Speeches

Mr President, at COP15 in Montreal we will hopefully come up with a global agreement to effectively protect at least 30% of global land and oceans. Some people find this a bit too much. How can we ever allow nature to thrive in 30% of the planet? Well, there’s a simple answer: it’s called de-growth. Economic growth contributes to biodiversity loss, but doesn’t necessarily contribute to our well-being. If we got smart about it, we’d be able to drastically reduce resource use and lift a massive amount of pressure off the planet. De-growth is nothing to be scared of unless you’re a billionaire capitalist engaged in an economic activity that has no social benefit. It’s about de-scaling unnecessary production and consumption in a way that actually increases our well-being and enhances ecological conditions. In such an unequal world, surely this is something that we should all want. Capitalism is based on perpetual growth, and capitalism has done untold damage to the planet. How long more before we realise that we cannot fix the climate crisis with capitalism?

Madam President, last week we had MEPs and members of the European External Action Service, and even some world leaders, spreading disinformation and claiming the Iranian Government had decided to impose the death penalty on nearly 15 000 protesters. When the lie was exposed, the Canadian Prime Minister deleted this tweet, but he did not issue an apology. There are peaceful protests. Many Iranians are unjustly imprisoned and should be released, and far too many have been killed by the aggressive crackdown. There has also been much violence and murders by some protesters – untold damage and destruction. It would not be tolerated anywhere. John Bolton has confirmed that the Iranian opposition is now being armed with weapons entering Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran is under attack. The media assault is intense. The campaign of propaganda and destabilisation brings the Syrian regime—change operation to mind. Those who supported the so-called Syrian revolution say nothing today about Syria lying in ruins, illegally occupied, sanctioned to death with millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead. Is this what you want for Iran?

Madam President, there’s a lack of seriousness when it comes to EU-China relations. We have real issues to address. Global warming, for example, areas that need respectful diplomacy and cooperation. The repetition of the stream of baseless accusations that originate in Washington does nothing for the EU’s standing as a respectful international partner and interlocutor. The Taiwan stuff is the most reckless US provocation in living memory, and we’d do well to distance ourselves from us. China wants to work with the EU. We should not allow the US to undermine our relationship with China. Right now, the continuation of the US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine is decimating European industry. Factories are closing across Europe. Decent jobs are going where there’s cheaper labour and gas. Europe has been hollowed out, with no apparent plan to fill the gap. This is not a path towards a stable future for Europe, and we’d do well to show China a bit more respect. They do respect us.

Madam President, the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Alena Douhan, has just published her preliminary findings on our mission to the Syrian Arab Republic. Everyone should read this document, it is both tragic and infuriating. It’s tragic to read about the plight of the working-class people of Syria. And it’s infuriating to learn of the gross violations of human rights being wilfully perpetrated against the Syrian people by these illegal unilateral measures imposed by the US and EU. The figures detailed in the report are shocking. The poverty, food and fuel insecurity, the impact on health care and education. The catastrophic impact of unilateral sanctions is affecting people from all walks of life across the country, Douhan has said. As long as they are silent on our authoritarianism, our blanket repression and our immiseration of the Syrian people, EU states and politicians have no credibility talking about human rights anywhere.

Madam President, NextGenerationEU is not a new post—austerity era for Europe. Seven hundred and fifty billion sounds like a lot, but it amounts to barely 5% of the EU’s total GDP. What’s more, the funds would be given largely in the form of loans, and over the course of six years resulting, according to the ECB’s own estimates, in a fiscal expansion of around 1% of GDP on average between 2021 and 2024 at best. The NextGenerationEU plan is firmly embedded in the EU semester programme. The EU semester programme has consistently demanded that Member State governments cut public spending. It has resulted in public health spending cuts, pension cuts, unemployment benefit cuts. Now, NextGenerationEU funds come with very strict troika—like conditions attached. This is same old EU debt in exchange for neoliberal reform strategy.

