Speeches

The drought situation in Portugal is very worrying and requires support and basic measures to deal with the consequences that are already anticipated, from the supply of human consumption, agricultural production and hydroelectric power to the tourism sector. In agriculture, for example, the impact on farms, requiring the use of irrigation, increases production costs as other factors such as energy and fuels rise, production prices are crushed and incomes are reduced. In discussing the CAP, we have proposed a public agricultural insurance, financed from the Union budget, which would provide a minimum level of protection for all farmers in the Member States. In our view, this would be a way to guarantee a minimum income for farmers affected by extreme weather events, other natural or man-made disasters, including forest fires, diseases and pests. The existence of such insurance would not undermine the existence of other insurance schemes specific to certain sectors and would guarantee minimum protection for farmers. In the current situation, where there is still a lack of measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the creation of this insurance would be an appropriate measure. Unfortunately, this proposal of ours has been rejected by the majority in this Parliament.

Madam President, the right to mobility of the population in general, and of persons with disabilities in particular, is fundamental in an inclusive society, but it is far from being realised in the lives of many citizens. Persons with disabilities and their representative organisations have long claimed the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. It is now necessary that the criteria for the allocation of parking labels aim at extending them taking into account specific needs. We also believe that it is also necessary to reinforce with the population that improper parking in places reserved for persons with disabilities or reduced mobility entails limiting their right to mobility, which would otherwise be prevented from accessing spaces and places. The approval of this card does not dispense with a policy that guarantees the right to mobility of the population, in general, and of persons with disabilities, in particular, by ensuring quality public transport, with schedules and routes that serve the needs and at affordable prices.

Mr President, we are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April Revolution in Portugal. The fascist dictatorship was repression, arrests, torture and murder. It was economic and social backwardness, illiteracy and obscurantism, misery, inequality, injustice, emigration. It was a denial of rights, of workers, of women, of young people. It was colonialism and colonial war with the support of NATO. It was corruption and concentration of wealth on a handful of monopolies. The April Revolution, the realization of the progressive captains and the Portuguese people, was national sovereignty, freedom, peace, democracy. These were rights at work, health, education, social security, housing, culture. It was the nationalisation of the strategic sectors of the economy. It was agrarian reform in the area of the latifundia, it was friendship and cooperation with all the peoples of the world. Fifty years later, many of the conquests were destroyed and amputated by decades of right-wing politics. Others persist, the result of the struggle of the workers and the people, showing that the future of Portugal is in the values that April carried out. So last week we brought a taste of the party that was April to the European Parliament. Fifty years ago the Portuguese people ordered and it was April. April 25th always... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker)

Mr President, the directive we are discussing here is moving in the direction of combating trafficking in human beings. In addition to sexual exploitation, it includes other situations such as substitution management, forced marriage or illegal adoption, whose practices increase the number of victims of trafficking. We also value the approach on the specific situation of children as well as persons with disabilities. We stress that it is crucial for Member States to have the appropriate human, technical and logistical resources for the fight to be effective and for victims to be protected. This proposal contrasts with the recently adopted Migration and Asylum Package which, with the militarisation and externalisation of borders, may have impacts on the increase of illegal immigration and thus on the increase of trafficking in human beings. There is an urgent need to tackle the causes of trafficking in human beings, unemployment, marginalisation and poverty and to give priority to strengthening social and labour rights, employment with rights, quality public services and economic and social progress.

Mr President, this reform of the market, the so-called energy and electricity market in the European Union, is not surprising, because true truth brings nothing new. It continues to deepen a market that serves the interests of large energy companies, rather than ensuring access to affordable energy for households and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Despite promoting the increase in the use of renewable energy, it maintains the system of marginal prices in the daily market, where the most expensive technology, which has been gas, sets the price of other forms of energy production. In other words, the prices on the bill will not go down, but the profits of the big energy companies will continue to rise. What was required was to establish, as a starting point for prices and margins for liquid fuels, the value of the actual cost of production. We insist that energy policy should not be dependent on market contingencies. It must be at the service of the development and well-being of peoples.

