Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, yes, the whole evening could be spent on this tax agreement, which sets a corporate tax rate of 15% worldwide. This is a first, it is true. But the reality is that this agreement sets an effective rate of 15% when it could have, when it should have been 21%. The reality is that this agreement concerns only a handful of multinationals. The reality is again that this agreement favours developed countries, again leaving the poorest countries behind. Always the same story, over and over again. So poppy would be indecent. Tax, social and climate justice are the same fight and this fight requires a real change of course, a real ambition. This agreement is here. So we'll have to deal with it. On the other hand, nothing prevents us from doing better in Europe. Since France will take over the presidency of the EU from January, I am challenging its Minister for the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, who welcomes this case. First of all, in order to be completely transparent, can it publish the effective tax rate of the multinationals concerned in France and Europe? And finally, are you ready, Minister, to propose to your colleagues to increase the ambition of this agreement by setting an intra-European minimum effective rate of at least 21%?

Mr President, we, the European Greens, have long called for the creation of a genuine European Asylum Agency. However, the fact that its mandate does not enter into force as soon as it is adopted makes a lot of sense. The Manichaeism of European migration policies is increasingly indigestible. Member States are still in a hurry to implement restrictive legislation, but they require deadlines when it comes to protecting the fundamental rights of exiles. Frontex’s budget is doubled, despite the many charges against it, but Member States negotiate until the end of shabby deadlines for the establishment of a fundamental rights officer and a complaints mechanism. Strong with the weak, weak with the strong: This is the motto of the European Union and its Member States. In France, this means over-militarising the border with the United Kingdom; allow between 1,000 and 1,500 people, mostly families, to survive in unworthy conditions in Calais and Grande-Synthe; harassing, humiliating and robbing children, women and men; Human Rights Watch denounces these conditions once again in a report this morning. In Italy, it is a sentence of 15 years in prison for Mimmo Lucano, the former mayor of Riace, who has devoted his mandates to a welcome worthy of exiles, when a far-right activist who has shot exiles is sentenced to only 12 years. In Denmark, this means confiscating refugees’ property upon arrival in the country; This means offering cutting barbed wire to Lithuania for its anti-migrant fence. In Poland, it means declaring a state of emergency at the border to put a screed on a humanitarian and human scandal: exiles left abandoned, without food, without shelter. Six dead already. How much more before the European Union takes firm action? If that is the case, we will do without European solidarity, thank you very much. You think you are flattering your electorates, you are only stirring up hatred. In France, Italy and throughout Europe, citizens, volunteers and associations are outraged. They tell me, they call us. They're ashamed of me, too.

Madam President, over and over again, tax scandals are repeating themselves and France and Europe are doing nothing to really stop this financial crime. Now I am angry because they think we are idiots. Throughout the day, through the media, through crooked politicians, we are told that the danger is migrants and the risk to our societies is the wave of migration. We give billions to Frontex, we put up barbed wire and we install floating barriers which, in addition to being despicable, are absurd. We divert our attention and make us believe that we are threatened, but the real danger to our democracies and our societies, it is there, before our eyes: it is injustice; it is impunity; These are the privileges of the powerful when the weakest toast. billions of euros are out of the ordinary, when solidarity money, pension money and public service money are cut everywhere else in Europe; it is this intolerable complacency as a criminal accomplice; it is she who threatens and kills our democracies. The scale of the scourge of tax evasion is well known. We also know perfectly well the solutions to put an end to it. So stop playing with lives, weakening our democracies, pointing fingers and always blaming the most vulnerable. Finally, have the political courage to end these outrageous scams now.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, Mr Minister, this has already been said by my colleagues: this climate legislative package is a step in the right direction, but tragically lacks ambition. In addition, this plan dates from last May. However, the latest IPCC report augurs for a devastating future if we continue the policy of small cowardly steps or "at the same time". Not to mention yesterday’s World Bank report, which forecasts 200 million climate refugees in 2050. On the deployment of renewable energy, investment in 100% green hydrogen, the end of fossil fuel subsidies, the end of free quotas to be polluted, a truly environmentally friendly agricultural policy, on everything and everywhere, we must go much faster and much stronger than what is proposed to us. Climate inaction risks pulverising our future. It is for this reason that I filed a complaint against the French state three years ago, when I was mayor, joined by the case of the century and its two million fellow citizens. The city I managed is at risk of marine submersion and the French justice system has proven me right: on 1 July, the Conseil d’État (Council of State) obliged France to act within nine months to reduce its emissions, failing which France would be penalised. So will Europe wait until it is forced by justice to act for lack of courage and ambition? Or will we live up to this formidable challenge and be proud that we have taken the necessary decisions by humbly listening to Europeans, Europeans and experts? (The President withdrew the floor to the speaker)

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, 82.3 million is the number of people forcibly displaced around the world, as you recalled in the latest report by the High Commissioner for Refugees. 86% of those forced into exile are hosted in developing countries. The European Union, a thriving economic area, is home to only a tiny minority. And again, can we really talk about welcome! As I speak to you, with a terrible feeling of déjà vu, of déjà vu, no European country has committed to welcoming the 572 people rescued by the SOS Méditerranée teams in six rescues carried out in four days. These are the acts of today, Commissioner. As I speak, Europe is discussing an asylum and migration pact where Member States could fund the return of asylum seekers rather than welcoming and being humane and supportive. All this is a very strange way of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Convention, the text that enshrined refugee status and the obligations that flow from it for States. 70 years later, the right to asylum and its founding principle, non-refoulement, are all too often abused and trampled on. 70, ladies and gentlemen, is very young to be dead and buried by the European Union and its Member States. Yes, Commissioner, the Geneva Convention must live and survive our nauseating fears and selfishness. This anniversary must be an occasion for a burst of humanity. The European Union must recover and finally regain its dignity. It must return to its founding values. Leaving your country to survive is a tragedy. Let’s not add drama to the drama. Let us welcome these refuge seekers with dignity. It is our duty. Humanly and legally, the Geneva Convention obliges us to do so.