Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, last November we adopted by a large majority a resolution on the escalation of the war and the humanitarian disaster in Sudan. Three months later, the situation on the ground only got worse. Millions remain displaced; hunger continues to kill; atrocities, such as ethnic massacres, systematic sexual violence and attacks on civilians and humanitarian structures, persist with complete impunity. Children, women and the elderly continue to pay the highest price of this brutal war. We called in the resolution adopted for the opening of safe humanitarian corridors, an end to arms supplies, targeted sanctions and an immediate cease‑fire to allow a transition to a democratic civilian government, but none of this has happened and the international response has clearly been insufficient. We all know that it is not enough to adopt resolutions, we must act. Without action, our resolutions are just a dead role and we cannot allow that to happen.

Madam President, on this date when we mark World Cancer Day, I would like to highlight three points. The first is that studies by the World Health Organisation show that at least 40% of all cancer cases could be prevented with appropriate measures, from alcohol consumption to tobacco, to exposure to pollution and chemicals. The second is that the latest OECD data show that between 2000 and 2022, the incidence of cancer among European women rose by 10% and soared by 16% among young women aged 15-49. And the third point is that this reality shows that we cannot backtrack on the ambition to have a European approach in the response to cancer. It was this vision that justified Mitterrand launching Europe Against Cancer in 1986 and the Europe Beating Cancer Plan being put on the table in 2021. But more needs to be done. timely access to prevention and treatment. Evidence-based care. Focus on integration and clinical pathway. Because behind each of these diagnoses there is a name, a life, a story of affections, sometimes interrupted, always affected. And it is good to see that on this date the European Parliament is united in this cause.

Madam President, Madam High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, the situation we are seeing in Venezuela is absolutely heartbreaking. The Maduro regime has been responsible for a serious political, economic and social crisis, marking the lives of the Venezuelan people for more than a decade through repression and suffering. We haven't forgotten him. But we also do not forget that Operation Absolute Resolution, triggered by the United States of America, was an illegal intervention under international law, which deserves our outright condemnation. The history of Latin America, and beyond, shows us where the Monroe Doctrine and American interventionism led: to the imposition of agendas of interests, never to democracy. The road passes neither by dictatorship nor by imperialism. The future of Venezuela calls for an urgent democratic transition and the European Union must take an active role, supporting civil society in particular, so that Venezuelans themselves decide their path. A word of concern for the well-being and security of the population and, above all, the Luso-Venezuelans, a large community that has been facing insecurity and scarcity for too long.