Speeches

Madam President, the impact of natural disasters is increasingly dramatic in Europe and around the world: recently in Spain, in the Valencia region, now in Mayotte, but also in 2021 in my country, Belgium. More and more, too many deaths, lives destroyed and terrible devastation caused by extreme weather events are to be deplored. These dramatic situations require urgent responses in terms of material and food aid, social and health support and reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and equipment. This requires a reactive European solidarity mechanism to intervene urgently and help affected regions and populations. That is why we will support the new Restore scheme, which will be voted on here in this Parliament. But – there is also a ‘but’ – it will be necessary in the future to have permanent and specific means to deal with these crises, instead of going to the Structural Funds. It will also be necessary to pursue truly ambitious policies to combat climate change, despite the repeated sceptical and denier statements of the far right, even today.

Madam President, 35 years ago, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was the first international instrument to recognise children as individuals with fundamental rights. Yet today in Europe, one in four children or young people live in poverty or social exclusion and the mental health problems of young people are more worrying than ever. Three years ago, the European Union adopted a European Child Guarantee, the aim of which is to guarantee children in need effective access to rights, such as free childcare, free schooling – including a healthy meal per school day – but also to guarantee them free healthcare, healthy food and adequate housing. While these commitments are clear, the road to achieving them unfortunately still seems long. This is not acceptable in a society like ours. The new youth commissioner will therefore have a lot of work to do, but he can count on us, because every child counts and has the right to live a dignified and happy childhood and to build a future for himself, far from the ideologies, sexism and racism that we have heard today on the benches of the far right.

Madam President, in 2023, more than 10% of Europeans said they were unable to heat their homes sufficiently. And this energy poverty is increasing, which is unacceptable, because energy is an essential good whose access must be guaranteed. The causes of this precariousness are diverse, but this should not prevent us from being willing and ambitious to act on these different causes. First, by ensuring sufficient funding from the Social Climate Fund, whose means must be easily accessible to low- and middle-income households to enable them to isolate their homes. Secondly, by radically changing the framework for setting energy prices, especially in the current context of geopolitical uncertainties and price volatility. As advocated in the Draghi report, it is time to decouple gas and renewable energy prices, while putting in place specific pricing policies for the most vulnerable. Finally, there is an urgent need for the new Commission to propose an anti-poverty plan that includes a specific strand and concrete actions to end energy poverty.

Mr President, it is clear that strong commitments need to be made to improve skills and training, which are key components to address the challenges of the climate and digital transitions, but also to address the challenge of job shortages in certain sectors, such as care, healthcare and education. But it is important to stress that this issue is mainly linked to the quality of employment in these so-called shortage sectors. First, wages are often too low. We must therefore ensure that they are raised. But working conditions are also problematic. It is therefore necessary to work together to better address topics such as psychosocial risks, overwork, teleworking and the right to disconnect. Finally, there remains the question of reconciling private and professional life. This is crucial for better integrating women into the labour market, and it is also crucial for young people. Moreover, it is essential to recognise the role of the social partners, who are the only ones who really know the needs of workers and the realities of the world of work, and therefore can respond to these training challenges.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the European steel sector is experiencing a new crisis, which is likely to be even more tragic than the previous ones. In one year, steel production in the European Union fell by 30 million tonnes. Thousands of workers are temporarily unemployed, and since 2008 almost 100 000 direct jobs – and arguably as many indirect jobs – have disappeared in this sector. The threat of losing 50% of our production capacity is real, while global overcapacity continues to explode. Indeed, while Europe is closing its sites, China and India are increasing their production with state aid, to the detriment of social and environmental conditions. There is therefore an urgent need for a European action plan to produce greener steel here in Europe, as steel will be strategic for a just climate transition. We must protect quality industrial jobs and ensure that steel companies respect their workers. The steel production we are losing in Europe today will not come back. We must act now to save European steel.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the report on which we are going to vote tomorrow, and which was presented by our President here, shows the importance of Parliament’s involvement in the development of employment policies. The many amendments that have been tabled, adopted and supported by a large majority of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs show that this Parliament’s commitment must be heard and respected. The amendments tabled focus in particular on young people, especially NEETs – not in employment, education or training, between the ages of 15 and 25. These NEETs have increased, thanks to European policies, from 17% to 10% today. Unfortunately, 10% is still far too much, meaning that 1 in 10 young people are neither in employment nor in training. European policies – this is what we are committed to – aim to give these young people access to training and employment, but to quality employment, to a job that allows them to build a future and to participate not only in the prosperity, but above all in the overall well-being of our society. It will not be enough to set guidelines. This new legislature should also serve to create legislative initiatives with a clear framework for job quality, addressing psychosocial risks and overwork, ensuring adequate wages, a real right to training, a framework on artificial intelligence in the workplace and a framework for a just transition. And all this, with respect for social dialogue. That is what more than 200 million workers expect from us.

