Speeches

Madam President, I too voted against it as giving the big boys more power than they have already is a disaster. The reforms proposed in this report are only scratching at the surface of the problem. Is the EU a democracy? What started as an ideal has, through the decades, been muddied and garbled by right-wing neoliberal reforms and undemocratic Treaty change. We have deeply flawed institutions that are unanswerable, opaque and endlessly bureaucratic. The place is run by lobbyists. We have 705 MEPs with 60 000 lobbyists in Brussels. My God! Most of them are hired by big industry trying to influence the decision making. But what is democracy anyway? Do we ever ask ourselves that? Is it having a vote every five years? I don’t think so. Democracy is where the ordinary citizen would have a say in how his country, how his community is run. They don’t have it. We don’t even have local government. You couldn’t have it without local government. Democracy is overrated as we know it, and we pretend we have it, but a really good example of that is that today 80% of the people have made clear in Europe that they want the war in Ukraine to end and they want peace rather than continuing to punish Russia, but 80% of the politicians across Europe want the war to continue and they want to continue to fuel it. So who represents who? The politicians do not represent the citizens of Europe!

Madam President, like the Roma community across Europe, in Ireland, children from the Traveller community have been systematically failed by the education system. On paper each child has the same right to access education, but in practice it’s a very different story. Racist policies of segregation have created extremely discouraging conditions for Travellers to attend school. According to one report by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, only 70% of Travellers aged between 18 and 24 finish the Junior Certificate at home, and are not in further education or training, compared to 5% of young Irish people generally. Discrimination from school authorities and bullying from settled students is a major factor in the discouragement of Travellers to continue schooling. This problem is not exclusive to Ireland and is prolific across Europe. We need to do better to deconstruct racism towards this marginalised community that is so often not represented in political debate. MEPs are very good at highlighting the poor treatment of minorities in far-off countries, but we love to turn a blind eye to it in our own countries.

Madam President, firefighters operate under extremely difficult working conditions and are three times more likely to get cancer than the general population. Yet in Ireland, some 2 000 retained firefighters were recently forced to go on strike due to their dire pay and conditions. Last year, a report by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management recommended significant changes to the pay and working conditions of retained firefighters. But the Irish Government failed to act on these recommendations. In Ireland, we had a situation where a new recruit would not be guaranteed to earn more than 10 000 a year and would have to spend 2 500 of that just getting his C licence qualification. We have about 3 000 firefighters in total in Ireland and 2 000 of these are retained. When are we going to start treating our frontline workers with the respect they deserve?

Mr President, the Commissioner told us yesterday that the EU was going to give more bags of money to Türkiye to cage refugees so that they don’t get to Europe and they don’t get back to where they came from. I’d love to know, what is the EU plan for the caged refugees – and there are a few million of them – in Türkiye? We don’t want them to go back to Syria, and even if we did, we would have to lift the illegal sanctions that we have imposed on them for a few years now – sanctions that are hurting women and children and the elderly the most. What’s wrong with us? Do you think they’re hurting Assad? This is madness! So now we have a couple of million Syrian refugees in Türkiye. Can you tell me what the future is for them if we don’t want them to come to Europe and we don’t want them to go back to Syria? Are they going to stay in the cages forever? What’s the plan? Or is there any plan? It’s absolutely disgraceful what we’re doing!

Mr President, this regulation should be an important step in decarbonising the aviation sector, but the agreed targets will not be enough. It’s also disappointing to see that nuclear power can contribute to the production of some of these sustainable fuels. Recital 15 of the regulation states that it should not apply to military aircraft. Emissions from the military industrial complex are greater than aviation and shipping combined. But we rarely talk about it. Emissions from military flights performed by military aircraft and from warships are exempt from national emissions inventories under the IPCC guidelines. Conflict emissions are completely excluded. Why a free pass for the merchants of death? The EU needs to put military emissions on the table at COP28. And instead of promoting the so-called ‘Climate Security Nexus’ in conjunction with NATO, as we saw in June when the Commission cosied up to General Stoltenberg, the EU should promote peace and demilitarisation. The best way to reduce military emissions is to end wars, not promote them like we’re doing in Ukraine.

