Speeches

If I knew you I would name you by name. But they weren't given a chance. We don't know anything about you, except that you have kept it in life even though it has given you on your face. And we continue to call you illegal. Politics has failed – in your country and even in Europe. Politics has killed you, and you still find someone who keeps stressing on walls. But the walls are only in their hearts. Because to get off a safe journey like you, you not only have to risk your life but you have to trust in the hearts of people you don't know, often just how much money you get and leave you for your wind. Unfortunately, though you have not found a physical wall, the European heart has still failed, stressing so much the beauty of diversity. How long will we come here, plenary after the other we stress the importance of legislating on immigration? How many lives do you want to lose? How long will you turn your face around if you are not the first point of hope for these people arriving in Europe? Probably, turn it around, because you are not raising up for the dead children on your shores. You have left the periphery countries alone! We would have spoken differently if we knew these people by name, if we could feel the fear in their hearts. But now we can’t because what it was, it’s no longer.

Media freedom is fundamental and we must do our utmost to safeguard and protect free independent media across the EU. In the last years, shocking assassinations across the Union have reminded us that while democracy strengthened with time and technology, freedom of expression remains under attack. The rule of law and good governance are our Union’s fundamental values. Malta and the S&D strongly share the same aims and objectives in safeguarding the protection of journalists. I’m glad we are today discussing the report by two of my colleagues, proposing EU-wide anti-SLAPP legislation; I’m more satisfied that Malta is at the forefront of introducing its own anti-SLAPP legislation, part of our Media and Defamation Act, which I believe will be in line and go beyond, in some areas, what will be enacted at EU level. In the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), I focused mainly on widening the protection to artists, academics and civil society - who shape opinions within our society and strengthen our democracy. They deserve the same protection. Look at the work by the Atlas of Hate in Poland. Court cases initiated against young artists for simply outlining the municipalities declaring themselves ‘LGBT-Free-zones’. We must be on their side too.

Madam President, transparency in politics is not only important, but essential. We currently have a system of self-verification, self-regulation at EU level and, Commissioner, we work so hard to fight greenwashing in Europe, we must do the same to fight for transparency and the integrity of all members of all institutions of this European Union. What a shame that governments have chosen to stay out from having an independent interinstitutional ethics body. European governments, together with the EPP and the fascists in this House, are giving the signal that they do not want transparency for our institutions. I am very satisfied that even in my last speech in this House, under this mandate, I am fighting corruption, bribery, and I am fighting for the transparency and the enforcement of all ethical standards in this European Union. We need these to be higher. We need to fight for what is good, and we need to fight for this House, for the European institutions, to regain their credibility after a number of embarrassing and problematic issues that have cropped up. And while this is also my last speech, my commitment to the values of this European Union – equality, human rights, the protection of minorities and the strengthening of democracy – will keep on being my fight together with you elsewhere.

Mr President, today is a sad 10th anniversary: the refusal of the Council and the Commission to reform Parliament’s rights of inquiry. The attitude of your institutions is totally unacceptable and disrespectful to us, but also to the European citizens who directly elected us. I don't understand what's so innovative or outrageous. This right of inquiry is, however, entirely normal for a Parliament in its supervisory functions. What will the Commission say in its rule of law reports if a government refuses such a dialogue at national level? Is this the fear of a new Santer scandal? Is the Council afraid that this Parliament will uncover problematic elements? Indeed, your collaboration with our Commission of Inquiry on Spyware has been deplorable. More transparency and institutional control are essential in a democracy.

Madam President, Saifeddin, Zomi, Damian, James Kirby, John, James Henderson and Jacob all killed in a single Israeli airstrike while they were doing their work in Gaza. But we were told that it’s fine. The IDF informed everyone that it was a mistake, so now they expect that all should be forgiven, as if nothing ever happened. But let me send a clear message. We will not be swayed by hollow apologies. Your empty promises. No, we do not buy the notion that this was mere collateral damage. In a so-called mistake. 34 000 innocent lives have been lost in Gaza. And here is a fact for those who try to always put this down, find excuses. Oh, they’re not even here. The EPP, ECR and the far right. The fascists are not here today, but 34 000 lives in Gaza. To put this in context, is 1 400 000 lives in Germany, 1 100 000 lives in France, 1 million lives in Italy, 9 000 in my country, Malta. But even if it were just one life, we would stand up for that life to be counted. How many more lives need to be lost until we wake up to this genocide? Justice must be served. Justice means a ceasefire. Justice means that we recognise Palestine as a State, so that Palestinians can live freely in peace and be able to live their lives to the full.

