What Marcos spoke about.

9 Sep

2025

ES Speech

Cohesion policy (joint debate)

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Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, the welfare state begins at the door of the house. If that's not secured, everything else staggers. And, for too many people, housing has become a source of distress, of suffocation. And it is something that is repeated every beginning of the month. Every day 1 it's time to pay 40%, 50% or up to 60% of your rent just to pay for a roof. When a basic right is swall…

9 Sep

2025

ES Speech

Amending ERDF, Cohesion Fund and Just Transition Fund as regards specific measures to address strategic challenges in the context of the mid-term review (debate)

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Mr President, cohesion policy is Europe's social flag. It is the policy that creates jobs, that generates investments where they are needed. It is the policy that turns disaffection into Europeanism, improving infrastructure, building health centers or schools. It is also an instrument of solidarity within the Union and has responded to the challenges we have faced in recent years, which have not …

10 Jul

2025

ES Speech

European Citizens' Initiative 'Cohesion policy for the equality of the regions and sustainability of the regional cultures' (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the European Union is the union of our cultures, a melting pot of different heritages that makes us the richest land in the world. However, in smaller regions the cultural heritage is at risk: Traditions, rituals, languages, songs... are part of the immense cultural richness of the European Union and we cannot allow them to be lost. Cohesion policy is the best lifeli…

8 Jul

2025

ES Speech

2023 and 2024 reports on Georgia (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, Georgia's aspiration to be part of the European Union has become a nightmare. The culprit? Georgian dream. This was already proven by the European Parliament's mission in the elections last October: purchase of votes and other irregularities before the elections and while they were being held. The elections were not clean and the Georgian Dream Government is now taki…

17 Jun

2025

ES Speech

2023 and 2024 reports on Moldova (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the road to integration into the European Union is the road to democracy, justice and peace. Moldova knows this and has chosen to follow this path. This was made clear by its citizens, last October, in the referendum to shield its Constitution towards European integration. And not only its citizens, its government is making progress on the necessary and essential reform…

16 Jun

2025

ES Speech

Strengthening rural areas in the EU through cohesion policy (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, whoever is born today in a rural area of the European Union is condemned to emigrate. Our rural areas are depopulated and any citizen should have the right to stay where he or she was born. Rural areas account for 83% of the EU territory, but are home to only one third of the population, and their average income is only 87.5% of the average income of urban areas. Rur…

16 Jun

2025

ES Speech

The human cost of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the urgent need to end Russian aggression: the situation of illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war, and the continued bombing of civilians (debate)

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Madam President, crimes against humanity: So, no palliatives. This is how the UN report defines what is happening with the disappearances of Ukrainian civilians, enforced disappearances, deportations to Russia, disregarding all international law. Human rights violations, torture and sexual violence: This is what Putin’s government is committing against Ukrainian citizens whom the regime perceives …

7 May

2025

ES Speech

EU support for a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace in Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, what lesson do we want to draw from this war? Where is democracy, respect for human rights? The Russian invasion of Ukraine is an attack on democratic values, on the fundamental principles of the European Union: It is also a war against us, and its result cannot be an unjust peace, an outrage against Ukrainian sovereignty, a punishment for the invaded. The European Union has remai…

6 May

2025

ES Speech

A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing world (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, the budget of the European Union must further our founding objectives: solidarity between territories, balanced growth, less poverty, more equality. These are also the principles of cohesion policy. That is why, in this new multiannual financial framework, we must increase the allocation for cohesion policy. Challenges have multiplied and we cannot do more with less. We…

5 May

2025

ES Speech

Ninth report on economic and social cohesion (debate)

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3 Apr

2025

ES Speech

110th anniversary of the Armenian genocide

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Mr President, for centuries the land of what makes up the European Union today has been stained with blood: blood of young people killed in wars. Until now, no one could imagine that, with much effort, we were going to build a political project that has kept us at peace for more than seventy years. If we look at our Ukrainian neighbors, we can easily understand the enormous value of that. That is …

2 Apr

2025

ES Speech

Delivering on the EU Roma Strategy and the fight against discrimination in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, if we look around us, we can see - the European Parliament is an example of this - that: Europe is a diverse set of peoples. We carry diversity in our motto. However, there are minorities who continue to be discriminated against in our territory, and the Roma people are one of them. The data says it: in the 2023 Eurobarometer on discrimination in the European Union, two…

1 Apr

2025

EN Speech

Improving the implementation of cohesion policy through the mid-term review to achieve a robust cohesion policy post 2027 (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, a citizen walks through the streets of his rural town. He picks up his child from school, drives along a small road and takes him to the health centre. In all three places, he can read the same sentence: 'Financed by European funds.' Which is the European Union's greatest social policy? Cohesion policy which helps all European regions grow at the same pace, which cre…

