What Mick spoke about.

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Detergents and surfactants (debate)

Mr President, the ENVI report improves the Commission’s proposal to bring the regulation more in line with the necessary transition to zero pollution society. However, perhaps the most significant and welcome aspect of the ENVI report is the introduction of a ban on animal testing for detergents. This is an important victory for animal rights, but let’s not forget that in the farm to fork strategy…

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Tackling the inflation in food prices and its social consequences and root causes (debate)

Mr President, thank you very much. I’m sorry, I am nearly always here for all the debate, but something happened and I had to go. I’m sorry, but thanks for letting me in. In 2023, the IMF said rising corporate profit margins are responsible for almost half of Europe’s inflation. Big business and politicians in suits are forever telling us that spiralling wage demands are the problem. But the real …

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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

Mr President, it’s been over two years since we passed a progressive text here that offers protection to some of the most exploited workers of our economy, and it’s depressing to see where we are still. The number of workers in the gig economy is expected to rise to 43 million by 2025, of which 5.5 million will be labelled as being self-employed. This allows platform companies to avoid paying the …

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Transparency and targeting of political advertising (debate)

Mr President, there are some positive things in this agreement that should increase transparency in political advertising. However, profiling will still be allowed. There will be a ban on profiling from sensitive data, but the targeting of political messages based on the individual preferences, weaknesses, situation and personality of every user will remain legal. Let’s not forget that Cambridge A…

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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European Central Bank – annual report 2023 (debate)

Mr President, the publication of the European Central Bank 2023 report comes at a time when European banks are on course to return more than EUR 120 billion to shareholders off the back of their 2023 results, as they pass on the benefits of surging interest rates to investors. Today, most EU banks’ shareholder returns are larger than annual profits and this is something that the ECB and the Europe…

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, no! This Parliament, Madam President, likes to insist that it respects international law. The EPP don’t want to talk ... (The President cut off the speaker)

26

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, in just a matter of months, over 100 000 people have been killed, injured or gone missing in Gaza. The ICJ imposed a binding order on Israel to prevent genocidal acts, which has clearly been ignored. We all know that at least 3 600 people have been killed in Gaza since, while aid has been reduced and refugee camps bombed. We have to reconsider our position and insist on an immedia…

8

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Further repression against the democratic forces in Venezuela: attacks on presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado (RC-B9-0097/2024)

Mr President, do I think that there’s a healthy democracy in Venezuela? I actually don’t, you know, but I don’t see one anywhere else, either. As my colleague said, over 7 million people have left Venezuela because of the illegal sanctions that have been strangling the country to death since 2017. The Centre for Economic and Policy Research found that in the two years before Trump further tightene…

8

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Russiagate: allegations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union (RC-B9-0124/2024)

Mr President, I voted against the resolution. I found it crazy. I actually thought that it brought the Parliament into disrepute. I was here for the debate this week, and I have never heard such nonsense in all my time here. Where does the anti-Russian rhetoric come from? I don’t like the Russian Government; we opposed and condemned the Ukraine invasion on 24 February 2022, but we also condemn eve…

8

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Association agreements for the participation of third countries in Union programmes (B9-0096/2024)

– Mr President, concerning the association agreements for the participation of third countries in Union programmes, we understood that there were rules and regulations around association agreements. The European Union has an association agreement with Israel, and every rule that you can conceive of has been broken. We have totally ignored our own rules. Israel is committing a genocide in Palestine…

8

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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The case of Dentsu tracking and the lack of transparency of the European Commission with regard to the tobacco industry (debate)

Mr President, wouldn’t it be terrible if I hadn’t have turned up and yez had no catch-the-eye! Revolving doors, conflict of interest and a lack of transparency: the Commission has been embroiled in yet another scandal, this time with the tobacco industry. Last April, Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, in a letter to von der Leyen, emphasised ongoing issues with maladministration as far back as 2016, with s…

8

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Association agreements for the participation of third countries in Union programmes (debate)

Mr President, the report argues it is essential the European Parliament have oversight on a third country’s involvement in Horizon Europe. But why, given that the same parliament has turned a blind eye to Israel’s involvement in Horizon Europe? The Euro-Mediterranean Agreement between the EU and Israel establishes the general principles for Israel being in programmes such as FP7, Horizon 2020 and …

8

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Working conditions of teachers in the EU (debate)

Mr President, In Ireland we have a serious teacher shortage also. Many schools say they have been forced to plug staffing gaps by redeploying special education teachers. This will have a devastating impact on more vulnerable pupils. Now we have plenty of people qualifying as teachers in Ireland, and the problem is not the profession: the problem is the chronic lack of accommodation in the country.…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Increased number of executions in Iran, in particular the case of Mohammad Ghobadlou

