Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, today we are summoned here by an urgent subject: That of the struggle of women and women activists in Iran against a regime that, for decades, has made repression its main tool of control, its very essence. Since the protests over the tragic death of Mahsa Jina Amini in 2022, we have witnessed an alarming upsurge in human rights violations: Brave women, activists and human rights defenders are the main targets of arbitrary arrests, torture, executions... including 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, imprisoned in inhumane conditions. Because the so-called moral police are killing, silencing, burying women alive and, in the face of this, we cannot be silent, we cannot remain silent. It is our responsibility to do so here, in Europe, and around the world, because the women of Iran are not alone: We're with them.

Mr President, Commissioner, sexist violence feeds on those who keep quiet, those who deny it, those who laugh, those who do not believe the victims and make them go through a new ordeal again, those who do not put budgets or means or laws to combat it, those who naturalize it, those who give likes They share the grievances of women, of those who objectify and dehumanise us, especially in the digital world, but not only there, because we know that eight out of ten European women aged between 16 and 29 avoid situations or places for fear of physical or sexual aggression, not to mention the fear that mothers and fathers suffer. Violence against women and girls has no borders. There was talk here today of the case of Gisèle Pelicot. Yesterday a woman was murdered in my land, in Estepa, in Seville, in Andalusia. That is not the Europe or the world we want. That is why we in the European Parliament call for the full implementation of the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence in all countries. We urge the Commission to come forward with a proposal to identify gender-based violence as a new Eurocrime and we continue to fight for the criminalisation of rape based on the absence of consent. Today, 25 November, and every day, not a step back from the reaction of the anti-gender extreme right in this House and across Europe.

Madam President, Mr Vice-President, the election results of the United States confront us with significant challenges as Europeans and as Europeans, despite the close cooperation we have with the United States. The new US administration can at least impact trade, multilateralism or the resilience of the institutions and principles that support our liberal democracies, including equality between men and women. This, which may seem negative, can also work as the revulsive that Europe needs to move towards greater political and economic cooperation and keep us as that competitive global actor we want to be. But that will only be possible with the unity of pro-European and pro-democratic forces in this House which, of course, after what we saw yesterday with the European People's Party at the hearing of Vice-President-designate Teresa Ribera, is far from being a reality for some. We'll all suffer.

Madam President, Commissioner, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is blunt in its report on abortion in Poland: with the current abortion law – which the Tusk government has not changed – Poland has discriminated against women, their rights, led to trauma, deaths, fears and threats for specialists and activists. The conclusions of this report are clear: Poland must fully legalize and decriminalize abortion. Until it becomes a reality, it should introduce a moratorium and end all arrests, investigations and criminal proceedings related to health professionals – particularly women – assisting women in need of abortion. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are an integral part of human rights, basic for gender equality, for democracy and for the European project. That is why we Socialists continue to call for sexual and reproductive rights - I insist, rights, because lately I see many groups in this House wanting to remove the word 'rights' from sexual and reproductive rights - to be included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Mr President, Commissioner, we Socialists agree that we need to be more competitive and that innovation must be key to contributing to solutions that make us less dependent and that allow us to develop our industry while maintaining our social model. We also agree that we must remove regulatory and administrative barriers that fragment the single market and limit the inclusion of citizens or small and medium-sized enterprises. But we cannot fall into the simplistic "competitiveness versus regulation" dichotomy. Above all, we cannot justify with administrative simplification measures that set back the great progress made on environmental and social conditionality and – I am glad that the Commissioner for Equality is here – on gender equality as well. We cannot set aside our commitment to gender equality by saying that, in that way, we will have less regulation or less administrative hurdles.

Madam President, the Iraqi Government has tabled a reform of the Personal Status Law which, if approved, would legalize de facto the marriage of girls and adolescents if the family demands it, since it could apply a traditional jurisprudence against the Personal Status Code (something that is already done, on the other hand, outside the law). UNICEF highlights that in 2023, 28% of girls in Iraq were married before their 18th birthday, which is the legal age. Now, with reform looming, it would be legal to marry girls from the age of nine. It could also be the case that two schoolmates had very different luck: one whose family (his father's family, rather) decided to follow this new traditional law and another that could follow the previous Civil Code; One could get married at age nine, while the other could continue quietly in school. And all this, according to its promoters, in the name of freedom and against foreign interference. The same arguments that the anti-equality agenda uses here in Europe and in the rest of the world, because make no mistake: this goes against gender equality and is a global agenda that must be stopped, without any doubt.

