Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the tragedy of the trains in Adamuz, Spain, reminded us of something very simple: Behind every news story are lives, families and entire villages that are forever scarred. Among the victims were Cordoban, Huelva, Andalusian families, and in Andalusia death is lived with deep pain, yes, but also with a hope that is part of the lives of many people, the hope that is born of faith. That's why that funeral was so overwhelming: In the midst of the tragedy, families set an example of dignity, integrity and hope. But it also exposed something we see too often: a government that does not understand, that ignores, how we live, how we suffer and how we Spaniards expect. And perhaps the families and their grief reminded us of something that politics should never forget: That every person's life is sacred and that hope is what allows a people to rise even in the midst of tragedy. Andalucia is a believer, and it is by embracing the cross that we find comfort: In the words of Nati, the victim of the accident, at Adamuz's Catholic funeral. We ask for respect for our faith because it is part of us.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, International Women's Day is a form of recognition of equality in rights and dignity; also of the importance of our participation in all spheres of social life. The funny thing is that it is celebrated very differently in each country. In places like Poland, women receive bouquets and flowers and thanks. In others, it becomes a day of screaming, confrontation and even vandalism, trying to impose an ideology that sees love as a threat, motherhood, slavery, work, oppression. It is a rhetoric that many do not understand and that does not respond to our concerns: make ends meet, start a family, have a job, have a place to live, feel safe online, at home, but also on the street. In Spain, for example, Sánchez's government claims to be the most feminist in history, but rapes have increased by 288% since her term began. Let's return to an inspiring, uncomplex vision of who we are: professionals, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, friends; all unique, with a place in the world, but without facing it.

Madam President, Mrs Mînzatu, ladies and gentlemen, the situation of European families is very worrying. Why? Well, to a large extent, because of the bad decisions made here: increase in the bills of the shopping basket, energy, housing, destruction of jobs. However, there is an anti-poverty strategy that does not speak once of correcting the policies that have brought us here. The social hecatomb that was going to be generated after the green transition was known, but the rhetoric of wealth sharing, systemic injustices, subsidies, minimum wages, which is typical of the rapporteur Oliveira - a communist MEP - continues, but it is astonishing that it has been supported by the majority of this House, even by the EPP Group in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. Talking about more social benefits and increasing spending without generating wealth is counterproductive, it causes more and more poverty, which generates a spiral of misery and growth. For this reason, our group has presented a text with a different vision. Prosperity is not created with agendas imposed from Brussels, but by supporting those who have initiatives – autonomous or small and medium-sized enterprises –, they are the ones who generate jobs. Taxes and bureaucratic burdens that impede the viability of projects, including successful ones – how many companies have closed in the last decade? – must be reduced and the prestige of the irreplaceable work of the family as a generator of life, care, education, but also a dynamizer of the economy must be restored. The best social policy is to generate employment and defend the stability of the family. While others propose more spending, centralisation and ideology, we stand for freedom, responsibility and real opportunities for Europeans to own our future. This is the real anti-poverty strategy. Everything else is repeating the mistakes of the past.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe's Beating Cancer Plan made clear all levels of action: prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation with a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account the social and care needs of the patient and their families. Unfortunately, poor or collapsing health management delays diagnosis and treatment, which in many cases dramatically worsens patients' prognosis. We have promising discoveries and advances in different fields, such as biotechnology, personalized medicine or immunotherapy; new hopes for those who are facing this disease, both in early diagnosis and in advanced therapies. Many of these lines of research are led by European talent, as is the case of Mariano Barbacid's team with the CRIS Foundation for pancreatic cancer, but they are of no use if these opportunities do not reach patients. We are concerned that this momentum is not accompanied by the necessary investment or that the regulatory obstacles that leave us at a disadvantage compared to competitors are not eliminated. Europe should be prepared to manage this knowledge, to promote it and to provide a space where these technologies can be developed and transferred to clinical practice. We have the opportunity to change the way we understand and treat cancer, with a higher survival rate. The European Biotechnology Act is an opportunity to speed up clinical trials and make our environment attractive. We run the risk of being left out of this race and even of all these innovative treatments not becoming available to Europeans. In Spain, it sometimes takes more than two years to be available. The fight against cancer must remain a priority.