What Jean-Marc spoke about.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, cohesion policy – which Jacques Delors wanted more than anything else because of the solidarity that unites us – is the beautiful idea that no region, city or village should remain on the side of the road. Recent media leaks, which all suggest are well-founded, signal the EU executive’s intention to bring down this beautiful building. I say this to you with determination: we will never accept that regional funds are reduced to pay the COVID-19 debt. We will never accept that regional funds are placed under the control of national plans, because that is also what this is about. And never, never, never will we agree to make the allocation of regional funds conditional on the implementation of structural reforms that can easily be imagined to be drawn from the worst squandered revenues of the neoliberal greenback: ever fewer rights for employees, ever more money for shareholders and never any consideration for planetary boundaries. I told you: No, no, we will never agree to tell Secours populaire in Cantal that Europe wants vital support for food aid for the most deprived, because France would have refused to raise the retirement age to 67, 69 or 71 – because they never stop. Ladies and gentlemen, let us unite, let us unite so that Europe does not turn into what the IMF has had worse, a cure worse than evil: reforms imposed, at best ineffective, and often deadly.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this budget is the first in the new legislature. It was therefore necessary to reflect the commitments we made to the electorate and to our fellow citizens. My group, the S&D Group, for which I have the honour of being the coordinator in the Committee on Budgets, is of the opinion that this budget is going in the right direction. It goes in the right direction when it preserves the Cohesion Fund or when it proposes to increase funding for our flagship programmes, such as Erasmus+ for education, Horizon Europe for research or the European Civil Protection Mechanism to respond to natural disasters. It also goes in the right direction when it uses our financial opportunities for those of our citizens who need it most, when it responds to their daily priorities – housing, employment and European industry – and when it continues to support the transition. This is also the first project we are discussing since the reform of the Multiannual Financial Framework, which sets out new rules. These rules simply require us to use financial flexibilities where they exist before reducing them, and they must be respected. This budget, which I have just mentioned, is not that of the Commission, it is not that of the Council, it is the one patiently drawn up by our rapporteur Victor Negrescu. I would like to congratulate him on the work he has done and on this first success, as it was adopted in our Committee on Budgets. The message we need to send to the Council is clear: The first budget of the new legislature will not be a regression budget. The first budget of the legislature is not intended to repay COVID-19 debts by the most disadvantaged of our citizens. Colleagues, we must remain united until the end. The discussions around the budget resolution are not about our positions on UNRWA or asylum and immigration policy. Let's not be mistaken. The challenge is to vote on a budget for social, ecological and economic progress.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today, together with our Ukrainian brothers, Europe is showing its best. She's at the rendezvous. She has been at the rendezvous since the beginning to defend the most essential right: the right of peoples to choose their destiny. And its destiny, Ukraine has chosen it: This is Europe. And Europe has said yes by opening the prospect of accession without delay. Europe is still at the rendezvous with this new €35 billion Ukraine Facility, financed by revenues from frozen Russian assets. Russia will have to pay for the damage of the war for which it is responsible, and this starts today with this macro-financial assistance, to which I am proud to have contributed as S&D shadow rapporteur of the Committee on Budgets. Europe will also have to be there for this war to end. To stop the war is to show Putin that he will never win it. It is the intensification of sanctions, it is the lifting of restrictions on preventive strikes, it is a prospect of joining NATO, it is the convening of a lending conference, it is the peace plan proposed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which I propose to support.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, our Europe is the richest continent in the world and yet we are not able to guarantee everyone the most essential right, the right to housing. Every night, 900,000 people sleep on the street. Every day, 46% of Europeans are afraid, listen carefully, that they will not be able to stay in their homes within three months because they cannot pay their bills. One in two young Europeans must live with their parents. So, ladies and gentlemen, there will be no confidence in Europe if Europe is not ready to tackle this unprecedented crisis. To be at the rendezvous, it is necessary to approach the problems with a simple principle: Housing is not a commodity, but a fundamental right. This means revising, Commissioner, all the directives that curb public support for affordable housing and prevent mayors from effectively fighting short-term rental housing, such as Airbnb. It will also take a lot of money: 57 billion euros are needed to be up to the task. Together with my group, we are calling for the creation of a European fund for affordable housing, for student housing, to combat the scourge of homelessness and to eradicate energy strainers. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines the right to housing, to take on its full meaning in Europe. Let's rise to the occasion.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Paul Watson has been imprisoned for almost 60 days. 60 days that he is threatened with extradition to Japan. 60 days that he risks up to fifteen years in prison, that is to say a sentence to end his life in prison. All this for what? Simply because no authority wanted to enforce international law. Whaling has been illegal since 1986, since the international moratorium to which Japan is itself a signatory. It is not Paul Watson who should be condemned, it is Japan's illegal whaling practices. I would add that acting as a whistleblower, he should benefit, Commissioner, from the protection deriving from the directive of 28 October 2019 on reporting breaches of the law. We solemnly call on you, Commissioner, for the Commission to act by all means to activate this protection. We also appeal to the Danish authorities not to extradite him. No, Paul Watson isn't a criminal, he didn't hurt anyone. Paul Watson saves. He saves the whales, he saves the living, he saves future generations. In their name, we demand his release.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we must be aware of what is at stake on the front line. Ukrainians are not just defending their freedom, but ours. As we have learned from the past, Putin always goes as far as we let him go. So we need to be clear: In Ukraine, Putin will not pass. We all want peace, of course, but as long as Vladimir Putin thinks he can win the war, then he will not sign peace. But words are not enough. We need financial resources. We have been able to be there with the facility for Ukraine, we will have to be there for as long as it takes. It also requires military means of defense, whether air defense, but also to be able to prevent long-range missile attacks. And we need effective economic sanctions. They are not applied today because they are not applied, as we have seen recently with the increase in LNG imports. My group also defends the idea of a facility for reconstruction, because reconstruction is now. Ladies and gentlemen, disunited we are fragile, while together, united by unwavering support for Ukraine, we will win peace.