Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, Rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, last week we learned that Yuri Kerpatenko, a Ukrainian conductor, was shot by Russian machine guns, murdered in his home in Kherson. His crime: refusing to participate in a propaganda concert to celebrate the illegal annexation of his region. The Russian government has no limits in horror. This war is a war against our values in which artists are all designated targets. When you want to subjugate a people, you erase its history, its heritage, its memory, its culture, its freedom of expression. History is a stark reminder of this. Since the beginning of the conflict, nearly 200 cultural sites have been destroyed or damaged. We can mention the historic centre of Kyiv, the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre, and remember the Mariupol Theatre, which was bombed as a refuge for thousands of Ukrainians. Today, destruction and looting must be prevented. Disinformation must be tackled. Ukrainian artists must be given the means to express themselves, which is a way to resist. We already support them and we need to do more. This is the call we are making today in the European Parliament. There's an emergency. In 2020, we voted on a resolution calling for saving the EU’s cultural and creative sectors in times of pandemic; We're going to repeat ourselves. We must continue to help Ukrainian artists, yes, but by significantly increasing the means. Instead of cutting the Creative Europe budget by €90 million, as planned for 2023, let’s increase it, sanctify it! This budget cut is unacceptable in the times we live in. And yes, Commissioner, we need new instruments. What we are asking for is a specific emergency mechanism dedicated to the cultural industries that are the first to suffer in all the times of crisis we are experiencing. Let’s invest in culture, our democracies will do better.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear rapporteurs and colleagues. New European Bauhaus. Behind this overly complicated name, there is a great idea for our citizens to put art, culture, design and above all people at the heart of the energy transition and the European Green Deal. With this initiative, we are therefore talking about renovating our buildings while respecting our heritage, building differently, putting nature back in the city, valuing our social relations, rethinking our ways of moving and integrating the circular economy into our lives and cities. But today, in 2022, we are in limbo, with a lack of clarity about the sources of funding. The message I want to convey is therefore a message of ambition: we want a dedicated programme and funding in the European budget. The New European Bauhaus must support SMEs, architects, engineers, artists, craftsmen and apprentices. There are thousands of ideas and local initiatives in Europe. They must be made visible so that they can inspire decision-makers, businesses and local elected representatives.

Madam President, I really wanted to thank all the colleagues who have spoken in support of this debate. I would also like to thank you, Commissioner, for responding with proposals. In conclusion, I wanted in particular to welcome the work of the Commission in publishing the guidelines for the implementation of the Erasmus+ Inclusion and Diversity Strategy and the European Solidarity Corps, which, together with the recommendations of this report, can significantly improve inclusion measures in Erasmus+. So we learned from the past in this report and now we have to seize all the opportunities that the current programme offers to further strengthen – and we have seen how important this is – the opportunities for inclusion. I am talking about opportunities for apprentices to be included, about being able to develop a lot of initiatives for the youngest – because opening up to Europe, to habits abroad, to this irreplaceable experience, is being prepared from an early age, because we are also adapting. All these measures must therefore be followed up. For this, there is a nerve of war that is the budget. I admit that the budget I have seen for 2023 is a source of concern, because it needs to be increased more radically every year. This budget is also part of the inclusion measures of Erasmus and we therefore expect a lot, as my colleague recalled earlier. This report therefore draws lessons from the past and projects us into the future of an even more inclusive Erasmus. I hope, of course, that this report, which will be put to the vote, will win a very broad unanimity in this House and will be a strong signal to all Europeans, young and old alike.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, more than 10 million people have been able to benefit from Erasmus+ since it was launched in 1987. And how many more are dreaming about it? How many dream of travelling, meeting, learning and experiencing European culture through mobility? At the Conference on the Future of Europe, the 800 citizens told us, they made it a priority: There is a need to foster a culture of exchange and to promote European identity and European diversity. And the first answer identified is Erasmus. The programme has evolved significantly since 1987 and has been open to apprentices, high school students, middle school students, adults in training, teachers and job seekers. Erasmus+, in 35 years, has expanded, democratised to better adapt to changes in our society. Yet, it regularly rises from the field of discouraging testimonies: a student who has not been able to leave because of his or her disability due to lack of suitable support structures, an apprentice whose family has not authorised the mobility project, a young person who has not been able to carry out his or her project due to lack of financial means or an adult in training for whom the remote geographical situation has been too important a brake. Not to mention all those young people who simply think that Erasmus is not for them, that it is only for students of higher education or for those who have money, parental support, for those who live in big cities; In short: for others. Erasmus is still too often thought of as the European success that benefits only a few. We need to change that. Every young person must be able to say to himself: "Erasmus is for me". It is on this basis that the European Parliament negotiated and obtained, in the new Erasmus + programme 2021-2027, an entire chapter dedicated to the inclusion of what we call people with fewer opportunities, i.e. encountering geographical, social, cultural, health, disability or educational difficulties. For this desire for inclusion to be translated into reality for Erasmus 2021-2027, it was therefore essential to look back and see what had been done to include these audiences in difficulty, whether in isolation, by project leaders, or more concertedly, at the level of Erasmus+ national agencies, in the absence of a real European strategy. This is what I did with my shadow rapporteur colleagues in this implementation report. We have come to a comprehensive report with clear findings and recommendations for the current programme. The analysis of the situation in the 2014-2020 programming period clearly shows several obstacles, which I wanted to highlight in this report. Firstly, the crucial need to adapt scholarships and financial aid to the situation of participants. I am thinking in particular of pre-financing, which would allow participants not to have to advance money. This is something that really comes up on a regular basis from project owners. A second obstacle is the almost structural dysfunction of the Commission's IT tools. We know that this is a recurring problem that still exists in the current programme. An association that has few resources, few staff, really has difficulties and this is something that absolutely needs to be corrected. A third crucial point is that of the support provided to the professors, the accompanists and the teams of the associations carrying out the projects. They are often volunteers and need help to complete the files to be provided, a process that can be complex. Without them, most programmes cannot be carried out and run optimally. Better support would also give more confidence to families, sometimes reluctant, and participants, while ensuring optimal project progress. Finally, it emerged that there was a lack of accurate and reliable data on the participation of people with fewer opportunities that would allow us to monitor the performance of the programme on this topic. The recommendations in this report are the result of several months of work, consultation – with stakeholders on the ground, project associations, researchers, authors of the EPRS study – and close collaboration with my shadow rapporteur colleagues, whom I would like to thank for their work, their collaboration in favour of a truly more inclusive Erasmus+, a factor of cohesion and a vector of European citizenship in these times of mistrust and withdrawal.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, the Conference on the Future of Europe was held. Yes, it is true, there have been doubts, challenges, difficulties. But today, the result is there, with 325 solid proposals that are the result of a unique participatory democracy exercise, led in particular by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron. What citizens have asked of us is more Europe and better Europe. This is the end of unanimity and veto in the Council and it is a strengthened Europe. It is a more humane Europe through culture and education. At a time when our values are under attack, when I see in my own country, France, right-wing and far-left parties and even environmentalists, wanting to destabilise Europe by challenging the primacy of European law, we must listen to what citizens have told us. The future of Europe is today. We owe it to the citizens, to our young people who have made a massive commitment. Thanks to Guy Verhofstadt’s determination, the European Parliament has taken a position on these proposals and will, I hope, reaffirm it by voting on this follow-up resolution. Now it is the duty of the Commission and the Council to give concrete form, to act for this new Europe by opening an Article 48 Convention, as we are calling for.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President, Mr Secretary of State, ladies and gentlemen, our Renew Europe Group is calling for action for all young Europeans. Their level of unemployment and poverty, which is still too high, is no longer acceptable. Yes, the pandemic has hit them hard and increased inequality. Now we must act, and my group is calling for strong, immediate action. As a priority, we want to create a European digital platform, modelled on the French success story ‘Un jeunes, une solution’, to make training, employment, volunteering and access to culture offers accessible, and to inform all young people about their rights. Europe offers solutions and needs to make this known. We also want to put an end to unpaid or even poorly paid internships. Access to traineeships should not be restricted to those who can afford it. We want to tackle the huge problem of youth mental health at European level. The social isolation caused by the pandemic has weighed heavily, and distress situations must be a priority for our public policies. At the same time, we must respond to the great democratic challenges we face. Young Europeans are engaged, but do not feel sufficiently represented. The figures show this: their attachment to the democratic system is weakening, and this is very alarming. The paradox is that young Europeans are strongly mobilized on major challenges. The fight against climate change, inequality and discrimination is at the heart of their concerns. Yet they vote less and less. It is necessary to renew the dialogue, to reinvolve them in the public debate and, for this, to invent innovative solutions. I am thinking of European citizenship, which we want to promote, including the idea of European civic service. Last week I met young European artists gathered at the EuroFabrique and I was struck by their pessimistic – pessimistic but not resigned – vision of the world. A young Italian man I asked how he saw the future answered me: “There is no future, there is only the present, and utopia.” I believe our challenge is that this utopia becomes a possible and conceivable future. I am proud, as coordinator of the Youth Focus Group of the Renew Group, together with my colleague Dragoș Pîslaru and with President Stéphane Séjourné, that we have this debate. Last December we voted on the legal framework for the European Year of Youth. We now need to translate words into action, and this is what we in the Renew Europe Group are committed to doing for this year and for the long term.

