Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister and colleagues, last week, The Lancet, one of the world's most credible medical journals, published the results of a study into the consequences, as they see it, of US disengagement from overseas development assistance. Their report concluded that US aid disengagement is going to result in an additional 14 million deaths by 2030. We can conclude, even if we believe this is even partly credible, that ODA works. But we know that there is now zero political cost to reducing ODA, whereas there is an enormous human cost, very demonstrably. And this study doesn't even include the impact of EU Member State reductions in overseas development assistance, but we can extrapolate safely that it will probably lead to more than 20 million deaths by 2030. I'm sure you're also aware of the ODI study that concluded that ODA investment delivers equivalent benefits to the EU economy by, for example, reducing trade barriers. So it works, and it can be part of a principled economic foreign policy. But much of what was agreed at Seville is aspirational. So we have something that works, we have something that demonstrably works and saves lives. So I would implore you, Commissioner, to remain a champion for overseas development assistance. And I warmly welcome your commitment to that in your speech earlier.

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner and colleagues, yesterday we bore witness to the very grotesque image of Benjamin Netanyahu presenting Donald Trump with his nomination papers for the Nobel Peace Prize. The words that come to mind are 'beyond parody', 'beyond ridicule', 'perversity', 'incomprehensible' – because on the same day, Israel Katz, the Minister for Defence, proposes to move Gazans to an enclosed area in Rafah, perhaps satirically referred to as 'humanitarian city'. George Orwell could not have invented this kind of language, described as well by Israeli academics and lawyers as, I quote, 'a blueprint for crimes against humanity'. Eventually, all Gazans will have to go there. Even the Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Amos Goldberg, said the plan was for, and I quote, 'the creation of a concentration camp or a transit camp for Palestinians before they expel them'. I think the one thing that we can agree on in this divided House is that the Nobel Committee in Oslo will not dwell too long on those nomination papers.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, I've been to South Sudan a couple of times and it's really striking: the inaccessibility and remoteness of the country, areas with no paved roads about the size of Belgium. It's really quite an extraordinary place. And it's great that we're having this debate, but we have to be realistic, and we're having this debate in the context of US withdrawal – this has impacted NGOs that are delivering humanitarian aid on the ground – and the withdrawal of EU Member States cumulatively and individually. That has had a massive impact. And there's very little that the Commission can do, the European Commission has really stayed the course here. But there are two things that I would call on the Commission to do. First of all, South Sudan is very much a fragile state affected by conflict, disease outbreak, etc., and it really underlines how urgently we need a fragility framework. Secondly, I would call on the Commission to push back hard on the proposal to downsize the EU delegation in South Sudan. As violence and famine spread across the country, I am sure you will agree, Commissioner, that it sends out a very bad signal that the EU will withdraw after the US withdrawal.

Mr President, Commissioner and colleagues, wind now supplies a third of Ireland's electricity, and by 2030 we might be able to exceed domestic demand and be able to provide up to 2.5 % of Europe's electricity needs by 2050. But all of this depends on significant investment in our grids and robust adherence to planning timeframes. According to the Draghi report, it can take three years for the most efficient Member States to deliver grid permitting and nine years in the least efficient ones. And, of course, sadly, Ireland ranks in the latter category. For Ireland, it's like having a huge free supply of water, but only a few small buckets in which to carry it away – an abundant renewable resource held back by a grid that cannot handle it. I would like to commend the book Supergrid – Super Solution by the late Eddie O'Connor and Kevin O'Sullivan, which sets out plans for efficiently transmitting vast amounts of cost‑competitive, regionally produced energy to where it's most urgently needed. And I'm delighted to see many of those ideas contained in the excellent report of my colleague Anna Stürgkh.

Madam President, High Representative, colleagues, the highest court in the world, by an overwhelming majority ordered Israel to refrain from acts that could fall under certain articles of the Genocide Convention. Israel were further ordered to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Instead, in the week that followed, a thousand people were killed in Gaza. From March to May of this year, a complete humanitarian blockade was imposed. Yesterday, the shooting gallery that is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation resulted in more than fifty Palestinian deaths. This is a policy of well-fed corpses. We must move beyond empty statements. As I have previously argued, that means sanctions on those responsible for atrocities, and at least restrictions on trade and arms transfers. The EU cannot continue funding aid for Palestinians with one hand, while maintaining privileged ties with their occupier with the other.

