sexual intercourse without consent is rape and must be included as such in European law. It is, however, simple and we will say as long as it takes: Women's bodies don't belong to you, neither does our consent.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this morning we are giving a first breath of relief after the announcement of a truce and the forthcoming release of several dozen hostages. I am thinking, of course, of the families who will be reunited with their loved ones, of those who do not yet have this chance and for whom we must continue to do everything possible to secure their release. I am also thinking of the people of Gaza who will be protected from bombs for a few days, but who know that their ordeal will soon resume. Every day, the human toll continues to grow and the European Union has been complicit in this massacre by refusing to condemn it. Yes, you let 14,000 civilians die, including more than 5,000 children. You let the IDF deliberately destroy hospitals, homes, schools. You have not said anything about these crimes, but you are constantly opposed to the ceasefire – because the truce cannot be a mere parenthesis, a lasting ceasefire is needed. What are you going to say, colleagues, to the thousands of parents who have lost their children? That it's collateral damage? Why has no sanctions yet been considered against Israel? We are rightly on the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, but how are you going to explain that we are not doing anything about the Israeli army’s war crimes in Gaza? This double standard is unbearable and has concrete consequences in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, which is too little talked about, where settlements are growing more and more brutally. Israeli settlers no longer have any limits. Every day, Palestinians are insulted, threatened, brutalized, murdered, driven from their land. We are witnessing ethnic cleansing. It is a moral duty to stop it because every Palestinian life counts. This is a diplomatic obligation because peace will only emerge with a two-state solution. This is a strategic imperative because what is being played out in the Middle East will have global consequences. Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are at a tipping point. If the European Union persists in its blindness, it will not only shame itself, but it will also permanently bury international law and with it the hope of lasting peace.

Madam President, if only we had farmers in Europe who produced quality milk and cheese. If only our orchards were filled with apple trees and our terroirs with vines. I know, I'm dreaming. But fortunately you, Commissioner, and you, ladies and gentlemen, who are never short of great ideas, will get us out of this bad step. Thanks to your free trade agreement with New Zealand, you will allow thousands of tonnes of milk and cheese, apples and wine to travel 20 000 kilometres in ultra-polluting cargo boats to land on the stalls of our supermarkets, with the added bonus of pesticides such as atrazine, theoretically banned from our premises. Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, and beware of the bad languages that would dare to say that this will accelerate the climate chaos, further undermine our food autonomy, subject our farmers to unfair competition and go against the meaning of the economic sovereignty so much touted by Mr Macron. If I am ironic, ladies and gentlemen, it is because you are actually very hypocritical in voting for this free trade agreement. There is a choice to be made, it is clear: it is the earth or the container ships.

We love parliamentary debate, so I thank you for that answer, but I am still hungry. I take a concrete example: a milk producer in France who now sells €450 or €500 of his 1,000 litres of milk, and who is unable to survive. He will see milk coming from New Zealand, which has been around the world (so it already makes no ecological sense) and which is also produced with pesticides banned in Europe, such as atrazine. And what are you going to tell him when he sees that milk from the other side of the world is sold cheaper when he himself cannot live off it? What about the consumer? Sorry, New Zealand milk is cheaper, but buy this one, it's better for the planet. You see that it has no ecological or social meaning. So yes, trade is good when you can’t produce at home, but when it comes to milk, you already have a lot of producers who can’t make a living from it.

. Mrs Vedrenne, I have seen that you have defended this new free trade agreement with great vigour. I have a question for you. Who said in 2020: "Delegating our food, our protection, our ability to care for our living environment, basically, to others, is madness". This is obviously Emmanuel Macron. So what are you going to say to French and European milk producers who are already unable to make a living from their production, to sell their stocks, to feed themselves? What will you tell them when they face unfair competition from New Zealand milk, given that New Zealand is the world’s largest exporter of milk?