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today it is proposed that, as a result of the green transition, the digital transition and demographic changes, our labour market and our social cohesion are under enormous pressure. Well, yes, it's really worrying: Families don't make ends meet. How many are out of work? The shopping basket is unbearable today, but who brought us here? Who has made the political decisions? Because those who have created these problems intend to solve them with the same ideological drift that caused them, which chronifies and aggravates the situation even more. Some of us have tried to avoid the constant attack on our primary sector and our industry; job and talent opportunities have been pushed out, and now we are surprised that the labour market does not work, that young people do not find stable jobs, that they lack qualified profiles. And then the education system is pointed out, when the education systems have also been ideologized, instead of having opted for excellence, technical training and real adaptation to the labor market. The consequences are clear: the destruction of the labour market and an increasingly impoverished, subsidy-dependent society. Two days ago, the directive on a just transition in the world of work was voted 'no' in this House. Therefore, less we want a regulation, call it whatever you call it, even if you put a nice name on it. We call on the Commission to stop using the excuse of the European Pillar of Social Rights to meddle in national competences, spend more and legislate more, because what we need is just the opposite: spend better and eliminate the excessive burdens that are drowning us. Only in this way will we naturally regain our capacity for initiatives to emerge and create a prosperous future.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in Nigeria the educational system is largely sustained by the action of the Church and her congregations, thus providing training and opportunities for children of all faiths. Today, many of these schools are closed due to insecurity. Kidnappings are common. Less than a month ago, 300 students from St. Mary's Catholic school were kidnapped with their teachers: Imagine the desperation of parents to see how they take their child at gunpoint. Half of Nigeria's population is Christian, but they have been persecuted for their faith for more than twenty years: in 2023, at Christmas Mass, a massacre; attacks on Christian villages by Islamist armed groups such as Fulani or Boko Haram, which have state-of-the-art weapons. Who provides them? We know that the authorities do little or nothing to prevent it from happening. They react insufficiently and look for rocky excuses such as climate change or the lack of resources to not recognize that it is a cruel persecution against Christians. Worst of all, these excuses are also heard in this house. The motion for a resolution that we shall be voting on tomorrow is again lukewarm. It does not recognize that it is a persecution against Christians, it dilutes it among other conflicts. Displacement of persons does not justify genocide. Or is it? Look, look at how the U.S. statement worked. With excuses Christians are unprotected, we expose them to greater threats. We need a strong solution.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I am surprised, indeed, that the situation in Sudan is analysed without the Commission mentioning that it has a religious component. Radical Islamism is once again responsible for the greatest atrocities. The killing of El Fasher can be seen from satellite imagery. In this horror, Christians and other religious communities are living through two wars: that of the conflict itself and, moreover, that of the intensification of persecution for their faith. More than a hundred churches have been attacked, burned, damaged by religious extremists, who take advantage of the situation of chaos to increase abuses. There are kidnappings, murders, sexual violence. Christians are forced to leave, discriminated against even from humanitarian aid. They are denied food and health care for religious reasons, when precisely before it was the Christian congregations that gave aid indistinctly. I wonder why the European Union does not raise its voice for our Christian brothers. This silence leaves them helpless and exposed to horror. And, in addition, we stop pointing out the threat that radical Islamism is to everyone, wherever they are.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, life is an unavailable gift and the dignity of the human being is inviolable. Are we respecting this principle? I ask them: Are we not increasingly accepting attacks on the integrity of the person – even legally – in order to satisfy individual wishes or interests? Right to decide on my body or on my life, right to be parents, self-determination ... although they disguise themselves as new rights, they contradict the natural right, degrading people as an object, even of trade or discard: people as a means to an end – in surrogacy or prostitution, but also in abortion or euthanasia, among others. Can an assault be legitimate because there is consent or payment? Never. This logic acts as a weapon against the most vulnerable – including ourselves – and against society, and destroys at its root the protection that human rights should provide us with.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, when we talk about mental health, we understand that there is a psychosocial, emotional and even cultural dimension. We know that family stability, childhood development, affective environment and habits are essential factors for health. But we cannot forget that there are also conditions of the brain and central nervous system that are congenital or that have a genetic component, such as some types of sclerosis and ataxias or autism. Others affect neurological development and are degenerative throughout life, such as migraine, epilepsy or ALS. Trauma can also occur. That is why we need to take a more holistic approach in Europe that broadens our eyes: expand the scope of this topic to what is understood as brain health. Millions of people live with neurological diseases; Many are rare, invisible and poorly understood diseases that also need attention. Let's go beyond what is meant by mental health, where many pathologies may not be being addressed: promote research, prevention and rehabilitation and ensure the active participation of affected people, their families and carers. Only in this way can we speak of a Europe that takes full care of people's health and dignity.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the Commission is a woman, that of Parliament, Commissioners, all of you. For what? To continue fostering an ideology that betrays us as women, that denies our identity, confronts us with man and victimizes us? This statement does not once mention the word motherhood. Look, it's hard talking about a woman. The concern is that women will contribute to GDP. Yes, yes, let's not stop working for a single day. Because we want to? How many times by obligation... with two salaries you do not reach the end of the month. Where is that freedom they promised? We are promised, we are put in the unfair situation of having to give up a life, to fall in love, to get married, to start a family. What I'm saying! This they try to show us as a setback: have children, take care of them, take care of them, love them. Love that is then returned to society in every way. This statement of the wonderful and necessary contribution of the family, which is also not mentioned, is forgotten. And other serious attacks on the dignity of women are ignored, such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages, prostitution, surrogacy. Unfortunately, all of them are a reality in Europe.