Mr President, for several months farmers have been taking to the streets in protest against a CAP that does not serve them - especially small and medium-sized agriculture and family farming -, against free trade policies and the political choices and forces that promote them. The proposals that the European Commission is now putting forward, which the majority of this Parliament wants to deal with as a matter of urgency, trying to avoid discussion of the substantive answers that are required, do not attack the high costs of production, do not promote the improvement of farmers' incomes or the strengthening of their position in supply chains, do not call into question a line in the policy of promoting free trade agreements that offer agriculture as a bargaining chip for the opening up of new markets to industry in the countries of central Europe. Another CAP is needed to ensure, among other things, support for small and medium-sized farmers and family farming, fair prices for production and the improvement of the incomes of those who produce market regulation mechanisms. As long as these responses are lacking, the fair indignation of farmers will continue.

Madam President, we are asking for this debate because we want to discuss the degradation of people's living conditions. Social inequalities continue to increase without policies and political will to curb and reverse them. I would stress the Council's absence from this debate. In Portugal, 5% of the population owns 42% of the wealth. In parallel, in 2023, more than one in five people was at risk of poverty after social transfers. Eviction requests increased by 17% compared to 2022. Other data: in my country, 61% of the house payment on average goes to pay the interest. But there are solutions. There is political will to implement them. Promote employment with rights by increasing wages. Increase pensions. Adjust and reduce working hours to 35 hours for all. Ensure universal, free and quality public services, with the strengthening of the NHS and the public school. Establish a public network of nurseries. Ensure the right to housing. The interest rates imposed by the ECB are reversed. The profits of large economic groups are taxed.

Mr President, a month later, the European Parliament is once again discussing the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. If there were any doubts, with such insistence it is clear that the goal, aligned with the agenda of the United States of America and the Venezuelan extreme-right coup, is to seek to interfere, once again, in the electoral processes in Venezuela. The purpose of this debate is not, but should be, to demand an end to unilateral coercive measures, contrary to international law, imposed by the United States of America. Because of the sanctions, between 2015 and 2023 revenues from oil production in Venezuela are estimated to fall by 99%. Imagine, if you can, the repercussions that this has on the development of a country and on the lives of its people. And the resolution we are going to vote on tomorrow calls for even more sanctions! From here, we express our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and their struggle in defense of their sovereignty, their path of development and social progress, free from external interference.

Madam President, the annual designation of the European Capitals of Children should be accompanied by concrete measures to achieve the objective of eradicating child poverty and social exclusion, creating a level playing field so that all children can have integral, balanced and healthy development. Otherwise, like so many other initiatives, they propose objectives without corresponding to the action necessary to achieve them. Children should be guaranteed the right to play in the place where they live and without fear, to enjoy nature and green spaces, equipment that promote the practice of sports, creation and cultural enjoyment, without discrimination and violence. Cities, towns and villages, and territories, should promote adequate facilities that guarantee these rights and a wide range of quality public transport that enables mobility in order to enjoy them. This initiative does not elude the real problem: one in four children in the European Union are affected by poverty and social exclusion. This is also the result of the EU's policies of impoverishment, while at the same time securing the growing profits of large economic groups. Responses are required based on three main axes: ensuring that children’s own rights are safeguarded; social and labour rights for parents or carers; and universal, free and quality public services. A recent report, for which I was rapporteur, listed proposals that remain to be implemented: increasing the public and universal provision of nursery and pre-school education services; increased investment in universal, public and quality health services or education; ensuring decent housing conditions; access to balanced nutrition or accessible transport; the connection between the realisation of children’s rights and the realisation of their parents’ rights, including through the defence of work with rights and fair wages, as well as access to parental rights, including the right to breastfeeding; The defense and affirmation of the right to play. In addition to these, measures are also needed to establish a path of guarantees and strengthening the rights of parents, in particular the reduction of working hours to 35 hours per week; strengthening the social protection of children, including through the universalisation and strengthening of child benefit; limitation of shift work, night work, weekend work and continuous work; combating precariousness; and free crèche for all children up to the age of three and the creation of a public network of crèches, which is what we have advocated in Portugal.

