What Lefteris spoke about.

6

May

2025

ES Speech

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An urgent assessment of the applicability of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) with Cuba (debate)

Madam President, once again we will insist on what the peoples of the world express, and they express their full solidarity with the Cuban people and the Communist Party. Demand the immediate lifting of the blockade of US imperialism and its allies; demand the immediate removal of Cuba from the list of sponsors of terrorism and the lifting of all unacceptable and coercive measures and sanctions. T…

2

Apr

2025

EL Speech

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The importance of trans-European transport infrastructure in times of stalling economic growth and major threats to Europe’s security (debate)

Mr. President, Mr. Tzitzikostas, you talk about security while preparing for war, and, despite the denials of the Greek government, official documents are published about "NATO Express", that is, the movement of military material unchecked, secretly, in populated areas. In fact, according to the Commission's data, unspecified loads on trains reach 28%. The questions are many. Did the freight train…

1

Apr

2025

EL Speech

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Crackdown on democracy in Türkiye and the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu (debate)

Madam President, the arrest of İmamoğlu, other mayors but also journalists and protesters in Turkey is part of the political violation of democratic rights and freedoms. It expresses the intense struggle of major interests for the upgrading of the position of the Turkish bourgeoisie. The lukewarm declarations of expediency of the European Union also expose in this area the allegations of the rule …

31

Mar

2025

EL Speech

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Savings and Investments Union (debate)

Mr President, this Union aims to grab people's savings, pension funds, for the pharaonic project of more than eight hundred billion of the war economy and to support the competitiveness of European Union groups vis-à-vis China and Russia, but also the United States. History repeats itself. The sweat and labor of the workers are lit up to attract capital that was not activated in the green and digi…

13

Feb

2025

EL Speech

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EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement (debate)

Mr President, these days farmers in Greece are waging a constant and fair struggle to stay on their land, which is made intolerable by the European Union's CAP, the smashing of income by the government, the degrading prices to the big merchants, the non-existent protection from disasters, the understaffing of state services resulting from the financial stability of the European Union. Moreover, th…

12

Feb

2025

EL Speech

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Competitiveness Compass (debate)

Mr President, the Competitiveness Compass seeks to mobilise stagnant capital, because maximum profitability is not guaranteed. To halt the retreat of European groups in competition with the US and China in digital, critical materials, the war industry and elsewhere. These are not due to structural weaknesses, as the Commission claims, but to the capitalist mode of production, its contradictions th…

11

Feb

2025

EL Speech

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The need to address urgent labour shortages and ensure quality jobs in the health care sector (debate)

Mr President, the day before yesterday, a young patient who needed hospitalization in an ICU, waited intubated hours in the emergency room, as throughout Crete there was no bed. Due to understaffing, over 16% of ICU beds nationwide do not work. Hospitals on islands do not have pathologists, cardiologists and other key specialties. The tragic recurring images of hundreds of patients on ranches, in …

22

Jan

2025

EL Speech

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Addressing EU demographic challenges: towards the implementation of the 2023 Demography Toolbox (debate)

Mr President, your concern about demographics concerns the shielding of profitability in conditions of sharpening capitalist competition, war escalation in the face of the new economic crisis. The toolkit seeks to increase female employment with flexible relationships and lame rights to reconcile personal and professional life, as you say. The protection of motherhood is being dismantled. The comm…

21

Jan

2025

EL Speech

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Welcome

Madam President, on the basis of Articles 25(8) and 28 of the Rules of Procedure, as well as paragraph 4.3 of the Compendium of Rules, I would like to refer to the unacceptable decision of the Quaestors not to authorise the holding of the event "Cuba and the International Medical Brigades Henry Reeve: An example of international solidarity. That provocative decision alleges that the content of the…

21

Jan

2025

EL Speech

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Need to enforce the Digital Services Act to protect democracy on social media platforms including against foreign interference and biased algorithms (debate)

Madam President, today's debate is an expedient one. It is marked by great interests. The focus is on fierce competition between the United States and the European Union, the effort of the EU monopolies to improve their position vis-à-vis those on the other side of the Atlantic. The pretexts for the protection of democracy, foreign interference and distorted algorithms seek to launder Member State…

18

Dec

2024

EL Speech

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Promoting social dialogue and collective bargaining and the right to strike in the EU (debate)

Mr President, in 21 Member States collective agreements do not apply. Governments refuse to ratify them. In Greece, only 9 out of 43 are mandatory. There are countries where trade unionism is prohibited. Στην Ελλάδα και αλλού οι διώξεις συνδικαλιστών, το να κηρύσσονται απεργίες παράνομες και καταχρηστικές γίνεται κατά συρροή. The Minimum Wage Directive acts as a cutter. It connects it to the profi…

16

Dec

2024

EL Speech

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Right to clean drinking water in the EU (debate)

The only right to water recognised by the European Union is: The people should pay for it, and the people should pay for it, whenever they don't want it. With the Water Framework Directive, to limit demand, you have promoted cost recovery, i.e. tariff increases, management through privatised municipal enterprises or S.A., with governments of all shades. Union funds shall not prioritise the require…

13

Nov

2024

EL Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, the workers are suffering from the onslaught of capital, the war economy that is escalating imperialist conflicts and involvement, the recovery fund of the monopolies that has been loaded on their backs and the new sacrifices to support the competitiveness of enterprises with 800 billion. No matter how much the parties of the European Union try to make fun of the fact that the Union …

