Speeches

The minutes from yesterday’s sitting and the texts adopted are available. Are there any comments? I see there are no comments, so the minutes are approved.

Mr President, dear all, violence, harassment and hate speech in Uganda: these are not made-up allegations, but realities that activists have relayed to us. Speaking out against these attacks and protecting LGBTI rights is not a Western cultural construct, just as harassment and hate speech are not in the DNA of Ugandan citizens. This violence is a consequence of cynical choices driven by political and by religious interests. Since the Ugandan vote in favour of the total prohibition of homosexuality in the country, Kenya and also Tanzania have tabled similar texts. This is worrying, and all institutions must condemn criminalisation of homosexuality and trans identity. Europe must engage itself in the fight in favour of the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality and trans identity, not only for Ugandans, Kenyans and Tanzanians, but for all persecuted LGBTI people in the world. Europe shall commit itself to preventing the enactment of this law in Uganda or elsewhere. And to achieve this, Europe and the Commission must act strongly, going so far as to sanction the regime in place or denounce the existing trade agreements with the country, while guaranteeing the presence of special envoys in Uganda responsible for assessing the situation, and while also preserving – and foremost supporting – civil society.

Madam President, Prime Minister, I vividly remember our common time in Luxembourg politics, sometimes within the same coalition, sometimes separated by political power relations, but always united in the ambition to improve people’s lives. Thank you for being with us today. I am proud that Luxembourg, as a founding member, has always supported an ambitious European project and acted as a driving force for European integration, despite its small size. Prime Minister, solidarity, the rule of law and our fundamental values are more important than ever in a changing world. I count on you to continue defending these principles, in Europe and elsewhere, as you have always done. The Ukrainian people deserve our full solidarity in their fight against the Russian aggressor and in defending our values. It is essential, as you said, to preserve European unity on this issue. Solidarity also requires a determined fight against social inequalities. Deepening the social dimension of Europe, as citizens claimed at the Conference on the Future of Europe, is crucial. And the conference was a great exercise, where we let thousands of citizens talk. European solidarity must also be demonstrated on tax issues. While I welcome the considerable reforms implemented over the last decade in Luxembourg and within the EU, I hope that these efforts will continue. We must also extend our solidarity to those fleeing war and persecution. My Group of the Socialists and Democrats welcomes the fact that Luxembourg continues to defend a humane position in a debate whose tone continues to harden in the Council. It is also of paramount importance, as you stressed, to reach an agreement on the migration pact before the European elections. Prime Minister, the European Union has ambitious objectives, whether in the fight against climate change, digitalisation or defence. And to do so, it must renew itself, adapt its operating rules, its economic and social governance, redefine the framework of its budgetary resources and, if necessary, amend the Treaties. I hope that Luxembourg will be ready, once again, to support and promote ambitious approaches in the European interest.

The next sitting is tomorrow, Tuesday, 18 April 2023, at 9.00. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament website.

The next item is a short presentation of the report by Alviina Alametsä on the implementation of civilian CSDP and other EU civilian security assistance (2022/2196(INI)) (A9-0091/2023).

The next item is a short presentation of the report by Tomislav Sokol on eGovernment accelerating digital public services that support the functioning of the single market (2022/2036(INI)) (A9-0065/2023).

The next item is a short presentation of the report by Loránt Vincze on the institutional relations between the EU and the Council of Europe (2022/2137(INI) (A9—0056/2023).

The Renew Europe Group has notified the President of a decision relating to changes to appointments within a committee. This decision will be set out in the minutes of today’s sitting and take effect on the date of this announcement.

Mr President, the principle of equal pay for equal work has been enshrined in our Treaties since 1957. And this is not an invention (although we often hear from the anti—gender ideologists on the right that this is an idea from feminists); this is in our Treaty and we are fighting for a union of equality and you are defending patriarchy. That’s the difference. In 2012, we had recommendations. The Commission came up with recommendations. Some countries followed these recommendations and the gender pay gap closed in these countries. This is again an example that often recommendations are not enough. We need legislation and I’m happy that we got this legislation today. For the S&D Group, it was very important that this directive work for all women: women in small companies and in bigger companies. Unfortunately, the threshold is now companies of 100 who have to report annually. But we were able to bring it down from 250 to 100, and we were all able together to strengthen the individual rights of workers in this directive, which is very important. So this directive now works for all women. Remember, it was the women during COVID who brought us through tough times: the women in the supermarkets, the women in the hospitals who worked very hard and who made the whole society function. So I’m very happy also that these individual rights are much strengthened. Trade union rights are strengthened also. And we have the shift of the burden of proof on pay—related issues. The burden of proof will shift from the worker to the employer. I’m very proud also on the gender—inclusive language which we put in there. This directive works for women and men in all their diversity. We are out of this binary view. We are in a linear view. There is a diversity of men; there is a diversity of women. This has been stated by rulings from the ECJ and therefore it’s good that this is a modern legislation. Thank you very much to the two young feminist rapporteurs, Samira and Kira. And I’m proud as an old male feminist also to have been participating in this. I want to thank also my good cooperation with Evelyn Regner in the S&D team. Our team was fantastic too, so we did great teamwork together and we did something for the women in our European Union.

Mr President, dear Commissioner Dalli, dear colleagues, children of same-sex parents and children growing up in rainbow families, they deserve to fully enjoy the same rights as their peers from opposite-sex parents. And this in all 27 Member States, and this is why it’s also a European affair. For us Socialists and Democrats, the best interests of children is always a primary consideration and priority, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And the best interest of the child is not only enshrined in the UN Convention, but it’s also enshrined in many constitutions of our Member States, and also the Italian Constitution. I was surprised to hear Ms Mussolini saying that she’s in favour of the regulation for mutual recognition of parenthood. But why did her party colleagues in Italy in the Senate vote a resolution to veto this European Union regulation? This is facts what happened in Italy. And there we see this shift of Italy shifting towards those countries who organise state-sponsored homo- and transphobia. And also the imposition on the Italian city halls to stop the registration of children of same-sex parents, this puts a huge strain on children and it exposes them also to widespread discrimination and a lack of protection, and ultimately jeopardising them and hampering their rights to reach their full potential. Italian mayors like Beppe Sala, they are doing what should be done. They are upholding the rights of children and they put the children’s rights first. They do not want two categories of children in their municipalities. They have understood that recognising diverse families benefits everyone, and it takes no one’s entitlements away. Europe must guarantee all children to see their family acknowledged and validated by law. This is very important and this is a European issue.

The next item is the debate on the report by Dita Charanzová, on behalf of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on general product safety, amending Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Council Directive 87/357/EEC and Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (COM(2021)0346 - C9-0245/2021 - 2021/0170(COD)) (A9-0191/2022).