Mr President, in 2017, Ireland criminalised the buying of sex, despite widespread condemnation from sex workers, rights organisations and experts at home and abroad. When the Irish law was introduced, studies from various countries already showed that criminalisation, including criminalisation of clients, leads to an increase in violence against women while having little effect on ending trafficking or the demand for sex work. In 2019, a report found a 92% spike in reports of violent crime against sex workers in the first two years after the law came into effect, based on reports they received directly from victims. An Amnesty International Ireland investigation found that ‘criminalising the purchase of sex is forcing sex workers to take more risks, while penalising brothel keeping is preventing sex workers from working together to ensure their own safety.’ Criminalisation does not end demand. It pushes sex work further underground. If we want to protect sex workers, we need to prioritise their safety. We need to listen to them.

Madam President, it’s a novelty to see the OAS, the EU and the US on the same page, condemning right-wing forces in a Latin American election. But the audacity and corruption of the Guatemalan right wing in this instance is breathtaking. President Giammattei has promised an orderly transition of power. But the Attorney General he appointed to a second term, Porras, is intent on blocking Arévalo’s victory by any means necessary. Yesterday, prosecutors raided a facility storing ballots from the June election, reportedly in connection with a citizen’s complaint of alleged irregularities. This intervention in the chain of custody of the ballots is an unprecedented and extremely worrying move. Arévalo represents a departure from the status quo and a potential challenge to the right wing’s corrupt systems of patronage. Guatemala is no stranger to attacks on democracy and right-wing violence. This time we must ensure a peaceful transition and that Arévalo’s victory and the will of the people are upheld in Guatemala.

Madam President, we say that SMEs are the backbone of our economy. We say that they represent 99 % of business in Europe. But this is all just lip service; we actually don’t prioritise them. Von der Leyen today spoke of making things easier for industry. She actually wasn’t talking about small- or medium-sized businesses. She was talking about making things easier for the big boys. The big boys do what they like and when they go broke to bring down the small industry and small companies with them. And you know what often happens? The small industry that runs into trouble because the big guy has left them short, they’re put to the wall. And what happens then? The big industry gets bailed out. Looking at the Ukraine war, we have huge, big business interests making a fortune out of the war. We have the energy companies, we have people buying and selling food absolutely completely taking advantage of the war situation, and we have small businesses all across Europe struggling to survive without our help.

Mr President, why are we taking the Cold War logic and injecting it into everything? Each day we have stark reminders that the world is teetering on the brink of no return of irreversible climate catastrophe. The answer is global cooperation, but instead we’re digging down into camps and stoking conflict. The US-China trade war we are steadily picking a side in. The endlessly expanding sanctions regime, the war in Ukraine, that we’re doing nothing to stop. The potential war with China that we’re doing nothing to prevent. There is no world where this trajectory does not lead to multiple global crises worse than anything humankind has ever seen. The Biden administration keeps repeating that stoking conflict with China and climate action cooperation are compatible. It’s absolute nonsense! The tit-for-tat sanctions are getting out of control, and the EU – increasingly acting as a willing puppet of the US – is looking more and more like the collateral damage in the US game of imperialism.

Mr President, for decades, we’ve had the laws in place to protect the environment, the workers and the communities where these critical raw materials are extracted. But the record is of widespread child labour, expropriation of land, pollution, corruption, coups, assassinations and armed violence. Are we now to believe that this framework will change all that? That when the EU gives money to private industries to incentivise them to invest in Africa, Latin America or elsewhere, they will now change their capitalist business model, which is profit first, no matter the human or environmental cost. The text is setting us up to enter further into competitive blocs and a new arms race for critical raw materials, some of which will literally go into arms production. The arms industry must be happy about aluminium been added to the list. The framework is a recipe for exploitation, global instability and confrontation. We need global cooperation, climate justice and a just transition. The EU is not delivering. It is contributing to the present problem.

