Speeches

Mr President, I would like to refer to those obscene words of President Trump, who declares that he wants to annex Gaza, that he wants to expel the Palestinians – who are in their legitimate territory – from their place: of their place of life and the place where they want to enjoy a dignified life and not this life of genocide that Israel is putting them through. Removing Palestinians from Gaza... What an idea Mr. Trump has! And I'd like Mrs. Kallas to be here today. Precisely, Commissioner, you are there and you represent the Commission, but it is normal for the High Representative to be there, because this is the second time we have had such a debate and I should come here and say loud and clear what you think of those words. They are very obscene words and attack fundamental values and, in addition, with ethnic displacements prohibited precisely by the United Nations. And I also agree with the revision of the agreement with Israel and the relevant sanctions, because whoever commits genocide has to be sanctioned.

Madam President, I would like to ask Mr Oliveira, you come from Portugal, and both in Portugal and in Galicia, my country, there is a lot of solidarity. But in this Parliament, there was no minute of silence for the victims killed by Israel in Gaza. What is your opinion? And I also wanted to ask: Can you go to Palestine? I can't go, as Israel forbids me because I've been on a humanitarian boat. And there is a European Parliament resolution that says MEPs can go. Yet up there are Israel's delegates, and they enter here freely. What is your opinion?

Madam President, I would like to refer to Rule 10(4) of the Rules of Procedure. In parliamentary debates in the Chamber, Members shall not use offensive language: defamatory language, hate speech and incitement to discrimination within the meaning of Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. UNRWA is not a terrorist organization, it is a United Nations organization, so I call for a rectification.

Commissioner, in my country, Galicia, job insecurity in the health sector due to the abuse of temporary contracts is normal. Health workers are lacking, public investments are lacking and decent wages and access to treatment are lacking. If the European average of nurses is 8.5, the Spanish state average is 6.3 and the average in Galicia, my country, is 5.1, with the worst rate of nurses in the European Union. It is essential that health workers have decent working conditions to guarantee their care, to guarantee the care that, regrettably, the right and the far right insist on dismantling and privatising, as the PP government does in my homeland. If we want quality medical care, professionals need the recognition of their rights and decent work. And from here, I send a greeting to SOS Sanidade.

Mr. President, do you know what the word means? facha? I'll explain. Watch the videos and photographs of the conclave of fachas that was held in Madrid last weekend: Abascal, Orbán, Le Pen, Wilders, Salvini, André Ventura. The worst of every house paid for by the Patriots for Europe Group of the European Parliament. Conspiracy theories, climate denialism, hate speech against democracy and the Europe of the peoples, against the most vulnerable groups, against the LGBTIQ+ collective, against us, women. In short, an exaltation and a fascist attack on democracy. Fascism that runs rampant, which already controls and sets the agenda in some Member States of the European Union. When will Europe wake up and stop this monster of fanaticism against rights and freedoms? In 2018 I was this Parliament's rapporteur for the resolution on the rise of neo-fascist violence in Europe, to stop their feet and resist this new onslaught. That resolution clearly stated that neo-fascism should not be exalted. Europe has done little to stop them; It washes their faces, especially the Spanish PP, which allows and whitens those fachas conclaves. Remember the word, gentlemen there: fachas. Don't forget them. A plague for Europe.

Mr President, we are talking about humanitarian law and where is Mrs Kallas? Second part-session in Strasbourg and second absence. Does it consider that Parliament's role is useless, unimportant? How many people have disappeared in Gaza? Can Mrs Kallas answer me? I will tell you about the genocide and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Since 30 January, UNRWA has been expelled from Israel. No statement by President von der Leyen on this unjust and arbitrary expulsion which constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law - none. And now we have Mr. Trump's proposal for ethnic cleansing. Selling Gaza, what is that, Mrs. Kallas? It's a disgrace! It is time to put an end to this unbearable cynicism towards international humanitarian law and to act: to act for peace, for human rights and for respect for the bodies of international law.