Madam President, I’ve been involved in football all my life. I love football. The game of football thrives in spite of FIFA, not because of it. And the human rights situation in Qatar is soul destroying. And FIFA and Qatar should ensure a massive and comprehensive remediation programme for migrant workers and their families. But the EU’s hypocrisy in calling out human rights abuses in Qatar is a bit galling. The Commission’s REPowerEU plan to wean Europe off Russian gas involves buying more of it from Qatar. Meanwhile, the EU is about to provide visa—free, short—stay travel for Qataris. Why don’t we give it to every country if Qatar qualifies? We do what suits our business interests and our geopolitical agenda. Where is the next World Cup? Four years’ time in the US. A failed state of systemic racism, police brutality and impunity, extraordinary renditions, extrajudicial detentions and torture of prisoners. The US imprisons more of its population than any country on earth. And they produce 11 billion worth of business and slave labour rates. If Qatar shouldn’t have got the World Cup, the Americans shouldn’t get it either.

Madam President, Hungary certainly has huge rule-of-law problems, but giving out about Hungary would carry a lot more weight if we were consistent. But sadly, the European Union could sell hypocrisy. You lecture Hungary and Poland, yet in your own Member States, police can beat protesters in the streets and fire rubber bullets at them and that’s OK. The Commission talks about withholding EUR 7.5 billion from Hungary under the Conditionality Regulation, yet the EU is happy to pour billions and support Ukraine, despite the fact that in 2021 the European Court of Auditors’ report said it was one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. The EU lectures countries about rule of law, and also on human rights when it suits its geopolitical agenda. We have an Association Agreement with Israel. How come we’ve no problem with the rule of law when it comes to how Israel treats the Palestinians? What about the human rights of the Palestinians? Do they not matter? We’re perfectly happy to do business with them.

Mr President, I do not see how we can address the deeply serious topic of racism in the EU with any credibility as long as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs publicly espouses some of the most racist sentiments uttered in public for many years. The billions of people who live where Europe has invaded and butchered millions, plundered and committed genocide, overthrown and murdered revolutionaries, backed brutal dictators, imposed murderous sanctions; where the very same EU institutions that Borrell says distinguish us and them have used financial imperialism to keep brutal colonial power structures in place. When those who live under the boot of the global capitalist system heard Borrell’s now infamous ‘gardeners in the jungle’ comments, they knew exactly what he meant. They recognised the racism and brutality that Europe was built on and sadly, a mentality that hasn’t gone away.

Mr President, this motion talks about supporting the resilience and post-crisis recovery of the EU’s cultural ecosystem as a whole, and I was very happy to vote in favour of it. There’s been a significant increase in the Creative Europe Programme budget to 2.4 billion for the 2021—2027 period, almost double the previous amount. However, despite this increase in funding, Ireland remains in the bottom rung of European investment in culture, sadly. As one of the hardest hit sectors by Covid, the arts and cultural sector in Ireland has seen far—reaching and damaging consequences in terms of jobs, tourism and regional development. There is basically an arts recession in Ireland. In the cost of living crisis in Europe, it is more timely than ever to ensure the livelihood of people working in the cultural sector. There is a desperate need across the board for robust recovery mechanisms with targeted funding if anything is going to change. We love to talk about the arts in Ireland, but we don’t love to support it, and that is a real problem.

Mr President, I 100% support the idea of European support for Ukrainian research and innovation. It makes very good sense. We did oppose supporting Ukraine with arms, which has led to more violence, more bloodshed and at great cost to the ordinary people, the less well-off in Ukraine who are dying in their numbers. Research and innovation leads to knowledge and understanding. It always represents good sense and, as my colleague said, we should never politicise this and we should keep channels open. We want people to understand more and to know more about life. And politicising this is not the way forward. And I mean, I’ve seen situations where Russian literature, music and dance or been censored in places. Russian sports were being censored. They didn’t start a war; there’s no logic to that. And just on a last point, we visited Iraq last year and they were crying out for support for research in Iraq from the European Community. And it is very disappointing that the Europeans have been silent on this and won’t give it.