Mr President, we agree that the limits and uses of artificial intelligence must be clearly defined, but the regulation we are discussing here does not do so, since it legitimises a range of practices by means of an extensive list of exceptions. We have no doubt that in a society like ours, where profit is the main driving force, these instruments will eventually be used to increase the exploitation of workers and will cover decisions with dramatic impacts on the lives of citizens. In our opinion, the use of artificial intelligence, due to the scientific and technical advances it entails, must contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of workers and peoples, to the increase of knowledge and democratic participation of citizens, to the development of each country. It must be accompanied by measures to protect workers' rights, in particular by reducing working hours and increasing wages, lowering the retirement age, among other rights, rejecting any path of social backsliding.

Mr President, the successive political choices of recent years, characterised by widespread precariousness, increasing and deregulating working hours, facilitating dismissal, high costs of justice and lengthy procedures, have exacerbated the vulnerability and lack of protection of workers in the face of repeated practices that undermine their dignity. In Portugal, the majority of victims of labour harassment are women and, although some legislative steps have been taken, such as the ratification of ILO Convention 190, the problem persists and affects the psychological and physical health, dignity and family environment of thousands of working women. It is necessary to comply with the rules laid down in this Convention, including the promotion and negotiation of collective bargaining, to ensure that workers have easy and effective access to adequate and effective remedies in the event of violence and harassment, and to ensure that labour inspectorates and other competent authorities are empowered to act in the event of violence and harassment. Laws must protect working women.

Madam President, despite so many speeches, young people are living worse and worse. Low wages, precariousness, lack of labour rights, difficulty in accessing decent housing, insecurity and instability in their personal and professional lives are present in the daily lives of young people. But this situation has responsible: the policies, also of the European Union, that put the market above people, that impose the deregulation of hours, the law of the jungle in the world of work, that institutionalize precariousness and promote low wages, and also those that have defended and implemented them. There is an urgent need for a change in policy that will give young people hope for the future. It is necessary to remove all barriers to access to education, guarantee the right to decent housing for all, ensure the right to employment with rights, to a fair wage, combating precariousness. We need a strengthened National Health Service that responds to needs and ensures sexual and reproductive rights. Access to culture and leisure and an effective sports policy must be guaranteed. These rights can no longer be denied to young people.

Mr President, the fundamental right to housing has been called into question, affecting millions of people across the European Union, whether through speculation in renting, a brutal increase in interest rates, or the lack or absence of a public housing offer – this at a time of sharp rises in the cost of living, where inequalities are increasing and poverty is increasing. There is an urgent need to invest in public housing and guarantee the right to decent and adequate housing. Investments in the energy efficiency of public buildings are urgently needed, but priority should also be given to the most vulnerable households, reflecting in the indicative allocation per country the European funds to be allocated for these purposes. It is incomprehensible that families are left at the mercy of the speculative housing market, not reassuring them that, after the renovation of their homes, the rent will not be increased, and that multinationals in the energy sector are given free rein to continue to add scandalous profits, while there are people who cannot keep the house warm in winter, or cool in summer. Measures are needed to guarantee the right to decent housing appropriate to the needs of the population and not the profits of private interests that grow from year to year.

Madam President, it is worrying and worrying that living conditions are deteriorating in various countries of the European Union, with the increase in the cost of living, food, housing and energy, as well as the increasing difficulties in accessing health care, a reality that is accompanied by the accumulation of colossal profits by large economic groups. The ECB’s recent insistence on keeping benchmark interest rates high has profound consequences for the worsening social and economic situation in a number of countries, particularly affecting households in the most vulnerable situations and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Urgent measures and effective policies are needed to combat the degradation of living conditions and the worsening of social injustices and inequalities. This Parliament can no longer turn its back on the worrying and disturbing development of the social situation. We therefore propose to add to the agenda this debate, with statements by the Council and the Commission, on the degradation of living conditions in the EU as a point on Thursday morning.