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in Afghanistan, as we have seen in the recent earthquakes, women cannot be cared for by a man, even if it is to save their lives. Why? For where the law of the Shariah a man is prohibited from touching a woman other than his wife or close relative. To the point of letting them die. It is a clear example of how women are treated, but not only in Afghanistan. They know very well what lies behind this cruel mentality. How is women treated in Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia, in so many countries in sub-Saharan Africa? In Iran, at least three hundred and two women have been executed since 2007. Afghan or Iranian women need recognition in this house of what, surprisingly, feminism denies, which is self-evident. They need us to act without complexes before the ideology that denigrates the dignity of women wherever it is applied, which is only radical Islamism. An ideology that is invading Europe without resistance and that puts us at equal risk to women here. Because a man who doesn't respect women in Afghanistan doesn't do it in Brussels either.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today more than three hundred and eighty million Christians are being persecuted in the world. But look in the globalist media: They'll find little. They are silent against totalitarian powers, corrupt powers that are imposed by force, that attack the dignity and freedom of the people. Powers that try to end the Christian faith because they know that it is a source of fullness, harmony, forgiveness, stability and peace. A peace they seek to destroy. That is why Christianity is the most persecuted religion on the five continents. Nigeria, Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, China, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Nicaragua, Cuba... could go on. Our brothers are being massacred, in their homes, in their church. During this year, in Nigeria, an average of thirty-two Christians a day. It's not a statistic, it's a dramatic thing. And Europe does not want to acknowledge it, it does not condemn it. Moreover, it denies its Christian roots, ridicules them and opens wide the doors to radical, anti-Christian mentalities and ideologies that justify these massacres or sometimes commit them even on our own soil.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Alzheimer's affects millions of people across Europe, about one million in Spain alone. Behind each figure there is a person, a family, memories that, little by little, are going out, and these figures could double in the coming decades if we do not act decisively. And today we know how: with an early diagnosis and access to innovative treatments, without forgetting the integral support to the sick and their caregivers, which must become fundamental pillars of our action. In many cases families go through, in solitude, difficult situations that deplete their resources, both material and emotional. It is very hard to have to stop sharing things with a loved one in the same way as before the disease: Even if the relationship changes, his presence is deeper and more valuable than ever, because it transcends what he does or what he says. They may forget, but we can't: We don't want to forget about them. We therefore ask the Commission for a clear European investment commitment for research into this type of disease and we applaud the efforts of the scientific teams working in Madrid and Barcelona with already very encouraging results. There are technological advances that allow us to deepen our knowledge of our body – biological mechanisms – and thus know the causes and get the treatments right, but also with prevention and diagnosis. There are many factors that affect our brain health. Every time we live with more anxiety, stress or depression and we see how the incidence of other neurological diseases increases, not only Alzheimer's, but also epilepsy, chronic migraines, dementia or bipolar disorder. These already account for 35% of diseases in Europe today and generate an economic impact of more than €800 billion per year in the European Union. However, there are still many of them that remain invisible and, therefore, there is no coordinated strategy to address them, either from a medical, social or occupational point of view. Suffering from a neurological disease can mean uncertainty - one day being out of the game and, the next day, almost normally - an oscillation that wears out, because it involves reorganizing plans around unpredictable health. Those affected also face a stigma, because all this happens in a society where it seems that the value of people is measured by their productivity, as if our worth is something that must be demonstrated. This multiplies the pressure they feel, and is troubling because, somehow, the infinite dignity of every human being is questioned according to their circumstances. We must aim for Europe to remain an area of protection of life and human rights, an area of science and innovation where investment in health and care never ceases to be a priority.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the failure of green policies was demonstrated during the last term of office. The ballot boxes were clear in calling for a rectification, but the Commission still ignores this and again uses the pretext of an alleged environmentalism to further stifle, if possible, a key sector for Spain and Europe: the automotive industry. This regulation not only adds obstacles and bureaucracy to our manufacturers and dismantlers: mortgage our competitiveness and our ability to generate employment. These plastic recycling targets are impracticable and clash with the technical reality to make safe vehicles and, also, at a reasonable price, because this not only makes the purchase of a vehicle more expensive, but also puts restrictions on individuals to be able to make repairs. Let's give companies space to be able to deploy their creativity: When there has been freedom, we have been leaders in innovation. Let's respect people's right to choose how to move. We want cars that are safe, that we can pay for, that last, and not cars with an expiration date.