Mr President, Commissioner Dalli, I want to live in a society where the most vulnerable people find our support and support all of us. A society that does not look at what we cannot do but looks at everyone’s abilities and creates a framework where everyone can reach their full potential. I want to thank the rapporteurs for the great work they have done, I, as shadow rapporteur, wanted to see that the inclusion and intersectionality of all is reflected in this law, which gives great strength and protection to all. I wanted to see everyone included in this law so important that it gives the freedom of free movement of persons throughout the European Union. Twenty years ago, I see David, together with him and others, campaigning around ten European Union countries so that another 75 million European citizens join the 400 million Europeans so that as European citizens we have our fundamental free right all over the European Union. Today we are making sure that people with different abilities all over Europe, this is a reality for all of them without losing any right to move from one country to another of the European Union. Commissioner Dalli, this is my last chance, probably, in this room to thank you for the work you have done for equality in the European Commission. I believe that when we look back, this mandate is the strongest mandate of the Commission and the Parliament as well as the Council in favour of equality. Thank you and your team for all the work you've done.

Madam President, as a Parliament, we are strongly united to fight human trafficking and the organised criminal networks that prey on the most vulnerable people across the globe. I believe that all human trafficking should be condemned. Anyone who is forced to do anything against their own will should be considered as a victim and needs our protection in the European Union. I do agree that anyone using the services of people who have been human-trafficked should also face criminal proceedings, and that is why I agree with this very strong statement and with this very strong directive in this Parliament being discussed right now. However, if I could constructively criticise the text, I would say that we should not have listed the different reasons why people are exploited, why people are trafficked. I say this because all of it is wrong, all of it is criminal, and we can run the risk of leaving some situations out. At the same time, we have unfortunately listed all of surrogacy in general terms as something which is totally wrong – and I agree, if this is forced, it is unacceptable. But then there are some circumstances where we have altruistic surrogacy, and we need to make sure that we do not put this in a negative light. Let’s be strong. Let’s combat human trafficking in all our force, ensuring justice for all victims and holding criminal networks accountable.

Mr President, woman number 4: ‘When I went for my scan, I found I had cancer. In Malta you cannot get therapy if pregnant. According to law, I should have sacrificed my life for the foetus’s life and leave my children orphaned.’ Woman number 10: ‘I don’t remember much of that night. He hit me so hard I was unconscious. I woke up without any clothes on me’. Mara, 26: irrispettivament miċ-ċirkostanzi, minkejja li t-tarbija ma setgħatx tgħix, sfurzawni nkun qabar għal disa’ xhur. Mara, 28: kelli nqatta’ l-iktar lejl tal-biża’ u ta’ solitudni waħdi f’kamra f’lukanda. Woman 38: ‘I was in fact a hero who saved a life. I saved my own life’. All these women have names, but if they speak, it means three years’ imprisonment for their crime to survive in my country, Malta. Five hundred women per year in my country have illegal, unsafe abortions at home alone. L-awtonomija tal-ġisem hi fundamentali għal kulħadd: għal persuni trans, għan-nisa u għal kull individwu ieħor. Today is 14 March 2024, and this is the first speech by a Maltese in this Parliament in favour of choice for everyone.