31 Mar

2025

ES Speech

Situation of European academics and researchers in the US and the impact on academic freedom (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the enemies of freedom always attack research and education first. They always attack first those who want to turn on the lights of progress in our society. They want to keep us in the darkness of obscurantism. This is what happens in the United States with massive cuts in research and teaching. And, in this situation, the European Union must be the beacon of knowled…

31 Mar

2025

ES Speech

European Cultural Compass as a driving force for economic competitiveness and resilience (debate)

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Madam President, the pot is almost empty, and without resources there is no room for improvement. The cultural and creative sector has a strong capacity to improve European competitiveness: more than 7.5 million people work in the cultural world, which today accounts for more than 5.5% of the European Union's gross domestic product. However, its funding is insufficient and, even so, there are thos…

12 Feb

2025

ES Speech

Need for targeted support to EU regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Executive Vice-President, the three years of invasion of Ukraine are also three years of resistance in border regions, European Union territories close to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus suffering the consequences of Putin's invasion: less investment, less tourism, less employment, more economic hardship. One piece of information: Since the beginning of the conflict, almost six mill…

12 Feb

2025

ES Speech

Competitiveness Compass (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, competitiveness is the way to build a strong Europe – today more than ever – on the global stage we live in. A strong and competitive Europe can only be achieved with competitive cities and regions. Far from centralising cohesion policy, we need to be very aware that only the involvement of cities and regions in the design and implementation of cohesion programmes wi…

11 Feb

2025

ES Speech

Boosting vocational education and training in times of labour market transitions (debate)

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Madam President, do we want European talent to lead changes in the labour market? We need to strengthen the role of the European Union in quality education and training, there is no other way. One of the most important elements is equal opportunities: it is crucial to ensure that all young people, regardless of their gender, background or situation, have access to quality education and training. J…

11 Feb

2025

ES Speech

Continuing the unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after three years of Russia’s war of aggression (debate)

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Mr President, three years of war, three years of invasion, three years of confrontation between Putin's authoritarianism and European values over the resistance of Ukrainians. From the European Parliament we continue to support the Ukrainian people with measures such as the Ukraine Facility – €50 billion until 2027 – or the financial assistance framework, which will be financed from the profits ge…

21 Jan

2025

ES Speech

Further deterioration of the political situation in Georgia (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, democracy is still under threat in Georgia. This has already been said by the European Parliament's observation mission to the country: alerted of cases of vote-buying, double voting, before and during the elections. A Parliament elected in an election of dubious validity has now elected a new president and the escalation goes further: the rise of political violence, at…

17 Dec

2024

ES Speech

The situation in Mayotte following the devastating cyclone Chido and the need for solidarity (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, it is as if an atomic bomb has fallen on Mayotte. This is how the victims of the devastating cyclone Chido describe the situation. Cyclones of this nature occur once every hundred years. But we are seeing the extraordinary become the norm. We must denounce climate denialism from here. Ignoring reality, putting sticks in the wheels of the green transition only makes t…

17 Dec

2024

ES Speech

Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, social media brings the world closer to young people. For them, they have a similar effect as television had in my generation, with the addition of the introduction of a greater number of voices to the political debate. But among these voices, actors sneak in with the sole objective of manipulating and spreading disinformation for their own benefit: We've seen it on X o…

16 Dec

2024

ES Speech

Regional Emergency Support: RESTORE (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, catastrophe happens in minutes. Suddenly, the flood produced by the torrential rains bursts into your house with overwhelming force. In a moment, the water has devastated your entire life and, sometimes, without anyone notifying you. The European institutions must respond to tragedies with the same forcefulness and speed. Herein lies the importance of RESTORE. It is …

28 Nov

2024

ES Speech

Foreign interference and espionage by third country actors in European universities (debate)

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Mr. President, autonomy and freedom. These are the pillars of our universities and we must preserve them if we want to maintain higher education and research, which are the spearhead of social progress. We need to strengthen our competitiveness and strategic autonomy in order to be able to cope with great powers such as China or the United States. And this path passes through free and autonomous u…

28 Nov

2024

ES Speech

Strengthening children’s rights in the EU - 35th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, children and young people are the future, we always say so; But this future is determined by the opportunities we offer them. Do we want an unequal future or are we going to work towards a just and equal society? To do so, we need to give young people and children the tools they need to develop fully as people. Education and health are the drivers of equal opportunities…