Speeches

Mr President, deadly floods, apocalyptic fires, absolute heat record: Climate disasters were the scenario of films like ‘The day after’. But this summer, fiction has become a reality in Europe. We are no longer passive spectators of a disaster film, but we are living it. Climate change is already here. It's irreversible. He's brutal. And in case this life-size alert isn't enough for you, the IPCC report closes the discussion. We need to change everything, now, radically if we want to avoid chaos. The countdown is started, but you continue to ostrich. It already starts badly with your target of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, when it would take at least 65% to comply with the Paris Agreements. You might as well extinguish the fire with a garden sprinkler. On the method, then, you surpassed yourself. What is your miracle solution? Let the deal go. Eureka! No one had thought about it. Yet we have seen the triumph of the carbon market that companies have used as a license to pollute. As a result, industrial emissions have fallen by only 1% in ten years. But will you take it up a bit more by extending it to transport and buildings? And while we're at it, we don't have to deal with productivist agriculture and climate-related free trade agreements either. No surprise, finally, on whom will pay the bill? No, not the crazy finance or the poor multinationals that are the heart of the problem. But no, what you are proposing is the working classes, of course, who will see their bills skyrocket. Plus EUR 370 per year of petrol and EUR 420 of heating for these households, which are already the first victims of climate chaos. The alert launched by the yellow vests in France? Clearly, you have not heard of it. So, Mr. Timmermans, you're telling us: We need to act now. But you remain desperately trapped in your neoliberal software. And since you say you are open to alternatives, we will continue on our side to propose the only serious path: A social and ecological "Green New Deal" that breaks with this predatory economic system that destroys everything.

Mr President, in many European countries, abstention is on the rise. Many citizens say that politics is useless, that it no longer changes everyday life, that it is powerless in the face of lost work, at the end of difficult months, in hospitals that close. And frankly, when I sometimes hear our debates in this Chamber, I want to tell people who doubt that I understand them, because it is these concrete concerns that should guide only your political agenda and that of the Commission. How can we prevent the planet from literally burning even more, after temperature records approaching 50 degrees in Canada? How can climate change be mitigated to avoid the widespread chaos announced by the IPCC and already illustrated by Madagascar's climate famine? How to save threatened jobs, such as those of the 300 employees of the Fonderie du Poitou who burned their electoral card to denounce their abandonment? How can we help the most vulnerable who can no longer make ends meet when billionaires have seen their fortunes increase by 30%? Just imagine: If the SMIC in France had increased at the same speed, it would be 370 euros more per month. How can we stop the tax evasion of these ultra-rich like Bernard Arnault or these big multinationals like LVMH that plunder the revenues of our states? In short, how to respond to the two challenges of our time: the inequality crisis and the climate catastrophe? And how can we tackle those responsible, the neoliberal economic system that is destroying everything? A shot of green paint on a discounted climate package will not change the game. We need to tackle the structural problems of the European Union to get out of the all-market and all-profit that is depleting the planet and people. A symbolic taxation of multinationals and an already obsolete mini-recovery plan will have no impact. It takes fresh money to invest in the public service and trigger the green fork. The very essence of politics is to serve people’s demands. If you continue to despise them, don’t be surprised that they no longer respect you. So listen to the alert of citizens on civic strike. Because a democracy without voters is no longer a democracy.

Madam President, Mr President, today I want to talk to you about love, the happiness of loving whoever you want, wherever you want, whatever your gender or sexual orientation. Do not have to hide, justify or be afraid, and have a heart that beats 100 per hour, just out of passion, not out of fear of being targeted. Ms von der Leyen, Mr Michel, I thought that in Europe, in 2021, we would not allow this simple and fundamental right to love to be called into question. However, this is the case in Orbán Hungary, where a shame law that associates LGBTI people with pedocriminals is now in force. Mere convictions are no longer enough, it takes action to demonstrate to every European citizen that we will defend them at all costs. Orbán is far from being at his trial. It has been challenging the separation of powers and freedoms for years. And this is almost always Europe’s radio silence. At each Council, and still today in your speeches, it is the same comedy. The European Union is worried, moved, outraged, but let it happen. She frowns, yes, makes big eyes sometimes, raises the tone, but never rages. And this impunity is jurisprudence. Slovenia, which is taking over the presidency of the EU, is attacking freedom of the press and opponents, like our comrades in Levica. Poland is challenging abortion. And that is Europe’s radio silence. The far right is jubilant about your cowardice. Orbán taunts us by publishing his propaganda in the complicit newspapers as The Figaro, and his authoritarian friends dream of a brown alliance to defend their disastrous project. Your inaction encourages them to go further. So today, yes, it is true, we hear the word ‘sanctions’ timidly. But you know, as I was talking about love: In love, only the evidence counts. So if you like the rule of law so much, why wait and stubbornly refuse to apply the necessary sanctions immediately? Every week lost is an insult to those homosexuals who fight to keep the right to love, to women who fight to keep the right to abortion, to journalists who resist to keep the right to inform. Your false naivety is not an excuse, but an accomplice cowardice. It is time to send a clear message: We won't let anything pass, we won't let anything pass.