Speeches

Madam President, the one whose name should not be pronounced here in the European Parliament is not Voldemort, but Donald Trump. Since the beginning of the mandate, dozens of resolutions have condemned foreign interference in the world: More than 30 targeted Russia, a dozen denounced Chinese policy, four concerned Venezuela or Cuba, but none, zero, not a single one concerned US policy. Yet Donald Trump has threatened to annex Canada, seize Gaza or invade Greenland. These threats are to be taken seriously, which the European Commission does not do. She's going to bed. Forbidden to denounce U.S. threats. The Greenlandic people are abandoned to the warlike ambitions of the United States, which are not limited to Donald Trump's escapades, but which are well in line with the continuity of the country's imperialist history. In Greenland, I met with unanimous residents and elected officials: Greenland is not for sale. The European Union must reject blackmail, looting and threats, and support the will of the Greenlandic people, who in the last elections reiterated their commitment to independence. As predatory ambitions intensify in the Arctic, let us choose the compass of law, peace and the dignity of peoples.

Mr President, in June France will host the United Nations Ocean Conference. As such, according to Emmanuel Macron, an unreliable source, 2025 was to be the year of the ocean. However, we are heading towards the year of nothingness. The eight goals he presented at the SOS Ocean Summit come far too late and are sorely lacking in ambition. For capitalists, the ocean can wait. Commissioner, your long-awaited Ocean Pact must go much further and much faster. And you do not need to invent hot water for this, because often the tools already exist. To protect the high seas, there is the BBNJ, the treaty for the protection of the high seas and marine biodiversity. Let's enforce it internationally. To prevent seabed mining, there is an international moratorium: The European Union must be the driving force at a time when mining companies are turning to Donald Trump to send their bulldozers to attack the deep sea. For marine protected areas, there is the objective of protecting 30% of European waters: We are far from it, with only 8.5%. For these topics, as for many others, the solutions are there; There is a lack of political will. In June, you have the choice: coup de com without a tomorrow or real ecological bifurcation. Don't tremble, this is our last chance.

Madam President, here is a simple definition of omnibus legislation for the uninitiated: the European Commission submits to capital and yields to the demands of ecocide multinationals and the productivist far right, to the detriment of workers and the planet. European citizens will remember Mrs von der Leyen as the one who shattered all efforts to achieve proper environmental legislation. Indeed, the Green Deal was far from perfect, but it went in the right direction, that of protecting people and the planet, which you are turning away from today in the name of the ‘all-market’. Like the Argentinian fascist Javier Milei – and his chainsaw – you methodically unravel the Green Deal. The European Green Taxonomy? Out. Duty of vigilance? Out. The obligation of transparency on corporate sustainability? Out. Carbon border adjustment? Out. You give Shein, Lactalis and TotalEnergies carte blanche to pollute and mistreat their employees at leisure, both in Europe and abroad. Simplification is the alibi of multinationals to massacre social and environmental rights. You think about their money; We think of the living. You are with the powerful; We're with people.

Mr President, to abandon young people is to sentence them to death. In Europe, suicide – suicide! – is the leading cause of death among 15-24 year-olds after road accidents. Yes, deteriorating youth mental health is a major public health issue. And we are not talking about a crisis without cause, a crisis without responsibility. We will not end the psychological distress of youth without addressing frontally social inequalities, student precariousness, selection at university, job insecurity, unworthy housing and rents that are exploding, or even ecological perils, today, on the contrary, fueled by your political choices. I have received many testimonies from young people, whose courage I want to salute here and to whom I want to give my full support. They are unanimous: Youth will not be saved by antidepressants, but by a break with austerity policies. It is high time, first of all, to engage in real psychological care, but, above all, to admit the systemic causes of this distress and to act in a transversal way, because our generation deserves better than that.

Madam President, Commissioner, time is running out. Let us act before it is too late, for in the spring Icelandic whalers will again roam the icy waters of the far north, armed with their explosive harpoon, to sow death. 2,130 whales could be slaughtered by Iceland in the next five years, even though commercial whaling has been under an international moratorium since 1986. Even though the Icelanders themselves are opposed to this archaic and cruel practice, since they are only 29% to declare themselves in favor of it. While today, the Icelandic whaling industry exports above all to Japan, this famous country that hunts down activists committed to the ocean and marine life. The European Union has no interest in still tolerating such practices. What are we waiting for to protect whales, these links essential to the balance of marine ecosystems, our most precious allies against climate change? They who populate children's dreams and folk tales, from Melville to Jules Verne, they who, by their power and majesty, invite humility and respect due to this wild nature that precedes us and exceeds us. The European Union must use all the levers at its disposal to dissuade Iceland from reviving the carnage industry. Take a stand in favour of international law. Adopt, if necessary, the necessary sanctions, starting with those that could apply to Icelandic fishery products in the event of a resumption of hunting. Live up to the role our continent must play in protecting the ocean and marine life.