Mr President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, let us remember the Internet 20 years ago: No Facebook, no YouTube, no Spotify, no Wish, no Dropbox... You know all these and many other names well, because they have changed our daily lives and at the same time taken a central place in our lives. But great power implies great responsibilities. With the DSA, our Parliament sets the rules of the game for large internet companies. Europe is taking over. These rules will help fight hate speech, disinformation, counterfeiting and protect our cultural content. They will allow internet users to freely choose their navigation without being trapped by obscure algorithms and perverse interfaces. Today, with this text, Europe is a pioneer and I know that the French Presidency of the European Union will make it a priority to end the digital Wild West.

Mr President, Commissioner, 2022 will be the European Year of Youth. What good news, what a sign of hope! The work of the European Parliament, which concluded the negotiations in record time with real victories, is to be commended. We got a consolidated budget. We have secured the contribution of all major European programmes to put youth at the heart of European policies. We have secured that young people are in action and we have secured that this year 2022 has a sequel. This is just the beginning. Now we need to make the European Year a milestone and an effective year. 2022 must give back to young people the opportunities lost because of the pandemic. All areas of their lives must be considered: access to employment, training, psychological health, existing EU programmes – and I underline the effort that has been made for Erasmus+, to open it up more and make it more accessible – and climate change, of course. Last but not least, how can we guarantee that the European Union will remain a great democratic space when justice, the media, access to abortion and LGBT rights are under threat in some European countries? To be successful, everyone must get involved, and I am thinking in particular of the cities and regions that have a great role to play in bringing this European year closer together. This European Year of Youth should not be a year of communication, but a year of action that should follow. I am counting on the Commission. This Parliament and I will take care of it.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, what is the best weapon against intolerance and extremism? Education! What is the best way to combat fake news and disinformation? Education! And what do the citizens who are participating in the Conference for the Future of Europe ask us? A truly European-wide education to give everyone the same opportunities. We have already made great strides in integrating our education systems, but it is time to go further in order to achieve a genuine European Education Area where every young person, every learner and every teacher can benefit from the same opportunities and recognition of diplomas and skills across the European Union. This is precisely the purpose of this excellent report. The Bologna process has enabled student mobility and almost full recognition of higher education diplomas, and the same must now apply to apprentices. They must take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the European Education Area and we clearly call in this report for the creation of a European Statute for Apprentices. It also seems crucial to me that multilingualism be given a place. If we want pupils, students and apprentices to be mobile and to benefit from the training that best suits them throughout Europe, it is essential to strengthen the learning of languages, and ideally of several languages. This way, through mobility for all, language learning and bringing our education systems closer together, Europe will perform better and the sense of belonging to the European Union will grow.

Mr President, Commissioner, Madam rapporteur, a year ago we launched the alert for culture in Europe and asked the Member States to devote 2% of their recovery plans to this sector that has been disrupted by the pandemic. I am proud to say that we have been heard. More than €9 billion of the European Union Recovery Instrument Next Generation EU is already benefiting from it and many aids are available through support for SMEs and tourism, among others. However, as the rapporteur points out in this excellent report, much remains to be done for cultural professionals. The challenge is to strengthen the situation of authors, artists and technicians still weakened by this too fragmented sector, to secure their income and to move towards a European status for artists. The challenge is also to put culture on a sustainable footing in the European economy in a digital age and win the content battle. We have the potential and the talent. As such, I welcome national initiatives, such as the Italian recovery plan signed in the Cinecittà film studios or the France 2030 plan, aimed at boosting investment in cultural and creative content. But more than economic, the challenge is our imagination and our shared narrative. European culture has something that other cultures do not have: a sensitivity and diversity unlike any other. It is indispensable for our democracy, for our influence in the world, for enchanting our lives – as we saw during the lockdown – and it is indispensable for our cohesion and our European identity.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, Commissioner and Minister, at each session its resolution on the rule of law in the European Union, again and again. Today, we are once again mobilising for freedom of the press. Yes, we must prevent the disappearance of TVN24, one of the last free voices in Poland. But we already had such an action last March for media freedom – in Poland already, but also in Hungary and Slovenia. What if we finally act? In her State of the Union address this morning, Ursula von der Leyen announced a Media Freedom Act. We expect a lot for the protection of journalists, for the independence of national regulators, for the pluralism of sources of information and we expect more with the application of sanctions and especially the establishment of conditions for obtaining funds from European money. Being European means respecting values and embodying a flawless democracy. Freedom of the media and opinion is the basis for this.