Speeches

The Spanish Socialists condemn the decision of the United States Government to abandon the Paris Agreement, withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and suspend humanitarian and development aid. These decisions are a blow to multilateralism and weaken the global response to the climate crisis, pandemics and the fight against poverty. The exit from the Paris Agreement by the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases puts international commitments at risk and sends a message of climate impunity. Leaving the WHO also compromises the management of global health emergencies and undermines advances in public health globally. The Spanish Socialist Delegation therefore calls on the European Union to take firm leadership in the protection of multilateralism, the climate struggle and international cooperation. It is essential that the EU strengthens its financial commitments in development aid and shields international humanitarian law. We will continue to defend a Europe that is supportive and committed to climate and social justice. Now, more than ever, we must demonstrate that global leadership is not based on isolation, but on cooperation and shared responsibility.

Mr President, competitiveness goes hand in hand with decarbonisation, that is clear. That is why we need sustainable aviation fuels, which also offer an industrial opportunity for Europe. If we don't support those who invest, others will occupy that space. Two more notes. First, it seems that now in third countries are miraculously fried tons and tons of chips but - oh, oh, miracle! - without potatoes. As a result, a steady flow of oil used to produce sustainable aviation fuels is now entering the EU. It's a fraud. And it is these frauds that undermine the green transition and the credibility of the European Green Deal. We have to stop them. Sustainable matter must be prioritised. And explain to me, from the Commission: how, having supply problems of synthetic fuels for sectors such as aviation or maritime transport (for which they should be prioritised because they do not have alternatives for decarbonisation), do they intend to allocate them to road transport, where electrification is already mature? Let's prioritize where we need them.

Madam President, breast cancer is not pink. It's a brown for women who suffer from it. When we did the report of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer, we saw that there were inequalities in screening. across Europe. And we set ourselves a goal: reach 90% early detection of breast cancer. Because it saves lives, it increases survival four times in an early diagnosis. And that is what has been stolen from all the Andalusian women who have been deprived of knowing the results. They condemn them to more aggressive treatments, reduce their chances of survival and, in addition, they are publicly humiliated by telling them that they are anxious. I believe that we must act clearly against negligence. And this is a clear example. Not only for how the Junta de Andalucía has acted, but also how it has acted subsequently, since it says that the data from the histories have disappeared, which is practically criminal. But it goes beyond the damage done. Any failure in a screening, any failure in an early detection system, is a problem for all early detection systems, because it decreases confidence in our health systems. We therefore call for strong action now.

Between an early diagnosis and a late diagnosis, they mediate four times less chance of survival. What opinion do you deserve, as a woman and as a political representative, that women who have been screened should not be notified? and to be told not to be warned because of anxiety? What is the opinion of this political leader?

Mr President, our engagement with Ukraine was lame and now it is no longer. We welcome this comprehensive agreement to end the import of Russian gas. And the commitment will be even greater if we get not a single euro of the European economy to flow into Putin's hands for the purchase of fossil fuels. That must be an even greater commitment. In Galician we have the word xeito, which is to act with pragmatism and common sense. And I ask too xeito in this performance. To really bet on electrification, on energy efficiency and on Europe's renewable potential. The best fossil gas molecule for Europe is the one that is not consumed; neither Russian nor from anywhere else. Therefore, we must also commit to something else: in making this permanent. Let no one be tempted to connect to Russian gas again. Europe will not be competitive as long as we are junkies of Russian gas or any other gas. And finally, let me say one thing. Russian gas, no. Russian oil, either. But uranium, by when?

