Speeches

Madam President, at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, on biodiversity, we took a historic step: create a fund to share the benefits of digital genetic sequence information. From our parliamentary group, the Greens/EFA Group, we welcome it because it introduces geographical, economic and social fairness. For the first time, companies in rich countries that profit from free access to biological data must help protect the biodiversity that low- and middle-income countries guard to convert private profits into collective investment. This is the direction that more countries in the world want to take, such as Colombia itself and the Global South, fed up with external interference, fed up with extractivist practices, fed up with neocolonial policies such as the Global Gateway - their big bet, the bet of the European Commission, by the way -. However, this fund is voluntary, and much remains to be done. What does the European Commission do? It removes the LIFE fund and promotes omnibus decrees that dismantle all the progress of the last legislature, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. They meet privately with governments, businesses and researchers to discuss, among other things, how to operationalise the fund, how to mobilise contributions, how resources should be allocated and how to ensure transparency and trust. But, Commissioner, they forgot to invite civil society. There were no representatives of local communities or indigenous communities or defenders of human rights or the environment. Instead of protecting valuable biodiversity protection laws, the Birds and Habitats Directives or the Water Framework Directive, the Commission is introducing exemptions from nature protection requirements in these Directives, granting the status of primary public interest to industrial projects. We know this very well in my country, in Galiza, with projects such as the Doade mine or the Touro mine. Europe is experiencing a collapse in biodiversity, it is undermining its own protection laws and that is why I ask the Commission: How do you intend to maintain the political momentum and support the launch of the Cali Fund? What is the position of the European Union to ensure adequate, predictable and sustainable funding? And finally, how will the Commission help to clarify governance arrangements and ensure a fair, transparent and effective profit-sharing mechanism?

Madam President, as a Member of the European Parliament, I want to denounce the kidnapping of the citizens of Europe and other countries in the Global Sumud Flotilla. The Israeli Navy committed an act of armed piracy in international waters, in European waters. We need to condemn and ask for diplomatic protection for all the Global Flotilla. We need also to speak with the Government of Greece ...

Madam President, there is only one word to define what rural women need: Empowerment and recognition. Today, in Galicia, my country, rural women represent 27.8% of the primary sector, a key sector, as the Commissioner is well aware. However, even though years later they are in greater numbers in this important sector, they work under conditions of inequality. And what do they need? Equal pay, labour inclusion programmes and public services adapted to the needs of each territory to stay, institutional support to reconcile, dependency policies that do not oblige women to compulsory care for the elderly, digital inclusion programmes, digitalisation of rural areas. For this reason, I have included specific amendments to the performance to invest with tangible results in rural areas. And I also want to take this opportunity to greet a woman who is here today, who was the Secretary for Equality in the government of the Junta when we ruled and who carried out many programs for the defense of the rural environment: Carme Adán. Thank you so much for being here.

Madam President, I represent, as a Member of the European Parliament. galega, to one of the most important agro-livestock countries in Europe and we are very concerned about the health situation of the agro-livestock sector Galician. I would like to tell you, Commissioner Hansen, that it was a pity that you did not receive Ana Pontón, the leader of the opposition. galega, on 2 March and I hope it will in the future. In addition, I want to tell you because we had very clear proposals about what really happens in the real agricultural sector, not in which the Galician Government often tells you about issues that are not the real ones. Let me give you an example: I ask you, Commissioner, for a change of criteria, because in the face of the arrival of any emerging disease, the livestock sector must be shielded and immunized. Contagious nuclear dermatosis in cattle is a threat to the meat and milk sector, an economic threat, but also a threat to the fixation of the population. Livestock must be immunized and, therefore, must be vaccinated before the disease arrives. There, the Government Galician you do not have a plan and that is why there is an urgent need to make this criterion more flexible, Commissioner. I hope that at the next meeting we will have, we will talk about this issue.

Mr President, Commissioner, talking about the rule of law is talking about freedom of the press. As a Galician MEP, I want to denounce the case of manipulation of television and public radio in my country, Galicia. A case of political manipulation by the People's Party government against press freedom, a case of control and manipulation already denounced in 400 sentences. This service for more than 400 weeks, for more than six years, Commissioner, has been making partial stops at work and demanding actions against the abuse of power by the People's Party government, against the lack of independence, against the unprecedented dismissals, against the contempt of one's own language, the Galician language. Even the report monitoring the implementation of the European Media Freedom Regulation in Spain last year specifically mentions Galicia for having adopted a new law that puts the independence of the public service at risk. In Galicia, as in Hungary, the media are manipulated with public policies. Look at this situation, Commissioner, which is not the first time I have denounced it. We need to keep monitoring this case.

