Speeches

A second request for urgent procedure, on the ‘Non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions.’ Before the vote, again, only the mover and one speaker against may be heard, along with the Chair or rapporteur of the committee responsible. I will now give the floor to Mr López-Aguilar.

Mr President, Commissioner, indeed the European Parliament calls for the unconditional release of these three journalists and other political prisoners, including the state leaders, in this resolution. But, very importantly, it places this question of the persecution of the free media in the context of the military coup that has spread terror and killed civilians since 1 February 2021. Now is the time to bring the issue of Myanmar back to the international arenas, because it has been largely forgotten. We have seen that the people of Myanmar have united in an unprecedented way against the military junta and its army. Indeed, now is the time when the democratic countries – including of course the European Union at the spearhead – must give their unconditional and explicit support to the democratic forces, as represented mainly by the National Unity Government. ASEAN, of course, is a big player in the region, but the five-point consensus that ASEAN adopted in May 2021 has been a total failure. It has not been able to have an impact on the situation. One of the reasons is that one of the parties to negotiate this consensus was the junta, and I very much encourage the European Union to call for ASEAN to draft a new consensus on the Myanmar issue towards peace and democracy. The National Unity Government should be recognised as a legitimate partner to this negotiation. Now we also have to see that the sanctions that we have in place are gradually strengthened, and that there is proper international coordination of the sanctions with the United States and other like-minded partners. Otherwise, we will be failing in our efforts.

Mr President, I need to thank Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis for really bringing this new approach to sustainable development in free trade agreements. It is a big step further, and I believe that we have all understood that, with the EU’s new trade policy review, trade is not as it used to be; trade is not business as usual. Trade is to be connected, integrated and incorporated into the requirements of sustainable development. Now, one of the deficiencies of the Commission’s approach seems to be that human rights are quite absent, with the exception of labour rights, which of course are very, very important and very directly related to free trade. But, on the other hand, we cannot neglect that there are many other human rights issues that need to be incorporated, and this would be my question to the Commission: is that going to be taken into account? The delegations of the European Union will have a very big responsibility over how this all will be put into practice. An important element there is that the EU delegations must be very open to civil society and other stakeholders in order to get them on board with discussing how free trade agreements are actually implemented and the new requirements on more enforceable, sustainable development. Lastly, I have to ask the Commission: what is your methodology with the existing free trade agreements, which has not been revealed so far? What are the pathways to include the new sustainable development approach in existing free trade agreements?

Dear colleague, I have to remind you about Rule 10, which says that improper behaviour is not acceptable in this Chamber, and I would interpret your words about a Member State, calling the Member State ‘the Wild West’ in a very degrading way, is not acceptable. I will convey this message to the President to take potential measures.

The ECR Group has informed the President of the decision to amend the nominations of the committee. That decision shall be recorded in the minutes of today's sitting and shall enter into force on the date of its notification.

Mr President, dear colleagues, there are clear signs that Putin is in a state of weakness in his war. He also risks to be defeated in Russian society; by the chaotic and arbitrary mobilisation he dismissed the social contract with Russian people. The vast majority of Russians, who have until now remained indifferent to Putin’s war, now have been politicised. Many of them now see that the target of Putin’s war is also Russian people. Against all odds, also, the normally obedient media is criticising the failures of Putin. But, by threatening Ukraine and the whole world with nuclear weapons, a point has been reached where calls for regime change are more than legitimate. They should not be any more a taboo for anyone inside nor outside Russia. Now we must stand by the side of the Russian democratic forces, also those who have had to leave Russia. They never gave up their fight for a democratic future of Russia, even during the ever-growing repression. So, now is the time when we can make the change, working together with these democratic forces.

The next item is the report by Katrin Langensiepen, on behalf of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, on the AccessibleEU hub to support accessibility policy in the EU internal market (2022/2013(INI))(A9-0209/2022).

I would like to make a notification at this stage: Parliament notes, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, that following the election of Mr Jytte Guteland as a Member of the Swedish Parliament, his mandate will be vacant as of 26 September 2022.

That’s very interesting. I want to explain why only one catch-the-eye was awarded. It was because we do not want to encourage the behaviour that those who ask for catch-the-eye do not attend the plenary during the debate, so Ms Grapini I am sorry but this is my decision.

The next item is the joint debate on regional policy: – the report by Constanze Krehl, on behalf of the Committee on Regional Development, on economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU: the 8th Cohesion Report (2022/2032(INI)) (A9-0210/2022); and – on the report by Younous Omarjee, on behalf of the Committee on Regional Development, on EU border regions: European integration testbeds (2021/2202(INI)) (A9-0222/2022).

The S&D Group has informed the President of decisions to amend the nominations of committees and delegations. Those decisions shall be recorded in the minutes of today's sitting and shall enter into force on the date of their notification to Parliament.

President, I say to President Von der Leyen: in your speech you mentioned that through trade policy we can not only strengthen our economy, but also promote shared values with like-minded countries . And one year ago you made the important announcement: the EU will put in place a ban on imports of goods made with forced labour. And I understand that the Commission is now expected to publish its proposal for such a law in a couple of hours. Could you confirm this? There are 50 million modern slaves in the world today and a majority of them work in the global value chains with often a European consumer at the end of the chain. We must do everything to make this legislation work, to ensure the EU or its companies are not complicit in supporting state-sponsored or other forced labour. And it’s very important that, when violations do happen, effective remedy to victims needs to take place. Dear President finally, the report finally released by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is yet another proof of horrendous abuses, including massive forced labour amounting to, at the very least, crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. Will you make sure that the EU enforces an effective regime alongside the US and our other global partners before even the conclusion of further trade agreements?

Mr President, dear colleagues, once again, our Parliament has drafted an excellent report on better regulation in order to join hands and forces to make better laws. But unfortunately, very often, better regulation is merely a catchphrase to justify different political goals, one in, one out, impact assessment, and so forth. So instead of long, casuistic ad hoc measures and better regulation guidelines, what the EU needs is a proper administrative procedure – an administrative code for EU officials that would give citizens a right to demand that the EU follows principles of better regulation and law-making in all of its actions. The European Parliament presented a fully fledged proposal for EU administrative law back in 2016, but so far the Commission has not given it any serious consideration. There is also a lot of room for improvement in the administration here in the European Parliament too. Why wouldn’t we then start with ourselves and make our own work more transparent, accountable, and our own procedures clearer and more predictable?