What Clare spoke about.

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Implementation of the common foreign and security policy - annual report 2022 - Implementation of the common security and defence policy - annual report 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, this policy is selling militarism as something to keep us safe, when in reality it’s the opposite. It’s militarism that’s driving a dramatic rise in geopolitical tensions, drastically undermining our security. And you’d think that the Ukraine war would have shocked us out of this approach. But no, this report wants more of the same – increases in heavy weapons to Ukraine, massive …

16 Jan

2023

EN Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Mr President, last week, Ireland lost a true revolutionary and one of her best poets, Kevin Higgins. We lost our friend and his last poem was called I Always Thought I’d Live, and I’d like to read a piece from that: ‘I always thought I’d live to tidy the books off the study floor and see fascists give up stabbing black boys at bus stops because peaceful protests have eloquently made them see the e…

16 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Shipments of waste (debate)

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Mr President, in 2020, the EU exported more than 33 million tonnes of waste to non—EU countries. Among these wastes, as colleagues have pointed out, one of the biggest contributors is plastic pollution. The hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste produced every year, which degrade into microplastics end up in all the world’s oceans in the bodies of humans and animals. And if nothing is done, this …

15 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in 2021 (A9-0271/2022 - Loránt Vincze)

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Madam President, he must be looking for a big Christmas present or a load of speaking time next year. But in any case, I voted for this file. I think it’s a great committee. Often people are disappointed that their petitions aren’t selected and one of the things that I think we need to look at is the idea that the non-aligned members of the committee, and there are five of them, don’t have the rig…

15 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Upscaling the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (A9-0281/2022 - Jan Olbrycht, Margarida Marques)

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Madam President, I voted against the Multiannual Financial Framework. Two years have passed since the adoption of it. Obviously, our budget is again under strain, faced with multiple crises that are piling up, the responsibility for which largely, in many instances, is a result of our own policies or, indeed, the policies of our so-called friends. We had the US Inflation Reduction Act. Maybe this …

15 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions (B9-0580/2022, RC-B9-0581/2022, B9-0581/2022, B9-0582/2022, B9-0583/2022, B9-0584/2022, B9-0585/2022, B9-0587/2022)

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Madam President, I voted for the resolution. Qatar’s human rights record, whitewashed in exchange for bags of cash, is pretty scandalous. But it was also scandalous to see the LIBE Committee vote to give Qatar visas for Qatari oil, whitewashing their human rights record – two sides of the same coin. The resolution isn’t bad, but it could be a lot better. It feels to me that we had the opportunity …

15 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Major interpellations (debate)

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Madam President, the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines was one of the biggest acts of economic sabotage ever carried out on the European Union, not to mention the devastating environmental consequences. So it is very, very strange that there’s so little discussion about it. No appetite for an investigation, no appetite for accountability, for restitution, nothing, because already having volun…

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Chinese government crackdown on the peaceful protests across the People's Republic of China

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Madam President, I’m just constantly amazed by the discussions that go on in here because in the main, what we’ve been subjected to is a diatribe of anti—Chinese rhetoric, which is of no benefit to anybody living in China. Of course the people in China are fed up! Lockdowns can’t go on forever without serious social and psychological effects, and the extraordinary conditions experienced by factory…

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

The Commission’s reports on the situation of journalists and the implications of the rule of law (debate)

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Madam President, I really wish I could be standing up here joining in the eulogies to a free media and its crucial role as a pillar in our democracies. But I look at the media that we have, and I don’t see much freedom. Our media is strangled by money. It’s hobbled by fear. For most media organisations, access to power is far more important than holding power to account. Careers depend on toeing t…

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Defending democracy from foreign interference (debate)

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Mr  President, we tried to include in this question an explanation on how fundamental rights would be safeguarded in the Commission’s disinformation package, particularly in light of the zeal for using sanctions against organisations and individuals accused of disinformation. Sanctions are tools of international law, not domestic law. Fundamental rights protections in our legal system don’t apply …

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

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Mr President, we’re here today talking about defending the European Union against abuse of national vetoes. But to be honest, I’m much more interested in talking about defending national vetoes from the European Union. There is a sustained and deliberate campaign in this Parliament to undermine the right enshrined in the treaties to veto Council decisions, the very basis of the EU. Let me be clear…

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

EU response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (debate)

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Madam President, the worst is yet to come, so said the IMF in October. Europe’s economies are being decimated by sanctions. Millions of Europeans are going to have to decide between heating and eating this winter. People in Poland are burning rubbish to keep warm and the lights are winking out in German industry. The Russians are laughing at us. The Americans are laughing at us. And I wouldn’t bla…

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Turkish airstrikes on northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (debate)

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Mr President, we hear a lot these days about the rules-based international order. Well, Turkey’s action in northern Syria and Iraq is a very good example of that in practice. It’s one rule for NATO members and one for everyone else. Turkey has invaded northern Syria, slaughtered the Kurds there, annexed and occupied Syrian land. Turkey has rolled over them in NATO tanks, bombed them with NATO airc…