Madam President, I would like to address the previous rapporteur on the basis of Rule 10(4) of the Rules of Procedure, on offensive comments, regarding the consideration of an illegal person, because I believe that offensive and hateful comments are already around, and therefore I want to submit it for your consideration, because they are racist debates. This is a racist consideration.

Madam President, as an observer of the European Parliament in the elections in Honduras, I would like to confirm that on election day the people of Honduras came out freely and massively to vote, but the pre- and post-election situation has been full of flaws, alerts, legal obstacles, lack of transparency and, above all, political polarisation. On the data transmission system, what to say?, we were able to check its defects live: the duration of the recount for more than one month and that 30 000 votes have not been counted. But above all, we saw live, and also through the networks, the interference in the process by President Trump by supporting the candidate Papi to the Order - at the order of his master - and by threatening to cut off funding if the Honduran people did not vote for his chosen one. On top of this, Trump releases the former president sentenced to forty-five years - nothing more and nothing less - for drug trafficking, in whose mandate peasants, environmental defenders, such as Berta Cáceres, and human rights journalists were murdered with impunity. Juan Orlando Hernández, tried and extradited to the United States for drug trafficking, is now released by Trump just in the election campaign. Isn't that interference? Our Group is very concerned about the interventionist interference of the President of the United States in the political and electoral processes in Latin America, including unilateral interventions, which weakens international law and peace and puts democratic stability and, of course, international stability at risk.

Madam President, the illegal and illegitimate military interference and aggression against Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president is a very serious attack on international law and the sovereignty of the peoples. We express our firm condemnation of imperialist interventionism and Trump's aggression, and also our solidarity always with the Venezuelan people. It is the law of the jungle, the Monroe Doctrine updated to a Condor 3.0 Plan to install the hegemonic system of domination with wars, looting, blockades, false news and military aggressions, as the Caribbean country has suffered. And attention: alert against threats to Colombia, Mexico, Cuba and Greenland. Simon Bolivar already said it: America wants to plunge us into misery in the name of freedom, the freedom to own oil and natural resources. And what has the European Union done?: a simple statement that demonstrates servility to the United States, the same United States that has displaced the far-right Corina Machado, which is no longer useful for imperialist strategy, the same one that disparages the Nobel Peace Prize and intends to give it to Trump. What a humiliation for the Spanish PP and for Vox. The European Union should have supported international law and condemned illegitimate and illegal aggression. But what are we going to expect if he hasn't condemned the genocide in Gaza in two years?

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen of the PP and the PSOE, remove the accusers from your parties and do not come and give lessons in feminism, because you have a lot of dirty laundry to wash. We have to be on the side of women, both if the allegations refer to the president of the Diputación de Lugo, as to the Fisheries Counsellor of the Xunta of Galicia — that the PP government kept him in office for four months, concealing the complaint against him for sexual assault. Manda (inaudible word) He resigned with applause. This complaint, of course, only went on public television in my country. Besides, gentlemen of the People's Party, do you remember Nevenka Fernández? He is still waiting for a public apology from his party for the sexual and labor harassment he suffered 25 years ago. And to PSOE, we tell you that inaction is never a good decision. Right now, we advocate zero tolerance for macho violence. Come from wherever you come from and affect whomever you affect. Cases of sexist violence cannot go unpunished and we must always be on the side of women. We're sick of it. Feminism is more necessary than ever.

Mr. President, Israel continues to violate the ceasefire in Gaza, the illegal occupation and the apartheid It allows illegal settlements in the West Bank to become more and more numerous. Just look at Oxfam's recent report, which says the number of settlements is high and clear. But, in addition, I ask the Commissioner: Can the Commission confirm to me, after the question I asked in May, whether the European Union is trading in agricultural products coming from illegal settlements? And I want to know because I am going to go all the way on this issue and I hope my colleagues will too, because if we are trading in products from illegal settlements we are complicit in genocide and we are complicit in apartheid and we are also complicit in occupation. The obligation to prevent genocide has not stopped, Commissioner and also Mrs von der Leyen. What have we done, what has the European Union done when Francesca Albanese's report Genocide in Gaza, a collective crime Does it say that relations with Israel should be suspended? The European Union is the largest trading partner and has to suspend the Association Agreement.

Mr President, fellow MEPs, if you think you are going to stop abortion with your vote, you are wrong. Abortion will happen with or without your permission. Women will keep needing abortions, so women will keep having abortions. What we are deciding on is whether these women can have the choice and chance for a safe and affordable abortion. The minimum is to make sure that an unwanted pregnancy is not a life threat for women in Europe. Quoting Nika Kovač, 'Women are being killed in hospitals because of abortion bans in Europe.' She is there. Approving this initiative, 'My voice, my choice', is essential to make abortions accessible for the women who choose to have them. Today, more than 20 million women around Europe do not have access to safe abortion. Tomorrow, we have the opportunity to make history and protect women. This is about guaranteeing basic health and safety conditions. We need to be united in this decision. We can save lives. We need to stand up for our women. Abortion is a basic right.