Madam President, being from Ireland, every time we hear fishing being discussed, we are reminded of the fact that the fishing community in Ireland have been treated like second—class citizens for a long time. Successive Irish governments sold out our fishermen and women a long time ago. Ireland has a great reputation at giving away our natural resources. I want to draw the Commission’s attention to a fishing issue off the south coast of Wexford at the moment. There’s a massive application for wind farms in an area off the coast of Wexford that will have a big impact on the fishing communities of Kilmore Quay, Fethard-on-Sea, Dunmore East. I am 100% in favour of wind farms in the sea. It’s a win—win for everybody. It’s a brilliant idea. But my problem is that these wind turbines at sea are now being proposed before marine protected areas have been designated. Now, while the EU – and Ireland – might have a target of 30% by 2030, still only 2% of Irish fishing area has been designated for this. We’re putting the cart before the horse.

Madam President, our problem with Lukashenko is that he took sides in the war, just like we did, and we damned everyone that stayed neutral. The Special Advisor to the Commander of Ukraine’s army, Dan Rice, just told CNN that Russia is trying to get to the negotiating table to try to go back to the 2014 lines, but Ukraine won’t have it. Why don’t we start peace talks for a deal based on a version of the Minsk 2 Agreement, a text that was mediated by the French and the Germans? We know this war could have been avoided, and peace talks are an option. But our leaders choose war, even when we know that the majority of Europeans do not want war. We tabled an amendment in the last plenary, and we called for the EU and Member States to explore all options for a peace deal and to try to end the war. It was defeated 436 votes to 118 against peace. Whose interest are these warmongers serving? Commissioner, you say that the people of Belarus don’t want war. I agree with you 100%, but I think the people all across Europe don’t want war. This war – it might suit the US and NATO – it does not suit the people of Europe. We should be working for peace.

Madam President, IMF, EU and World Bank-forced austerity and neoliberal reforms are ripping apart the social safety net in Tunisia, creating a long-running food and fuel crisis that has been made worse by the war in Ukraine. The IMF is currently forcing the government to reduce food subsidies in exchange for a new loan that would go to pay off previous loans. The debt servicing impacts public spending on education and health care. Recent EU assistance is conditional on freezing public sector hiring, which means that they won’t have drivers for the ambulances that we gave them, and a brain drain as well because the qualified doctors will leave and go to Europe looking for work. Tunisia needs credit to import wheat, fuel and medicine and the political West are engaging in debt-trap disaster capitalism, forcing reforms that are undoing the possibility of a dignified life for millions of people. We worry about migrant flows, but we create them with our neo-colonialism.

Madam President, I too would like to congratulate Tony Murphy on his appointment as President of the European Court of Auditors. Tony was appointed by his peers, he didn’t get elected by the usual in—house trading. But then I find it interesting as well that none of the Fianna Fáil has turned up here today. Tony comes from Ireland and he didn’t come through the political cartel that prevails in Ireland. He’s from a working class background, from Cabra, and for someone of his ability to reach such a high level in the European Union, it makes it a good day for the European Union. Now, the European Court of Auditors for me is one of the most reputable entities in this institution, and God knows we don’t find too many of them. Just a couple of points, they did a wonderful report on Ukraine last year where they were investigating the value for money on 15 billion spent in Ukraine by the European taxpayers and found that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Sadly that’s been ignored by the warmongers of late. And, the last point, we spent 8 billion in the Sahel since 2015, a total waste of money. I’d love to see the European Court of Auditors investigate value for money there. And lastly, on Mozambique, where I was two weeks ago ... (The President cut off the speaker)

Madam President, we supported the resolution for Romania and Bulgaria to join Schengen. We see absolutely no good reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to join, and we feel that, for many years, they were discriminated against. Western Europe were very keen to get a whole number of countries into the EU in 2004. There was two main reasons for it. One of them was to get them into NATO and the other one was to access a cheap labour pool that would suit Western Europe. It just so happened that there was obviously a limit on what they wanted, but it was completely discriminatory not to include Romania and Bulgaria. Since the EU was formed, we have talked so much about the freedom of movement of people and goods, but we are really only good at allowing the free movement of goods, and we were always prepared to discriminate against ordinary people when it suited us.