Mr President, I’ve taken transparency quite strongly here since I’ve been a Member of this House and I must say, I’m very disappointed in the failure of the Commission to provide timely access to documents. Everything is delayed, everything is late, sometimes they don’t even arrive these documents. This transparency is very crucial for public scrutiny and it is very crucial also for trust that our citizens must have in our European institutions. But it is not only the Commission. I must urge also governments in the different Member States to take transparency seriously. It is unacceptable to have journalists being denied freedom of information requests and then needing to go in front of the courts to get public documents that should be everyone’s. I would like to highlight the wonderful job of the European Ombudsman O’Reilly for keeping the pressure on the Commission and for providing us with figures, but also for the introduction of a fast-track procedure by the Ombudsman to deal with so many complaints in this field. It is crucial for citizens, but also for journalists to be provided quickly those accesses and this is important for the well-functioning of our democracy. So Commission, Member State governments, delaying so much public access to documents is not only unacceptable, we need to make sure that transparency... (The President cut off the speaker)

Mr President, madam Commissioner, I have said that a number of times in this House it starts with a word, an insult, a slur, but then it moves to a fist, a knife and sometimes a gun. But what happened in Thessaloniki last weekend must be condemned. But how much more hate speech and physical attacks against LGBTIQ people will we have to denounce in this House? What starts as transphobic language by fascists, even in this House yesterday when discussing International Women’s Day, ends up in a mob of over 200 people hurling abuse, throwing bottles and running after two 20-year olds in Aristotle Square and the surrounding streets. Shame on all of you from the far right who come here inciting this hatred with the words you use in this Parliament, the words you use on television and in your speeches. Shame on you! Hate and violence have no limit, but we will fight tooth and nail so that this House remains a shelter for those running away from your hatred. I welcome the condemnation by the Greek authorities, but I urge our heads of states and governments, I urge opposition leaders to speak about inclusion, to speak about equality every day, every week in their speeches, because it is only in this way that we can change hearts and minds. It is these speeches, because the minute we stop mentioning equality is the minute that we start backsliding. Democratic forces who believe in the rule of law, who believe in human rights, who believe in the protection of minorities, must counter the hate of fascists and some religious leaders also in Greece. And to the trans-community in Thessaloniki, you are not alone! We are with you and we will be with you this June in the streets of Thessaloniki for EuroPride. We will join the thousands who have marched last Sunday so that we march together in June in Thessaloniki, because love will win over the fascists’ hate.

Madam President, Commissioner, more efficient, simpler and harmonised migration rules are essential for the whole system to work. Malta, like the rest of Europe, is more and more relying on workers coming from abroad. Rather than hysteria and scaremongering from the far right that we have witnessed during the past years on irregular migration, we should really focus on legal and fair migration routes as part of a holistic migration policy. We must offer a safe alternative to smugglers and the dangerous routes that they use. I very much welcome provisions in this text which give more freedom to workers towards choosing new jobs and therefore new employers, and the improvement on equal treatment in relation to housing. These are key social victories for workers. When we strengthen the rights of migrant workers, we are strengthening the rights of our European workforce too – and this is very important to understand. It is completely incomprehensible how some Member States, like France, have blocked the recast of the Long-Term Residents Directive, echoing the words of the far right. I hope that this text today will improve the conditions of all people seeking to work legally in Europe, and I hope someone like Kusi Dismark would benefit from those provisions, that we would not witness again the shameful situation he had to go through in Malta.

Mr President, populism, disinformation, lack of transparency, and the weakening of institutions and procedures are putting the rule of law and democracy under threat in the European Union. And I urge this House to keep on defending democracy, keep on defending human rights and keep on defending the rule of law as a key priority in the next mandate after June, because European citizens depend on their representatives, both at national level and European level, especially when those in power think that popularity absolves them from respecting the rule of law, defending democracy or from protecting human rights. Because in a democracy, popularity should never make anyone believe that they are above the law, or that they could decide which fundamental rights citizens could enjoy. I thank the Commission for once again taking this positive step to look at the situation in each and every Member State. However, I would like to see this procedure happening in a more independent way, rather than relying on Member States having an independent panel which evaluates each and every Member State. And I also would like to see the Commission, as a guarantor of the treaties, to have concrete and speedy actions, to enforce the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights. Because what we have seen happening with Hungary, for instance, and the conditionality mechanism, is shameful on the Commission. We can never stress enough that democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are the foundations on which everything else is based on. It is in this light that I cannot but show my disappointment at how our President herself failed to take this message and the resolution adopted by this House to Greece, and pretend that there are no issues, where – I remind – government was tapping politicians and journalists, there are systematic flaws in the rule of law in Greece, and where a journalist has been assassinated and until today, there is total impunity. To conclude, I would like to encourage citizens and civil societies, all European universities and students, human rights defenders to engage in critical thinking, to lead strong democratic revolutions. Some want critical thinking to be seen as a crime. Some political forces are trying to control the media, leading to a situation where pluralism or independent reporting becomes less and less possible. Do not allow this to happen. Do not allow everyone to shut your mouth.