Mr President, with regard to the demographic winter, I am going to talk about my country, Galicia. Today, the Galician countryside is dying. There is no access to transport, there is no possibility of conciliation, because there are no jobs. There are only two options, Commissioner, namely job insecurity or emigration. Let me give you an example of this critical situation in my country: Galician farmers and breeders, many of them young and many of them women, feed their livestock naturally, sustainably and grazed. These are small calf farms certified by the Terneira Galega Suprema designation of origin. However, the Galician Government wants to change the rules by encouraging the feeding of concentrated feed. This change can lead small farmers to leave the countryside. This is just one of several examples of the demographic winter in my country. What does the European Commission intend to do for rural areas and to combat this emigration and abandonment?

When I hear speeches like yours or that of the previous VOX party speaker in which they talk about illegal immigrants, I wonder: Do you know why those people who come to live, who come to work and who come many times to save themselves from very difficult situations, because there are no legal avenues? I am talking about those people who, like the Galician emigrants who once lived in Molenbeek – who have also built Europe – are building Europe and are part of our reality. When are you going to end these hate speeches?

Honourable Member, you are talking about policies that are against the territories. I want to talk to you about an issue that has been removed from your country, from Portugal. There is an environmental bomb in the heart of my country, Galicia, which is Altri's project. Altri is supported by the Galician Government of the Popular Party and wants to produce 400,000 tons of soluble cellulose in Galicia and expel the village from our territories. You know that in Portugal. I want to know your opinion.

Madam President, Mr Costa, welcome! I speak in our common language, as I spoke to you a few years ago, when we spoke precisely about fires, a theme common to our countries. And I speak in this language, because it is a European language. I would like to tell you how important it is that the peripheral territories of our continent are not left out of the transport networks – such as Galicia, my country, and Portugal – and that they are not left out of these European priority networks. Also, that projects that intend to settle in Galicia, such as the Altri macrocellulose, will not destroy this important nature. And I want to talk to you about peace, too. You are a man of peace, and we want the history of this genocide no longer to be repeated in Gaza. And the Council has a lot to say and a lot to do. We also want the social dimension to be taken into account, social rights to be a priority for the European Union, and there is no cacophony like the one that existed here, with Gaza, between the Commission and the Council. Very good trajectory in this mandate, Mr. Costa.

Madam President, I have one point on the Rules of Procedure, which is the acceptance of the agendas of these committees and the monitoring groups, in this case the INTA Group, in which the Polisario Front is finally given entry as the legitimate representative of Western Sahara. Welcome back. That is respect for the rules of this Parliament and also for the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, so do not come to amend what is of law and international law.

Mr João Oliveira, how fortunate that you ask me this question, and not a person from the far right, to whom I would never answer. I also want to say that the European Union has been absent. The proof is today's debate, in which the Commission was absent and only came at the end, after a historic day. We've been waiting for this ceasefire for over 470 days. The European Union must rebuild more, it must help with that solution in order to put an end to the illegal occupation and, above all, to guarantee the judicial measures that will impose sanctions on Israel for the acts committed. It was a genocide, and Israel has to pay for it. Because it says so, not this Member, not this Parliament, but international law.