22

Oct

2024

EL Speech

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Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (debate)

Mr President, the essence of the guidelines, as the European Union admits, is an adaptable workforce for the green and digital transitions, the competitiveness of businesses, the war economy of the European Union. That is, to sacrifice workers' rights for the shielding of capitalist profitability, with training and retraining programs, i.e. further "spitting" of labour power and overexploitation, …

9

Oct

2024

EL Speech

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Ensuring sustainable, decent and affordable housing in Europe - encouraging investment, private property and public housing programmes (debate)

Mr President, in Greece three out of four people spend almost half a month's income on rent. Three out of four to 35 years old still live in the nursery, while for students it is difficult to find housing without state support for popular families. The causes are capitalist ownership and the pursuit of profit, the housing-commodity, the green standards of the European Union, the interest rate race…

7

Oct

2024

EL Speech

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The extreme wildfires in Southern Europe, in particular Portugal and Greece and the need for further EU climate action on adaptation and mitigation (debate)

Madam President, according to official figures, firefighters in ten Member States have fallen in one year, even in countries where major flood and fire disasters have occurred and lives have been lost. In Greece, the decrease exceeded 13%, despite the fact that even in the capital, more than 37% of the forest area has been burned and there are thousands of vacancies for firefighters, while forest …

18

Sep

2024

ES Speech

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The case of José Daniel Ferrer García in Cuba

Madam President, José Daniel Ferrer, whom some here have praised, has nothing to do with human rights. He has committed common criminal law crimes against the Cuban people. He is a notorious leader of a provocative organization and has publicly confessed to being funded by the United States. He is the agent of those who have imposed the criminal blockade and hundreds of sanctions against Cuba, mea…

17

Sep

2024

EL Speech

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War in the Gaza Strip and the situation in the Middle-East (debate)

Madam President, the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza has no end. The Israeli state and its army have killed more than 40,000 people, women, children, the elderly, civilians. The destruction is immeasurable and the people of Gaza are plagued by hunger, thirst and disease. The barbarity of the occupying state now continues in the West Bank. It turns out that from the outset the goal was t…

17

Sep

2024

EL Speech

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The future of European competitiveness (debate)

Madam President, the Draghi report is a tool for implementing the anti-people agenda of the new Commission, which aims to increase the competitiveness of economic groups by financing hundreds of billions of euros, while imposing harsh measures against workers and people, who are being asked to pay heavily for state investments and borrowing on behalf of big capital. The main direction is the trans…

11

Apr

2024

EL Speech

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Internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen (recast) - Common rules for the internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen (recast) - Union’s electricity market design: Regulation - Union’s electricity market design: Directive (joint debate – Reform of the energy and electricity markets)

Mr President, the directives and regulations we are debating today are indicative of the European Union's unpopular priorities in relation to the energy market. In the context of the EU-wide liberalisation of the energy market, the energy exchange, financial tools are being adapted today so that the support of renewable energy, natural gas and hydrogen groups can continue unhindered, with a lot of…

13

Mar

2024

EL Speech

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European Semester for economic policy coordination 2024 – European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2024 (joint debate – European Semester)

Mr President, the Eurogroup yesterday, in the face of economic uncertainty and the emerging capitalist crisis, rushed to give assurances to the groups that are breaking every record of profits, that funds will flow flexibly for them, and called for the abolition of even those allowances for electricity, in order to reduce budget deficits. In the European Union, those who work are also hungry. 40% …

12

Mar

2024

EL Speech

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A single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State (recast) (debate)

Madam President, the reactionary EU strategy on migration-refugee has on the one hand repression at the borders for refugees and on the other hand escalates the exploitation of migrants, depending on the needs of business groups for cheap workers in construction, tourism, agricultural production and elsewhere. These were implemented over time by the Greek governments and the government of New Demo…

27

Feb

2024

ES Speech

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Critical situation in Cuba (debate)

Madam President, Cuba has suffered the criminal US blockade for sixty-two years, which has caused billions of dollars in damage and deprives its people of food, medicine, fuel and impedes its economic growth. Cuba's shameful and false inclusion on the list of sponsors of terrorism further hits its economy, banking transactions, tourism. Clearly: The prolonged imperialist blockade expresses hostili…

27

Feb

2024

EL Speech

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War in the Gaza Strip and the need to reach a ceasefire, including recent developments in the region (debate)

Madam President, 30 000 dead, including 13 000 children, 70 000 crippled; 30 days without humanitarian assistance, according to UNRWA: The tragic aftermath of the Israeli atrocity in Gaza. The occupying forces have surrounded Rafah, sheltering over a million civilians, and are preparing to strike. They are now bombing eastern Lebanon, extending the war vortex. For over 140 days of genocide, the Eu…

26

Feb

2024

EL Speech

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Need to overcome the Council deadlock on the platform workers directive (debate)

Mr President, your hypocrisy about the rights of platform workers has no limit. While the European Parliament has not debated the directive at all, but negotiated governments, Commissioners, Members of Parliament and lobbyists, now the Commission is concerned about the Council's rejection of the directive. The anti-worker stance of the Greek government, which voted against in the Council, is not s…