Madam President, Commissioner, in my country, Galicia, the automotive industry is of great importance, since the Stellantis factory in Vigo, my city, is one of the industrial engines of the Galician economy and industry. In fact, Stellantis itself obtained benefits of EUR 718.9 million in 2024, while, on the other hand, the policy of outsourcing component production, and relocating, is leading to the closure of Galician companies. The crisis in the sector is a reality. Redundancies have occurred in recent months in the Centro Tecnológico de Automoción de Galicia itself and in other companies. Specifically, in the last 12 months, the Galician car industry has lost 5% of jobs and 1 400 people have been laid off, as the Galician trade union of the IGC says. In this context, it is essential that the process of electrification of the automotive sector is accompanied by a specific plan that takes into account the social impact of decisions.

Madam President, Commissioner for Housing, it is high time that the European Commission dealt with the main problem faced by some Europeans, for example Galicians and Galicians (it is their main concern), the people I represent in this Chamber. We must stop abusive leases and speculation. We have to legislate, no doubt, so that they do not leave their homes for the benefit of tourist rentals. We want public and affordable housing, as we did when we ruled in Galicia. We want more efficient and well-insulated homes for cold and heat, so no one has to choose between eating or heating. The plan may be something positive, but it starts insufficiently. There are no concrete measures to curb speculation in housing. There is no mention of the Stability Pact to increase spending on public housing. The structural causes of the housing crisis are not addressed, and there is no clear funding. Therefore, already in the campaign for the European elections, we call for a European housing fund, a fund that can pay for public housing and fight against speculation. Without money, without funds, you cannot make a plan with these characteristics. One last thing: if you need ideas, Commissioner, come to Santiago de Compostela, where we are fighting speculation.

Mr President, the streets of Santiago de Compostela, the capital of my country, were once again filled with dignity yesterday. Dignity against the predator project representing Altri's macrocellulose plant. A social outcry in the face of an environmental attack. Galician society is frontally opposed to projects that only generate wealth for a few, in exchange for spoils and spoils. The Commission presented the package last week. omnibus environmental. A proposal aimed at deregulating the protection of the environment, with the false excuse of the competitiveness of companies. The extractive model taken from the manual, which eliminates the obligation to safeguard environmental impacts and, under an umbrella of strategic projects, aims to streamline procedures with lower requirements. This model, which unfortunately we already know in Galicia, by the hand of the People's Party government, of which the Altri macrocellulose factory, the Taurus mine or the Doade mine are examples. That is why, yesterday, 80,000 people went out to defend our land with dignity and to fight for it. It's a victory! And that's why I say: Not Altri!

Madam President, the debate on the time change returns to the European Parliament, as we discussed in 2018. As a Galician MEP, I return to the most striking case in Europe, which is the case of Galicia, my country. Did you know that Galicia is one of the countries in the world with the greatest gap between the official time and the so-called solar time? There's a two-hour difference. Two hours. This time lag was imposed by dictator Franco in 1940, who changed the time to adapt it to Nazi Germany. It's time to democratize the time zone. If in the Spanish state there is a delay of one hour in relation to the solar time, in Galicia, there are two. Two hours difference. This means that in countries in the same time zone as ours, the sun rises two hours earlier. It turns out that, geographically, Galicia should be in the Western European zone or GMT-1, but the official time is Central European time, GMT+1. In summer, the westernmost areas of Galicia, such as the Costa da Morte, even have a difference of two and a half hours compared to solar time. Same time as in Belgrade. That's two hours less of a difference. In Galicia, adjusting the time zone and correcting this time lag would have undeniable benefits for the quality of life of Galicians and Galicians and for streamlining timetables with regard to the current time zone, Commissioner, which does not respond to any kind of energy saving or improving the lives of citizens. Adapting the time to the same geographical meridian, as in the cases of Portugal, Ireland or the Canary Islands, would be the most appropriate way out. In 2007, our senator in the Spanish Senate, Francisco Jorquera, presented an initiative to ask the government of Galicia to adapt its natural time, with the aim of improving the use of sunlight. Already that time he explained that the change of time, according to data from the Energy Institute of Galicia, only implies less than a 1 % saving in energy consumption compared to the 5 % of the Spanish State as a whole. This low saving is explained by the fact that our country is located in a time zone that does not correspond geographically to it. It is up to Europe to decide on the change of time and to the Government of the Spanish State to take into account Galicia's natural time and not the political time decided by Francoism, as my party has been calling for for two decades. It's time, it's time to change the time zone.