What Manu spoke about.

24

Apr

2024

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Recent attempts to deny dictatorships and the risk of Europe returning to totalitarianism (debate)

Mr President, totalitarianism is not a risk, as the title of this debate says. Totalitarianism is a reality and I'm not going to waste time arguing about it with the far right or the far right. I want to talk to progressive friends and progressive friends. They don't have to have the majority. In our societies there is already totalitarianism. When a framework is created so that, in Spain, in Almeria, a few days ago, an agricultural ship with twenty-five immigrants inside is burned, it is that totalitarianism, fascism, is already among us. Fascism is not defeated by negotiating with them an immigration pact that denies the right to asylum. Totalitarianism and fascism are not combated by planting the Israeli flag at the headquarters of the European Green Party. Fascism is not defeated by negotiating with them. Fascism is not negotiated, nor is it limited. Fascism is being fought. And it is fought with measures of social justice. We need to take steps to ensure that people see us as useful tools; that we are able to ensure that they have decent housing, decent employment; they have high-quality public health; have quality public education. The best vaccine against fascism is social justice. Today, April 25, the day of the Carnation Revolution, the anniversary also of the Day of the Liberation of Italy, we have to say fascism. never more, fascism never more; They won't pass.

23

Apr

2024

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EU’s response to the repeated killing of humanitarian aid workers, journalists and civilians by the Israel Defence Forces in the Gaza Strip (debate)

Madam President, Mr Borrell, yesterday we tried to put on the agenda of this plenary session a debate on what measures the European Union is going to take to implement the UN resolution and the opinion of the International Court of Justice. And the majority of this Parliament voted against, prevented this debate from taking effect because the answer is that it will not implement any measures. They are embarrassed that it is known that they will not implement any measures. Today we are discussing how they are killing aid workers, how they are killing journalists and members of civil society. I have to tell you that what this European Union is not doing right now is being done by more than a thousand activists – the Freedom Flotilla – in Istanbul, who are going to set sail to bring more than 5 000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. But they are stranded there because Israel has already said that it will attack them, just as it attacked those of Israel. Mavi Marmara and killed ten Turkish comrades. Is the European Union going to do anything to protect the more than 500 Europeans who are in that flotilla? Israel is a tumor in the Middle East, a tumor that is becoming metastasis, that wants to turn this genocide into a regional conflict to turn the focus away, so that we don't talk about genocide, so that we talk about a war between Arabs and Jews that we get into. Israel is the greatest source of destabilization in the area. And what are we going to do about that? They have bombed the Iranian Consulate in Damascus. And what does the European Union do? Sanction Iran instead of the one it has bombed. Let the peoples of Europe know that... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker).

27

Feb

2024

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Critical situation in Cuba (debate)

Madam President, how naive of me that I thought that those who proposed or promoted this resolution were concerned about the human rights situation in Cuba. How naive I am! Once again, they come here to talk about the human rights situation in Cuba to, in the end, talk about other things that have nothing to do with it, without naming a blockade that is to blame. Of course, the Cuban people are suffering. Of course, the Cuban people have needs. After sixty-two years of criminal blockade of the United States, with the clear, manifest and public intention of generating suffering to also generate disaffection to the Cuban Government. Of course they have needs, but if you were really concerned about that, you would be calling for the lifting of the blockade. If you were really concerned about that, you would be asking Cuba to come out of that infamous list of governments sponsoring terrorism that the United States included it in. That country that is behind all the wars that have been on the planet since the end of World War II. But that doesn't interest you, because you don't care about the situation of the Cuban people. If you were concerned about the needs that the Cuban people are going through, you would be betting on cooperation, and the measures that you are proposing go in the opposite direction. They go in the sense of generating more suffering and more needs. The Cuban people are suffering, but they know perfectly well who is responsible and who the United States is.