Mr President, High Representative, colleagues, we really live in a strange world. The EU isn't sure whether Israel's murderous attacks on Gaza meet the threshold for a review of the human rights article of the Association Agreement. But many leaders in the EU are sure that Iran's behaviour meets the threshold for a pre‑emptive strike, even while negotiations on non‑proliferation are going on. Unfortunately, what has happened is that Israel's security needs have created a parallel set of international humanitarian law rules. These rules are considered superior to and separate from existing international humanitarian law. We know that Iran and its mullahs have very little regard for human rights, but Israel doesn't get to decide unilaterally when standards of governance have fallen below a threshold, justifying a strike. So, I encourage ministers on 23 June to take a leaf out of the book of the UK, of Norway, of Canada, of Australia and New Zealand and to take action finally.

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he is engaged in a war of civilisation over barbarism. But the civilised world has concluded that it is the IDF that are conducting a campaign of barbarism. A majority of European countries have finally concluded that it is barbaric to use starvation as a weapon of war. That it is barbaric that Minister Smotrich is determined to 'cleanse Gaza'. That Gideon's Chariots is a barbaric and brazen rejection of international humanitarian law. But we cannot just focus on access for aid. We also have to make sure that violence has to come to an end. What hostage has ever been released as a result of a military action? And today we read that the IDF fired warning shots at French and other diplomats visiting the West Bank. If this is the way European diplomats are treated, imagine how Palestinians are treated in the West Bank! And it is unavoidable to conclude that it is the IDF that are conducting a barbaric campaign.

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, I speak on behalf of the Development Committee and share my view that a balanced foreign policy requires investment not just in defence, but also in diplomacy and in development, because without human development and sustainable development, we risk instability in our neighbourhood, we risk extremism, we risk insecurity, and of course, we risk irregular population movement. So even if our warehouses are full with tanks and aircraft and ammunition and every type of military hardware, how does that stop the next pandemic when we have a disastrous collapse in global health funding? Commissioner, I support your wish for simplification and flexibility. On external action, the NDICI instrument is already an exercise in simplification, and it has had a very positive evaluation. And I'll leave you with one final request: the humanitarian funding instrument must be kept separate – it is the way in which humanitarian workers are protected – so that we can rely on its impartiality, independence and neutrality.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, I made my very first speech in the hemicycle in February 2020, and I called on the Commission to treat the UK not as a rival but as a partner. Given that we had two more years of Boris Johnson to deal with, that was probably a tall order. But, I believe, together with the voices of so many Members today in this debate, that we need to go even beyond partnership and talk about a like-minded strategic ally. I believe the time has long passed to continue to punish the UK for Brexit, or to make an example of the UK, to discourage them. I believe that way of thinking is long over, and I believe it's a very much a minority view among in the European Commission. So, we need to approach the TCA review from a position of maximum ambition, including, obviously, SPS, the emissions trading scheme and youth mobility. We need to widen the scope to include finance, given the questions raised about the role of the US. I believe it is in our towering mutual interest to work together to make our respective economies as strong as possible.

Madam President, High Representative, just when you think it couldn't get any worse, you see the scenes coming out of Rafah this week. I think it's fair to say that most of us were absolutely stunned at the images. We know how hostile the IDF is towards UNWRA. We know how dangerous it is to deliver aid in Gaza, and we know how little respect there is for international humanitarian law. Targeting the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Civil Defence is bad enough. And I use the word targeting advisedly, given the sophistication of the IDF military, but then seeking to bury the evidence, evidence that bizarrely included an ambulance and a UN vehicle. And victims still wearing medical gloves. This has to count as one of the darkest episodes in the war. And if the darkest hour is the one before the dawn, then let us hope that the Israelis will wake up to the fact that there is no military solution that will resolve the question of Palestinians right to self-determination. As you say yourself, High Representative, both sides lose. Violence feeds only more violence.

