Speeches

Madam President, dear colleagues, this vote is on a draft Council decision to allow women MEPs to vote by proxy in plenary, during pregnancy or after childbirth. I wish to congratulate our colleague and friend Juan Fernando López Aguilar from the S&D Group for his efforts and his work. This is a significant moment for our House, this is a significant achievement for our Parliament. I would also like to praise my colleagues and friends in the Constitutional Affairs Committee, who voted almost unanimously on Monday. Let us now all vote for this.

Mr President, for the umpteenth time in this Chamber, in our plenary and in the European institutions, we are concerned about Turkey's provocative actions. In other words, ladies and gentlemen, what do we think? What do we think? That Turkey, with its blatant violations of human rights, its violation of the principle of good neighbourliness, its violations of the rule of law, can be a pillar of our security and defence? Can the new customs union go ahead? Can the rule of law be guaranteed? Can our European Union regard itself as a reliable partner with such behaviour, with such a recurrent tendency towards a flagrant violation of the rule of law and international law? The answer is obviously no.

Madam President, colleagues and friends, a proxy vote for mothers is a critical step forward. We strongly and firmly support this, and we will vote enthusiastically for this. However, we believe that fathers on parental leave also deserve the attention of our House, and this is exactly what has been echoed in our amendments. We all invite you to vote for this and support this.

Mr President, the vast majority of the governments of our Member States are proving to be inferior to the circumstances. It has decided in the Council on a budget that is slashed, underweight and not commensurate with the real needs of our European family. We are trying here to find funds and increase spending on agricultural policy, on our young people, on demographics, on regional cohesion, on social cohesion, on housing. I tabled an amendment to support the housing of young people and I urge you all to vote in favour of it. This budget does not satisfy us and we are asking for more.

Madam President, a year ago we received two reports: the Letta report and the Draghi report. And, regardless of political positions and party origins, we have all agreed that the European Union faces social, economic and geopolitical existential challenges. A year later, the European Commission, which supposedly adopted around 300 recommendations from these reports, has advanced about 10 percent, and Draghi himself considers that the European Union is preparing to collapse from wasteful, untargeted arms spending. Attention, be careful! In our effort to shield the outside, do not let the inside of the European Union, which we have been trying to build for 70 years, collapse like a paper tower!

Mr President, security is not just about guns. Security is also the resilience of networks and infrastructure, prevention, the possibility of rapid compensation and restoration. In the next Multiannual Financial Framework tabled by the European Commission, resources for these things are scarce, poor. That is why I am asking today, here in plenary, for an escape clause from the strict fiscal rules, so that our countries, the countries of the South, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and the other countries affected by natural disasters and fires this summer, can invest in human resources, firefighters, means, invest in resilience, innovation, invest in prevention and rehabilitation. Escape clause now for internal security.

Mr President, I warned about what happened, about the extremism that is sweeping Syria. With my question from January. In a letter to the High Representative in February. My personal visit to Damascus and Syria in the days of the great massacres in March, 7-9 March. With a new question to the Commission in April. And in the end, we have victims. Orthodox Christians who went to church on Sunday. How can sanctions be lifted without a basic timetable for democratic elections? How can Syria's ethnic and religious communities with over a thousand years of presence there not be represented? I call on you to vote in favour of the resolution and I also call on you finally to act.

Mr President, I warned about what happened, about the extremism that is sweeping Syria. With my question from January. In a letter to the High Representative in February. My personal visit to Damascus and Syria in the days of the great massacres in March, 7-9 March. With a new question to the Commission in April. And in the end, we have victims. Orthodox Christians who went to church on Sunday. How can sanctions be lifted without a basic timetable for democratic elections? How can Syria's ethnic and religious communities with over a thousand years of presence there not be represented? I call on you to vote in favour of the resolution and I also call on you finally to act.

Madam President, colleagues and friends, I wish to thank you all and, in particular, my fellow co-rapporteur Robert from S&D and shadow rapporteurs from different groups for your constructive cooperation throughout this process. We ended up to a balanced but also ambitious report, and I think this is a unique opportunity for our House and for our Union to show people out there that we can lead negotiations and global efforts towards a more sustainable society, a more sustainable economy. And at the end of the day, a more sustainable planet for next generations. Let's all vote for it!

Madam President, colleagues and friends, I wish to thank you all and, in particular, my fellow co-rapporteur Robert from S&D and shadow rapporteurs from different groups for your constructive cooperation throughout this process. We ended up to a balanced but also ambitious report, and I think this is a unique opportunity for our House and for our Union to show people out there that we can lead negotiations and global efforts towards a more sustainable society, a more sustainable economy. And at the end of the day, a more sustainable planet for next generations. Let's all vote for it!

Madam President, dear Prime Minister of Denmark. We welcome you to the European Parliament and, together with you, welcome the Danish Presidency. You govern a country, which in recent decades has made significant efforts for social cohesion, inclusion, reducing inequalities and, ultimately, prosperity. I urge you not to let these gains go to waste and with your presidency to emphasise not only competitiveness, but also the climate crisis, but also social cohesion. I want you to focus on housing and health. I want European citizens to know that Europe, our common family, is taking care of the important problems that concern all of us, and I urge you to lead this effort and not to lag behind.