Madam President, I, too, would like to appeal to the Belarusian authorities to release Vatslav Oreshko, Vasily Beresnev and Gennady Fedynich, three imprisoned trade unionists. And as my colleague said, we have applied to visit them in prison and we were denied it. We’re far from impressed! On the other issue, I think there should be an acknowledgement that Europe has driven Belarus further away from the EU with how we have behaved in the last number of years. And putting the unelected Tsikhanouskaya on a pedestal, and making another Guaidó out of her, borders on the ridiculous. And my last issue: someone is wanting to ban all Belarusian athletes from sport. For God’s sake! When the Americans killed a million in Iraq and hundreds of thousands in Afghanistan, were they wanting to ban the American athletes from sport? Why don’t you leave this out of it?

Mr President, when this Black Sea grain initiative collapsed, the EU screamed blue murder about the effects this would have on food-insecure countries in Africa. But at the same time, they fail to acknowledge the fact that according to UN data, just 12 % of the grain was going to Africa, while over 40 % was going to the rich countries of Europe. The collapse of the grain deal, much like the war, is a disaster that could have been avoided. The terms of the deal, the easing of the sanctions mechanism restricting Russia’s agricultural sector were either violated or not being honoured. So which is more important to us? Are we worried about feeding the world with this grain, or is imposing the sanctions in place more important to us? We should kind of make up our minds, because we can’t have our cake and eat it. Listen, if you are really worried about food insecurity, the UN said that 23 million people have been affected by this crisis, but said that multiples of that are impacted by the financial speculation that we promote around the buying and selling of food!

Madam President, it was reassuring to see that attempts by Parliament to derail the EU-CELAC summit and exclude certain representatives from attending were completely ignored. The EU couldn’t manage to browbeat CELAC about the war either. Zelenskyy was blocked from attending and the only mention of Ukraine in the declaration was one that called for increased diplomatic efforts to secure peace. We look forward to seeing the same efforts from EU Member States. The declaration called for the ending of the US blockade of Cuba, but made no mention of how to stop the US or of our own brutal sanctions and asset freezes against other Latin American states. Gustavo Petro’s debt relief for climate action proposal was given some flesh, but more can be done. Governments can get better deals for their people now, and they will use the space created by China to look for fairer arrangements. The EU will have to do more if they want to gain the favour of Latin American states today.

Mr President, I do support the right of all Iranians to fundamental rights. After the tragic death of Mahsa Amini and the protests and violent crackdown that followed, this Parliament called for unilateral sanctions on Iran. Many more sanctions packages ensued. Multiple UN reports, including ones in September and December last year, highlight how unilateral sanctions from the EU, US, Australia and Canada impact the human rights of tens of millions of people in Iran. The UN estimates that 40 000 people die prematurely each year from the direct effects that unilateral sanctions have on Iran’s air quality and environment. Tens of thousands more unnecessarily suffer and die from lack of access to medical equipment and medicines. Our sanctions are a death sentence for Iranians with rare diseases and cancers. Unilateral sanctions cause inflation, food insecurity and hinder the provision of basic goods, the building and maintenance of schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure. We are closing off the opportunities for millions of Iranians, men, women and children to live a decent life. You chant ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ but your sanctions are killing women. I would like to say that I find the attack on the High Representative today totally irrational.

President, in March, the Parliament condemned President Saied’s racist discourse and attacks against sub-Saharan migrants and called on authorities to comply with international law. A few months later, Commission President Von der Leyen was signing a deal with Saied: macro financial support over EUR 100 million in exchange for austerity and stronger border controls – money for social, political and economic violence. Less than a month later, we saw the reality of the EU deal. In August, 27 bodies were found just near the Tunisian border in Libya. They had been forced across by the Tunisian authorities. They were forced to wander in the desert – no food, no shelter, no water for a long period – and died of starvation and dehydration. The EU funds concentration camps and brutal repression from Morocco to Turkey and calls others authoritarian. The EU is turning the Mediterranean Sea and North African deserts into absolute graveyards, and our leaders still talk endlessly about EU values?

