What Frances spoke about.

5

May

2022

EN Speech

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The impact of the war against Ukraine on women (debate)

Mr President. Commissioner, thank you for your work and for those initiatives. They are appreciated and very important. Colleagues, the brutality of this war has shocked us all. A thousand people in the basement of a steel plant in Mariupol feeling the net tightening around them as Russian forces advance. A thousand people in mass graves across the suburbs of Kyiv, and millions of people with the …

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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Competition policy – annual report 2021 (debate)

Mr President, dear Commissioner, from regulatory instruments to State aid, from data to risk, this report presents a comprehensive overview of the state of competition policy in the EU today. The real focus, of course, in the report is about small businesses and jobs, ensuring that they can grow, thrive and be competitive in our globalised economy. This report is backing small business, and rightl…

3

May

2022

EN Speech

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Strengthening Europol’s mandate: cooperation with private parties, processing of personal data, and support for research and innovation (debate)

Mr President, we know that criminal networks extend across borders. In Ireland, in recent weeks, we have seen the effectiveness of cross—border cooperation in tackling international gangland crime and ensuring that no lawbreaker is untouchable. Europe must take the same approach to cross—border crime. The security of our citizens should be our number one priority. I know from experience as Ministe…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan, in particular the situation of women’s rights (debate)

Madam President, thank you Vice President. Thank you, High Representative. Eight months ago, as Afghanistan quickly fell to the Taliban and as European foreign ministers reacted to the situation, I implored them to consider the situation of women and girls. I knew, as we all did, that women and girls were at particular risk from the Taliban, forced back into their homes, forced to dress more conse…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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EU Protection of children and young people fleeing the war against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, we are in a serious, unprecedented child protection crisis, and it’s of an enormous scale. The brutality inflicted on Ukraine in places like Bucha, Mariupol, Odesa and Kharkiv are war crimes. Murder, torture, rape, death, adults brutalised and traumatised. Imagine what it is like as a child. Just imagine. This is the devastation of Ukraine, for all of us to see. Children separated fr…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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EU Gender Action Plan III (debate)

Mr President, I would like to thank the Commissioner for her work and her team. Colleagues, we only have to look around the world today to see the necessity of the EU’s gender action plan to advance gender equality in our external action. Gender-based violence, education for women and girls, support for female entrepreneurship, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and women in lead…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament – annual report 2020 (debate)

Mr President, first of all, I’d like to thank the rapporteurs for the work that they did and for the consultations that they held with all colleagues. I’m delighted to be here today and able to discuss what I think is a very constructive and forward-looking report on gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament. We know that often our parliaments fall down when it comes to women’s representatio…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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The deterioration of the situation of refugees as a consequence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, (missing audio) … the majority of whom are women and children. There is a dark cloud on this International Women’s Day, as Ukrainian women and children are traumatised and exhausted. Their lives have been destroyed and many have left loved ones behind: husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. More than two million people have now fled Ukraine to seek refuge in the European Union since t…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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International Women’s Day – Address by Oksana Zabuzhko

Madam President, I thank Oksana for that powerful speech, and thank you, Roberta, for ensuring that we had Oksana here with us today. It was truly chilling to hear her words of women giving birth in underground stations with doctors online and babies getting sepsis and all of your other images too. We have spent much of the past 13 days talking about European values because, as you have said, Oksa…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU (debate)

Madam President, first of all, congratulations to Sandra Kalniete for her sterling work, and to our Chair and Committee for making this a very effective committee. Without proper facts and information, our laws will have little value. Without proper facts, our citizens cannot be confident in our institutions. The viral spread of disinformation and fake news has wreaked havoc on our political syste…

16

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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The EU priorities for the 66th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (debate)

Mr President, climate change and gender equality are inextricably linked. Ensuring a more positive green future is a daunting task, and as women know better than most, let’s use the occasion of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2022 to highlight that women can help to get us towards that more positive green future and out of the situation we are in at present. Climate change has a different…

16

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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One youth, one Europe (topical debate)

