What Mick spoke about.

21

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The outcome of the Western Balkans summit (debate)

Mr President, more than half the Western Balkans put in the EU membership applications over 13 years ago. Some have lost interest, others doubt it will ever happen. The EU can’t make clear statement on the matter. President Charles Michel said after the summit, ‘there is a desire to work towards progress on enlargement’. After over 20 years of dangling the prospect of EU membership in front of the…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The humanitarian situation in Haiti following the recent earthquake (debate)

Madam President, Haiti has been one of the most systematically underdeveloped nations on the Earth since they threw off the shackles of French colonialism in 1804. The empire and its agents in Haiti have made sure that all efforts at land reform and policies that would have lifted Haiti up were stopped. This has meant crushing reparations to France, invasions, US military occupations, five sitting…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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An EU strategy to reduce methane emissions (debate)

Madam President, there are many positives in this report, which calls on the Commission to propose for the first time a legislative framework specifically for methane, which would set binding measures and reduction targets for 2030, in line with science-based pathways for 1.5 degrees. Farmers often feel that agriculture is the only sector being targeted, but this report acknowledges that methane e…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Humanitarian situation in Tigray (debate)

Madam President, it looks like the deal between Afwerki andAbiy Ahmed, which won Abiy the Nobel Prize, was a war deal to crush Tigray. We now know that Eritrean defence forces, ethnic Amhara irregulars and the Ethiopian national defence forces have carried out dozens of brutal massacres in Tigray. Not only have Abiy’s decisions caused immense human suffering and death, he appears to have lost terr…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The situation in Belarus after one year of protests and their violent repression (debate)

Mr President, the only reason we’re having this debate is because NATO has targeted Belarus for regime change. If the EU cared about human rights, we’d be addressing the plight of refugees and migrants at our borders and police brutality in places like France, Germany and Spain. Tikhanovskaya is a NATO tool: the Belarusian Guaidó. She has Atlantic Council advisers and is close to the likes of the …

16

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Government crackdown on protests and citizens in Cuba

Madam President, the latest resolution represents more barefaced interference in the internal affairs of the sovereign state of Cuba. In 1990, a resolution was passed by the European Parliament condemning Operation Gladio and demanding a full investigation into this covert operation. The calls were ignored by both NATO and the US. Gladio is a 40-year-long operation that subverted leftist movements…

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

Madam President, this debate about Afghanistan is only worth having if we agree that those responsible for this illegal 20- year invasion, occupation, and the deaths of close to a quarter of a million people are held to account for their crimes, and Mr Borrell, you think the lesson from it all is that we need more European defence? We learned nothing from Afghanistan if we do not call what happene…

8

Jul

2021

EN Speech

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The death penalty in Saudi Arabia, notably the cases of Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish and Abdullah al-Howaiti

Mr President, Commissioner, the execution of Mustafa al-Darwish for taking part in protests when he was a minor is not exceptional in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It’s just another day in the systematic persecution and marginalisation of Shia by the brutal Saudi dictatorship. We will see more executions like this in the months ahead. But the Saudi dictatorship doesn’t care about the scolding of th…