Madam President, Mr Letta, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, it is also worth recalling that Mr Letta's report will be -me von der Leyen herself said so – one of the red threads of the next Commission. So it was really important that you came and presented it to us and that we could discuss it today. Thank you, Mr Letta, for taking up the words of Jacques Delors, architect of the single market, who tells us that the market is not an end in itself: it is there to improve the lives of citizens, who are not just consumers. The single market has indeed helped to develop prosperity and competitiveness, but it has also increased disparities and poverty – as was said in the previous debate, which reminds us that, unfortunately, 1 in 5 Europeans faces a risk of poverty. Thank you, therefore, Mr Letta, for reminding us that the market can only function on the basis of strong social policies, and also for reminding us that, under this legislature, we must invest in both transitions, so that they are fair. I would also like to recall that we expect the next Commission to engage, as Mr Nicolas Schmit did, on important social issues.

Colleague, on the issue of decriminalization, I think that would require much more in-depth debate than we need to discuss. What is indeed essential for us is to consider that addiction problems, whatever they may be - we can talk about tobacco, alcohol or other forms of hard or soft drugs - are above all a mental health problem, which must be treated like other mental health problems.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, 10 October is World Mental Health Day. However, the mental health situation in Europe is very worrying, especially – but not only – among young people. This situation stems in particular from the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, eco-anxiety or the global geopolitical situation, but also from the increase in precariousness for many citizens and workers who have more and more problems with housing, healthcare and even food. This generally anxiety-provoking climate and the impact of social determinants are causing more and more mental disorders, addiction problems and even suicides, which unfortunately remain the highest cause of death among young people. In the workplace, there is an explosion of work disabilities related to burnout phenomena that arise from pressure at work. Unfortunately, mental health remains a taboo subject and those affected often continue to face misunderstanding and even judgment, sometimes fearing treatment and therefore delaying their care. It is therefore urgent to take action and that is why we call for workers to adopt a directive on the prevention and management of psychosocial risks at work and on the prevention of burnout syndrome, but also the right to disconnect and a genuine comprehensive strategy focusing on the prevention and consideration of the social determinants that influence mental health. This strategy must be accompanied by a specific budgetary programme and concrete commitments by the Member States.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioners, there is, of course, no need to go back on the importance of the automotive sector at European Union level. Mention was made of the 14 million direct or indirect jobs, as well as the significant manufacturing value added that this sector represents. If today the export balance remains positive, there are alarming signs that raise fears for this sector, the driving force of European industry and economy. While the Green Deal is ambitious, and must remain so, on the objectives of decarbonising mobility, it is regrettable that the sector has not sufficiently anticipated the shift towards electrification and is still experiencing delays and technological mismatches. Europe is therefore at a moment of truth, particularly with regard to our commitments to reindustrialisation and support for key sectors of the European economy. Last week, the S&D Group sent a delegation to the Audi Brussels site to meet with management and workers' representatives. As a reminder, on this Audi Brussels site, workers were confronted with a brutal announcement of the relocation of Q8 e-tron production to Mexico, and therefore with an announcement of the closure of the site, which will remove 3,000 direct jobs, or even as many indirect jobs. Unfortunately, today the fear is that this is only the first in a long series of social and economic disasters that are looming in other countries of the European Union. This visit attracted our particular attention, because the Audi Brussels site is not a dilapidated production site, but on the contrary a zero emission site and a production site with high added technological value, where qualified and trained employees work in these new technologies. So it will simply be a total mess if this closure happens in Europe. It is really time, today, for Europe to take responsibility for workers and for this sector, if we do not want to lose it forever.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the release of Mr Draghi's report commissioned by the European Commission, just as the European portfolios and the mission letters of the European Commissioners are being distributed, is probably no coincidence. We can also see that the information we have received today on the appointment of these Commissioners is largely inspired by Mr Draghi's proposals. And while we can indeed share many of Mr Draghi's observations, which are set out in his report, we have many more problems with regard to the solutions put forward. Indeed, the conclusions of the report on competition in Europe raise several major concerns and in particular the lack of a social dimension. Essential aspects such as working conditions, social protection and welfare systems are totally ignored in this report. This omission creates an unbalanced, biased and even dangerous view of competitiveness in Europe. Moreover, the announced closure of Audi in Brussels illustrates these flaws. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, there will be no reindustrialisation or strategic autonomy of Europe, no climate and digital transition worthy of the name without workers...