27

Feb

2024

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War in the Gaza Strip and the need to reach a ceasefire, including recent developments in the region (debate)

Mr. President, man, if we were in a meeting, in a congress, in a Hamas parliament, we could ask you and you would answer us. We are in the European Parliament and that is where I can move the questions, and I have to move them to the European Union. Hamas will know what it does. I believe that what Hamas is calling for is an unconditional ceasefire and negotiations. They offer to release the Israelis they have captured in exchange for Israel releasing the Palestinians they have captured. And there has to be an exchange, but that will be after the ceasefire. Do you want a cease-fire and negotiations to begin? Or do you want it to hold? Because I hear a lot about anti-Semitism here. The greatest act of anti-Semitism that has occurred since the end of World War II is the genocide that Israel's terrorist regime is carrying out against a Semitic people like the Palestinian. Do you want to end that now or do you want to keep looking for excuses to continue killing children and Palestinians?

27

Feb

2024

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War in the Gaza Strip and the need to reach a ceasefire, including recent developments in the region (debate)

Mr President, it has been 29 days - one month after tomorrow - since the opinion of the International Court of Justice. More than 4,000 people have been killed since January 29, the day that the ruling was issued. More than four thousand people killed directly under the bombs, plus an incalculable number of people - children, women, the elderly - who are dying of famine, thirst, epidemics. It is not that humanitarian aid is not entering because something happens, it is that Israel – whom you defend – is preventing humanitarian aid from entering. What has the European Union done to enforce the mandatory interim measures imposed by the International Court of Justice? Nothing. What is the only measure you have taken? To take for granted the accusations of an entity as unreliable as the Israeli regime, saying that twelve of the more than thirty thousand UNRWA workers were involved in the actions of October 7. On the basis of this allegation, which the United States already considers uncredible, many countries – most of the countries of the European Union – have already withdrawn UNRWA funds. Here we have heard the far right call for UNRWA to be replaced by another agency. We see how the Committee on Budgetary Control, chaired by a raging Zionist, has tabled an amendment to withdraw UNRWA funds. The European Union is becoming Israel's accomplice in the implementation of the final solution against the Palestinian people. Is that what we want? Do we want to be part of this genocide? Do we want to be, not accomplices, but active members of this genocide? ... (the Chair took the floor from the speaker). (The speaker agreed to answer a question under the "blue card" procedure).

5

Feb

2024

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Order of business

Madam President, South Africa denounced Israel to the International Court of Justice by appealing to the Genocide Convention. The International Court of Justice has seen evidence that genocide is being committed and has imposed a series of precautionary measures to prevent further genocide. We would have understood that this Parliament would even have convened an extraordinary plenary session to the extent that we are collaborating with that regime accused of genocide. But not only was an immediate extraordinary plenary session not convened, but that debate is not brought to this plenary session. We cannot wait three more weeks to debate this, because three more weeks mean thousands more dead without us having done anything. And as the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Moreno Campos, has said, cooperation with Israel – especially in the area of arms – presupposes, possibly, also being tried for genocide. So we call for it to be debated in this plenary session.

16

Jan

2024

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation (debate)

Mr President, it is incredible to hear the representative of the Council and the representative of the Commission continue to speak at this stage of a military operation against Hamas. It's amazing to keep talking at this point that Israel is exercising its right to defend itself. Who is Israel defending itself from right now? After 24,000 civilians killed and 8,000 buried beneath the rubble, who are you defending yourself from? There has been no time of greater divorce between our peoples and those who represent them here. Our peoples are denouncing a genocide that we refuse to recognize and condemn. It is incredible to hear how representatives of the German government are fighting South Africa's demand against genocide. It is true that the German state has at other times also had difficulty recognizing genocides, holocausts, no matter how close they were being committed. But that does not justify that, in the whole of the European Union, not a single State of the European Union has joined South Africa's demand. Let the peoples of Europe know that there are groups here that are defending genocide, that are being complicit in genocide. Let us know and face them and point fingers at them. We have to be with the Palestinian cause, which today more than ever is the cause of humanity.

