Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, the next session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations has as a priority to accelerate progress on gender equality and the empowerment of all women, most notably, to escape poverty. Yes, from poverty. Because poverty has a woman's face in the world and also here in Europe, as we demonstrated in the report we adopted in 2022 - and of which I was rapporteur - on women's poverty in Europe and also in a more recent report on the impact of energy poverty and inflation on women. The recommendations included in that report are valid for Europe, but they are also valid for everyone. Because everywhere poverty has a multidimensional character that goes beyond material deprivation and results in a loss of abilities from which in many cases and contexts people cannot escape, women cannot escape, much less their sons and daughters. We must combat poverty with jobs and decent wages and with universal access to education, health and care services, which also remove women from the time poverty resulting from combining precarious, poorly paid work with care work that puts them into this spiral of poverty from which neither they nor their descendants can hardly escape. Women's empowerment is about tackling economic inequalities while also tackling gender inequalities. Only with an international financial regulation that empowers them, labour markets with rights and dignity, with robust welfare states that recognize the economic and social value of care and combat the unequal distribution between women and men, with economic policies that better distribute wealth and with gender mainstreaming in all policies can we lift women out of poverty.

Madam President, Commissioner, as rapporteur for the S&D Group on this report on the gender aspects of the rising cost of living and the impact of the energy crisis, I would first like to congratulate Alice Kuhnke on her commitment and her great work. In mid-2022, in this Parliament, we adopted a report on women’s poverty in Europe, for which I was rapporteur, and where we clearly called on the Commission and the Member States to act against poverty, especially that of women, which is very concentrated in single-month households and therefore closely linked to child poverty, which is undoubtedly the most unfair and, I would even say, the most stupid of all. Since then, we have had an energy crisis. We have also suffered from the rising costs of inflation, which has resulted in the United Nations saying that we are precisely facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, which has led to a huge increase in energy poverty. But we cannot forget that economic phenomena do not affect all people equally and also have an unequal impact from a gender point of view. There are 20 million more women than men in the European Union living below the poverty rate, which is normal because women are financially more vulnerable, we have access to more precarious jobs and we have an overload of care that prevents us from working longer hours in order to earn more. So we call again on the Commission and the Member States to act to tackle poverty, not forgetting that poverty has this face of a woman with her sons and daughters. We call for a just energy transition and a green transition. We call for ensuring access to decent employment, decent housing, affordable energy and access to services such as health, education or care, which are essential to lift women and their children out of poverty. It would be shameful if we did not respond to this reality. So now that we're rethinking economic governance, let's also think about the very negative effect austerity had on the most vulnerable people.

Mr President, in the 1930s we were late in fighting fascism and we know the consequences, even if some shamefully deny them. That's why we can't waste time. Our democracies, our freedoms and the values that underpin the European project itself are at stake. We women know this very well, because advances in equality, feminist politics, have been the first objective against which the radical or neo-fascist right wings have organized themselves internationally to control our body, our lives. And I wonder: Will the right continue to build the Europe we dreamed of to defeat fascism after World War II? Or is it going, as the Popular Party does in my country, to agree with the neo-fascists? We have to know where we are. What I'm going to say now is going to be a little bit difficult for translation: We must do what the Chirigotas of Cadiz do in Andalusia, cradle of freedom and democracy in Spain, who ask for fewer monasteries and more María Jiménez. It's over. Never again to fascism, never again to whitewash fascism.

Mr President, Commissioner, congratulations to the negotiating teams, including the Spanish Presidency, on this very important agreement, which lays the foundations for our open strategic autonomy, ensuring access to critical raw materials for European reindustrialisation and the necessary green and digital transitions; It also allows the creation of quality jobs and the maintenance of activity and population in areas that are at risk of depopulation. The agreement guarantees 10% for extraction, 40% for processing and increases recycling by at least 25% of consumption by 2030. In addition, there has been an increase in the recovery of raw materials present in waste, which was, without a doubt, and is a pending issue. Guarantees of environmental, social and economic sustainability have also been strengthened, as well as more balanced relationships with our strategic partners, and research to discover new materials is strengthened. We must bear in mind the specific impact that mining has on the territories and involve the citizens of these areas in the benefits of these activities. To ensure this, we must invest in training, skills and ensure quality jobs. Coming from a region, Andalusia, with seventeen critical minerals identified, I believe that we will closely follow the implementation of the law so that our open strategic autonomy and with the highest environmental and social standards will result in the well-being of citizens.