Madam President, as Israeli bombs relentlessly rain down on Gaza’s civilian populations, our Parliament will debate a ceasefire for the first time this week. I welcome the fact that the concept of a cease-fire is finally no longer taboo in our Chamber, because until then, together with my group from La Gauche, we were the only ones to carry this slogan. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not enough. Talking about it is one thing, writing it in a resolution is another thing. Imagine the diplomatic impact of an official call by our European Parliament for a ceasefire. Imagine the strength of this message for the families of the 12,000 victims, for the more than two million Palestinians who are at risk of losing their lives at any moment. I remember that at every stage of Russia’s despicable military aggression against Ukraine, our Parliament rightly did not hesitate for a second to vote through the motion for a resolution. How then can we explain today that we would remain silent in the face of this ongoing massacre? This double standard vis-à-vis the Palestinian people would be unjustifiable and unforgivable. That is why I would ask you to add to the debate on Wednesday the vote on a resolution for a clear call: that of the cease-fire.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we must name things. What is happening in Gaza is a deliberate and organized massacre. Ten thousand Palestinians have already been murdered by the indiscriminate bombing of Israel and, I do not know if we are aware of it, children are being amputated alive, without anesthesia. One hundred and sixty children die every day, one every ten minutes. Gaza has become a burial-free cemetery where women mark their children’s names on their children’s skins so that they can be identified if they are killed by Israeli shelling. Benjamin Netanyahu does not intend to put an end to this carnage. He intends to amplify it. One of its ministers even proposed to use a nuclear bomb to wipe Gaza off the map. This is not self-defence, ladies and gentlemen, it is revenge. Meanwhile, illegal settlement is intensifying further and further in the West Bank, pushing, driving Palestinians out of their land. All this only adds to the spiral of violence and will in no way guarantee the Israelis’ right to security. We have to stop this madness. And when I see the answer from the European Union, Mrs von der Leyen, I must say that I am ashamed. Shame that you ignored the UN alert on Israeli war crimes and the risk of ethnic cleansing and genocide crimes. Shame that you refused to call for an immediate end to the fighting. Shame that you shamefully align yourself with the United States and miss your historic responsibility for peace. Shame, simply shame, with gravity, that you are complicit in these atrocities. The horrors committed by Hamas through the massacre of a people cannot be addressed. We must call for an immediate ceasefire. Everything must be done to secure the release of the hostages, the lifting of the blockade, the end of colonization and the relaunch of the two-state solution. The moment we are living in is crucial. No one will be able to say that he did not know. The days of 2.5 million trapped people are numbered. History looks at us and it will not forgive us for abandoning them.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is essential that we have this collective moment today to recall our strongest commitment against antisemitism. Europe has a special history and responsibility in this area, because it was on our continent that antisemitism led to the worst, with the Holocaust. It is in our countries that millions of Jews have been targeted, hunted down and murdered. And today I would like it not to be forgotten. Antisemitism is the foundation of the European far right, which still has deniers in its ranks. I do not want anyone to believe that it protects Jews today. It is an insult to the past and a lie to the present. So yes, we will participate here, in the European Parliament, and externally in all initiatives against antisemitism if they do not include those who have theorised, nurtured and disseminated it: the far right. Antisemitism is a profound evil that is part of a millennial history. It is a poison that always infects our societies and against which we must fight relentlessly and never let our guard down. More than a thousand anti-Semitic acts recorded in France in just one month, two thousand in Germany, a similar trend throughout Europe. The legitimate and necessary criticism of the policy of the Israeli far-right government must never be confused with the essentialisation of people of Jewish faith or culture. As the condemnation of the atrocities committed by Hamas must never be confused with the essentialisation of people of Muslim faith or culture. Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred of others have no place in our democracies. Any intimidation, any insult, any violence against a person because of his religion is unacceptable. Nothing can justify them. Never. I would like to address here, on behalf of my left-wing group in the European Parliament, my solidarity and support to all victims of anti-Semitic acts. I also want to express a clear commitment to all people of Jewish faith and culture who, I know for many, are worried today. I want to tell them, I want to tell you that you will always be under the protection of the European Union and I want to tell you that I will be, that we will always be by your side.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the whole world is watching us and waiting for the European Union to take a strong position, commensurate with the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Already 10,000 Palestinians have died under Israeli bombs, including 4,000 children. We must do everything we can to stop this massacre. But talking about a humanitarian pause, in the singular as well as in the plural, means absolutely nothing in practice. The war, ladies and gentlemen, is not child’s play, or even a perched cat game where it looks like ‘inch’, in the space of a few hours, before the bombs rain again on Palestinian civilians. The key word today, which can save thousands of innocent lives in Gaza, is the immediate ceasefire. It is the constant call of NGOs, it is the constant call of the UN Secretary-General that Cate Blanchett echoed again. That is why we call for this debate with a resolution on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the need for an immediate ceasefire. And allow me, Madam President, to insist that there be a vote. I believe that our Parliament must be able to position itself and that we have a vote on each of the proposals that have been made by our political groups.