Mr. President, the agreements save lives, but behind the agreements are the destroyed houses, the rubble, the demolition of hospitals and the relatives who will never see their own again, many of them children. The attempt to erase the Palestinian people in Gaza from history is a genocide and will never be a statue of freedom, as a Galician poet says. This deal saves lives, but it's taken too long. There have been too many lives lost, too many tears, too many unnecessary destruction and impunity. Behind the rubble is the silence of many, complicity. Gaza is today the mirror of the unsupportive world in which we live, in which the rulers silenced – including the European Union – while the peoples cried out in the street against Israel’s genocide. Let us never forget this photograph – look at it well – or many others of the Palestinians, who have risked their lives to save others while governments continued to export arms to Israel and prolong the genocide. We express all our solidarity with the people of Gaza and all our support for reconstruction and UNRWA. Peace must be lasting and stable and, more importantly, Israel must end the occupation, which is the cause of all evils: It is an illegal occupation, a colonization. Israel has to be sanctioned. The Palestinian people are resilient. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Mr President, the Board of Accounts of Galicia, my country, presented a report in which it points out that the new Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo exceeded 470 million euros for the work alone. How is it possible that the Galician Government, which is a Government of the Popular Party, reduced non-sanitary spaces and services, square meters ... and expanded the cost of that work? From the BNG, my party, we take this issue to the Parliament of Galicia, where, thanks to our twenty-five deputies, we force the Popular Party to give explanations about the cost overrun of this hospital, and what has been the response of the Popular Party that today comes here from the hand of VOX to bring a debate? Do you know what the answer was? Hide reports and also hide the former president of the Government, the current leader of the Spanish PP, Mr. Feijóo. Why does Mr Feijóo not appear in the committee of inquiry that currently exists in the Galician Parliament? Or do you want to follow in M. Rajoy's footsteps? From the European Parliament I want to denounce the concealment of documentation by the PP, which uses all kinds of tricks to hinder the investigation: is vetoing access to information regarding Galician Health Service contracts with companies linked to relatives of senior Popular Party officials.

Mr President, Commissioner, as a Galician MEP and granddaughter of a farmer and poultry farmer, I know that working on land is hard, tiring and dangerous. Today we are talking about the welfare of farmers. What is there is malaise. In my country, Galicia, we have been complaining for years about poor working conditions, low prices, sales below the cost of production, from which many landowners in Europe receive aid without working and small farmers, such as in Galicia, milk and meat producers, are discriminated against. To these uncertainties about the future of their source of income, we must add the Mercosur Agreement, which threatens the sector by having to compete unevenly with cheaper and less productive products, and in many cases produced with pesticides banned in Europe. In addition, in my country, they want to set up a polluting cellulose factory, which will occupy the most fertile agricultural productive land in our country and which will require even more eucalyptus plantations, consuming a lot of water. That, yes, causes discomfort. The unease of 100 000 people who went out on Sunday saying, Commissioner: "Altri not".

Mr President, Commissioner, when you look at this Parliament, you see that the People's Party and the far right are absent because they do not believe in collective bargaining, they do not believe in trade unions, they do not like workers. Look, it's empty, it's a parliament without MPs. Workers and public service workers in my country, Galicia, have been on strike for more than a month. Here, there is no MP from the People’s Party – neither Spanish nor Galician – who are responsible for the government of my country. Workers have the right to strike and public television in my country and public radio are being hijacked by the People's Party government. 344 weeks of denunciation and a recent strike. Therefore, all the support to the workers...

Madam President, sexist violence takes many forms. In the streets, at work, in educational centers, in homes, in the press. Also in politics. Male violence must be combated with laws, with means, with resources, with educational support. 25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. And ladies and gentlemen of the far right: Your negationism attacks, your negationism and hatred attack, your impunity attacks. This hatred fundamentally attacks the rights of us women. This impunity of patriarchy that you defend here in this Parliament and that is not to be ashamed after the murders that there are throughout Europe. Male violence kills. That is why today I support all the demonstrations in my country, Galicia, and throughout Europe against sexist violence.

Madam President, dear comrade Vicent Marzà, to you, who come from Valencia, to you, who are from a party that has made the seats of your party available to the people, I want to convey to you as a Galician MEP and on behalf of my party, the Galician Nationalist Bloc, all our solidarity. For two reasons: first, because the Valencian people have suffered and are alone; And second, because we, twenty-two years ago today, suffered a tragedy that has nothing to do compared to lives, but in mismanagement. And the culprits were the same. Today I tell you that, from the Galician people, from our town, we send you a never more, also so that the resources arrive, so that you are not left stranded as we were left, so that people receive encouragement from the European Parliament and go to the essentials, not to these fights that take place here, between cocks, but to what is really needed, which is to remove the mud, to have a house, to have a normal life again and to rebuild their lives. (She ended her speech in a non-official language of the Union)

Today, twenty-two years ago, a ship sank off the Galician coast: His name was Prestige. How can you have the audacity, twenty-two years later, to say that all catastrophes are managed the same? Its president then called a huge mass of oil black tide "the spinners." You have no shame.