13

Dec

2023

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Review of the Spanish Presidency of the Council (debate)

Madam President, President Sanchez, you recently described the genocide in Gaza as indiscriminate killing. He was insulted, vilified and mistreated by the Israeli regime, just as he did with the UN secretary-general for vindicating international law. The Israeli regime considers itself legitimated to despise, insult and... Well, I don't mean rude words to anyone who claims international law. Here, not only the children in Gaza are dying, international law is dying. If we do nothing to stop this, we can take for granted all the architecture that was built after the Second World War so that we solve the problems between countries in a peaceful way. But let's be consistent, Mr. Sanchez. We cannot claim international law and consider this a massacre and buy from the Israeli regime four and a half million euros in proven war material on the heads of Palestinian children. Spain has a responsibility. Spain has the capacity to influence. History will judge us... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker).

12

Dec

2023

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EU-China relations (debate)

Mr President, Mr Borrell, I believe that the approach taken by the European Union in its relations with China so far has been wrong: It has been based on hostility that may be very good for the interests of big American companies, but it certainly hasn't been good for our citizens. At the recent EU-China Summit, it seems that its course has been changed, that it is committed to policies of dialogue and cooperation with Beijing. A dialogue that we ask you to deepen and that is based on honesty and on trying to serve to reach agreements with a country with which we share interests and that, unlike the United States, does not represent a threat to peace and international law. China is not engaged in any war in the world. In Ukraine, it is a twelve-point proposal that, of course, has not pleased Russia. In the Gaza war, it is sharing the same positions that most peoples are advocating for a ceasefire and peace. It is time for the European Union to have its own, autonomous and sovereign foreign policy, to break US tutelage, leave behind sanctions and interference and bet on deepening our relations with China. Relations based on mutual benefit, respect for sovereignty and non-interference. That is what benefits our peoples. Now, out of order, Mr. Borrell, I want to thank you and acknowledge that you have been sitting here for seven hours, enduring what no one can stand. We are used to seeing how Mrs. von der Leyen, when she comes here, holds a round and leaves. You've been here for seven hours, and I think it's only fair that we recognize you and thank you... (inaudible words).

12

Dec

2023

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Situation in Venezuela (debate)

Mr. President, the strange dictatorship of Mr. Maduro, who calls his people to the polls every nine or ten months. I don't remember any country where you vote more than in that dictatorship. To the right of this Parliament, because it seems to bother them: I do not know if the polls are called, I do not know if the Venezuelan people can vote so much or if what bothers them is the result of these votes. Here we continue to debate, now for the consultation on the Essequibo. What is the problem of the people being consulted about a conflict that has been going on for more than a hundred years? What's the problem? What has been shown, once again, the popular support that the Maduro government has? What is the problem with an offender who is calling for military intervention against her state being disbarred? In Europe, in Spain, for putting an urn, it is not that they have been disabled, it is that they have gone to jail. If Mrs. María Corina Machado were in Spain or in Europe, she would not be disqualified, she would be in jail for a criminal. But we cannot allow Venezuela to have its sovereignty, to have its laws, to apply them and to only integrate the democratic opposition... (the Chair took the floor from the speaker).

12

Dec

2023

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Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, Mr Borrell, I agree with most of your speech. I agree with the comparison you make between today's Gaza and the German cities destroyed after World War II. But what do we intend to do about this? How does this speech tie in with maintaining the preferential partnership agreement with Israel, with allowing Israel to participate in EU-funded programs that, among other things, fund two companies that manufacture the drones with which they murder children in the Gaza Strip? We support, of course, the proposal to sanction terrorist settlers. But what do we do with the chief colonist? What do we do with Mr Netanyahu? Are we not going to do anything to bring him before the International Criminal Court? Are we not going to do anything to try those responsible for this genocide? Children are dying in the Gaza Strip and international law is dying if we do nothing. The UN is dying and the whole fabric that we created after World War II to resolve conflicts peacefully is dying. The European Union has to work with actions and has to make a clear call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The solution is not just to end Hamas. We can put an end to this Hamas, but we are planting ten, a hundred or a thousand Hamas. If we do not end this violence, if we do not end the occupation, with the apartheid And with ethnic cleansing, there will be thousands of Hamas and there will never be peace in the area.