Mr President, the youth of Europe have not been adequately represented or heard during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now time for Europe to do more for young people, and the European Year of Youth provides the perfect opportunity to make up for this lost time, because it’s estimated that one in six Europeans are between the ages of 15 to 29. This generation has sacrificed so much during the pandemi…

20

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the European Union (topical debate)

Madam President, her name was Ashling, she was 23, and she went for a run last Wednesday at 4 p.m. in a very public place and she was murdered. This horrendous crime has had a deep emotional, disturbing and upsetting resonance across Ireland and Europe. Violence against women. The same violence against women we discuss in this Chamber almost every plenary. And, as a woman, I’m sick of it because a…

16

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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MeToo and harassment – the consequences for the EU institutions (debate)

Mr President, well done to Evelyn on her report. Me Too. As we in the European Parliament gather here today to discuss MeToo in the European Institutions, as a woman in politics I raise my hand and I say, Me Too. None of us are free from the scourge of harassment, including sexual or other forms of harassment. In a world where women everywhere – movie stars, high ranking people in business, and in…

13

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Equality between women and men in the European Union in 2018-2020 (debate)

Madam President, I would like to thank the Commissioner for that comprehensive statement on what still needs to be done, because there is no doubt that we live in unfinished democracies as far as gender equality is concerned. In other ways too, but specifically, as far as gender equality is concerned, there’s a long list. We all know that gains have been made, but we also know that we are at risk …

13

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence (debate)

Mr President, isn’t it unbelievable that every ten years, a city the size of Marseille, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappears from the world. Just imagine that. How? Because every year it is estimated that 87 000 women worldwide are killed, 50 300 of them by an intimate partner or family member. We call this femicide – when women are killed just because they are women. Just think about those cities disap…

25

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and the State of play on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (continuation of debate)

Mr President, today we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – for the 30th time. However, it is simply not good enough to mark this day each year and talk about the significant achievements we have made, or the challenges that are still there. Violence against women remains a scourge. Women are dying. Women are suffering every single day across Europe, and you h…

24

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The EU's role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic: how to vaccinate the world (topical debate)

Madam President, vaccines work, vaccines reduce hospitalisations, morbidity and mortality. We must follow the scientific evidence. Data released from the ECDC and the Commission, on vaccination rates in the EU – just yesterday, shows a strong and undisputed correlation and causation as a result of the vaccines. The higher the vaccination rate in the Member State, the lower the death rate; fact. Th…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Increased efforts to fight money laundering (debate)

Mr President, it is estimated that up to USD 2 trillion is laundered globally every year. In my own country, the level of money laundering has more than doubled in the space of a year and we also have the amounts, of course, exposed in the Pandora Papers. Money laundering is a scourge in our society and disrupts our whole economy. It allows criminal organisations to thrive and to grow their murky …

19

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The Rule of law crisis in Poland and the primacy of EU law (debate)

Mr President, when I spoke on this issue in February, I said the situation is bleak in many ways in Poland. A government that seeks to discard the rule of law and human rights; a government that persecutes its own people advocating for LGBTI-free zones. I ask the Prime Minister, why, Prime Minister, would you do that to your own people? A government that feels it has the power to unilaterally undo…

4

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The impact of intimate partner violence and custody rights on women and children (debate)

Mr President, the shocking stories from around the world, including in all our Member States, remind us yet again that they are the starkest of reminders that we have not dealt with this issue of violence against women and it remains an absolute pandemic around our world. I believe that the Commission’s proposal to tackle gender-based violence, due later this year, cannot come soon enough. Domesti…

6

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Tigray, Ethiopia (continuation of debate)

Mr President, the situation in Ethiopia is dire: conflict leading to fear and terror, people fleeing from their homes and pouring across international borders, famine and hunger, and desperate and brutal sexual violence and rape. Last week’s ceasefire offered a glimmer of hope. However, any genuine ceasefire must include actions to improve the humanitarian situation. The destruction of important r…

5

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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Financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2020 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2019 (debate)

Mr President, while some sense of normality is resuming in our economies and societies, we cannot forget that many businesses all over Europe are still under severe strain. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has been an important support and lifeline throughout the crisis with its EUR 46 billion-worth of COVID—19 funding projects, and 425 000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have benefite…