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Prospects for the two-State solution for Israel and Palestine (debate)

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Mr President, the Palestinian leadership showed great willingness to compromise when principally agreeing to a two-State solution. But for as long as it has been the main approach, settlement expansion and annexation has continued. Palestinians live under a militarised apartheid regime that systematically oppresses, brutalises and discriminates against them, enforcing settler violence, evictions, …

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

The recent JHA Council decision on Schengen accession (debate)

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Mr President, Last week, as a result of the work of the Lighthouse Reports, we saw Bulgarian border guards shooting a Syrian teenager. We heard shocking reports of EU funds being used to lock migrants in an open cage while Frontex stands idly by. Pushbacks are routine; violence is systemic. Then we hear that Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to Schengen is being blocked by Austria and the Netherlan…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Madam President, last Thursday, we attended the appeal hearing in Lesvos of two Afghan refugees, Amir Zahiri and Akif Razuli, against a 50-year sentence given to them for smuggling when they were simply passengers on a boat from Turkey seeking refuge in Greece. A boat which the Greek coastguard attempted to push back and damaged; a journey which ended with them spending almost three years in jail …

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Addressing persistent challenges in the aviation sector and the impacts on passengers, workers, capacity and safety (debate)

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Madam President, there are persistent challenges in the aviation sector, particularly for workers, and the Commission has to take its responsibility for its part in that. For the past 15 years, the Parliament has been calling for action to address the situation, but for all the words, there is very little to show for it. Earlier this year, 13 members of the TRAN Committee sent a letter to the Comm…

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Outcome of COP27 (debate)

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Madam President, as we’ve had a lot of talk about lobbying today, let us register that the COP delegations were able to benefit from the advice of 636 representatives from the oil and gas industry. Of course, surprise, surprise, the end deal had no mention of any phase—out of fossil fuels in the final decision. Fossil fuels at the very heart of our global CO2 emissions. But of course, the COP wasn…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Situation in Libya (A9-0252/2022 - Giuliano Pisapia)

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Mr President, I voted against this report. Its timing is pretty appropriate coming, as it does, a few short weeks after the 11th anniversary of the day Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed during the NATO assault on Libya: sodomised with a bayonet and shot in the head. The NATO intervention in Libya, carried out in the name of protecting freedom, democracy and human rights, is one we’d do well…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

New EU strategy for enlargement (A9-0251/2022 - Tonino Picula)

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Mr President, I abstained on this report. To the spotless minds in Europe, EU enlargement is about growing our happy family of democratic nations, prospering together in a brotherly paradise of enterprise and free trade. But the truth is, it’s a rich boys’ club, in which membership hinges upon sweeping neoliberal reforms –the last batch about boosting NATO and a pool of cheap labour for the West. …

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

System of own resources of the European Union (A9-0266/2022 - Valérie Hayer, José Manuel Fernandes)

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Mr President, I voted in favour of this report. The plan to raise EUR 17 billion a year for the EU budget from a new system of taxation on corporations and levies on emissions has been around for a while and is okay as far as it goes. But I do have some sympathy for people who are concerned about EU overreach. But a much bigger concern I have is that the EU hasn’t exactly been the most reliable gu…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Forced displacement of people as a result of escalating conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

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Mr President, Eastern Congo is one of the wealthiest regions in the world, home to a variety of natural resources – gold, diamonds, oil – and the largest producer of cobalt, at 70%. And because of this, it’s been plagued by fighting with massively over 120 rebel groups in that area for over 25 years, with Rwanda accused of stirring it up in a proxy war to gain access to those resources. And the co…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

The continuing repression of the democratic opposition and civil society in Belarus

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Mr President, in recent months, we’ve seen the arrest and imprisonment of trade union representatives in Belarus. Most recently, the Vice—President of the Belarusian Independent Labour Union was sentenced to 30 months in prison. And protests and strikes led by working—class people have highlighted the level of discontent with the Lukashenko government. As a former trade unionist, I absolutely supp…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

The Human rights situation in Afghanistan especially the deterioration of women´s rights and attacks against educational institutions

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Mr President, more than a year after the international community adopted a policy of not dealing with the Taliban. More than a year after the US froze USD 7 billion of Afghan financial resources and continued vicious sanctions against that country, and more than a year after the EU spent a mere EUR 400 million on humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, despite the US spending USD 300 million a day for 2…

23 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Human rights situation in Egypt (debate)

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Mr President, I’d just like to really add my comments to the strong words of colleagues that we do ourselves no favours by being geopolitical in which human rights that we condemn. And the testimony of activists in Egypt is really quite frightening. At least 520 websites blocked, 129 of them news sites. The government actively tracking down and targeting those who publish content on social media w…