22

Nov

2023

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Threat to rule of law as a consequence of the governmental agreement in Spain (debate)

Mr President, the threat to the rule of law in Spain is not the amnesty law. More than 50 amnesty laws have been passed in Europe and there has been no problem. Last time, in Portugal last August. The problem or threat to the rule of law in Spain is that we have a Spanish right that does not have democratic concepts - neither are they, nor are they expected. We lived the transition we lived, the one we could have, the one we had under the umbrella of "everything tied and well tied". And we saw how a Francoist minister went from signing death sentences to being a lifelong Democrat and being a father of the Constitution. From that right, these sludges. We find that this right considers that any government that is not its own is not legitimate. Since 1993 there is no government that is not right-wing that is legitimate for them. We see how they have kidnapped the General Council of the Judiciary for five years, the one referred to by Mr. Weber. What can we expect from that? We are seeing a coup call: those demonstrations of thousands, thousands with their hands up, with the Francoist flag, singing the Face in the sun and shouting "Viva Franco!" Those you are calling democrats and peacemakers are calling for a coup d'état, a civil war between Spaniards. And you are neither democrats nor patriots, because you come here to harm the Spanish state, to call us non-democrats, just as you came a few months ago to try not to get the funds there. Gentlemen, I recommend you to the different students of Mr. Fraga, I recommend... (the Chair took the floor from the speaker).

22

Nov

2023

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need for the release of hostages and for an immediate humanitarian truce leading to a ceasefire and the prospects for peace and security in the Middle East (debate)

Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, this Parliament refused last Monday not to call for a ceasefire, but even to debate it. There are 14,128 people killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, including 5,840 children, 3,920 women and 6,000 people buried under the rubble of the Gaza Strip. In the first three weeks of this genocide alone, more children have died in the Gaza Strip than in all of 2022 in all the conflicts around the world. How many Palestinian children have to be killed under Israeli bombs for this European Parliament and the European Union to call for a ceasefire? If we talk about hostages, let us call for the release of the 240 Israelis in the hands of Palestine and the 7,400 Palestinians kidnapped in Israeli prisons. Or do only hostages on one side hurt? Of those 7,400, 880 are boys and girls. If you really want peace, listen to our peoples. Our peoples are on the street demanding what we refuse to demand: First of all, a ceasefire. A ceasefire, not a humanitarian pause. A definitive ceasefire. A fair ceasefire. Secondly, let us take action beyond words. That we take action to end the occupation. Let us no longer say that "we are deeply concerned" and make decisions that pressure the occupier to end the occupation. And thirdly, join the initiative to bring Netanyahu and all those responsible for and complicit in this genocide before the International Criminal Court.

8

Nov

2023

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

Let's see, I've met a lot of people. I met with Prime Minister Haniya when I was Prime Minister of Gaza, where I lived, at a protocol meeting. I've met a lot of people, and I'm not ashamed of that meeting. I might be embarrassed by other meetings that I have also had right here in the European Parliament. I condemn the crimes of all civilians. When you kill a civilian, it's a crime. Do you condemn Israel's killings of Palestinian children? I condemn anyone who has killed an Israeli civilian, be it a child, a woman or an elder. Do you condemn Israel's killings of Palestinian children?