Mr President, this is a world of rising inequalities, and you mentioned political will, Commissioner. Where do I even start? Eleven-year-old Razan, from Gaza, lost the majority of her family, like more than 17 000 children in Gaza are separated from their families at the moment. Where is the political will for a ceasefire, Commissioner? Twenty-two-year-old Yemenis gay man Hassan, chucked out of his home by his family, raped every day for food by a restauranteur while living in a cave for years. Where is the political will, Commissioner, for one European Member State to at least offer him protection? Kusi Dismark, thirty-seven years old, from Ghana. Living and paying taxes in Malta for thirteen years, owning his own business. Deported last week because thirteen years ago he didn’t qualify for asylum. Where is the political will? Kim Borg committed suicide in prison at the age of twenty-nine, locked up rather than given help for her addiction. Political will, Commissioner? I think this is more political convenience for those who are in power.

Madam President, this legislature, our Europe, stood for equality. I must thank you, dear Commissioner, dear Helena, for the work and your dedication to make sure that we move strongly towards equality, even when having to swim against the tide in certain quarters. I believe it is essential that in the next mandate, in the next Commission, we will once again have a progressive Commissioner with this portfolio of equality in order to make sure that we keep on moving forward. Let me speak on one particular part of this strategy. It was already mentioned before: conversion practices. I thank the Commission for having the citizens’ initiative approved, and I hope that in the next months we will have much more than 1 million people signing the citizens’ initiative in order to stop this abominable way of manipulating children’s minds, people’s minds, in order to make them change whoever they were born into. This is an abomination and it must be stopped all across the European Union! We did this in Malta – we were the first country to do so – and it must be stopped in all the countries of the European Union. Because it is unacceptable to lead young people to suicide, simply because some people from the far right and the anti-gender movement do not acknowledge who they are! This is unacceptable and this House will always stand with all young people, all across the European Union.

Madam President, love and inclusion go beyond the hate of the far right that is always ready to juxtapose one community against the other. First, they were the frontrunners in antisemitism, including denying the Holocaust, and now leading an Islamophobic campaign. But away from the far right in this European Parliament, away from the far-right government in Israel, or the far-right Hamas in Gaza, I’ll just mention one beautiful story. It is that of two men: David, who is Jewish, and his partner Amir, who is Palestinian, who have been living together for 15 years in a region which is in turmoil. They built their family over there. And yet this is only one example of so many interesting stories of people who come together in love, notwithstanding the hate of the far right. Because let’s speak of the far-right hate, the homophobia. They would be against this couple. The former antisemites would be against half of this couple, and now they’re against the other half with their Islamophobia. These are so many countless stories of love. And no, criticising the far-right Israeli Government is not antisemitism as much as condemning fascist Hamas is not Islamophobia.

Mr President, I am glad to belong to the socialist group, which has taken the lead to push for an ambitious directive on quality traineeships. Mr Commissioner, I rely on you to give this message to President von der Leyen – we need to tell her that the time to act is now. We cannot wait any further because all young people should have the opportunity to get experiences in the institutions, and not only those who have parents who can finance them while they’re working here in this Parliament or in other institutions, in what some can experience something which is very similar to modern slavery. Traineeships should not be only for the privileged youth. They should be for everyone. And as we are speaking of this, even in this Parliament, how can it be possible that even today trainees cannot rent the bicycles that we all get for free? Members, assistants, advisers, everyone who works in this Parliament can get bicycles for free, but trainees have to pay for bicycles outside of this European Parliament, while the rest of us get them for free, and they are the least paid in the European Parliament. I was so happy to invite 100 young people, one every week during this mandate, to join me here in this Parliament, all being paid for coming here. And I’m so glad that, out of this, now one is running for the European Parliament elections, and many of them are running for local council elections, because once we give young people the opportunity, the sky is the limit. They can reach the sky.