Mr President, I condemn the death penalty wherever it’s used, be it Iran, China, Saudi, the US, or anywhere else. But it would be possible to take the EU’s concern about capital punishment in Iran at face value if this was not the same week that you vetoed the discussion on the ICJ ruling against Israel. The UN’s highest court just ruled that the charge of genocide against Israel has merit, and yo…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Implementation report on the EU LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 (continuation of debate)

Madam President, a few weeks ago, the State of Israel’s Twitter account posted a picture of an Israeli soldier in Gaza holding a Pride flag with the phrase ‘In the Name of Love’ written on it. The depravity of Israeli propaganda knows no bounds. How dare they use the LGBT community as a prop to justify genocide? As if portraying Palestinian society as homophobic would ever justify wiping it off th…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Need to fight the increase of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred (debate)

– We’re discussing the need to fight the increase of in antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred. On Monday, you blocked a debate about the UN’s highest court ruling that the Israelis supporting an entire predominantly Muslim population at risk of genocide. Looking at Germany may help us understand this contradiction; it arms Israel and it supported our defeated case at the ICJ. It materially and polit…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Russiagate: allegations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union (debate)

Madam President, bit unfortunate to hear the Irish delegate actually tell lies, repeat lies that were actually in the Irish Times – and they had the decency to withdraw them – but he’s on a different page. ‘Russiagate’, I mean, sometimes this place is beyond belief. The greatest scam of recent times is getting an EU makeover. If you’re worried about Russian influence here, look no further than the…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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EU2040 climate target (debate)

Mr President, in terms of the headline target, the Commission has accepted the advice of the European Scientific Advisory Board, but it is disappointing that the Commission has retained the net zero or climate neutrality framework. We have been calling for separate reduction and removal targets since the start of this mandate; ideally, we’d have three separate targets: emission reductions, permane…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed (debate)

Madam President, this legislative proposal aims to deregulate many of the newer GMO crops. This would mean no risk assessment, no labelling, no traceability and no measures to protect organic and other non-GMO food chains. It’s the result of a massive lobbying campaign from the big seed companies, who stand to make billions of euros from these GMOs because they can all be patented. People want to …

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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The need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, at the farmers’ protests last week outside Parliament, a banner read: ‘You promised peace, you promised us prosperity. You have delivered war and poverty.’ Why are we still facilitating this senseless and bloody war in Ukraine? Why did NATO block the peace deal that we knew had both Ukrainian and Russian backing in March 2022? For two years, your decisions on Ukraine are based on the…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meetings, in particular the special European Council meeting of 1 February 2024 (debate)

Madam President, the silence about the genocide in Gaza is deafening. The latest European Council conclusions don’t even mention the words ‘Gaza’, ‘Israel’ or ‘Palestine’. No debate on Gaza in this week’s plenary. A vote yesterday to get the historic ICJ ruling on the agenda was defeated; only 77 MEPs supported it. One hundred thousand casualties in four months, 1.8 million displaced, food-insecur…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Situation in Haiti on the eve of the deployment of the United Nations Multinational Security Support Mission (debate)

Mr President, another US-backed and funded occupation of Haiti. That it will be lent a black face by Kenya is one of the worst ideas I’ve heard for a while: the Kenyan police are notoriously violent and have a history of working in collusion with gangs, not disrupting them at home in Kenya. Haiti has been occupied multiple times and every time the situation seems to get worse. The crisis today is …

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Union-wide effect of certain driving disqualifications (debate)

Mr President, this cross-border directive is an attempt to force Member States to exchange information in relation to certain driving disqualifications. As you know, if a driver is convicted of an offence in one country, the sanctions only apply to that country at the moment. I’m a bit sceptical of cross-border directives and whether they are required at all. Take, for example, the EU Commission’s…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across the Union (Interoperable Europe Act) (debate)

Mr President, first of all, the only thing I know about computers is that you can’t eat them, right? Interoperability, I believe, is the ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of information. Now the regulation is linked to an Interoperable Europe Act. The aim of this Act, it says, is to help public administrations and the private sector work together and establish an eco…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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State of EU solar industry in light of unfair competition (debate)

Mr President, 96% of all solar panels installed in Europe in 2022 came from China. It would be absurd to criticise China for building up a solar industry. China’s solar manufacturing accounts for 78% of the world’s total PV module production. We’d be lost without China’s solar panel manufacturing. China’s industrial policy is helping massively to decarbonise the world. Tariffs on China would absol…