8

Nov

2023

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26-27 October 2023 - Humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause (joint debate - Conclusions of the European Council and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need for a humanitarian pause)

Madam President, Gaza's nightmare is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity. Gaza has become a children's cemetery. The October 7 attacks don't come out of nowhere. They come after decades of suffocating occupation. These are not my words. These are the words of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr António Guterres. And the response of the Israeli regime has been to call for the resignation of Mr. Guterres. Mrs von der Leyen, who has not even had the decency to stay here and wait for our response after her propaganda for the Israeli regime, does not have to fear Israel's request for her resignation. You don't have the dignity of Mr. Guterres. I do come here to formally call for the resignation of Mrs von der Leyen because she is speaking on behalf of the European Union, without anyone's endorsement and giving unconditional support to a terrorist regime that is bombing hospitals, churches, mosques, ambulances, that is killing children and women, that yesterday bombed a Red Cross convoy carrying medicines to the Al-Shifa hospital, that four days ago bombed a convoy that was taking children to be treated in Egypt. I formally request the resignation of Mrs. von der Leyen... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker). (He agreed to answer a question under the "blue card" procedure.)

18

Oct

2023

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The despicable terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law and the humanitarian situation in Gaza (debate)

Mr President, please, before making use of my time, I would like to mention a point of order. I do not know why it has just been claimed here that the kippah can be worn, that any religious and cultural symbol can be worn, and I have just been prevented from going out with the kufiya, which is a Palestinian cultural symbol. I am not making propaganda, I do not carry a flag of anything, but here, in this Parliament, I have been prevented from going out with the kufiya. It seems to me that there is no reason, there is no rule. I think it's a hit-and-run that I'm not allowed to come with the kufiya. Getting into the topic: First of all, it seems to me that Mrs von der Leyen should have had the decency to stay here until the end of this debate, because we want to say things to her face. No wonder he doesn't stay because he doesn't have that decency. I would like to begin by acknowledging the statement made by Mr Borrell in Amman, in which he claimed something as revolutionary as international law. I think today it is revolutionary to vindicate something that had to be the norm anywhere. But it turns out that Mrs. von der Leyen and her companion, Mrs. Metsola, have been in Tel Aviv unconditionally supporting a genocidal regime, a regime that has turned the Gaza Strip into something very much like the Warsaw ghetto, subjecting it to a siege in which they were leaving people to die without water, without electricity, without fuel, without medicines, without food. But it turns out that, since yesterday, they have forgotten to say in the previous intervention that these people died under Israeli bombardments, they have turned it into an extermination camp. It is indecent that Mrs. von der Leyen or Mrs. (inaudible word) continue to chair European institutions. Every minute that passes (inaudible words). They are filling the institutions with shame... (the Chair took the floor from the speaker).

16

Oct

2023

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Order of business

Madam President, yes, we are in a very difficult situation. Israel is bombing the civilian population of Gaza. It has already killed 2,750 civilians, 1,030 of them children. It has imposed an absolutely illegal siege regime, blocking access to electricity, food, building materials, fuel... He's decreed a blackout so you don't see what's going on there. The president with whom you met last week, to give you his support, has said that it is total war, that there are no laws of war on this, that there is not a single civilian safe in Gaza, that everyone is guilty. Madam President, you have met with him to give him your support, but you cannot do so on behalf of this Parliament. This Parliament has to discuss such a serious situation. A situation that is a holocaust of the Palestinian population. We cannot keep minutes of silence for the Israeli victims and not do it for the Palestinians... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker).