Madam President, precarious forms of employment dominate Europe’s labour markets, with the rise of the gig economy and zero—hour contracts. The construction sector is rampant with forms of precarious work and irregular contracts. In Ireland, there is widespread misuse of the questionable self-employment classification of workers. It helps the better—off to avoid tax, but very often leaves the less well-paid workers vulnerable and largely unprotected by the state. The abuse of irregular contracts leaves workers with income insecurity unprotected by Social Security without proper pensions, and contributes to the exploitation of migrant workers. Within Member States, we’ve seen a race to the bottom in terms of the quality of working conditions, despite labour shortages and despite all the talk from the European Union. We need stronger rules and regulations to stop these exploitative practices that are driving many European workers into poverty. Only today, we were talking about mental health challenges. If you are going to make the people poor, you’re going to make them seriously mentally ill as well.

Madam President, when Russia drops bombs on built—up areas in Ukraine, I have no doubt that the people in Ukraine underneath the bombs are terrorised. It’s a form of terrorism. When the US and NATO bombed Afghanistan for 20 years and killed several hundred thousand and displaced millions, they were terrorizing the people. A UN survey showed that of US—NATO bombardments of civilians in Afghanistan, 45% of the people killed were children. When the US killed over a million civilians in Iraq, was that terrorism? When Israel terrorises the Palestinian people every day, is that terrorism? When France and the UK and others armed the Saudis and the UAE to commit genocide in Yemen, where the UN said that over 400 000 are dead and 16 million are starving because of a genocide being carried out with the support of the US, the UK, France and several European states, is that terrorism? When are ye going to wake up and start living in the real world?

Mr President, is there something special about the military sector that makes its emissions not matter? Since the reporting of military emissions is voluntary, it doesn’t happen. It only begs the question: why are we hiding the climate impact of the military industrial complex from public knowledge? Estimates put the military sector at around 6% of all global CO2 emissions – 6%. Just remember that the global aviation is responsible for 2.5%, and the whole of Africa with 1.2 billion is responsible for 4%. And yet, we never talk about what damage the military is doing. We tell ordinary people to turn their lights off and say nothing to the military industrial complex. What about demilitarisation? What about peace? Did anyone spare a thought about the climate impact of shovelling over 3 billion into Ukraine’s war resistance? What country did a climate impact assessment when increasing their military budget? Without peace we will not have a stable climate. War is a climate change steroid and many people in here seem to be hooked on it.

Mr President, the Court of Justice finds that border controls within Schengen are incompatible with EU law. It criticises the Commission for being so slow to intervene when Member States decide to impose internal border controls. Why doesn’t the Commission hold Member States to account for breaches of the free, agreed movement of people within the Schengen area? Why does the EU give Member States a wide latitude to do what they want as long as they’re keeping out migrants? It’s the external borders where the greatest abuses occur, where the EU tacitly endorses migrant pushbacks unless Member States build steel walls against people, many of whose homes and communities and environments we have helped to destroy in the first place. It is positive that the Court has reaffirmed the illegality of internal border controls. But are we going to see the EU respect human rights of the people that we are talking about? And are the EU going to start respecting their own EU law?

Mr President, access to mental health care is a human right, and it’s linked to the fact that poverty is a violation of human rights. The right to timely access to affordable, preventive and curative health care of good quality is enshrined in UN and EU conventions. Yet, in Ireland, more than 4 200 children are on the waiting list for the children and adolescent mental health service. More than 520 children are waiting for over a year. Ireland spends 6% of its health budget on mental health: less than half than a lot of other countries in Europe. Commissioner, I realise that health remains a Member State competency, but in Ireland, we have a medicalised mental health model that’s a disaster. Can the EU pressure Ireland to invest seriously in public health talk therapy? After all, the EU were able to pressure us into bailing out failed useless banks, which actually has had a huge impact on mental health in Ireland.