Madam President, wow! I just heard the EPP in a very different tone when it comes to the rule of law, simply because there is a government in Greece that is led by an EPP government. Meanwhile, did the new Presidency lose itself in the corridors for the third debate in a row? It is not even here to discuss a very important topic for us here in Parliament. But finally, we are discussing the situation of the rule of law in Greece after being blocked by the EPP so many times in this very chamber. But let me be blunt: why is the EPP so eager to defend the rule of law only where the EPP is not in power? And yes, I specifically speak of the EPP family here, as I am the first one to recognise that rule of law issues in countries where there is also a Socialists and Democrats majority, like in my country. In my own country we had never a problem to discuss this, but Maltese authorities always had an open dialogue with this Chamber and took on board many recommendations to implement as many European standards as possible. But what is the history with Greece? So firstly, we have a systematic breach of the rule of law. We have spying by government institutions on activists, politicians and journalists, tapping their mobile phones. We have had the murder of a journalist, Giorgos Karaivaz, and we have an attack on the fundamental rights of asylum seekers, and yet this is the first time that we are discussing the rule of law in Greece. We saw that even this chamber tried to stop last March a mission regarding the rule of law in Greece by the by the LIBE Committee, where President Metsola and the EPP even tried to annul it. Then the next day, the EPP Greek Government receives an EPP delegation from this Parliament: different hypocritical ways of acting when it comes to these topics. This is an important topic, we need to discuss it wherever it happens, whether it is in Greece, Malta or whatever other country.

Mr President, as Socialists we have been, are and will always remain at the forefront to ensure that the fundamental rights of all European citizens are safeguarded. Last year I was the negotiator of this file and I would like to see my colleague, Katarina Barley, who has advanced this report this year, and very interestingly that chapter contained in the report which speaks of the social, economic and even environmental aspects. In one of the first speeches I had made in this Parliament I stressed that the environment and a healthy environment should be a fundamental right for all citizens, not only Europeans but also in countries, in Malta. And that's something I believe in. We must ensure that we have a healthy environment in our constitution, in our country, but also that the healthy environment is considered a fundamental human right at European level. And we have already done this at the United Nations last year and now I look forward that we too as Europe will be at the forefront to elevate fundamental human rights to the next level.

Madam President, ‘poofter’, ‘dyke’, ‘faggot’, ‘monster’: it all starts with one word, but it sadly ends with a knife, a fist, and in certain cases, a gun. This report should be a wake-up call for ministers to finally make hate speech and hate crime an EU crime. Ministers were very quick some months ago to add some other crimes in this list, but why not these? You see, the Commission is ready, Parliament is ready, civil society is ready, our citizens are ready, but the Council is the only missing one, always missing when there is a need to deliver protection of basic human rights. And even in this debate, where is the Council? The Presidency is not here, and not even one representative of one Member State is in this chamber on this very important topic, which they have blocked for a number of months and years now. Can ministers continue to turn a blind eye on the rise of hate speech all around Europe, targeting in particular women, the LGBTIQ community, refugees, migrants and opposing one community against another? This is unacceptable. Radicalisation of far-right and conservative narratives, especially anonymously online, must be stopped by all means.

Mr President, may I take the opportunity to congratulate you, Commissioner, dear Helena, for being awarded the highest of awards yesterday in our country for the resilience which you have shown during your career to achieve equality, even when most did not believe in it or wanted to keep the status quo, which is all too comfortable for many. And that is the same resilience, and it is the same ambition that is needed in the global fight against climate change. During COP28 till the last minute, many were still doubtful, many were not believing that what could be achieved was actually achieved, when it comes to fossil fuels. It is the first step in the right direction. But now, as a European Union, we really need to make sure that we reach our targets. And during this COP28, the European Union, and usually I am quite critical of the Commission and the Council, but we have shown to be the strongest when it comes to the fight against climate change and to protect the environment. And this is the ambition, this is the resilience that we need from young people in the coming weeks and months and years, so that they continue pushing us in order to achieve what needs to be achieved for our climate.