12

Sep

2023

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50 years since the murder of Allende and the Coup in Chile: democracy and sovereignty (debate)

Madam President, Mr Borrell, according to papers declassified by the CIA itself, President Nixon instructed the director of the CIA, on September 15, 1970, to do whatever was necessary to prevent the inauguration of President Allende, of Dr. Allende as president. The director of the CIA failed and entrusted it to someone more effective, Henry Kissinger, who organized the coup d'état that, with the necessary complicity of financial, employer and media powers, executed the murderer, the criminal, the bloodthirsty General Pinochet. Thousands killed, thousands missing, thousands tortured. And then the Condor Plan, which was dedicated to assassinating leftist leaders from all over Latin America, especially from the Southern Cone. As we have seen right now, today's fascists no longer need to wear brown shirts, blue shirts, black shirts, not even military uniforms, they can wear Armani dresses, but they continue to spread the message of hate. They keep spreading a message against women, against people on the left, against the LGTBI movement, against immigrants, of course, against anyone who gets out of what they think is right. We have to realize that the best vaccine against fascism - because we are living it here today - is social justice and unity against fascism. When politicians do not solve the problems, the worst of politics appears, which is fascism. As President Allende said, our history is made by the people. Until victory always. They won't pass.

11

Sep

2023

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Order of business

Madam President, today 11 September marks one more anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile that assassinated President Allende. And 50 years later, on the 50th anniversary of that coup, we see coups continue to take place in Chile. There are coups, in some cases, classic, with their military, their police, their massacres and their murders, as in Bolivia, and others that use new tactics such as the "". Coup d'état in Paraguay, in Honduras, one in Brazil against President Dilma... In parallel to this, we see how in Europe the discourse of hatred generated by that same fascism is spreading here. We believe that we have to take advantage of this plenary session and this anniversary to have a debate in which we openly discuss the dangers that we are living here, because we have already seen what is happening elsewhere. Therefore, we propose for tomorrow, in the debate with Mr Borrell, a debate with the title "50 years since the assassination of Allende and the coup d'état in Chile: Democracy and Sovereignty.

12

Jul

2023

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The political disqualifications in Venezuela

Madam President, the resolution proposed by the right is a mixture of colonialist nostalgia and servility to what the boss, the United States, commands. Gentlemen of the right, for your mental health and for that of your stomach, I suggest that you assume at once that it is the Venezuelan people who decide who governs it. That the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a rule of law, that it has a Constitution and laws that develop it and that, as in any rule of law, those who commit crimes pay for it. Mrs Machado has called for a military intervention against her country; has called for a coup d'état against the legitimate government. These crimes anywhere in the world are punishable by imprisonment. In Venezuela they have only prevented him from standing for election. You know that, but you don't care. They seek to torpedo the EU-CELAC summit, but they will not succeed. The European Union should not enter into the game of the extreme right, but should end sanctions, facilitate dialogue between the Government and the democratic opposition and work respectfully with CELAC to establish relations based on mutual benefit.

11

Jul

2023

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Relations with the Palestinian Authority (debate)

Mr. President, Palestine is suffering from continued ethnic cleansing. 2022 was the deadliest year since the 2005 intifada, with more than 120 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem alone, not counting those killed in the Gaza ghetto. Also last year, more than 8,000 illegal settler homes were built and at least 7,000 Palestinians were detained, including 865 children. Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse every day. Last week, Israeli occupying forces entered the Jenin refugee camp, violating all signed agreements, killing 12 people and leaving more than 100 injured and thousands displaced. This violence has already generated almost six million Palestinian refugees, 80% of whom live below the poverty line. Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood, Olivér Várhelyi, prevents the funds agreed by the European Union from reaching UNRWA, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees. At the same time, the apartheid Zionists prevent Palestinian refugees from returning to their land, despite the fact that Resolution 194 of 1948, 75 years ago, recognizes the right of return and obliges the Israeli regime to allow it. These are the figures of the apartheid that the far-right Israeli government practices against Palestine. That which the European Union considers its preferred partner. He acts like this because he knows he's protected. It will go unpunished and this European Union will limit itself, at best, to expressing itsespecially concerned». If the European Union does not move from words to actions, it will remain complicit in the crimes that the Israeli regime is carrying out against the Palestinian people. We must immediately suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and exclude it from all EU-funded programmes, as well as ban the entry of Israeli representatives into this institution. The European Union must recognise the Palestinian state and encourage Member States to do the same. Ladies and gentlemen, just as we have condemned and taken immediate measures against Russia's war and occupation of Ukraine, we must take them against Israel's war and occupation of Palestine. Even if we're 75 years late.

