What Frances spoke about.

15

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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Women activism – human rights defenders related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) (debate)

Madam President, human rights defenders should never be a target. Their work day in and day out is integral to our democracies, and it should be understood as such. Nobody should fear for their lives when they are defending human rights. Too many human rights defenders have lost their lives around the world. In my own country, in Ireland, we know the work that human rights defenders have done over…

15

Mar

2023

EN Speech

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International Women's Day

Madam President, thanks to you and President Ursula von der Leyen for holding this important event today. Women with ambition change the world. They are the change—makers, the innovators, the pioneers, the trailblazers. Yet ambition and drive can only take a woman so far if she does not have access to the tools she needs to succeed. The tools to make that change. Our green and digital future must …

14

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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The EU priorities for the 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister. Really, it is very depressing, Commissioner, to hear the statistics that you’ve just quoted. I’m sure all of us are getting tired of coming in here and hearing such depressing statistics. I know there is much on the implementation table that potentially gives us hope, but it really does reinforce the enormous job that we have to do in this particular area of t…

14

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence: EU accession (debate)

Madam President, gender-based violence damages our societies, our very social fabric. It ends women’s lives, but it also damages our economies to the tune of 366 billion per year. And yet we have so much to do to eradicate it. If it was any other issue, colleagues, we would be here jumping up and down with outrage at this wasteful cost to our economies and to the very lives of women. We have to be…

18

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 15 December 2022 (continuation of debate)

Madam President, shocking news again today from Ukraine. Of course, our deepest sympathies. Last Saturday in Europe, a pregnant woman and her husband were slaughtered, along with so many others, as the bombs rained over Dnipro. Madam President, as she said: a yellow kitchen, a sad reminder of lives lost and lives destroyed. As we approach the one-year anniversary of this dreadful war, it should st…

23

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Eliminating violence against Women (debate)

Madam President, this is such an upsetting and disturbing debate when the President of this Parliament has to come in and say, ‘stop killing women’. And yet this is the reality, as we’ve heard from the personal stories here. Why do we allow it to continue? Because we are in the midst of a shadow pandemic where domestic violence, sexual assault and FGM are commonplace in all our societies across Eu…

22

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (debate)

Madam President, I organised the first conference on women and decision-making in Ireland over 30 years ago. This directive has been blocked for ten years. What is it about women’s equality that makes it so difficult for people to have agreement, to go forward, to have equal representation? It continues and we have to work hard. Well done to Commissioner Dalli and to the President of the Commissio…

9

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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Digital finance: Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) - Digital Finance: Amending Directive regarding Digital Operational Resilience requirements (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, it is not possible to talk about security without talking about digital. Today, the threats to society and our way of life exist just as much online as they do on a battlefield. We are it seeing right now with the ever-increasing number of cyberattacks coming from places like Russia and China – we’re seeing it right now. In Ireland last year, we saw an enorm…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Fighting sexualised violence - The importance of the Istanbul Convention and a comprehensive proposal for a directive against gender-based violence (debate)

() ... I won’t repeat it all. Basically, what I was saying is that the statistics are really horrifying. I don’t need to go into them again here. But let me just give one statistic: overall every ten years, a city the size of Marseille, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappears as 850 000 women are murdered every ten years. I mentioned as well, of course, the Ukrainian war and how Ukrainian women are experie…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Fighting sexualised violence - The importance of the Istanbul Convention and a comprehensive proposal for a directive against gender-based violence (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, as co-rapporteur on the proposal for a directive on violence against women and domestic violence, I am working just extensively to ensure women across the Union are protected alongside my co-rapporteur, Evin Incir. With this new directive, we must ensure that standards across Europe are raised and that it actually builds on the ground-breaking Istanbul Convention. Ho…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, I welcome the moves towards a real energy union. The cost of living crisis is more than statistics. You are right, tackling the cost of living and the pressures all too real on businesses and families. Start with tackling the cost of energy. I welcome yesterday’s Commission proposal to further manage the cost of gas and to increase EU joint procurement of energy. We …

18

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Growing hate crimes against LGBTIQ people across Europe in light of the recent homophobic murder in Slovakia (debate)

Mr President, colleagues, the brutal murder of two young men in Slovakia last week was chilling and shocking. Chilling and shocking because in 2022 many of us were hoping that hate crimes such as this were a thing of the past. And let us be clear, this was a hate crime. This attack took place outside a well-known gay bar in the city centre, a safe haven for many people in Bratislava. This was not …

