Speeches

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has worked to address Russia’s high energy dependence and associated alarming price rises, as well as to ensure energy security and supply. Socialists in Parliament defend the need for solutions to address the rise in energy prices and, in particular, electricity prices. The Union must act now, in a united and coordinated way, to stop the price escalation that is weighing on the economy of citizens and businesses. These solutions involve accelerating the deployment of indigenous renewables through short-term measures to decouple the price of gas from electricity. At the same time, we must diversify our energy supplies and eliminate our energy dependence on Russia. In this regard, Spain can play a very important role in diversification, having an important LNG (liquefied natural gas) infrastructure, including around 30% of the Union’s regasification capacity. But to take advantage of these existing energy infrastructures, the Union needs to increase energy interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and France.

Madam President, thank you, colleagues, for your support and commitment. Thank you very much, Commissioner Kos, thank you for your commitment. I hope you support us in front of the Council so that we bring a strong and united position from the European Union, because the European Parliament is not a symbolic participant. We have championed ambitious standards to combat gender-based violence, including sexual violence and now also digital violence as well; eliminate all discrimination and strengthen victims' rights; promote economic independence for women; sexual and reproductive health rights and also access to justice – which today is more important than ever, as we are seeing what is happening with the Epstein files. United States justice and institutions choose not to believe the victims. This is why it is so important that we advance here in Europe in a consent-based definition of rape. We need to believe the victims. And regarding the ones against women's rights and gender equality, I would like to remind you that, contrary to what you have been saying, that equality is an idea coming from abroad: please read, study – it is a healthy practice. I really promise, because these ideas of equality were born here in Europe, are enshrined in our Treaties, are part of our fundamental values. And please, please, please, stop using women's rights, stop instrumentalising gender equality for other ends that are racism and Islamophobia. Please fight for women's rights and for gender equality. And just to finish, I was complaining before when this debate started that there were not many male MEPs, colleagues, here for the debate. However, after listening to you say that women only serve to be mothers, for maternity, that we are not human beings in and of ourselves, after being called hysterical twice, and even being accused of going to New York to take a Prosecco – the college that said that just escaped after talking, probably he's the one taking a Prosecco – please, please, don't instrumentalise our fight. Because it is a very serious fight. So vote in favour of our position, of this resolution. Bring the CSW to Europe and please fight really for human rights.

Mr President, colleagues, the theme of the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women this year is 'ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls'. This could not be more urgent, nor more fundamental. Access to justice is not an abstract principle. It is the difference between protection and impunity; between equality on paper and equality in reality; between rights promised and rights delivered. Around the world, millions of women and girls still face discriminatory laws, structural barriers and institutional practices that deny them equal protection under the law. Legal systems often fail survivors of gender-based violence, including sexual violence. We are seeing this now with the Epstein papers that are showing things that happened and were reported almost four decades ago. So, in addition, economic inequality limits women's ability to seek justice. Harmful social norms silence victims before they even enter the courtroom. If we are serious about equality, we must be serious about justice. The European Union has long positioned itself as a global leader in gender equality and human rights. Our credibility on the international stage depends on the strength, coherence and ambition of the position we bring to the CSW. That is why the European Parliament – and in particular the Gender Equality and Women's Rights Committee, the FEMM Committee that I chair – must be closely and meaningfully involved in shaping the European Union's position for this next session. In fact, the FEMM Committee participates in the CSW every year. We bring legislative expertise and democratic legitimacy. And we bring into the international arena the voices of European citizens, especially women and girls, but also men that are committed – though today there are not many MEPs here. Shameful. But never mind. That's normal in our debates. Early involvement of Parliament in the formulation of the European Union position is not a procedural step – it is a democratic necessity. Enhanced and sustained interinstitutional cooperation between the Parliament, the Presidency and the Commission is essential to ensuring a strong, unified European Union position. An inclusive approach strengthens policy coherence across institutions and legitimacy, and increases the effectiveness of our engagement at international level. When we speak with one voice, a voice shaped through today's democratic debate, that voice carries greater weight. Access to justice must be inclusive. It must reach migrant women, women with disabilities, women in rural areas, LGBTQI persons, and those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that is normally the case. Justice cannot be selective. Equality cannot be partial. Our draft recommendation from the Parliament urges the Council to, first, increase the European Union aid to compensate US aid cuts and ensure sustained funding for United Nations Women and gender equality, including sexual and reproductive health and rights. We must stop the backlash. Second, to tackle violence offline and online, including the non-consensual sharing of images, deepfakes, cyber-harassment and hate crimes, and push for stronger European Union and global action. Third, to promote women's leadership, participation and representation in the judiciary. Fourth, to advocate for a consent-based definition of rape, as a universal standard worldwide. Five, strongly condemned rape and sexual violence as weapons of war, and call for international prosecution and accountability. Six, to call for recognising gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute, using the United Nations definition. As we adopt our recommendation today and prepare for the 70th CSW session, we must send a clear message. The European Union stands firmly for an inclusive and equitable legal system. We stand for the elimination of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices. We stand for dismantling structural barriers that prevent women and girls from fully exercising their rights. And we stand against the gender backlash. I hope that this House will support the FEMM Committee recommendation.