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we have been hearing for decades about gender equality and millions supposedly intended to improve women's lives, but this spending has not been focused on something as important as our health. We have seen campaigns aimed many times at social engineering, while the real problems that affect so many women, such as endometriosis, remain completely invisible. One in ten women suffers from this disease, with severe and chronic pain and infertility. However, there is no effective early diagnosis. The investment is insufficient to achieve effective treatments. I ask him the following: Why not allocate spending on ideology to research on diseases that affect women? Over the last decade, the European Union has invested more than €400 billion in projects related to gender equality and the promotion of gender equality policies. Where is the political urgency when the pain is real and not just a slogan? Let us recognize that little has been invested, but, of course, what can we expect when it comes to an ideology that cannot agree even on a definition for what it means to be a woman? A clear reorientation of EU public funds is vital and urgent. Women need real solutions to real problems. This disease affects millions of women in Europe and represents an estimated annual cost of €30 billion in sick leave alone. I'm sure every woman would appreciate an in-depth look at the causes, prevention and treatment. The incidence continues to increase and it is not yet known what factors may be affecting this.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we have been hearing for decades about gender equality and millions supposedly intended to improve women's lives, but this spending has not been focused on something as important as our health. We have seen campaigns aimed many times at social engineering, while the real problems that affect so many women, such as endometriosis, remain completely invisible. One in ten women suffers from this disease, with severe and chronic pain and infertility. However, there is no effective early diagnosis. The investment is insufficient to achieve effective treatments. I ask him the following: Why not allocate spending on ideology to research on diseases that affect women? Over the last decade, the European Union has invested more than €400 billion in projects related to gender equality and the promotion of gender equality policies. Where is the political urgency when the pain is real and not just a slogan? Let us recognize that little has been invested, but, of course, what can we expect when it comes to an ideology that cannot agree even on a definition for what it means to be a woman? A clear reorientation of EU public funds is vital and urgent. Women need real solutions to real problems. This disease affects millions of women in Europe and represents an estimated annual cost of €30 billion in sick leave alone. I'm sure every woman would appreciate an in-depth look at the causes, prevention and treatment. The incidence continues to increase and it is not yet known what factors may be affecting this.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, Europe is blind or perhaps prefers to close its eyes. On June 22, in Damascus, thirty Christians were killed during Sunday Mass in an Islamic terrorist attack. His church – a place of refuge and prayer – became a scene of death and violence. Can an Islamic fundamentalism that has seized power be trusted? Alawites, Druze or Christians, who are examples of reconciliation, suffer unchecked offenses, aggressions, abductions, rapes, massacres for their religion. Let us remember that Christians in Syria have been a fundamental part of the country's history and origins for more than 2,000 years. Today, they are an essential pillar in society, because they offer essential services, such as hospitals, schools and disability care. In 2011 they were 10%, today only 3%. Their persecution and exodus not only threaten Christianity in the region, but also end the hope for a democratic future, stability and peace in the Middle East. But not only there, our spiritual roots are there, the soul of Europe is Christian. To protect you is to protect who we are, to protect our identity, especially in the face of the radical Islamism that many of you...

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, Europe is blind or perhaps prefers to close its eyes. On June 22, in Damascus, thirty Christians were killed during Sunday Mass in an Islamic terrorist attack. His church – a place of refuge and prayer – became a scene of death and violence. Can an Islamic fundamentalism that has seized power be trusted? Alawites, Druze or Christians, who are examples of reconciliation, suffer unchecked offenses, aggressions, abductions, rapes, massacres for their religion. Let us remember that Christians in Syria have been a fundamental part of the country's history and origins for more than 2,000 years. Today, they are an essential pillar in society, because they offer essential services, such as hospitals, schools and disability care. In 2011 they were 10%, today only 3%. Their persecution and exodus not only threaten Christianity in the region, but also end the hope for a democratic future, stability and peace in the Middle East. But not only there, our spiritual roots are there, the soul of Europe is Christian. To protect you is to protect who we are, to protect our identity, especially in the face of the radical Islamism that many of you...

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, one in five children in Europe is sexually abused. Today's adults must be ashamed of us. We are failing them, leaving them unprotected against violent situations that will leave physical, psychological and social consequences that will mark them all their lives. We cannot forget the aggression of exposing minors to pornography. What a child sees, he lives as a real experience, so pornographic content acts as a psychic violation, breaks his innocence and thus affects his cognitive and affective development. This danger is accessible and persecutes them online, hooks them when they are not yet mature, which generates a pathological addiction that is already a public health emergency and also a social poison, because, as children learn by imitating, they will repeat the model they see and thus tend to hypersexualize their relationships, reifying people, especially women. They will return the aggressiveness they have seen on screen. Unfortunately, every click is revenue. 12% of pornography visits are by minors. We must persecute those who profit from the dignity and health of our children.