Speeches

Madam President, dear European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, dear Executive Vice-President of the Commission, dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Jahr, and all our shadow rapporteurs for the work done on this file. Most importantly, I would like to thank our European Ombudsman, Ms O’Reilly, and her wonderful team, for their tireless efforts to improve the standards of EU administration over the past 11 years. Transparency, accountability, and compliance with fundamental and human rights obligations are essential elements that were investigated by the Ombudsman and her office in 2022. Those values are the core of our Union, and I am glad to see that the Ombudsman’s recommendation helped to improve the functioning of our institutions with tangible results. I particularly welcome the inquiry on the revolving door policies of the Commission and of the European Central Bank, as well as the inquiry on the handling of work-related texts and instant messages. For the Socialists and Democrats Group, it is important that our institutions must follow closely the Ombudsman’s recommendations. At the current stage, more needs to be done to reach an appropriate level of accountability in European public administration. Systemic and significant delays in how the Commission handles requests for public access to document still exist, and this is unacceptable and rightly considered as maladministration. It is unacceptable that citizens and journalists have to wait – sometimes up to 15 months – before the Commission processes their requests. The Council’s refusal to give full public access to documents related to some negotiations is also a worrying sign of widespread structural problems. The European institutions need to take concrete steps in this regard. Transparency lies at the basis of our citizens’ trust, and today, more than ever, it is essential to demonstrate our ability to keep promises and maintain high accountability. I would also like to thank our Ombudsman for the excellent coordination work she does with the enlarged European Network of Ombudsmen. As a Vice-President, I can tell you that this Bureau has been very active this last month to strengthen our transparency rules and our accountability here in the Parliament. It was good that you mentioned it too. I thank you and your team very much for your good work.

Mr President, dear Commissioner and colleagues, consumers and their choices: they play a central role in the green transition and also in boosting the circular economy. Indeed, many want to consume more sustainably. However, in many ways, the odds have been against them. A bewildering jungle of labels and dubious environmental claims, products designed to have a limited lifespan, or a lack of information about the repairability of products have meant that consumers have found it difficult to make greener choices and contribute meaningfully to the green transition. We, as the Socialists & Democrats, have long advocated measures to counter such unfair commercial practices, and this directive is a game changer. It will, for example, strengthen the credibility, transparency and monitoring of labels to avoid green- and social washing. It equally proposes strong measures to tackle early obsolescence and provides more information to consumers about their rights under the legal guarantee of products. With this directive, we empower Europeans to choose products that are more durable, repairable and sustainable. It is emblematic of how our European Union can benefit Europeans in their everyday life. Thank you to the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs for the good work.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmidt, Secretary of State Navarro Ríos, colleagues, even though housing is a human right, the number of young people struggling to find and to afford a place they can call their home is rising every day in all the 27 Member States. Too many young people are experiencing homelessness and, as a consequence, they suffer from high rates of chronic health conditions, mental and substance use disorders. Bad housing conditions and homelessness is even worse for children because it puts them at risk of emotional and behavioural problems, which affect their school success. Let me also recall the worrying rise of LGBTI youth homelessness. Intersectional discrimination, lack of tolerance and racism are linked to the housing crisis, and deepening our Union of Equality also means fighting discrimination and inequalities in the housing market, and this will benefit young people and students. I am glad that yesterday, with the Spanish Presidency, we concluded the deepening and the strengthening of the equality bodies, because this is also fighting against discrimination on the housing market. We must solve the housing crisis and therefore we call for an integrated EU strategy that creates a favourable framework for local, regional and national authorities. To guarantee housing for all, the Socialists and Democrats support a number of progressive policies, such as rental price control measures, the exclusion of social spending from fiscal policies, the revision of the housing cost overburden rate and rules to avoid that student and other apartments are used for tourist purposes. Therefore, we support also the Commission’s regulation to regulate short-term rentals. The rampant housing crisis is a clear market failure. Housing has become an object of speculation to a level where young people and students can no longer find affordable housing. A well-regulated market capable of providing affordable housing to all is urgently required. Public housing policy also should be excluded from competition and State aid rules, thereby allowing governments to design a strong public housing policy. Everybody deserves a place that they can call home and we must deliver.

We turn to the next item on the agenda, namely the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the situation in Venezuela (2023/3032(RSP)), and I once again invite the High Representative, Mr Josep Borrell, to take the floor.

The next item is the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the attempted coup d’état in Guatemala (2023/3031(RSP)).

The next item is the debate on the report by Domènec Ruiz Devesa and Sven Simon, on behalf of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, on the European Elections 2024 (2023/2016(INI)) (A9-0332/2023).

Madam President, let me be very clear: with this report we make the fight against all forms of discrimination and inequality a priority of this House and of this Union. And by supporting the mandate, we defend the European core values enshrined in our Treaties and we give a clear signal to our citizens that this House stands behind them. Deepening the Union of Equality is the best instrument to protect and to promote our democracy, and we are here in the house of democracy so I invite everybody to vote for this report. It is a good report. Thank you to the European Disability Forum, to Equinet and to all the civil society organisations and human rights defenders that supported us and helped us make this report a good report. And thank you to my co-rapporteur Sirpa and to our teams and all the shadow rapporteurs. Let us be on the right side of history.

The next item is the debate on Council and Commission statements on 30 years of Copenhagen criteria – giving further impetus to EU enlargement policy (2023/2987(RSP)).

The next item is the debate on Council and Commission statements on Cyprus Confidential – the need to curb enablers of sanctions-evasion and money-laundering rules in the EU (2023/2986(RSP)).

The next item is the debate on the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the destruction of judicial independence and the persecution of democrats in Hong Kong (2023/2984(RSP)). Commissioner Dubravka Šuica is standing in for the High Representative this evening.

The next item is the debate on the report by Guy Verhofstadt, Sven Simon, Gabriele Bischoff, Daniel Freund and Helmut Scholz, on behalf of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (2022/2051(INL)) (A9-0337/2023). This reminds us that the Conference on the Future of Europe, which took place in this room during two years, has not been forgotten by the representatives of the citizens.

Pursuant to Rule 158(2), on a proposal from the President and with the agreement of the political groups, I would like to inform the House that due to the length of the voting session, the sitting on Wednesday is extended until 23.00.

The minutes of yesterday’s sitting and the texts adopted are available. Are there any comments? As that is not the case, then the minutes are approved.

Just before I give the floor to the next speaker I would like to announce that we have nine people for the catch-the-eye already. I will take them all, but I will close the list now for the catch-the-eye.

The next item is the debate on the recommendation by Daniel Caspary, on behalf of the Committee on International Trade, on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand (06600/2023 – C9-0247/2023 – 2023/0038(NLE)) (A9-0305/2023).

Following the appointment of our colleagues Ernest Urtasun and Sira Rego to the Spanish Government, Parliament takes note of the vacancy of their seats from 21 November 2023 in accordance with the Rules of Procedure.