Mr President, last week we discussed the Ukraine facility – EUR 50 billion over four years for reconstruction – while the bombs still rain down. We have a EUR 20 billion Ukraine weapon fund, EUR 5 billion for four years, even if the war ends. This week we vote on a EUR 300 million procurement subsidy. This is on top of the EUR 500 million package for ammunition production in July. And we’re waiting to hear from the Commission about the European Defence Production Act – more subsidies for the merchants of death. Ukrainians are getting decimated and the arms industry and their investors are laughing all the way to the bank. Half of the arms companies drawing on EU funds are embroiled in corruption scandals, while Ukraine is a basket case of corruption itself. And we cannot throw enough money at them. The EU is losing the plot. US officials are talking about getting ready for a long war. At this rate, it will cost over EUR 1 trillion for reconstruction, and an entire generation of Ukrainian men will be dead. When will we start working for peace? What in God’s name is wrong with us?

Mr President, despite the many revisions of the Renewable Energy Directive, it still encourages Member States to burn their own forests to meet the directive’s targets. In 2019, when I was a Member of Derry’s Parliament, I debated this issue with the then Irish Minister for Forestry. He told me Sitka spruce occupies 51 % of Ireland’s total forested area – so half of Ireland’s forests are commercially monocultures. He told me that in Ireland, 42 % of all Sitka spruce grown is harvested for energy – that’s a quarter of all Irish forests. So in Ireland we burn a quarter of our forests. The Minister specifically told me that this 42 % makes an important contribution to Ireland’s renewable energy targets. It’s pretty sad. The revision of the directive gives Member States considerable decision-making power in relation to key sustainability criteria. But we know from the Irish example that many Member States will simply ignore the clear scientific evidence that burning biomass is a disaster for the climate.

Madam President, Qatargate hit the headlines in the European Parliament, but it was really just a result of allowing the lobbyists to shape this institution to its core. While we welcome the push for transparency and accountability, the European Parliament will have a lot of work to do to gain the trust of European citizens – from environmental laws watered down to appease big business, to senseless military spending lining the pockets of the arms manufacturers while Europeans grapple with historic levels of inflation, yielding to lobby interests is just business as usual for the European Parliament. Metsola’s message in the wake of Qatargate was that the EU democracy was under attack by foreign forces. The real enemy of democracy is at home with the impunity of the rich and the powerful, many of whom have been walking Parliament’s corridors for way too long. Where is the serious effort to actually tackle the power of the lobbyists? Lobbyists are a cancer to democracy and until you actually bring them to heel they will remain so.

Madam President, I welcome the revision of these directives. The chemical status of surface and groundwater in the EU is in poor condition. The stricter thresholds for PFAS are welcome. These so-called forever chemicals have been detected in more than 70 % of the groundwater measuring points in the EU. We know that PFAS pose enormous health and environmental risks and that big corporations have lied to us for decades about their dangers. But let’s not forget that there is a much bigger piece of legislation on the way this year that should be tackling the PFAS: the revision of the REACH Regulation. The chemical strategy promised that the most harmful chemicals in consumer products would be banned. Yet, in July, there was reports that the Commission is under serious pressure to break their promise due to pressure from the chemical industry and right-wing political groups. Surely, public health is more important than big business profits?

Madam President, tomorrow, Parliament will vote to hand over further hundreds of millions for arms procurement – EUR 300 million for EDIRPA up to the end of December 2025. This is on top of the ASAP deal voted in July, approving EUR 500 million for ammunition over the same period. The arms industry lobbyists have much to celebrate. And the war grinds on, killing hundreds of thousands and wiping out a generation of Ukrainian men. But the numbers are in: 2022 was a bumper year for the merchants of death. Arms industry profits are up and share prices are flying. It seems it’s our job to make sure the war will keep on giving and the subsidies keep flowing. The European Commission is even planning another proposal for the arms industry, a European Defence Production Act, to boost the bloc’s defence industrial base. How many dead civilians and soldiers will it take before we stop fuelling the mayhem? Is there a limit or is it really just a case of profit before people?