Madam President, I come from a maritime country, Galicia, a country on the European Atlantic axis. There, we have two marine reserves, two marine protected areas of fishing or fishing interest, also said in our language. The Cedeira marine reserve, which is a real opportunity, in which the fisheries sector also works to protect the environment and defend an economic resource vital to my country. In my country, which is rich in marine biodiversity, governments are against marine protected areas. They prefer to support marine macro wind, the electric companies that leave no benefits, they prefer that the sailors are out of work, to support the wind macro parks. Commissioner, how is it possible for the European Commission to ban bottom fishing and then, in marine protected areas of particular interest, to allow these macro-electric plants to take away the resources and the fish and the life of our fishing communities, such as Cedeira?

Mr President, today the Presidents of Spain and Portugal met to discuss the priorities of the Peninsula. Once again, Madrid centralism has priority over Galicia and northern Portugal – 2040 for the high-speed train to arrive. And, as a Galician MEP, I have to denounce that the Galicia-North euroregion of Portugal continues to take time. The route between the two most important cities, Vigo and Porto, is 121 kilometers and takes two hours and 22 minutes. To compare, between Brussels and Paris, there are almost 300 kilometres and the journey lasts one hour and 22 minutes. If we want greater economic dynamism, decarbonisation and speed, we need to prioritise this area: Galicia-North Portugal. If this infrastructure is not a priority, it is due to a regrettable lack of political will and centralism. The same lack of political will that there is in the government of Galicia, in local train transport, because traveling by train in the Galicia is a veritable odyssey; If not, tell it to our students.

Mr President, as a Galician MEP, I advocate a local development policy with quality public services. We need a cohesion policy that helps to retain the population in medium-sized towns and rural areas, from Galicia to the rest of Europe. A policy that is close to citizens, with services available within 15 minutes – as in the case of Pontevedra or Santiago – and that promotes actions and projects, so that we have a living rural environment – as in the villages of Alhariz or Ribeira. However, an average Galician village or a small urban or rural village does not have the same development, access to medical services, local transport and employment as an average village in Germany or Belgium, Commissioner. How are we, the Galicians and the Galicians, going to live in our land, in our country, if there are no basic services or public transport to fix the population in most rural villages? How can we have the same level of development as other European peoples if the Galician Government reprogrammes the funds with interest? We are against the centralisation of European funds in capitals such as Madrid or Brussels.

Mr Omarjee, I would like to thank you because, during the previous parliamentary term, you, as chairman of the Committee on Regional Development, fought hard against the centralisation of funds. Think that with the proposal of the new Commission, this debate will take place, and with it the terrible dangers it poses to our municipalities and our cohesion policy?

Madam President, Commissioner, Europe must demand a ceasefire in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Commissioner, Europe must demand humanitarian corridors. Commissioner, Europe must demand compliance with international humanitarian law. And finally, Commissioner, fight for peace, fight against this genocide. The situation in southern Lebanon and Gaza is catastrophic. We have requests, right now, from medical personnel who are telling us that there is a real catastrophe. Cities, towns, hospitals, … schools are attacked and, you know, we must go to geopolitics and know that the question of the invasions of Lebanon, since 1978, 1982, 2006 and now the invasion, is due to the Palestinian cause, and now much more, because, if there were a ceasefire in Gaza and the cessation of the occupation, surely this invasion would not occur. And there's one culprit, Commissioner: It's Israel.