Speeches

The minutes of this sitting will be submitted to Parliament for its approval at the beginning of its next sitting. If there are no objections I shall forward forthwith the resolutions adopted at today’s sitting to the persons and bodies named in the resolutions.

That concludes the explanations of vote. I am happy that you were so disciplined that we could give the floor to everyone, so thank you very much.

The next item is the explanations of vote. I have 20 colleagues who have asked for the floor and if we are very disciplined we can take them all.

The next item is the Commission statement on poor sanitary conditions, low levels of security and lack of parking places in rest areas for truck drivers (2023/2872(RSP)).

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

The next sitting will be tomorrow, Thursday, 5 October at 9.00. The agenda has been published and is available on the European Parliament’s website.

The next item is the short presentation of the report by Heidi Hautala, on behalf of the Committee on International Trade, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 732/2008 (COM(2023)0426 – C9-0226/2023 – 2023/0252(COD)) (A9-0267/2023).

The next item is the debate on six motions for resolutions1 on Egypt, in particular the sentencing of Hisham Kassem (2023/2883(RSP)). _______________ 1 See minutes.

The next item is the debate on five motions for resolutions1 on the case of Zarema Musaeva in Chechnya (2023/2882(RSP)). __________ 1 See minutes.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, we are witnessing a new crusade in the middle of Europe. The well-financed, organised and transnational anti-gender movement is crusading against the so-called gender ideology, dividing our societies, assailing basic human rights, spreading hateful LGBTI propaganda and inspiring hate crimes. Many reports reveal financial flows from Russia and from American evangelicals, which support the so-called anti—gender movement. Annual spending of this anti-gender movement in Europe has increased by a factor of four since 2009 and amounts to over USD 100 million. And it is a sad reality that many populist parties and far-right parties, including in this House, are part of this shameful movement. Let me be very clear: there is no gender ideology; there is no LGBTIQ agenda. These concepts are figments of their imagination, trying to divert from problems for which they have no answers. We who fight for a Union of equality are merely defending human rights and promoting anti—discrimination so that every European can live a life of their choice, free from fear and full of love. They call us ideologists, they accuse us of spreading propaganda – they should take a hard look into the mirror. They are the ideologists; they want to uphold a patriarchal society at all costs. And I wonder, why are they so afraid of equality? Let me also conclude, being an LGBTIQ person is not an ideology, but it is an identity and certainly not a choice. But being homo- and transphobic – that is a choice, and we have to condemn that.

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear Secretary of State, dear colleagues, housing is a human right, and all Europeans must have access to decent and affordable housing. Yet every day more and more people struggle to pay their rents and their mortgages. To help solve the housing crisis, we call for an integrated EU strategy to create a favourable framework for national, regional and local authorities. As Socialists and Democrats, we also call for a number of progressive policies, such as rental price control, the exclusion of social spending from fiscal policies, and the revision of the housing cost overburden rate. The rampant housing crisis is a clear market failure. Housing has become an object of speculation. At the same time, the Airbnb effect is speeding up the spiral of renting prices and gentrification to a level where local residents and young people can no longer find affordable housing. We must ensure that there is a well-regulated market capable of providing affordable housing to all. The S&D Group demands that housing affordability is included in the European Semester and that national affordable housing plans should be incorporated in the national reform programmes. Everybody deserves a place that they can call home.

Dear colleague, it is not appropriate to call migrants ‘criminals’. It is not acceptable. We will continue with our colleague Dolors Montserrat.

I have to announce that I will close the blue-card procedure because we are really running late and I want to take at least one person for the catch-the-eye from each group. And please respect your speaking time.

When it comes to Nazi language, you cannot use freedom of expression. I will report this to the Bureau and we will come back to this. Thank you very much.