Mr President, I voted in favour of this. On 14 June, over 500 people trying to get to Europe were declared missing, presumed dead, when their boat sank off the coast of Greece. This is just one of the string of such disasters, and there have been further deaths since. At the beginning of this mandate, this Parliament voted not to conduct search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We decided to let people die at sea. And we’ve done dodgy deals with countries across North Africa, paying them to police our borders. A UN report in March raised concerns about the abuse of migrants arrested and detained in Libya. Instead of funding rescue, we’re channelling money to bodies like the Libyan coastguard, who only last week were found to be shooting at migrants. People are dying to get to Europe. They’re coming from countries that have been subjected to European colonialism, that have been ransacked with wars in which Europe played no good part. And we build higher walls to keep them out. Welcome to our European values.

Mr President, it’s been 10 years since these guidelines on freedom of religion or belief were implemented, and the progress is nothing to boast about. There’s been a lack of public implementation reports to monitor the implementation of guidelines. And, since 2019, Parliament has been calling for greater transparency. A report by the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Freedom of Religion highlighted a lack of education on these guidelines to the EEAS staff and the highly ambiguous implementation of guidelines by various EU delegations abroad. Now, if we look, a real sign of concern is how we have treated Muslim refugees in Europe. We have rightly welcomed refugees from Ukraine fleeing a war situation – and it is good that we have. But it’s an awful pity that we don’t have the same welcome for the refugees from Afghanistan, from Syria, from Iraq, from Yemen. There are 400 000 people dead in Yemen; there are 16 million hungry. But it’s a Western-promoted war so we don’t give a damn about them! They’re Muslim and they’re the wrong colour.

Mr President, at the last plenary, we listened to High Representative Borrell report back from his visit to Cuba in May, and he was strong in his responses to attacks by the far right on the EU—Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement. Borrell acknowledged the extensive reform process undertaken in Cuba initiated by Raul Castro’s transition government: reforms around the private sector, the most progressive family court in the world and a series of high—turnout elections. Those criticising the PDCA call out human rights abuses in Cuba, but are silent on the human rights impact of the illegal US blockade of the island. They deny the achievements of the Cuban Government in the face of relentless economic terrorism. The democratic provision of nutrition, healthcare, education, housing and employment; advances in sustainable agriculture, medical care and technology: if we genuinely care about Cuba, we will be doing more to circumvent sanctions, not calling for more punishment for the Cuban people.

Madam President, the hypocrisy of those criticising Venezuela for alleged human-rights abuses and blocking far-right opposition figures is astounding. You’re silent on the brutal sanctions regime that has killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans since 2017. Not a word about the billions in Venezuelan assets stolen by Portuguese and British banks, money needed to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU and US are worried about Venezuelan democracy, but we spent years recognising an unelected shadow government headed by an incompetent, clownish figure called Guaidó, deeply hated by the Venezuelan people. We are collectively punishing the Venezuelan people for backing Maduro. They made the wrong choice, so they must suffer and die or change their minds. This is the logic of Western sanctions today. It’s the most authoritarian action imaginable. Maduro should let the far-right opposition run an election, but the EU and US, where multiple communist parties are banned, and the US, where the constitution blocks third parties from contesting the presidency, they don’t really have much of a right to lecture Venezuela with anything.

Madam President, there are some good elements to this report – necessary reforms to Parliament’s rules of transparency and corruption – which makes it all the more regrettable that the report is so heavily politicised. You would forget why it was initiated in the first place: the cash for influence bribery scandal at the centre of Parliament. Instead, this report is a screed against perceived Russian and Chinese malign influence. Qatar and Morocco, the countries whose bribery we have evidence of, barely get a mention. The report enforces an ideological distinction between states we should be paranoid about, so—called high—risk states, meaning Russia and China, and those we should not, meaning almost everyone else. There is even a section that calls for a prohibition on MEPs performing paid side work for high—risk non—EU states during their term of office. MEPs shouldn’t be performing paid side work for any state during our mandate. It is outrageous, and bribery from any state should be the target of this report, not just geopolitical adversaries of NATO.