Madam President, Madam Vice-President, thank you to the rapporteur for his excellent work, but I now want to focus on one reality: poverty in Europe has a woman's face. The data for 2025 is very clear: more than 65 million women are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. And this is not a coincidence, but the result of structural inequality. Not only are women less incorporated into the labour market and have lower wages, but we also have the burden of care, which greatly limits our autonomy and well-being. And so it comes to retirement, to pensions, where there is a gap of more than 25% on average. Eradicating female poverty, therefore, is not only a question of social justice, it is not only an economic question, it is also a question of the future because of how close it is to child poverty. My call, therefore, is to immediate action. We need economic policies that allow for better distribution, fiscal policies that allow for better distribution, real reconciliation policies, effective wage equality, universal public services and a universal child guarantee, because a fair, prosperous and also competitive Europe is impossible if we leave more than half of the population behind and the children who depend on it.

Mr President, High Representative, from the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, which I chair, I would like to say that we condemn the increase in human rights violations around the world and, especially, the unprecedented crackdown on the rights of women, girls and the LGBTI community. The year 2026 continues with the systematic regression of our rights – those of women – in Iraq and Afghanistan, of course, and we have to condemn and act on them. But not only this, because we also condemn the instrumentalization of women's rights to encourage hate speech, as is done here with migration. So let's be consistent. Sexual and reproductive rights are fundamental human rights. Denying access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, is a form of gender-based violence. We also demand that Europe ensure the proper deployment of artificial intelligence and digital technologies, their democratic oversight and the assessment of their impact on human rights, especially with regard to what is happening to women and girls.

Madam President, Commissioner, the current state of the world shows how interdependent and vulnerable we are with regard to cybersecurity. That is why we very much appreciate this initiative, Commissioner. In the previous term of office, I had the honour of being rapporteur for the Cyber Solidarity Act, which was a key initiative to respond to an urgent need to strengthen the European Union’s capacity to detect, prevent and react to cybersecurity threats and incidents. That is why we welcome today's revision of the Cybersecurity Act, which aims to modernise the European framework in the face of a rapidly evolving threat landscape and an increasingly complex regulatory environment. That is why we need more digital sovereignty, more Europe, strengthening the resilience of the supply chain, harmonising rules to avoid market fragmentation, putting more emphasis on the protection of public services, critical infrastructure and SMEs, and also focusing on training and research and development. We know that cyber threats know no borders and grow exponentially. That is why we need to update our tools, strengthen cooperation and certainly join efforts to become more resilient.

Madam President, first I would like to send my condolences to all the victims of the fateful train accident that has occurred on my land, in Andalusia. We are in mourning, and I thank the Commissioner, the European Union and also this Parliament for having remembered us. As Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, which has issued an opinion for this report, I would first of all like to thank the rapporteur, my colleague Leire Pajín, for introducing all the issues and aspects that have to do especially with women and gender equality, because in this context of polycrisis, women suffer greater vulnerability, linked to the increase in poverty, displacement, insecurity and limited access to food, education, employment, health and also sexual and reproductive health. And most especially, we suffer increased violence and sexual violence. And all this, moreover, is being intensified by cuts to aid by the United States. Europe must therefore be there, and we must do more than ever because women all over the world need it.

Mr President, Commissioner, we socialists have always been - and continue to be - on the side of women and their rights, respecting and accompanying the victims. Can you say the same, ladies and gentlemen of the PP and Vox? Mrs Montserrat, you are not interested in fighting sexual harassment, you just want to instrumentalise a problem that is very serious. Because, if they were interested, they would have supported this debate having a European dimension, firstly because we are in the European Parliament and, secondly, because one in three European women has been the victim of sexual harassment, and half of them at work. If you were interested, when the MeToo happened - and I would like you to let me speak - in this Parliament, you would have voted in favour of external audit as proposed by the Socialists. Instead you voted against it. I, too, could enter the 'and you more', Mrs Montserrat. All these are lists of cases, from the famous case of Nevenka to the one we have learned today from an adviser to the mayor of Algeciras, Landaluce, who is a leader of the PP of Malaga and who was pressuring a former councilor of the City of Algeciras to say that he suffered from mental disorder in order to defend the mayor from the accusation of harassment. But we must not enter the "and you more", because the victims do not need that, what they need is that we support them, they need protocols. When the windows are opened, as we have done, you see things that you may not like and the house is ventilated. The PSOE does not protect, cover up or cover up sexist behaviors or crimes. We make mistakes, yes, but we make them because we have protocols that you don't have. The harassment and the denunciation have no acronym, but the counterattack does have them, and they are the acronym of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party.