Mr President, it’s so sad to hear the Members from the far right speaking in this manner on these families. It’s sad not because of what we think over here in this Chamber, it’s sad because of those many children who have same-sex parents who will be looking and listening to this debate and hearing all this hate from members of the far right in this Parliament, pretending as if these children are simply second-class citizens or non-existing children of this European Union. I couldn’t continue with the speech that I prepared, because I think it is all irrelevant when I hear these things. I want to mention just one story. When we introduced same-sex adoption in Malta in 2014, the first child to be adopted by a same sex-couple was a child that was rejected by, I believe, ten heterosexual couples simply because he was disabled, because he was a Down’s syndrome child. This is the love that those parents showed this child. Because a parent is a parent through love and care, and does not depend on their sexual orientation, does not depend on their gender identity or sexual characteristics, or even the jurisdiction they live in. Parenthood is all about love and those children have parents that should be recognised everywhere.

Mr President, I’m not surprised that the EPP today is not accepting our blue cards when we try to ask some questions, because I remember the political bickering that we had last year, and unfortunately, it was repeated today in this plenary chamber. I believe that we should look away from the partisan bickering and focus on what we still need to do to make sure that we fight corruption, that we fight the lack of transparency that exists because, since last year, unfortunately, what I have seen is that the European Commission has come up with a package on foreign interference, which is good, it could be stronger, but it is a step in the right direction. But then, we forget about the elephant in the room: what’s happening within our own Member States, what’s happening in the Council, what’s also happening sometimes in this European Parliament? I say this, because in negotiations this week, the EPP does not want to have a mandatory transparency register, for instance. How can we fight corruption, how can we say that we want transparency when we are against the word ‘mandatory’ in a transparency register ? You know that the Qatargate files seen by Politico spoke about 300 jobs executed by their soldiers in the European Parliament. We need to fight that now.

Mr President, what do young people have before them today? Environmental crisis, high price crisis, debt to continue studying in a specialisation they are interested in, prices of flats just as expensive as the most beautiful terraced houses. Then we ask why we have a mental health crisis and a substance use crisis. But doing nothing is not the solution. So I encourage disillusioned and angry young people, instead of moving away from politics, to turn your anger into action, acting together to work together against the status quo. Together we work against the establishment that rewards big business, which is exploiting young people and young people all over Europe and including in our country. We must unite ourselves, in a Left movement, who believe in fairness, social justice, equality and that every young person has the right to build their own family, their future without debt that is impossible to redeem. Together we can change things.

Madam President, dear Commissioners, democracy is not there only to be protected, but we also need to strengthen it. And while all politicians elected are there, not on their own behalf, but on behalf of those that elected them, they should also be transparent. So when I read today’s proposal, while I am happy to see that we are going to defend and strengthen a little bit when it comes to foreign interference, we need to look at within the European Union too, because in reality we have those trying to undermine our democracy from among us. Even in this House, in the different Member States, their governments, we all know what Viktor Orbán is doing in Hungary, we all have seen what was happening in Poland before, and we really need to make sure that when we have interest representatives, whether they come from outside of the Union or from within, we need to have a mandatory transparency register. I remember in 2016 the proposal of the Commission, it was a good one, but it was then watered down by the Council, by the different governments, because they did not want to have a mandatory transparency register. All the meetings we hold in this House or in any Parliament across the Union or any government across the Union should be published. We should know who our politicians are meeting, why they are meeting them and the outcome of those meetings.

Madam President, five years ago, many more European citizens than the time before went out to vote in the European Parliament elections. That is something that we wanted to see. It is something that we worked for, and finally the results showed that they voted for this Parliament, but also for the direction that they wanted the European Commission to take in these five years. Unfortunately, they all ended up baffled. They saw that the person that they thought could be the President of the European Commission for the next five years ended up being someone who was not even listed in any of the different political parties that presented themselves in this election. Then no wonder that last week we got a poll that states that Europeans think that European democracy is becoming weaker and is not functioning. We need to change this. We need to increase the participation of citizens. We need to strengthen our democracy. We need to make sure that if we go in front of citizens with a number of names, then one of those names ends up leading the European Commission. Because ultimately their vote is not simply a symbol, but it is a move of faith to see the direction that they want the European Union to move forward in the future.