Madam President, High Representative Kallas, 193 member states have signed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And yet, as the rapporteur pointed out in her opening remarks, human rights is in retreat. Everywhere, human rights defenders are under siege, and this report seeks to position the European Union at the centre of the defence of human rights, not just because it's the right thing to do, there is extensive evidence which asserts that while rights are protected, poverty and inequalities decrease, where women are afforded economic opportunities, poverty rates decline. These are the principles that define this European Union. But we must also get our own House in order. And I am concerned about the extent to which our external action, in particular our bilateral agreements, do not contain adequate human rights assessments. For example, the MoU with Tunisia. For example, the Critical Raw Materials Agreement with Rwanda. I thank the rapporteur and all of the fellow shadows for their good work and cooperation and I strongly recommend this report to the House.

Mr President, Commissioner Jørgensen, colleagues, we're having this debate about the tragedy in Sudan at a time when we're dismantling the tools that we would otherwise use to address this issue. We're having it at a time when USAID has been decapitated by the US Government, when the UK has reduced its overseas aid from 0.7 % of GNI a few years ago down to 0.5 % and now to 0.3 %. But the reality is it's about 0.15 %, when you take account of funding that is applied for domestic migration management. The same is happening in the Netherlands, where they've halved their overseas aid, and they don't want to talk about gender equality anymore in the Netherlands. In Belgium, they reduced it by a quarter; in Sweden, in Switzerland, and now the German Government will probably do the same thing. So we can say a lot of fine words in this Chamber, in this Hemicycle – as we've done before – but what we've done is surrender soft power on an industrial scale, surrender influence, and power hates a vacuum. So we have made this decision to retreat from an order of global solidarity and replace it with nothing. And now we're surprised that you find fragile states like Sudan, which is on the brink of starvation, which is so desperately impacted that the US Government in January declared a genocide. I often think, 'pity the soul that has forgotten how to shudder'; you might call it compassion fatigue. But somehow or other, this is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. We have no policy that has addressed this. There has been no statement from the Commission about this collapse in overseas aid. So it's all very well to say fine words here, but until we get a clear statement and establish a floor on European policy on these issues, those fine words will just disappear in dust.

Mr President, Commissioner Hansen, I want to add my voice of support to the argument for the use of immobilised Russian assets for Ukraine. At the very least, we should assert the legal right to seize those assets and apply them to the reconstruction of Ukraine. I have to say, I find it very hard to take seriously the sovereign right argument made by Russia and its sympathisers, in circumstances where Russia has demonstrated a complete and consistent disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours. It would be a proportional response by the EU to apply these assets to Ukraine, given the estimated EUR 500 billion in damage done to Ukraine's economy. I have to say that I am informed that the Irish Government will bring forward legislation in the next two weeks called the Criminal Justice Violation of EU Restrictive Measures Bill. The legal basis for the use of these assets is sound and made out by other speakers. All that remains is for us to send a strong political signal reinforcing the international norm against aggression.

Madam President, Commissioner, first of all, I welcome your endorsement of UNRWA. When I visited Rafah a year ago, Israel was blockading humanitarian access. The excuse given at that time was that UN agencies were disorganised, could not be relied upon, or that humanitarian items could be used for military purposes. Israel has shut off electricity and aid again, but on this occasion, it is so emboldened by US support and EU inaction that it doesn't even offer excuses for the blockade of humanitarian access anymore. And in any case, what type of ceasefire is this? 100 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire. We have seen the outlawing of passive collaboration with the ICC. We've seen the 'Gazafication' of the West Bank. We've seen vicious settler violence and Ben-Gvir rescinding the Oslo agreement, and we're told it's Palestinians that are breaching the ceasefire. As we know, there can be no lasting peace and durable solution without full respect for Palestinian people's right to self-determination.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the path to a sustainable peace in Syria will, of course, not be a straight one. We all know that. But there are positive signs. We saw yesterday's announcement in relation to the SDF and the government, and that is very, very welcome. However, the horrific violence in the coastal area must not go unpunished, and making sure that there is transitional justice is essential for that sustainable peace. The EU needs to invest in the political economy of reconciliation as a matter of urgency. The Syria conference that takes place next Monday is the ninth one, but different from every other – for some very obvious reasons and some less obvious reasons. The most obvious is the change in regime. The less obvious is the fact that international aid has collapsed in the last 12 months. My plea to you, Commissioner, is to concentrate on the agricultural industry, to concentrate on replanting, on irrigation, on bakeries, on the core of the regrowth of the Syrian economy and the pathway to that sustainable peace.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the decision to suspend USAID is consistent with the public policy vandalism that has characterised the beginning of the Trump administration and applauded by autocrats around the world. And it is Afghan women. It is Ukrainian soldiers. It is hungry people in DRC, in Sudan and Yemen that will suffer. But before we get on our high horse, let us not forget that EU development policy is going in the same direction, albeit without the scorched-earth approach of the United States. So what we need now, in the short term, we need agencies to be provided with information about the waivers that are available from the State Department. We need to use every part of our diplomatic capacity to do that. In the medium term, we also have to bring forward contractual payments in order to assist with the cash flow and liquidity problems that agencies are experiencing during this 90 day suspension. And finally, we need a clear statement from the President of the Commission, Madame von der Leyen, a restatement of the EU's commitment and solidarity to our developing world partners. And we also need to make a clear statement that we will not surrender the soft power that we have built up over decades and not surrender that to autocrats. So far, the silence is deafening.