Madam President, this is the original text: ‘urges the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Commission and the Council to join UN Secretary-General António Guterres in enforcing’ – this is the amendment – ‘an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid’. The rest remains unchanged, Madam President.

Madam President, this amendment is intended to put into words what is necessary. Of course, we need a humanitarian break, as I understand the Renew Group is going to ask for. But this must be done expressly through a cease-fire, which is codified in international law by the Geneva Conventions. The conflict is raging, thousands of civilians are being targeted, and our European Parliament must have a serious word and use the exact words of António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who proposed an ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire’. Therefore, like the United Nations, like the NGOs Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, we call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. This means stopping all military operations to help the civilian population. Millions of people, ladies and gentlemen, are waiting for the end of military operations and the end of the conflict. Let us rise to the occasion and vote in favour of this immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Mr President, just a few days ago, Dominique Bernard, a letter teacher, was coldly killed with a knife while trying to protect his students in Arras. Two other people were injured. Just a few days later, two Swedish fans were shot dead in the street in Brussels. Islamist terrorism has hit us again in our flesh, just three years after Samuel Paty was assassinated. We are all in awe, and my first thoughts go out to the victims of this unspeakable atrocity. I also want to express my solidarity with the educational community. I think of all the teachers who found themselves, Monday morning, tetanized in front of their students. Because, through Dominique Bernard, it was at school, a symbol of emancipation, that the terrorist attacked. This is what the jihadists wanted to target: school as a bulwark against obscurantism and a place to learn about freedom. So I want to tell all the teachers in our country that they do the best job in the world and that they are our best weapon against fanaticism. Didn’t Victor Hugo say that every time you open a school you close a prison? In this moment of emotion and recollection, we must not give in to the temptation of withdrawal and hatred, because that is exactly what terrorists are looking for, with these attacks. They want to divide us, they want to oppose us, they want to distance us. We are put to the test, but it is precisely in these moments that we must stand firm and stand together. So, in the face of barbarism and cruelty, let us oppose them with our most unwavering humanity.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, last night Gaza saw the unspeakable: A hospital was struck and destroyed. Behind its walls, children, wounded and carers. A hospital... Where life is supposed to be saved, hundreds of people have lost it. It is a carnage. As we speak, more than 3,000 Palestinians have already died, a third of whom are children. It is necessary to name things: These are war crimes. As we speak, 2.5 million Palestinians find themselves trapped under Israeli bombs and siege, 2.5 million people with a committed life-threatening prognosis. In the face of this humanitarian catastrophe, every minute counts. There has been an endless spiral of violence since the barbaric acts of Hamas. In this context, Mrs von der Leyen – I regret, moreover, that you did not have the decency to wait until the end of the first round of group presidents – you have one responsibility, only one: carry the torch of peace and proclaim, loud and clear, that every life counts. But you did not. Worse: During your visit to Israel, you usurped the voice of the European Union by giving unconditional support to Israel’s murderous Replica. Again, Mrs von der Leyen, the legitimate right to defence is not the right to revenge. We do not respond to abject war crimes with other war crimes. People are not collectively punished for crimes they did not commit. Civilians are not cannon fodder. Mrs von der Leyen, how dared you give Netanyahu a full blank, without a single word for Palestinian civilians, without a single word in favour of a ceasefire? We are of course on the side of the Israeli people, struck by Hamas' unjustifiable acts of terror. On 7 October, Hamas sowed terror by cold-bloodedly murdering more than a thousand innocent people and taking 200 civilians hostage. I reiterate here, on behalf of our Left Group, our most total and firm condemnation of these atrocities. Every Israeli victim deserves our