Mr President, it makes sense to tax the windfall profits of energy companies. But the rate proposed, 33%, is way too low. If the tax is calculated only on excess profits, the rate should be at least double that and in some cases 100%. This should not be a one—off tax. We need a permanent windfall tax mechanism, one that applies to all sectors. It should apply to any company that makes excess profits off problems of others. We need a windfall tax on the profits of weapons manufacturers. Just look at the profits and share prices of the EU arms industry of late – Rheinmetall, Thales, Airbus, Leonardo. And long before the war in Ukraine, these companies were making a fortune off the misery of the people in Yemen by supplying arms to the Saudi—UAE coalition that are committing a genocide there, the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet at the moment. Why do we allow these companies to make crazy profits off the misery of others?

Mr President, tens of thousands of people from Haiti have been protesting against the US—installed regime of Ariel Henry. Now the puppet leader is calling for foreign military intervention to crush the protests and the US have been looking for backing at the UN Security Council for the same. The last thing the people of Haiti need now is another foreign military intervention called in by a despised leader that doesn't even have a proper mandate to govern. The people of Haiti had their own solution to the crisis – it's called the Montana Agreement. A commission was set up in August last year by a wide range of civil society groups and they signed an agreement, and it was to be implemented beginning in February. But the US and the UN and others blocked it. The Haitian people need an end to foreign interference. They've been interfered with for 200 years. They're not allowed to think independent. The West has destroyed the place. They've done everything to cripple the place for years. And now they certainly need an end to foreign interference, not more foreign boots on the ground. We said we were interested in sovereignty when Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Are we not interested in sovereignty when it comes to Haiti? Does that not count because it doesn't suit US imperialism?

Mr President, the proposed regulation sets a number of mandatory national targets for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure in the EU. Alternative fuels: we talk about electricity, we talk about hydrogen, we talk about LNG. For the life of me I don’t really understand at this stage how LNG can be considered still an alternative fuel, given that the process of everything to do with it is filthy. Most of it comes from fracked gas, water tables are destroyed. There is huge methane emissions during the transport process, and we’re talking about buying into contracts with the US for years to come. A lot of it won’t even come on stream for a few years. I think the EU has gone down the wrong path in buying into long-term contracts for LNG. It’s not the way forward.

Mr President, the OLAF report exposes Frontex, and it confirms what we’ve been saying for a long time. We met Amir Zahiri and Akif Rasouli in Lesvos. They fled Afghanistan, their country destroyed for 20 years by the US and NATO. They arrived in Turkey. They got a boat from Turkey to Greece. The Greek coastguard spotted them. They punctured the boat and there were a lot of people on the boat. They eventually arrested them and they were sent for pre-trial detention. They are still in prison. They’re facing 50 years of a prison sentence, possibly. This is a shame on Europe. Frontex are denying people the right to seek asylum. It’s international law. The Europe of Frontex is not our Europe, just as Josep Borrell’s vision of Europe and the rest of the world as a garden versus a jungle is not our vision of Europe and the world.

Mr President, at a time when real journalists are as scarce as hen’s teeth, it’s only right that we are remembering Daphne Caruana Galizia. She had the courage to speak the truth. I heard an earlier speaker say that there is no rule of law or democracy without media freedom. But what I’d like to know is, how do you tie that in with the treatment of Julian Assange? He’s in prison in London. He’s been in incarceration for over 10 years now, between the Ecuadorian embassy and prison, for speaking the truth. He told the truth about US—NATO war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I don’t hear many people in here call for his release. I want to know why. Why don’t ye call for the release of Julian Assange if you care about media freedom? Because as long as he’s not free, ye have no credibility talking about media freedom.