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, we have heard from our colleagues already during the course of this debate about the extent of the problem and indeed, on a business as usual basis, plastic production is estimated to increase by 70 % by 2040. So the urgency for this negotiation on this treaty could not be greater. We have seen as well in this debate the conflict between the diverging national interests of the oil producers and to the great credit of the Commission, the high ambition countries, the High Ambition Coalition, which has sought binding agreements. But I would ask that the Commission would take seriously the concerns that were expressed at the negotiation by developing countries, because naturally, developing countries will require finance to make sure that they carry out the responsibilities that are given to them under the treaty, if it is negotiated, and, of course, to implement the terms of the treaty. So at the EU level, we have to push for a unified and ambitious plastics policy that leaves no room for loopholes, but we also need to expand the High Ambition Coalition and persuade those developing countries that it is in their interest to achieve the outcomes of the treaty.

Mr President, Commissioner, yesterday President Trump signed an executive order and he said that no further US aid would be disbursed unless it could be demonstrated to align with American interests. Now, the European Union's development policy is heading in that direction. We have a geopolitical direction for the disbursement of aid and development aid, and that is becoming a central policy of the European Union. So we might sneer at President Trump for what he's doing, but we should also acknowledge that the ideological direction of European development policy right now is not very far distant from what President Trump has been doing. And the Commissioner is right: we should be haunted by what's happening, we should be outraged. In August, a famine was declared. That should have been a game changer. Two weeks ago, the US State Department said that the conflicts there should be classified as a genocide, and yet the world seems a very much colder place. So we can say whatever fine words – and I do respect your speech today, Commissioner – but if we are going to have a genuinely balanced foreign policy, we have to back it up with budgets. We have to back it up with a thoroughly enlightened development aid policy.

Madam President, Ms Kallas, colleagues, just this morning, I met women peace activists from Israel and Palestine, both of whom emphasised the importance of UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. It's often said that truth is the first victim of war, when in reality women and children are the first victims. The conflict in Sudan has been marked by grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which, combined with a breakdown of basic services, is disproportionately affecting women and girls. Reports of conflict-related, gender-based violence have been widespread in Sudan. We are seeing similar scenes of mass rape and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with children as young as nine being victims of sexual violence. But we have to put deeds with our words, and the reality is that our development aid budgets are shrinking across the EU Member States and here in the Commission. And we have to remember these speeches and these words when we decide on what our development aid budgets will be in the years to come.

Mr President, Commissioner McGrath, for the last decade, democracy has been in retreat, and the idea of democratic recession is not new. Freedom House tells us that, in 2024, the year of elections, global freedom declined for the 18th consecutive year. Now, just 20 % of the global population live in fully free countries. And layered on this already serious problem of democratic backsliding is X, TikTok and others putting the interests of their companies ahead of the interests of the public. We need to stop people being forced into narrower and narrower corridors of thought. We need a free marketplace of ideas and a Digital Services Act that's prepared to bear its teeth. I welcome the investigations into TikTok's risk assessment policy for new features and into its age verification practices. Ahead of the Irish national election just a few weeks ago, an NGO, Global Witness, placed paid adverts on TikTok to test its capacity to stop disinformation. One video claimed that you needed two COVID vaccinations to vote, and it was approved by TikTok. This proves that the need for a very strong Digital Services Act remains very acute.