Mr President, Commissioner, we have recently heard a lot in this Parliament about the identification of gender-based violence with cultures other than the European one. And that happens, shamefully, while in France the trial of the Pélicot case unfolds: that good neighbor, very European, who for ten years drugged, raped and offered his wife to other men to rape her as well. Up to fifty men from a small village of 6,000 participated in the party, demonstrating the normalization of the culture of rape and the impunity with which these men acted. That is why it is very important what we do here, from the European Parliament and also from the Commission – I take this opportunity to thank Commissioner Helena Dalli for all the work she has done this past legislature –: We pass laws that change those cultural dynamics of power of domination and exploitation. It was very important that we adopt the directive on gender-based violence, which we must now implement, and also that gender-based violence is finally considered a Eurocrime and that, in the near future, we have the possibility to activate the clause to revise the directive and finally define rape as a crime based on the absence of consent. And if not, ask Gisèle Pélicot.

Mr President, a minute of silence is usually a testimony of solidarity, pain or condemnation, it usually symbolizes mourning and collective respect in the face of a death by catastrophe, by accident or by murder, and we do it before football matches, in town squares or in parliaments like this: With these collective silences in public spaces we show our respect for people and for our fundamental values. However, in Afghanistan they enact a law on the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice with which they want to impose a very different silence: the one who terrorizes Afghan girls and women, the one who erases them for the mere fact of being women. By removing their voice, the Taliban dehumanize women, take away one of the essential traits of the human species, because it seems that it was not enough to deny them to show their faces, which is what identifies each of us as the unique person we are. In Europe we cannot remain silent: we need to lend them our voice so that they can get theirs back; Doing nothing is simply unbearable and should fill us with shame.

Mr President, Commissioner, the Net-Zero Industry Act aims to strengthen Europe's manufacturing capacity for technologies that support the decarbonisation of our economies. This law will allow strategic projects to benefit from accelerated permits and financial support, and that will allow us – it will allow Europe – to achieve the objective of climate neutrality by 2050. Our reindustrialisation must be based on innovation, but it must also have a very clear focus on training, skills and quality jobs. All this is part of the social conditionality demanded by socialists. But we must also look towards cohesion, we must group industrial activities in areas of great potential, especially if they coincide with regions that are below the average level of European income, as is the case of Andalusia, with the Andalusian Valley of Green Hydrogen. To this end, initiatives such as PRIs – Partnerships for Regional Innovation – will be essential and will play a key role in this transformation of the European industrial sector that we will promote, but certainly with cohesion and social justice.

Madam President, we are facing more and more cyber-attacks every day in Europe. Last December alone, more than a hundred million. And is that every time we advance in the digitalization of our administrations, our societies or our economies, we become more vulnerable. Every attack on our governments, our hospitals, our critical infrastructure undermines citizens' trust in our democracies. And that's precisely what cybercriminals are looking for. It should come as no surprise that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is undoubtedly a hybrid war, cyberattacks have increased in number and intensity. Therefore, it is more necessary than ever to advance in a European cybersecurity intelligence, in a European industrial ecosystem that requires good regulation, sufficient means, a well-trained population, and, undoubtedly, and most importantly, cooperation between Member States. And all this is contemplated in this European Cyber Solidarity Law that, without a doubt, is a law that responds to the new times, times of digitalization and times in which security also opens its way in the process of European construction. This law deploys a whole gear of cooperation and information exchange, which will allow a more robust digitalisation, which is undoubtedly very important for achieving the economic security, strategic autonomy and integrity of our democracies. I thank all the negotiating teams that have participated in the drafting of this law, without a doubt, against the clock. But it is really urgent to protect our institutions, our critical infrastructures and also our democracies and the European project itself. That is why I ask you, please, to give a positive vote to this Law.