Honourable Member, there is a part of the agreement that speaks exactly about the exploitation of resources and that is what this agreement is intended to do, it is to continue to explore as it is in all agreements of the European Union.

Honourable Member, the policy that the European Union has in its trade agreements is to exploit the natural resources of third countries and this agreement is no exception. That is what is in the agreement and that is why we will also be voting against it.

Mr President, the European Union's trade policy is essentially determined by the interests of its powers and economic groups and is not based on the principle of mutually beneficial cooperation. Particularly when it is directed at developing countries, it emphasizes their predatory nature of third-country resources, ensuring the disposal of their already processed and valued products. The peoples, the workers, the small and medium-sized producers of the two parts of each agreement are losing out, and I would remind you that the agreements also have consequences for the farmers who have rightly expressed themselves. The trade agreement with Chile is one such example. The EU undertakes a genuine liberalisation of ore hunting, seeking to ensure the exclusive flow of Chilean lithium and copper to European industry, creating an export monopoly and seeking to limit the ability of the Chilean government to define its development strategies and diversify international partnerships in this regard. International trade cannot be a neocolonial expression, it must facilitate the recovery of structural delays, development and convergence, respecting the interests of workers, local populations and the integrity of ecosystems. Between exploring and cooperating, the European Union has already defined its side. (The speaker agreed to answer a blue card question)

Mr President, since 2020, the five richest men in the world have doubled their fortunes. In this period, these five people made an average of 14 million euros per hour. At the same time, almost 5 billion people around the world have become poorer. In 2023, the risk of poverty in Portugal was above 20%, after accounting for social transfers. Meanwhile, large companies profit 25 million a day from the exploitation and impoverishment of workers. In addition to an increasingly unfair distribution of wealth, policies of destruction of public services, deregulation of labour, compression of wages accentuate inequalities. Commissioner, it is time to have the political will to change policy and effectively address the causes of inequalities, combat unemployment and promote employment with rights, increase wages and pensions, regulate and reduce working hours, ensure quality and free universal public services, guarantee the right to education and tax the profits of large economic groups. These are just some of the measures we advocate for a life... (The President took the floor from the speaker)

Madam President, let us not talk about the content of this shameful initiative, instigated by forces and Members who promote the most brazen interference against Cuba, disrespecting and attacking the sovereignty and rights of the Cuban people. As you say, Cuba has always been willing to engage in a frank and open dialogue with this Parliament and with other institutions of the European Union, provided that this dialogue is based on respect for the Cuban national authorities and the sovereignty of the Cuban people, something that any country that is part of the European Union does not also require. We want to talk about the example of resistance, dignity and courage of the Cuban people, who face a demanding and complex situation, inseparable from six decades of imposition of a cruel, criminal and illegal economic, financial and commercial blockade by the United States of America, with an extraterritorial dimension to which is added the inclusion of Cuba in the illegitimate and hypocritical list of the United States of America as sponsors of terrorism. From this we reiterate our solidarity with the Cuban people and demand respect for the sovereignty and independence of Cuba, for the right of its people to decide sovereignly their path free from external interference.

Mr President, in Portugal, one of the biggest problems facing teachers is disinvestment in public schools, jeopardising access to constitutionally established education. We talk about thousands of teachers and early childhood educators who, from north to south of the country, have been confronted with multiple problems: disinvestment in teacher training, the devaluation of teaching careers, precariousness and the roaming model that forces thousands of professionals to move hundreds of kilometres away each year, without any support. The situation is not now. He's decades old and he's responsible. The fight against precariousness and the offer of attractive careers with a future, with due pay and progressions, are imperatives that cannot be postponed. Teachers must be respected and valued, with careers, adequate working conditions, recognition of length of service and an end to precariousness. Binding is fundamental for the stabilization of the teaching staff and for the dignification of their work. Teachers are needed every day in schools and their bond has to be effective. We're with them in this fight.