Mr President, Madam Kallas and colleagues, I am just so pleased that Assad is gone. I campaigned against the policy of normalisation. Just last July, eight EU Member States proposed that we would reopen the Syrian embassy in Brussels. That initiative now looks embarrassing. But at its core was the mistake of trying to put EU migration management policy ahead of what might be in the interests of the wider Syrian people. The reality is that we turned our back on the Syrian opposition. We turned our back on those who fought for justice and against impunity. We turned our back on those who are haunted by the gulags and the prisons and the torture centres. Now, for once, we have an opportunity to invest in reconciliation, in reconstruction of this wonderful country. For the first time, we have an opportunity to really prioritise the interests of the people of Syria in all their diversity. A lot of analysis has focused on Iraq and Syria, but the better example is Sudan. There was a change of leadership there in 2019 and we failed to invest in reconciliation, the growth of democracy, in development. We turned our back on Syrians before. Let us not repeat that mistake.

Mr President, Commissioner, I would first of all say that Mr Kols is wrong, of course: the European Union carried out a very extensive evaluation to satisfy itself that there is no risk whatsoever of the diversion of EU funding from its intended purpose. That has been established time and time again by the European Commission. I would call on the President of the Commission to make a statement putting the full weight of the European Commission behind a request to the Government of Israel to request the Knesset to extend the 90-day period, because, as everybody knows, there is no replacement for UNRWA. As our HR/VP said, all ICC decisions are binding on all Member States. Despite the overwhelming support of EU Member States, we have had no statement from the President of the Commission, and I think it is reasonable to conclude that that silence undermines the legitimacy of the Court and of international law. The EU Action Plan on the ICC states: 'The EU and its Member States will undertake consistent action to encourage full cooperation of states with the ICC, including the prompt execution of arrest warrants'.

Madam President, Mr Commissioner, colleagues, the final communiqué of the G20 summit was surprising in some ways. The establishment of the Global Hunger Alliance was very welcome. The dedication to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the commitment to ending poverty and ending hunger was quite surprising to me. It made me wonder how comfortable EU Member States really would be with signing up to this rededication to traditional development aid. Let's not forget that the EU Member States and the Commission are slashing aid budgets. They are turning their back on traditional development principles and they are diverting aid budgets to migration management. So why does the Global South, under its leadership, dedicate itself to these traditional development goals? It's not because they want to access greater critical raw materials. It's not because they want to address the root causes of migration. They do it because it's right. It is right to be horrified that 700 million people went to bed hungry in 2023, when we have enough food for everybody. So I very much hope that the Commission and Member States take careful note of the importance of this declaration.

Well, I don't have time to go through your own voting record on human rights issues, but let me restate that the Irish Government was one of the first to recognise the State of Palestine, has continuously insisted on the support of UNWRA, has demanded that there be a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement, and has been four-square standing behind the people of Palestine against Israeli aggression. And this is recognised not only by UNWRA, but by the people of Palestine. And they have very much acknowledged and recognised the commitment of the Irish Government in this very, very difficult time.

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, Israel's Ambassador to the UN last week said, and I quote, 'Hezbollah is using UNIFIL outposts as hiding places'. This is patently false. The truth is that the IDF has continuously and flagrantly violated international law, drawing condemnation from the US, from the UK, France, Germany and Italy, in a rare show of moral enlightenment. Yesterday, an Israeli bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower at a UN position. Last week, two Israeli tanks destroyed the main gate of another UN position. Many UN peacekeepers have been injured. So let me take this opportunity to commend the bravery and integrity of UN peacekeepers drawn from 16 Member States. Under intense pressure, they have held the line, carried out route clearances and managed to resupply vulnerable positions, which really underlines how difficult humanitarian access is in the rest of the region. I am struck by the near unanimity in this House, for once, condemning the actions of the IDF. And I hope this message is heard clearly by the IDF, and especially by those UNIFIL troops, to help them to endure the hardships brought about by the current conflict.