Mr President, there is no better way to celebrate this 25N than by finally adopting a directive on combating violence against women. A good directive to put an end to violence against women once and for all, to make progress in prevention and to improve the treatment of victims and their families. The Commission and Parliament are clear about this, but it is essential that the Council, that the Member States agree to include rape as a crime of violence against women, on the basis of consent, of that 'only yes is yes'. An open path, since the European Union has finally ratified the Istanbul Convention and that it has already entered into force. A convention that we would do very well to respect. Because we cannot take steps back, we do not want and will not accept decaffeinating the Directive on combating violence against women by allowing the extreme right-wing, populist and denialist wave of sexist violence to continue to protect, to continue to feed thousands of women to be killed simply because they are women. The whole of Europe must live up to it, out of respect for women - no doubt - and also out of respect for our fundamental values.

Mr President, Madam Vice-President, Spanish Presidency, the opinion of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality on the reform of the Treaties, of which you have been rapporteur, which has supported a very large majority, has been very clear and raises three main things. The first is gender equality as a principle that should inspire the Treaties. It must therefore be applied across all policies and the entire institutional architecture of the European Union. The second is that sexual and reproductive rights must be taken into account. Everyone should have the right to physical autonomy and to free, informed, full and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. And thirdly, that parity should be a guiding principle in the Treaties. It is important that the Treaties allow us to advance in gender equality and not limit us, because, from this Parliament, we have to give a very clear message and effectively combat the setbacks that we are experiencing in terms of gender equality. We believe that with the full participation of women, a better European Union will be achieved and the Treaties must allow this.

Madam President, the Net-Zero Industry Act aims to strengthen Europe's manufacturing capacity for technologies that support the decarbonisation of our economies. These projects and investments in strategic technologies will benefit from accelerated permits and financial support. Green reindustrialisation must be based on innovation and science, but have a very clear focus on training, skills and qualifications and help create quality jobs. Socialists, therefore, advocate social conditionality. Because we must not forget that this Law must be implemented following criteria of social and territorial justice. Hence the importance of zero-emission industrial valleys to group industrial activities and create reindustrialization ecosystems, also in areas that have a lot of potential with the green agenda, as is the case of Andalusia with the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. Because we insist that this green transition, this reindustrialization, must be done with social justice and creating quality jobs.

Mr President, Commissioner, while Europe is a leader in research, we know that accelerating and strengthening innovation remains a pending task for the European Union. The New European Innovation Agenda is undoubtedly a first step towards positioning Europe as a leader on the global innovation scene and advancing the open strategic autonomy of the European Union. But there are still unknowns and concerns that concern me. First of all, I would like to ask the Commission to take measures to help alleviate the costs arising from the difference between what is planned and financed and what the programmes ultimately receive due to the effect of inflation. Secondly, I am very concerned about regional disparities. It is true that the New European Innovation Agenda wants to combat these inequalities with better synergies and also with the regional innovation valleys built on the basis of the pilot action of Regional Innovation Partnerships, which I am also promoting from the European Parliament. So we have the Commissioner's strong commitment to reduce and close this regional innovation gap and that this remains a priority for the Commission, as well as more women in this area. Thus, we will have better innovation and more women innovating.

Madam President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, the recently implemented Digital Services Act, which I was involved in drafting, aims to ensure that the digital world is secure, free of illegal content and does not contribute to the spread of disinformation or hate speech. This is especially important in times of conflict like the current one. Therefore, we urge the major platforms to comply with the obligations set by this legislation and act quickly to quickly remove illegal content and prevent the dissemination of false and misleading information, with which the most powerful have the power to win and with which they can contribute to polarize the severity of conflicts. We remind the big platforms that they have a public responsibility for both the content and digital advertising they disseminate. We also call on the Commission – and we are sure it will – to ensure proper implementation. The Digital Services Act must help protect the rights of citizens, protect our democracies and prevent more fuel from being poured into war conflicts, as is now happening in Israel and Gaza.

Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, water scarcity is worsening in Europe, especially in the south. More than a third of the European population already suffers from a certain lack of water. And, while this resource is scarce, we continue to develop economic activities that are intensive in the use of water, but on which many jobs and entire regions depend. Therefore, it is very important to develop extraordinary investments and advance innovation for a more efficient use of water. But this is not enough. We need to consider water as a public good, put the general interest above the benefit of a few and work on a redistributive approach to water that ensures an ecological transition that is necessary, but that is fair at the same time, from and for all territories. The European Socialists, who are driving this debate, also want to stop making populism with water, as President Moreno Bonilla is doing in Andalusia with Doñana; We urge the European institutions to redouble their efforts and provide solutions to prevent the overexploitation of an aquifer as important as Doñana, which is at serious risk.

Madam President, Commissioner, the Rubiales case is not an isolated case, it is simply the normality of machismo. Rubiales himself and much of the football world, so opaque, where so much power and so much money is distributed, still do not understand what has happened. But women do understand it and, along with many men, we have said "it's over", feeling that non-consensual kiss from their boss to Jenny Hermoso as a collective humiliation. Because this is not unique to a country either, but to an androcentric culture, including that of the West, Mr Buxadé, which undervalues everything that has to do with women and dresses them as normal. But I think yes, it is no coincidence that it happened in Spain, where we have a high level of awareness, a very robust feminist movement and equality laws of the most advanced in the world. And a party like the socialist that has not stopped building an institutional architecture and that has not sold itself to the denialists of equality as others have done. The good news about this embarrassing issue is that feminism has taken root in society and institutions. Also in this Parliament, where we must ensure that we advance in real equality, also in areas that have seen little, such as the world of sport. It's over and we're not stopping.

Mr President, prostitution is not, in most cases, the result of free choice or the empowerment of women. Rather, it is the result of necessity, lack of opportunities and exploitation linked to the asymmetry of power. Prostituted women are not sex workers. Treating them as such would involve, for example, including within the European Skills Union this profession, establishing vocational training programmes so that girls could freely choose this profession. Let us not be hypocrites; that we do not fill our mouths to limit commodification, except in relation to the body of women. The statistics are clear: liberalization increases demand and prostitution also fuels trafficking in women and girls. That is why the report by my colleague, Mrs Noichl, to whom I thank, is essential, calling for Europe to bet on a model of equality that penalises the purchase of sex and decriminalises prostituted women and, at the same time, to seek exit programmes without forgetting better migration policies and avoid trivialising other forms of prostitution such as 'sugardadism'. Because prostitution is a school of inequality for all women. And since socialists are committed to equality, we support this report.

Mr President, strategic autonomy is central to the European project, to the well-being of our citizens, to the competitiveness of our companies and I would say even to our democracies. At the heart of this strategic autonomy are undoubtedly the critical raw materials we need to tackle the reindustrialisation of Europe and also the green and digital transitions. So this Critical Raw Materials Act, for which we will work during the Spanish Presidency, is very welcome, above all, to avoid mistakes of the past, such as dependence on fossil fuels, dependence that we do not now want to have on critical raw materials. But this objective must be achieved with guarantees – environmental guarantees and social guarantees – both in the European territory and in other territories. We must bet on recycling, also for training in skills, for research and innovation in new materials. And finally, we must never forget the specific impact on the territories in which mining takes place, both in third countries and also in European localities, in regions such as Andalusia. It is necessary to involve citizens in the benefits of this activity and also to make them participate in the future of their regions and countries.

Madam President, water is key and hence this proposal amending three directives with the aim of updating the lists of water pollutants and of monitoring surface water and groundwater more strictly. We define new standards for substances that harm nature and human health in line with scientific advances and streamline monitoring processes that prioritize groundwater and river basin pollutants. Europe sends a clear message about water. But in some territories this message is not being heard, as it happens in my own country with the Doñana National Park, where the Government of the Junta de Andalucía is going against the tide. This is so despite the successive warnings of the European institutions and now also of UNESCO as a World Heritage Site that is said Park. So let's not forget that water is key, that water is life and that we have to protect it.