compassion and support in the face of barbarism. And indeed, Mrs von der Leyen, the fight against barbarism can only be fought in justice, humanity and peace. Where is justice when the Israeli government indiscriminately bombs 2.5 million civilians in Gaza? Where is humanity when it deprives them of water, electricity, food and healthcare? Where is peace when he treats them as human animals and forces a million of them to flee without even knowing where to go? For decades, the oppression of the Palestinian people, their humiliation and colonisation have been covered by the complicit silence of Western countries. Gaza was already an open-air prison. Today it is a hell on earth and, if nothing is done, Gaza will soon be a cemetery. Mrs von der Leyen, while a regional flare-up is threatening, you must affirm today – as the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, reiterated again this morning – the only objective that is worthwhile: a ceasefire. We call for the immediate release of the hostages and the opening of humanitarian corridors, and above all not for the cessation of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, as proposed by your Commissioner. We call for everything to be done to find the way back to lasting peace, through the two-state solution advocated by our Parliament. Peace, Mrs von der Leyen, requires recognition and coexistence. History is watching us. If we persist in the "eye for an eye", everyone will end up blind.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to say to the Commissioner that he lacks a clear priority in his work programme for 2024, a reality which, no doubt, he does not know with his EUR 27 000 monthly salary: poverty. Commissioner, the fight against poverty and the explosion of prices must be the priority objective that should occupy you, rather than competitiveness in every way. Because, in the latest news, competitiveness is not eaten. What are you going to do for a third of Europeans who do not eat enough, those Europeans who cannot cope with the price explosion? Competitiveness also does not allow heating in winter. What are you going to do for this half of Europeans who do not want to increase heating when they are cold? Competitiveness also does not put a roof over the heads. What are you going to do for the homeless in Europe, whose number is equivalent to the population of Marseille? Nothing in your work plan about it. Your inaction is all the more culpable because you are well aware of the origin of the price rise, because even the ECB and the IMF say so: These are the profits of big companies. So, knowing this, where is the EU’s action to block margins and tax superprofits? Nowhere... Nowhere! You are too busy deregulating and easing the supposed constraints on companies. Where is the European Union's action to ensure that our citizens can eat for themselves, find shelter, heat and care? Nowhere! You are too busy planning for the return of austerity, which will further weaken our schools, our universities, our hospitals. Where is the EU's action to build a European industry that protects our jobs and is at the service of the ecological bifurcation? Nowhere! You're too busy signing free trade agreements to bring beef from Brazil or milk from New Zealand. You are too busy scheduling your environmental break, putting a critically important regulation on hazardous chemicals in the closet and re-authorising glyphosate. So to be clear, Commissioner, you are very busy, but much less concerned about our lives than about the lobbies and their profits. We will continue to offer another world, one in which we share the fruits of the incredible riches of our continent.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I take my hat off to you. It takes quite a bit of nerve to place the words free trade, autonomy and sustainability side by side in the title of the debate. Words have meaning anyway. How dare you call these agreements sustainable, when we talk about increasing imports of milk, butter, cheese, meat since, for example, New Zealand, literally on the other side of the world, more than 20,000 kilometers from here? And that's the difference between you and us. You want to make your butter on European farmers. We want to make our butter by European farmers and for that, no need for globetrotter food that has been around the world three times before arriving on our plate. I want to formally raise the alarm here. You are obviously preparing without much emotion, to sign more than ten free trade agreements, New Zealand, but also behind Australia, Chile, Mexico, Mercosur, India. It would be a great trip around the world if we excluded the dramatic impact on our farmers and the planet. In the end, the choice is simple, it is the Earth or the container ships. And when it comes to us, the choice is already made.