Madam President, dear Prime Minister of Denmark. We welcome you to the European Parliament and, together with you, welcome the Danish Presidency. You govern a country, which in recent decades has made significant efforts for social cohesion, inclusion, reducing inequalities and, ultimately, prosperity. I urge you not to let these gains go to waste and with your presidency to emphasise not only competitiveness, but also the climate crisis, but also social cohesion. I want you to focus on housing and health. I want European citizens to know that Europe, our common family, is taking care of the important problems that concern all of us, and I urge you to lead this effort and not to lag behind.

Madam President, the Recovery and Resilience Facility is the first major serious attempt at joint lending in the European Union. It is the first major serious joint effort to tackle our common problems, and must be a safe guide for our next steps on this continent – in this family. It's got to work. And it must succeed by making the most of the last euro of European citizens. Our committee – the Committee on Budgets – passed by a very large majority our proposal for an 18-month extension of Recovery and Resilience Facility disbursements. It is fair, it is appropriate and it must be done in order to carry out those projects that have an elementary degree of maturity and to achieve this tool that represents us all. That is why I also call on the plenary to vote for the extension of this mechanism by a very large majority in favour of all groups. And I ask the Commission to take seriously the will of the 500 million European citizens who are asking for this money to go ahead and be disbursed on time – possibly with an extension.

Madam President, I come from a Mediterranean country and a nation where the sea is the reason for its existence. But isn't that the case for the whole of Europe, ladies and gentlemen? The high seas spawned our democracy, spawned prosperity, spawned clemency, spawned solidarity, understanding, spawned global culture – and we must protect them. That is why I call – in this marine pact – for mandatory requirements, Commissioner. Mandatory nature of environmental and biodiversity protection. Accelerate processes, including before 2027, and involve local communities with support tools, because there is a big problem – especially in the South – from overheating and pollution. I'm calling you into action now.

Madam President, the health of 500 million European citizens and the safety of their food is a very important thing to decide against the decisions and will of the representatives of these 500 million citizens of the European Union. This has been done systematically in recent years. The European Parliament condemns the expansion of genetically modified products and the latest fashion of producing proteins from larvae and insects in our diet, and the European Commission is deaf. I call for vigilance. The only democratic legitimacy that exists for such decisions concerning the food chain is within this house, in the European Parliament, and I would ask you to honour it.

Mr President, I call for the release of the Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who is currently on trial in Turkey for allegedly insulting President Erdoğan, and I call for the condemnation of President Erdoğan's provocative visit to the occupied part of Cyprus, which has been under illegal Turkish occupation for 50 years. Turkey is a revisionist force, which has invaded Cyprus, has invaded Syria, is burdened with genocides of Armenians and Pontians, and is currently discussing becoming a cornerstone of our European security and defence architecture. Is it ever possible, ladies and gentlemen? I therefore call for condemnation and I also call for vigilance on the part of the European institutions and for there to be no negligence.

Mr President, Commissioner, we welcome you to our Parliament. We also welcome a pact for our seas and oceans, which will be legally binding, which will be ambitious, which will be mandatory and which will take into account ecosystems, but also the need to cooperate in a crucial area for the European Union and for the whole world. An important part of our seas is the Mediterranean. I call on you, Commissioner, to start building on the map of Seville, to start better shielding our marine parks and to start planning our mandatory and common future from here, from the Mediterranean. Because there are threats to ecosystems as well as issues related to maritime safety, biodiversity issues, issues related to third country relations. I invite you to work with me on this as well.

Madam President, I was in Syria and Damascus this weekend, and I saw closely the atrocities and atrocities committed by the new regime, either under its tolerance or under its coordination. I therefore call for an immediate deployment of a team from the European Union, either from the European Parliament or from the European Commission. We need immediate elections, respect for human rights, respect for the principle of representativeness of all religious and ethnic communities, and I find unacceptable the statement by the External Action Service, which equates the victims with the perpetrator. I think Syria is on the brink right now. I believe that the European Union must show reflexes and above all not leave hundreds of civilians to brutal treatment by the regime.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are discussing a common defence and a common security and defence policy. The European Commission is making proposals and we are here today discussing our common stance on defence policy issues. It seems to me that we are missing something crucial: whereas defence can only be an adjunct to a common foreign policy; that you decide to defend something and spend money, when you have decided what is at stake, to shield national sovereignty, national independence and every inch of territorial integrity of the 27 Member States. We cannot, therefore, without weighing up the next steps in a common foreign policy, for which I am in favour and believe in our common attitude and our common future on this continent, rush to spend money without having reached the objective. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am following the debate. I regret that to a large extent we are coming to review things that we had agreed on both in the European Parliament and in the European Commission. I am glad, however, that voices are heard from various wings of the European Parliament and I will join my own voice so that a deregulation which, at least in my own eyes, seems a little pretentious, does not proceed. We say "yes" to simplifying procedures for entrepreneurship. We want entrepreneurship and competitiveness. We say "no" to pretentiousness. How else can one explain the fact that this famous simplification starts from sustainability? There are so many dozens, hundreds of procedures that could be simplified. Why start with sustainability, ladies and gentlemen? I think we should reject it and stay where we agreed.

Mr President, in the previous plenary we decided here on an upgraded Security and Infrastructure Committee of the European Parliament, Security and Defence. And today's debate from this morning shows that security issues in the European Union are not just about a frantic and obsessive arms and weapons race. They concern broader issues and possibly more important ones. Network and infrastructure security issues, digital security issues, resilience issues, issues related to basic infrastructure. A prerequisite for all this, then, is that we do not give the greatest weight of the debate to this obsessive arms debate, which even comes from abroad. But to focus on our networks and infrastructures and our innovation.