Madam President, Commissioner, semiconductors play a vital geostrategic role in modern economies; are a central part of digital products, devices and infrastructures. Without semiconductors there is no digitization possible. The agreement on the Chips Act is a key step in ensuring our digital transition and our open strategic autonomy. This law will contribute to the development of this sector, which is in turn strategic for many others, and will do so by building on something that is our European strength – research, talent, knowledge – which must also serve to enhance our innovative capacity. The development of this industry also requires essential raw materials, so to guarantee its supply we must draw international alliances with like-minded countries, because we cannot move from an energy dependence to one of raw materials. Socialists have worked to bring this project to all regions of Europe to bridge the digital and industrial divide. We are sure that with this law we have much to gain, both in the European Union and in countries such as Spain, which has made key strategic investments.

Madam President, Commissioner, gender-based violence is a persistent and structural problem also among Europeans, whites and Christians. It has nothing to do with Islam or migrants, as has unfortunately been said in this House today. It is a violence that continues to kill women, also in life. Lives shattered, filled with fear, guilt or hopelessness. That's why most victims don't report. That's why we need laws, policies, institutions. In addition, the Eurobarometer of March last year, in 2022, said that three out of four European women considered that after COVID, physical and emotional violence against women had increased. That is why it is important that tomorrow we approve the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. And that this momentum will also soon allow us to approve the directives on violence and trafficking, predictably during the next Spanish Presidency, which will have the fight for equality and against violence against women as one of its priorities, as has always been the case with the Socialists in Spain.

Mr President, Commissioner, thank you to the rapporteurs, because today we are taking an important step in Europe to combat wage discrimination against all women. In Europe, the wage gap is now around 13%, bringing the annual income gap closer to 40%. This translates into a higher risk of poverty, a greater and earlier abandonment of the labor market, a lower bargaining power of times and jobs in the family and greater inefficiency in our labor markets. That is why we welcome this Pay Transparency Directive, which obliges - I stress - companies with more than 100 workers to share comparative wage information so that we know whether work of equal value is being paid equally to different people and prevent remuneration from being based on sexist criteria. If this proves to be the case, discriminated workers will be able to claim compensation. In addition, Member States are asked to provide for dissuasive penalties and fines for companies that fail to comply with these rules. Today we are closer to a fairer Europe.

Madam President, the right to defend and promote human rights is a risky activity in many parts of the world, as we heard here this very morning, from the hand of Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner. But it is also a risky activity in Europe, in Poland, and nothing has happened. Since 2020, there has been a serious escalation of judicial persecution of sexual and reproductive rights defenders such as Justyna Wydrzyńska, convicted by a Polish court for defending the right to abortion. And she's not the only one. It is they, defenders, like Justyna and those who preceded her, who preceded us, who make reality and get the rest, us, to enjoy rights recognized in international law, such as the right to access safe and legal abortion. And they are the ones who harass, intimidate, threaten and imprison the defenders of sexual and reproductive rights in Europ, and those who silence and tolerate it, those who basically seek to control women, discipline us, control our voice, our body, our reproductive capacity. Europe cannot tolerate it. They will not silence us, they will not discipline us, because their voice is our voice.

Madam President, Madam Minister, access to critical and strategic raw materials is essential for the green and digital transitions, which will allow us to achieve climate neutrality and also strategic autonomy in this new geostrategic context of profound transformation of the international order, as we know it. Currently, the production and processing of these materials are highly concentrated and the European Union is highly dependent, as we know, on imports, which generates dependencies and jeopardizes the attainment of strategic autonomy. That is why a European law guaranteeing its supply is very welcome. On the one hand, promoting production, recycling and also research and innovation within the European Union, so that this activity is based on environmental, social and economic sustainability. And here, in Parliament, we will work, together with local actors, to ensure that this is really the case and that quality jobs are also guaranteed. On the other hand, we know that we must draw, as is being done, strategic alliances with other countries, especially in research and innovation, without falling into neocolonial dynamics.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, in a world that is digitally transformed, digital is often hostile to women and girls. Let's think about cyberviolence or sexist labor cultures of technological sectors that, in addition, are those of the future. Only 19% of ICT specialists are women. Only 1% of the risk capital available for innovation, highly focused on this digital present and future, goes to women. And, obviously, this is reflected in the choices of women and girls, who do not opt for these studies. But beware, we can not only insist that girls choose these studies while we socialize them in other different values. That is why we must act together, comprehensively, and also praise the feminized professions and care, so that children also choose them and break stereotypes at once without, with it, underestimating everything that our societies associate with women. That is why, before the next session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, this Parliament demands a coordinated policy response for the empowerment of women and girls through technology. We must do this without demanding one thing from the girls and, at the same time, the opposite.