Madam President, Commissioner, blow up the cages! For the 1.4 million Europeans who have signed the European Citizens' Initiative "For a new era without cages", for the overwhelming majority of citizens who no longer support cage farming and the abuse it inflicts, for all these animals raised in appalling conditions, these rabbits with deformed bodies who cannot stand, who live on wire mesh, their legs in blood among the decaying corpses of their congeners – because that is what we talk about when we talk about cages. Blow up cages for animal welfare, the environment and human health – because, as you know, the density of farms and their sanitary conditions make it necessary to stuff animals with antibiotics, at the risk of increasing antibiotic resistance and thus causing new pandemics! Blow up the cages to meet your commitments, you who for years have promised measures for animal welfare that no one sees today the color! Blow up the cages for all these reasons, Commissioner, respect the animals, respect the voice of the citizens, respect democracy and keep your promises, blow up the cages!

Mr President, today I would like to express my solidarity with the inhabitants of Mayotte, who were hit by Cyclone Chido, with devastating consequences. Today, Europe’s eyes are on the islands of the Indian Ocean. But why did you look away for so long? In Mayotte, as in many overseas territories, the water crisis is a daily reality since 30% of the population is not connected to the drinking water network. However, the security operations of Ministers Darmanin and Retailleau have only aggravated the problem by depriving part of the population of access to infrastructure. In Guadeloupe, schools are sometimes forced to close because they cannot accommodate children because of such conditions. The West Indies also experienced one of the worst health and environmental scandals ever in France and Europe: Chlordecone. For years, France has knowingly authorised the use of this pesticide, leading to contamination of soil and water that is consumed, with repercussions on the health of the local population. The French State and the European Union must now answer for their actions and not remember their overseas territories only when natural disasters hit them. Social, economic and environmental disasters are taking place out of sight, affecting hundreds of thousands of Europeans, who also have the right to a dignified life.

Madam President, Commissioner, I imagine that your garden is a protected area. So, what would you say if I came to your garden tomorrow to dig up your carrots and pick up your tomatoes, before leaving by trampling the whole vegetable garden to make sure that your vegetables do not grow back next year? No doubt it would displease you greatly. And I would tell you that I was in your garden like a bottom trawler in marine protected areas, which are protected only by name. For while 12% of EU waters fall within the definition of marine protected areas, only 0.2% fall strictly within the definition. So what is protected in the others? Nothing or almost nothing: 86% of Europe’s so-called protected areas are intensively exploited, using destructive fishing methods, such as bottom trawling, or other extractive industrial activities. Industrial fishing has deleterious consequences: for biodiversity, but also for small-scale fishermen. In addition to bottom trawling, the latter also face the full brunt of competition from pelagic mega-trawlers, who do not hesitate to cross marine protected areas. Excluding industrial fishing from marine protected areas, as recommended by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is to give oxygen to small-scale fishing, which has less environmental impact, and which promotes the renewal of species. The Commission is committed to moving away from bottom trawling in marine protected areas by 2030. Live up to the commitment by adopting a just transition plan, which accompanies fishermen, gives them visibility, incentives and alternatives, and includes a real plan to unravel the European fleet. Without concrete action by both the Commission and the Member States, your promises will be in vain.

Madam President, I am fortunate to have been born in France, the first country to include abortion in its constitution. But many other women in Europe do not have my chance. If I had been born in Poland, for example, like Agnieszka, I could have died of an infection following a refusal of an abortion, despite the death of my baby. If, like Fanny, I had been born in Hungary, I would have been forced to listen to the fetal heartbeat before I had the right to terminate my pregnancy. The European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice’ shows that across Europe there are voices calling for legal and safe access to abortion. Let the reactionaries put this in their heads: women will never be prevented from having an abortion. Prohibiting abortion in law is simply making it illegal and therefore more dangerous to women’s lives and health. Out of respect for human dignity and women’s right to control their bodies, access to abortion must be protected and sanctuarised throughout Europe. We must therefore enshrine it in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Mr President, this is the first time since 1976. Last week, a fin whale was captured, hunted, skinned and then frozen in small pieces before being displayed as a trophy on the stalls of a Tokyo market. A terrifying step backwards for a species of whale that IUCN deems vulnerable. The culprit? The Kangei Maru. Does that name remind you of anything? On July 21, Paul Watson was arrested in Greenland precisely because he and his crew were preparing to stop the route of this Japanese factory ship destined to commit the massacre that we now contemplate powerless. These are the consequences of the arrest of Paul Watson, wanted by Japan and executed by Denmark. Yes, Denmark played an active role in this ambush. According to his Minister of Justice, it was the Faroese police who alerted Greenland to the stopover of Paul Watson. The Faroe Islands and Denmark obviously can't stand Sea Shepherd opposing the dolphin killings that take place there every year. And here they are united by a blood bond with Japan to carry out an operation of political revenge and to silence forever a tireless defender of life. Let the Danish Government hear it well: Environmentalists around the world are watching you, and they will never forgive you for throwing one of their own to a country that does not respect human rights. We defend not only Paul Watson, but also, through him, all environmental activists threatened, repressed, criminalized in Europe and around the world. The sea uprisings have begun and they are not about to stop. Against the ravages of industrial fishing and cruel hunting practices, for marine biodiversity, for the ocean, free Paul Watson!