13

Jun

2023

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State of EU Cuba PDCA in the light of the recent visit of the High Representative to the island (debate)

Madam President, Mr Borrell, you have seen in Cuba a people who are in need, but you have also seen a people who are aware of who is responsible for their needs: an American blockade that has lasted almost sixty-two years. We have to deepen our relations with Cuba and fight against that blockade, for the sake of Cuba and for our sake, because that blockade suffocates Cuba and us, preventing us from accessing the scientific, biopharmaceutical and other advances that Cuba generates every day. It also prevents our businessmen from investing in Cuba without fear of U.S. retaliation. We have to bet on respect for Cuban sovereignty, but also defend ours. We have to become independent of the United States. We have to be sovereign and not subordinate to Washington's dictates. We must bet on a new multilateral international order, where peoples relate to each other in a free, sovereign way, looking at each other face to face, without any kind of coercion or interference. On 17 and 18 July, we will have the opportunity to defend that at the EU-CELAC Summit. I hope we don't miss that chance.

12

Jun

2023

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Order of business

Madam President, this plenary session will debate tomorrow on the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba, following the visit of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. It is important that Parliament discusses the strategic lines of European foreign policy and, of course, we believe that the political agreement with Cuba is. However, it is proposed that this debate be accompanied by a resolution for the July plenary session. This plenary session will take place just one week before a key event: the EU-CELAC Summit. This summit has not been held since 2015 and, in the current context, it is essential that it be a success and strengthen our relations with the region. The diplomatic impact of such a resolution on the Summit can be very serious and limit the ability of the European Union to work to improve relations and achieve concrete agreements, not only with Cuba, but with the whole of Latin America and the Caribbean. We therefore call for the resolution on the subject to be voted on in July to be deleted, in keeping with the debate to be held tomorrow.

10

May

2023

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Media freedom and freedom of expression in Algeria, the case of journalist Ihsane El-Kadi

Mr President, we see that, despite the regrets, the Moroccan still has a lot of weight in this Parliament and that he is able to impose his agenda on us. We also see, with tremendous concern, that there are groups determined to keep the European Union as a battering ram for the interests of others, even if this goes against our own fellow citizens. In Algeria, there is a population that suffers from the permanent violation of its human rights: Sahrawi refugees whom Morocco expelled from their land and forced to remain in the middle of the desert. Today we express our tremendous concern about the arrest of a journalist from Algeria, coincidentally a government that does not accept the mandates of the Atlanticist bloc, but we are not concerned at all that a Spanish journalist, Pablo González, has been imprisoned for fifteen months in Poland, a Member State of this sacrosanct European Union, only for reporting independently, instead of at the dictate of those who really impose their foreign policy on the Union. Ladies and gentlemen, with this double standard, we are putting an end to the lack of credibility left to this Parliament.

18

Apr

2023

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Situation in Peru (debate)

Mr President, it took 133 days and more than 70 deaths for this Parliament to address the serious political and human crisis in Peru. Months of mass mobilizations, strikes, protests and popular demonstrations calling for elections to an illegitimate government, without popular support and entrenched in power based on violence and repression. Repression and brutality that have already counted not only with an complicit silence, but with the direct participation of some Member States of this European Union, necessary suppliers of repressive material. A shameful participation of those who forget the importance of democracy and human rights where their economic and commercial interests are safeguarded. We still have time to rectify. Let's send a clear message from here today: all our support for the demand for the resignation of the usurping president, Dina Boluarte, which is the only way for elections to be called. We also want constituent elections to be called so that it is the Peruvian people who, exercising democracy, can build a future of progress and equality. Let us support the Peruvian people to regain sovereignty over their resources and institutions after too many years of dispossession and plunder.