Madam President, yesterday we had news that, for the first time, mosquitoes were detected in Iceland - a few places on earth that were free. That is, the effects of climate change will mean more diseases, greater health risks. We have more storms, more floods. That is, climate change accelerates. And, in the face of this acceleration, what we cannot do from Europe is to step on the brakes. That is why I say to you, Commissioner: In the face of Trump's commitment to dynamite multilateralism, the European Union, especially this House, must be at the forefront of international cooperation. We cannot reach COP30 in Bethlehem half empty-handed, because the alternative to European leadership, the vacuum we leave behind, will be filled by others. And believe me, we have technological solutions to fight climate change, to reduce emissions, to reach 90% reduction by 2040. There are. And, in addition, Europe's competitiveness passes through them. Economy and emission reductions are not at odds.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, imagine a family of three children, in a small apartment, in a city where summer lasts eight weeks longer, as in southern Europe, and go out into the streets and find the squares, which were previously wooded, completely cut down. These are the denialist and retardist policies being carried out by the right, also in southern Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, protecting people's health is an obligation and, therefore, fighting climate change today means not only reducing emissions, but adapting to protect ourselves: adapt our cities, our way of working and our homes, also those of families with few resources. It is a need for social justice; Climate action is social justice and not carrying it out is irresponsibility and an attack on the less affluent classes. It is therefore prevention in health, because climate change – repeated here – costs lives and, to a greater extent, those of the most vulnerable and least resourced. Adapting to climate change is an obligation, because it costs us lives. Denialism costs lives; Climate adaptation saves them. That's our choice.

Mr President, I have seen Galicia burn again and the competent autonomous government has failed miserably. A failure without palliatives that continues today with the concealment of burned areas such as Pena Trevinca. On 13 August they said that there were plenty of resources and on 14 August they asked for assistance from the army, which was already there, and all the planes in Europe. To the popular I say that their mimicry with the extreme right does not contribute to solving that problem. Rejecting climate change pacts contributes to the fires. Not hiring firefighters in dignified conditions or hiring them in August contributes to the fires. When European laws are breached and the Natura 2000 Network is not managed, as happens in Galicia, it contributes to fires. When you propose to reduce the CAP budget, you damage the countryside, promote depopulation and contribute to fires. And when they try to deceive citizens, saying that they have only burned rocks and weeds, forgetting people, as President Rueda has done, they generate outrage and damage democracy.

Mr President, Commissioner, I think we are heading in the right direction. We have learned from the pandemic and I believe that these strategies are part of those lessons learned. A safe and prepared Europe is a Europe capable of reacting to threats. I have worked more than fifteen years of my life in health emergency. I know that the next crisis is not always the same as the previous one, but I know that you have to be prepared for it. An important part of the preparation is to have the material, to have the capabilities. I therefore welcome this idea. But let's not get confused: We need to prepare ourselves better, but, above all, prepare those who are going to have to face the threat, who are the professionals. They must be provided with the necessary tools and science and knowledge must also be defended; and know that many of the risks, for example, in the future, will be climate risks. Security must also address these risks. Security money must also be devoted to these tasks. Let me say one thing: The best emergency kit is trust in public services, it is trust in the information that science gives us. And this is just the opposite of what the right and the ultra-right claim. Let's keep that in mind and defend this...

Mr President, can anyone imagine a prosperous Europe at the end of the century without the development of clean technologies? It won't be possible. This is no longer the century of fossils, it is the century of clean ones and – specifically within clean ones – of green technologies, of renewable technologies. A Europe will be prosperous if it invests in these green technologies, if it develops them, if it turns over its financing capacity. We believe that there the Clean Industry Pact should mobilise a specific action plan for green tech. Europe, at the same time, must ensure that the benefits of the transition reach everyone, because the renewables and green technologies we develop will be the most economically efficient, but also green. I have seen here many proponents of nuclear technologies. I'm going to give you some advice: that they go to the Atlantic trench 700 kilometers from my region, in Galicia, where 4 000 drums of radioactive waste are being seen these days, a nuclear time bomb that will be there for hundreds of years. Therefore, let us be careful with what we stand for.

You said it yourself, Mrs Borras: It wasn't renewables. In Spain there are days with more penetration of renewable energy and solar energy, and you know it well, what happens is that I cannot agree in all your assessments because I do not come here to defend a fossil economy, as your party does. Therefore, I defend that the opportunities of my country are in indigenous sources of energy. Patriotism is also trusting our resources, not the resources of others, like Putin's or Trump's, who are your advocates. I don't follow that path, let me.

(start of out-of-microphone intervention) ... I believe that economic criteria are important when it comes to making networks more efficient. Decisions must therefore also be made on the basis of these economic results, but certainly by improving networks, expanding interconnections, your country, Portugal, and mine – which rely on renewable energy sources – will have more opportunities, they will have more industry. Therefore, more renewables and more networks are the future of the Iberian Peninsula.