5

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, colleagues, the war has entered a critical new stage, with new victories from our brave and fighting Ukrainians every day. Ukrainian forces are advancing and regaining strategically important cities. Yet, as Ukraine advance, Putin ups his brinkmanship. The annexation by Russia of four Ukrainian regions last week further signified a deepening of his war efforts. His ruthlessness is ex…

4

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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The death of Mahsa Amini and the repression of women's rights protesters in Iran (debate)

Mr President, High Representative, women in Iran are fighting for their fundamental rights, their freedom. The shocking and unlawful death of a young woman of 22, Mahsa Amini, is a stark reminder of the abuse and violence women face every day from the regressive Iranian regime. Women and men have rightly taken to the streets to protest at the barbaric and honestly sickening treatment of women by t…

14

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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Situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2020 and 2021 (debate)

Mr President, human rights have been at the core of our Union from the very beginning. Yet lately we see a rise in authoritarianism where the flouting of human rights is widespread and our fundamental values and ideals have been neglected and ignored far too often. Right now it is about autocracy versus democracy. Choose where you stand because European values are in peril. The full enjoyment of h…

14

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, Europe today is facing crisis with war once again on our continent. But Europe has increasingly responded well to crisis, and our determination to do so again is unwavering. People and governments are looking to the EU, now more than ever, to see how we can tackle those global problems. We know what they are: energy prices, climate change, cost of living, inflation, job creation. …

13

Sep

2022

EN Speech

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EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

Madam President, for too long Europe has been weak on energy policy. Now, with war having returned to Europe, we find ourselves exposed. Putin is trying to use energy as a weapon against Europe and our support indeed for Ukraine. We cannot let him win. Increases in energy prices are putting the viability of many small businesses at risk, increasing the potential for job losses and business failure…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The relations of the Russian government and diplomatic network with parties of extremist, populist, anti-European and certain other European political parties in the context of the war (debate)

Madam President, across the world, democratic values are being challenged by authoritarianism. Often it takes place under the radar, through online and cyber activity, with spyware, propaganda, interference in elections, elite capture and the funding of political parties. As politicians, the only people we should be answerable to is the voters and not regimes that seek to undermine our European va…

6

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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The UK government’s unilateral introduction of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and respect for international law (debate)

Mr President, I thank our colleagues for their unwavering support during the last number of years, and Vice-President, thank you for your work. It is heartbreaking to see so much peace and progress built over such a long period – over decades, it is nothing less than heartbreaking to see that being put at risk at present. So much peace, so much developed relationships all really up for question at…

5

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Common European action on care (debate)

Mr President, I thank Commissioner Šuica for his work. And I’d also like to pay tribute to Sirpa Pietikäinen and Dennis Radtke from my own group who worked so hard on this. It is about time that Europe took action on care. We all know what a European perspective, action means. It means a greater focus on the harsh realities of care as it stands at present in the European Union, the harsh realities…

4

Jul

2022

EN Speech

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Women’s poverty in Europe (debate)

President, Commissioner, colleagues, we cannot build a true union of equality if half of our population – women – are disproportionately at risk of poverty. It is unsustainable and unacceptable. Take, for example, single parents: 85% of single parents in the EU are women and an astounding 42% of single parent families are at risk of poverty. And the risk of poverty is only growing for women. I wan…

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court (debate)

It’s a complicated question. I mean, we do know that getting women’s rights generally and equality accepted in many of our societies has been extremely difficult. Abortion is a highly sensitive subject for people. But, as I say, I consider it to be a core, fundamental right and that women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights. Our experience in Ireland showed us that we ha…

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court (debate)

Madam President, Vice-President, colleagues, when it comes to women’s rights, retrogressive initiatives globally are resulting in the backsliding of sexual and reproductive health rights, sadly, even here in Europe. The recent leak of an initial draft majority opinion of the US Supreme Court on the Roe v. Wade case is a huge cause for concern in the United States, but also for women here in Europe…

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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The Commission's proposal for "Attracting skills and talent to the EU", particularly the Talent Partnerships with North African countries (topical debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, I welcome this debate and I will focus on one aspect of it. As throughout the COVID—19 pandemic, right across the European Union the enormous contribution that carers make to our societies was clear to see. Their work is critical, imperative, it underlines our very social fabric here, in European society, and ensures that our family and friends have the kind of care the…

8

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the Taoiseach of Ireland, Micheál Martin (debate)

Madam President, Commissioners, colleagues, I say to the Taoiseach, thank you so much for so passionately and comprehensively outlining the importance of the EU to Ireland past, present and future. As we both know, membership of the European Union has been nothing short of life—changing for the people of Ireland over the last 50 years. That historic vote in May 1972 to join the European Communitie…