What Maria spoke about.

19

May

2022

EN Speech

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Establishing the European Education Area by 2025 – micro credentials, individual learning accounts and learning for a sustainable environment (debate)

Mr President, the future of education lies in an integrated European education area, where fundamental values, automatic recognition of degrees and qualifications, and effective student representation on all levels are practised. We must ensure that in creating this European education area, the EU promotes minimum standards on investments in education, in areas of mental—health support services an…

7

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Mental Health (debate)

Mr President, some six years ago, a total of 84 million people suffered from mental health. And since then, we've been challenged to no end with the new realities of a pandemic and now a war. Balanced mental health is, of course, everything. Without it, we struggle to cope, adapt, maintain a good quality of life. We are currently living in a silent pandemic and no one deserves to suffer in silence…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Implementation of citizenship education actions (debate)

Mr President, this EU Year of Youth is an opportunity for us as policymakers to really connect to our younger citizens in shaping a respected and ambitious EU, and the provision of European citizenship education within schools is essential for empowering younger people and making them feel that the EU belongs to them. The European Parliament Ambassador School Programme should be scaled up and furt…

7

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Shrinking space for civil society in Europe (debate)

Mr President, democracy cannot be preserved if freedom of the media, freedom of assembly and freedom of association are not guaranteed, encouraged and respected. These are key to the foundation of our European Union and each of our Member States. This report comes as a consequence of the COVID—19 pandemic and the various examples of backsliding we have seen in some Member States since the beginnin…

16

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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One youth, one Europe (topical debate)

Mr President, I’m grateful that our Parliament has approached the topic of One Youth, One Europe horizontally. Colleagues across the political house have spoken on how our young people are impacted by culture, employment, women’s rights, budgetary decisions – the list goes on. This is how we must approach our work on youth, by considering all aspects of policy and the impact those policies make, n…

20

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Empowering European Youth: post-pandemic employment and social recovery (debate)

Mr President, this EU Year of Youth is an opportunity for us as policymakers to connect with our younger citizens in shaping a respected and ambitious EU for our future. The European Youth Event (EYE) last October, held in this very chamber, was an incredible launching pad for this EU year and the work by our rapporteur and my fellow colleagues. It afforded many of us the opportunity to listen and…

20

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the European Union (continuation of debate)

Madam President, for almost three years we have discussed sexual and reproductive rights and health in this House. Just last month, we voted to strengthen our understanding of gender—based violence to include online violence. We’re definitely taking steps in the right direction now, but when we look at our communities across our European Union, we have not done enough to protect women from harm in…

16

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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MeToo and harassment – the consequences for the EU institutions (continuation of debate)

Mr President, the #MeToo movement isn’t just for the celebrity circles of Hollywood. Unfortunately, most of us know a victim of sexual harassment; perhaps some of us are a victim of sexual harassment. While this is the broader societal issue both found online and offline, the discussion today has highlighted how we, as political leaders, want and need to break the trauma of the unspoken word and t…

15

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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The European Commission Guidelines on inclusive language (topical debate)

Madam President, this week we debated how powerful words can be if used and targeted in a hateful way. Yesterday, we voted overwhelmingly to ensure our online platforms protect citizens against the ignorance of some who try to alienate and target people because of their gender, their orientation or the colour of their skin. Inclusive language and our journey with it is not to be feared. We are liv…

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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European Year of Youth 2022 (debate)

Mr President, this EU Year ensures that we focus on giving a strong voice to our young people when it comes to our policy. During the European youth event held last October in this very building, one of the consistent issues identified by young people was their mental health. While the lived experiences of mental health may differ, the issue remains for many. UNICEF reported earlier this year that…

13

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence (debate)

Mr President, online harassment, cyberstalking, image—based sexual assault: these are just some of the terms which have become all too common and real for people across the EU, especially for women and girls. It has now become normal for women to casually discuss personal experiences of cyberviolence and abuse. As female representatives, we’ve all experienced it in some form, haven’t we? We’ve exp…

22

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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EU sports policy: assessment and possible ways forward (debate)

Madam President, sport has the beautiful ability and unique power to promote positive change, to inspire and unite, regardless of age, sex, ethnic origin, religion, background or socio—economic status. A majority of us had sports built into our development from a young age, and despite us having different national sports team or home—team favourites, the educational, culture and social dimensions …

10

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The European Education Area: a shared holistic approach (debate)

Mr President, I welcome the collective work to deliver an EU education area aimed to enrich the quality inclusiveness of national education systems by 2025. It’s both ambitious and progressive. In Ireland right now, we’re beginning these conversations in reshaping aspects of our national curriculum, creating a curriculum for all, recognising that all students offer a range of skills. We need to de…

10

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Strengthening democracy, media freedom and pluralism in the EU (debate)

Madam President, democracy cannot be preserved if freedom of the media, freedom of assembly and freedom of association are not guaranteed, encouraged and respected. These are the key to the foundation of our EU and of each of our Member States. The use of strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, as we commonly know them, filed against people or organisations who speak out on pub…

15

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the covid pandemic has emphasised an epidemic that has existed for many years. The escalating numbers of women and girls who have and continue to experience gender-based violence is rampant. This is why this body of work is essential to ensure the Commission fulfils their promise to every woman and girl in making gender-based violence a Euro-crime. We also need to addre…