Madam President, the equality enshrined in important international and national texts, such as the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, is far from being achieved. Successful EU LGBTI Equality Strategy 2020-2025 requires measures that effectively address all forms of discrimination. Concrete and awareness-raising strategies are needed to combat discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression/identity and sex characteristics. This is achieved mainly through awareness-raising actions and through the promotion of citizenship. For this, we also need stronger states with stronger public services. For example, the public school, in addition to the space of inclusion that it should be, has an important role in promoting citizenship and equality, combating stereotypes and discrimination and promoting sex education that contributes to the exercise of the right to self-determination of gender identity/expression and sex characteristics in the school environment. We condemn and will not accept backsliding on LGBTI rights. Just advances.

Mr President, the next session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women will focus on gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and the fight against poverty. However, the European Union's policies insist on pursuing the path of imposing neoliberal policies, which cause serious setbacks in women's rights: increased unemployment, deregulation of the labour market and working hours, increased job insecurity and low wages. As much as they praise words like women's empowerment and entrepreneurship here, the results of these options are in sight: disinvestment in public services, increased poverty and social exclusion, migration, human trafficking and the multifaceted violence of the commodification of women's bodies. At the time of this sitting, we cannot fail to mention violence against women in war, specifically Palestinian women who live under constant threat of destruction of their homes, displacement and the despair of losing their lives or those of their parents, husbands and children, or who are arrested, wounded or killed. Their struggle is also our struggle.

–Madam President, farmers protesting across Europe have a common cause: the common agricultural policy. You can announce quick dressings, but we have all seen that if this disastrous policy continues at European and national level, with injustices in the allocation of aid, where 70% of direct aid goes to only 7% of farmers, the just outrage of farmers will continue. Portuguese farmers denounce, among other things, the lack of support for family farming and small and medium-sized farmers facing a dramatic economic situation, with rising production costs, the crushing of production prices and the significant reduction in incomes, to which is now added the situation of extreme drought. From here we stand in solidarity with the farmers who, at this time, are demonstrating in Vila Real and we reaffirm our commitment to the need for a profound modification of the CAP, which recovers market regulation mechanisms, ensures fair incomes for producers, guaranteeing agricultural activity and food sovereignty of the peoples.

Mr President, the purpose of this debate, which is in line with the agenda of the United States of America and the Venezuelan extreme right-wing coup, is to seek to interfere once again in the electoral processes of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Remember the shameful recognition of Juan Guaidó as said President, the unacceptable support for coup attempts, organized armed operations from abroad, the imposition of sanctions and a cruel economic blockade, an illegal blockade and theft of Venezuelan assets abroad, among other measures that disrespect and attack the Venezuelan people. When will the European Parliament, so concerned for the Venezuelan people, demand an end to unilateral coercive measures, contrary to international law, imposed by the United States of America? When will the European Parliament demand an end to the interference operations against Venezuela, such as the recent denunciation of the deployment of US DEA agents to destabilise that country? For our part, we reiterate our solidarity with the struggle of the Venezuelan people in defense of their right to decide, free from external interference, on their path of development and social progress.

Mr President, this debate, also held at the initiative of the members of the PCP in the European Parliament, aims to warn, once again, of the recurring situations of drought and extreme drought in some regions and countries, particularly in Portugal. The populations, farmers and irrigators with whom we have been, whether in Alvor, Armamar, Arraiolos, Montemor or in so many places in the country, require concrete measures to mitigate the effects of drought and prepare for the future. It is to these demands that we give voice. The need for real and significant investment in infrastructure and reservoirs for water storage, enhancing better use, as well as support for traditional irrigation. The need for water management that prioritises use in situations of scarcity, ensuring domestic use, food production, industry and only then for other purposes. It is necessary to ensure that access to, use of and safeguarding of water resources are ensured by public management and ownership. Access to water is a right and should not be a business, even more desirable in situations of scarcity or drought.