Madam President, Commissioner, digitalisation opens up many opportunities for Europeans, including for their territories, but it can also generate exclusions and increase inequalities that we undoubtedly have to combat from public policies and also with greater democratic participation. This roadmap for the 2030 digital decade aims to strengthen European digital sovereignty, which is undoubtedly an essential element to ensure our resilience and also our strategic autonomy. I am particularly pleased to see reflected in the final agreement the need to ensure basic digital skills and an increase in those targets for 80% of people, thus enabling citizens to have the basic skills necessary to fully participate in the digital society and finally achieve broad digital literacy. I am especially pleased, and it has been a very big effort by our group, the Socialists and Democrats, that there are specific support measures to overcome the serious gender imbalance, since only one in six specialists in information and communication technology, and only one in three graduates in STEM, that is, in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, are women. And finally, also the regional variable, since no region can be left behind this digital progress.

Madam President, Commissioner, despite what we have heard here today from some political groups that women still have to be trained, that we have to wait, I would like to point out that decades ago there have been more women than men graduated from European universities. Plus, with better grades. There are more women than men with secondary and tertiary education of working age. And yet we don't get to the top of companies because power is still masculine. That is why we must intervene. That is why we need public policies, such as this directive that balances or tries to balance the presence of women and men on boards of directors. Even though she's been stranded for ten years, we still need her. Today we make history, we advance in the race towards social justice, but also towards greater resilience, sustainability and efficiency of our companies because when a woman occupies the position of CEO in a company, the presence of women on boards increases by 10%. And that changes the culture and also generates models that must be followed. This directive is first and foremost a democratic imperative, but also an economic imperative. Now we have to watch for it to really be fulfilled.

Madam President, this report enjoys an important consensus among all political groups because we are all aware of the importance of bridging the innovation gap we have with other regions, especially now that we have to advance in resilience, in strategic autonomy and also undertake the green and digital transitions. We really need the implementation of the EIC to be ambitious and transformative, all at once. We really need to get it up and running. We have explicitly called for closing important innovation gaps, such as the gender gap, as well as regional gaps between different European regions and territories. Finally, we have also called for better access to the Accelerator for SMEs, which are really at the heart of innovation in Europe.

Madam President, Commissioner, poverty is certainly immoral and that a rich territory like Europe has 95 million people – 21.7% of its population – at risk of poverty and social exclusion should shame us. In addition, this poverty is perpetuated from generation to generation, especially for women. There are many poor workers, who have also been poor for a long time, especially in the neighborhoods of many cities where there are large pockets of marginalization, as in my homeland, for example, in Andalusia, with twenty-four of the thirty municipalities with the lowest income in Spain. So there is an urgent need to put in place an anti-poverty strategy for 2030 that must involve, on the one hand, developing economic and educational policies that do not generate inequality, strengthening our welfare states and also decent employment. On the other hand, we also need to put on the table a specific instrument, a new instrument to break the circles of poverty, especially in those neighborhoods and those areas where the future is a word that combines very badly with dignified life and the common good. The rise in energy prices, speculation with basic goods, does not point in the right direction and Europe has to hit with a brave and dignified response that goes beyond simple recommendations, because each and every person counts, both those living inside and outside Europe.

Madam President, Commissioner, we have been discussing for some time the difficulties that people, and also SMEs, have to face in this turbulent context in which they operate, especially with the rise in prices and the lack of basic supplies or labour in some sectors, as well as competition with the greatest market power and the greatest ability to relocate that large companies have. SMEs are not only the great creators of employment, but of employment and wealth that is fixed in the territory, and that is why they are essential for social cohesion, and that is why we have to support them, especially in this context; above all, because we are immersed in these twin transitions, digital and green transitions, which need innovation, and SMEs especially need our help so that this sustainability really reaches the entire business fabric. This is why the announcement by President von der Leyen on the SME relief package she presented during her State of the Union speech was very welcome for Socialists and Democrats. In this regard, I call on the Commission to inform us in more detail Parliament and tell us what the conditions of these measures are and, above all, to take us into account for their development, so that these aids and conditions can reach the SMEs that need it most as soon as possible.