Mr President, Commissioner, the situation in Gaza is appalling and worsening every minute: Israel’s deadly military offensive, the blockade of part of the humanitarian aid by the Netanyahu government, the destruction of infrastructure, including hospitals, death, starvation, human rights violations... Already more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed. Lots of women, boys, girls. No one denies the right to defend themselves against Israel, but the disproportion... Their response is inhumane and contrary to international law, as is depriving the population of essential products – flour, water, medicines – creating, according to the United Nations, catastrophic levels of deprivation and lack of food. Inhumane conditions for women, their menstruation, their births. Aid from the air is not effective and, moreover, has proved to be dangerous. Ground aid must be unblocked, a ceasefire must be put in place, the hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally, and progress must be made towards a solution to the recognition of the Palestinian state. The European Union has to seriously assess whether Israel is complying with the Association Agreement. We can't look anywhere else. It would be indecent to do so.

Mr President, Commissioners, Ministers, the European Semester must establish a framework for social convergence by applying the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights with an adequate level of public investment that guarantees a social shield for our citizens. And it's not just words. Progress also needs to be made on better indicators for monitoring and evaluation not only ex post, but also ex ante, because both macroeconomic policies and all the economic policies we put in place have unequal effects on people who are in an unequal situation. For the Socialists this report is a good report and we thank both the Belgian Presidency and the Spanish Presidency for emphasising social issues. But from the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs we still fall a little short and that is why we have proposed five amendments, five basic points. The first and most important, a social protocol of progress that guarantees the non-return to austerity; the second, tackling the housing crisis; the third, the revision of the Public Procurement Directive to ensure quality jobs and fair conditions; the fourth, to seek new revenue to fight inequality and promote social justice and territorial cohesion; and fifth, the re-issue of NextGenerationEU and the SURE instrument as very good mechanisms to ensure resilience.

Mr President, the existence of violence and harassment at work is a threat to well-being, to equality and also to the proper functioning of companies. And, above all, it is something incompatible with the dignity of the people. ILO Convention No 190, which the Council recommends to the Member States to ratify - something which, I must say, follows the unblocking during the Spanish Presidency and which this Parliament has long called for - promotes a culture of work based on something of as much common sense as mutual respect and human dignity. It is an agreement that seeks to achieve a culture and a work reality free of violence and harassment in an area in which there are asymmetries of power, especially in the case of women, who also suffer discrimination because they are women and even sexual harassment. For socialists, moving forward in a world of work without violence or abuse is at the heart of our policies, of the world for which we have always fought and will continue to fight, especially now when undemocratic winds blow in Europe and the defence of equality and dignity for all people must be unequivocally guaranteed.

Madam President, Commissioner, throughout this legislature we have been working to redefine the relationship between citizenship and the digital world, setting standards that help us navigate the digital transition, ensuring full citizenship – including in the digital world – that leads us to know and exercise rights in the digital environment, but also to manage its risks. The European Digital Identity Framework is an exercise that must go hand in hand with digital literacy and the development of citizens’ digital skills, which is key to bridging the digital divide, non-discrimination – ensuring equal access – and a strong commitment to privacy and cybersecurity, which are essential to building the necessary trust. Socialists want to build a Europe for people, inclusive and in which data and privacy are a public good that must be protected. We need public alternatives for services that, if not, will be offered by big tech companies. In this way, this proposal will make digital services safer, while protecting the rights of citizens and the health of our democracies.

Mr President, an important aspect of the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework is the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, known as STEP, an instrument to support the development and manufacturing of emerging technologies that are essential for the green and digital transitions in the Union and also for our strategic autonomy. Socialists support this proposal as a test bed for an upcoming sovereign wealth fund that should function as a much-needed incentive to accelerate our transformations and improve our competitiveness. However, the availability of this incentive of European funds must be subject to social conditionality and the creation of quality jobs, aspects on which we socialists have emphasized, especially from the employment perspective. New projects to which funds are awarded should take into account two key variables: firstly, territorial cohesion and, secondly, social conditionality, including gender equality. Only in this way will we be building more and better Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon we have to change the world. But education needs knowledge, laws, budget and teachers, who are the ones who ultimately transmit this knowledge. It's an exciting profession, and I tell you from experience. But even the greatest of passions is quenched in the face of precariousness and lack of opportunities. This should not be the case for those who have the task of guiding future generations towards a future full of possibilities. They need decent working conditions and safety. It is impossible to offer a public and quality education if the professionals are demotivated or abandoned, something that happens in many places in Europe, also in my land, in Andalusia, where the mismanagement of the Andalusian Government and its privatization model are restricting the possibilities of access for new teachers and compromising the educational system. I always like to remember that talent is equally distributed regardless of origin. What's not are the opportunities.

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.