I listened to you and you said very clearly that the path we are taking is the renewal of glyphosate. But I remember a President of the Republic from a political camp to which you belong, Emmanuel Macron, who himself said in 2017: It is necessary to organize in the years following the release of glyphosate. So I know that you are one of the strongest representatives of pesticide lobbyists here and that you have even been named by Monsanto as one of their best allies. But, knowing that Parkinson's is a very prevalent disease among farmers, are you here defending the interests of farmers who suffer first from glyphosate, or are you defending the interests of the multinational company Monsanto?

Mr President, Commissioner, I have a fairly simple question for you. Did Bayer Monsanto hold the pen to re-authorise glyphosate for another 10 years? Because obviously, their €6 million of annual lobbying has been effective enough to convince you to continue with their poison. Money that has been well invested, since it has obviously also led to the flipping of Emmanuel Macron’s jacket, which also refuses to leave despite his promises. You would rather serve the interests of a multinational than those of the 99.8% of Europeans who already have glyphosate in their urine. You are talking about science, but what are you doing in this case about the World Health Organisation which has classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen? Glyphosate impacts pregnant women and fetuses, damages our bodies, contaminates our waterways, pollutes the soil and destroys biodiversity. What more do you need to ban it? By ignoring the irrefutable scientific evidence concealed by Monsanto, you are endangering the health of all Europeans. Finally, I offer you a fairly simple experience. If glyphosate is so harmless, go for a walk in a field after spraying and we'll see if you continue to put their profits ahead of our lives.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have listened carefully to your speeches and, above all, on this side of the Chamber, I must say, one thing struck me. As soon as you talk about migration, reason gives way to hallucination, even hysterization. Behind the nightmares of the extreme right on the "migratory invasion" or "passory Europe", there is a completely different reality. In mid-September, it was not a horde of invaders who landed in Lampedusa, but twelve thousand men, women, children who fled wars, climate chaos, misery and are now crammed into unworthy conditions. I want to make it clear here, you don't get on a makeshift raft at the risk of your life like you get on a cruise ship to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Twelve thousand people make up 0.003% of the European population. So the migratory invasion is a fable that the extreme right tells itself to scare itself, as we frightened children with the big bad wolf. Colleagues of the extreme right, Mr Zanni, Mr Bardella, it is time to grow up. The big bad wolf doesn't exist. Explain to me how we can, we have been able to welcome without problem more than 4 million Ukrainians forced to flee the Russian aggressor, but today we would be unable to accommodate an additional 12,000 exiles. Unless it's their skin color or religion that bothers you. Commissioner, the European Union is responsible for the chaos in Lampedusa, desired by the far right and set up by the right and the liberals. You have closed shelters, criminalized rescue NGOs at sea, violated the most basic rights of all exiles. You have outsourced border and asylum management by signing shameful agreements with states like Tunisia that abandon migrants in the desert and let them die of thirst. The inhumane and illegal migration policies confirmed in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum create the conditions for the humanitarian tragedy that has been repeated for years in southern Europe. The crisis settlement, which is supposed to be both firm and humane, actually endorses the systematic violation of the fundamental rights of exiles. Always the same recipes, always the same mistakes, always more broken lives. And let me tell you that, even if your goal is to limit migratory flows, your policy is absolutely not effective. How many more deaths in the Mediterranean Sea will it take for you to understand that your policy and the security approach are not working? We will not stop repeating it, we need a reception policy that guarantees dignity and rights. We must protect humanitarian NGOs, create a civilian rescue corps at sea. In short, it is time to make the only choice that is worthwhile, that of solidarity rather than that of barbed wire.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, nine months after the worst corruption scandal in its history, our Parliament is finally voting to change its ethical rules. It is time to take stock and frankly, there is really nothing to brag about. I remember when the scandal broke a few months ago, all the Members came here to the Chamber to say, with their hands on their hearts, that nothing would ever be the same again. And since the "Qatargate", a large part of the commitments that have been made, especially thanks to our group, voted in resolutions, have been largely buried. Out of almost 40 promises, more or less, in the end, less than ten were kept, because the right, the extreme right, but also the macronists, buried all the others. So the least we can do when we want to save democracy is to start by respecting it. I will take just one example: the prohibition of ancillary remuneration for elected officials. It must be obvious, but how many Members here in this Chamber are heavily paid by companies or lobbies, in addition to their mandate. Who are they accountable to? To the deputies, these deputies? To the elected officials? Or the citizens who elected them or the companies that pay them? The rejection of my amendment this noon to put an end to these practices of MPs-lobbies shows how money still too often takes precedence over ethics in this European Parliament. But you can count on us to lead the battle.

Madam President, Madam President of the Commission, I listened well to you, and I must say that I was quite astonished by your level of total disconnection from reality. Get off your golden tower! You say that you are responding to the call of history, but you are not responding to the call of millions of people, a third of Europeans, who are not eating enough because of inflation and for whom you have achieved the feat of not having a single word today. So, since you refuse to hear our call for a social emergency plan funded by the richest and super-profits, I will do something that is quite uncommon in the European Parliament, which is to give my microphone to a European citizen you have not listened to – it is very short: [Ms. Aubry launches an audio recording on her phoneEvery night you start to get a little hungry.inaudibleand close to the lunchtime meal. His name is Yassine. There are millions of people like him in the European Union and it is for them that you should act, Mrs von der Leyen. Victor Hugo wrote: Do you want help from the poor? I want misery removed. I have the impression today, Mrs von der Leyen, that you do not want either of them. So count on our group to keep fighting to make it a priority.