What Thomas spoke about.

21

Oct

2025

MT Speech

Watch

Delayed justice and rule of law backsliding in Malta, eight years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination (debate)

Mr President, year after year, this Parliament was asked to debate this macabre murder. At the same time, among others, the car bomb attack on Sigfrido Ranucci took place in Rome and the murder of two hundred and seventy-two journalists in Gaza. All this further shows that journalism, that is, the search for truth, is under threat, everywhere. I believe everyone wants justice. As we have worked fo…

10

Sep

2025

MT Speech

Watch

State of the Union (debate)

Ms President, "the very Europe that Erasmus has given me to grow and dream, today speaks of arms rather than the future of my daughter". This is the voice of a young Maltese mother who believed in the European project. But what are we seeing today? Young people who feel forgotten, families who are left alone, elderly people who want to choose between a meal and a roof over their heads and institut…

9

Jul

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Amending Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012 on certain measures for the purpose of the conservation of fish stocks in relation to countries allowing non-sustainable fishing (A10-0070/2025 - Thomas Bajada) (vote)

Dear colleagues, today we are not just voting on yet another regulation; we are voting on a principle of social justice, responsibility and solidarity at sea. As rapporteur, I approached this file with two aims in mind: to safeguard marine ecosystems, but also to stand with fishers, who have been forgotten for so long. And today this House will deliver. Together we are making a Union that is stron…

9

Jul

2025

MT Speech

Watch

The EU’s post-2027 long-term budget: Parliament’s expectations ahead of the Commission’s proposal (debate)

Mr. Commissioner, while visiting a village in Malta, a person told me something that stayed with me. We have worked all our lives, paid taxes, built a family and today I have no reassurance for myself or my children. Where I don't know. When I look at what is being said in the corridors in Brussels about the proposals for the European budget, I understand this person more. Priorities are shifting …

17

Jun

2025

EN Answer

Watch

European Ocean Pact (debate)

Thank you for the attempt to speak in my language. I think we need to look at the ocean as one. It is one ocean: what happens from one side of the ocean will affect the other. It will affect communities. It will affect people. It will affect our livelihood. Therefore, we need to look at it not only as a European Union; we need to look beyond. We need to work with different countries, with differen…

17

Jun

2025

EN Speech

Watch

European Ocean Pact (debate)

Ms President, for us Maltese, the sea is not just a photo background, it is our home, it is our life, it gives us the air we breathe, it feeds us and it shapes our identity. But today coastal communities are impacted by the fact that they are remote and detached, by pollution, by rising sea levels, by more severe storms and by disappearing fish, and therefore that the Ocean Pact should protect nat…

21

May

2025

EN Speech

Watch

The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Madam Chair, I would like to reserve a few seconds of my time for silence. (The speaker paused for 15 seconds) Why was the Union so silent and passive? This is genocide. This is an emergency: the killing of tens of thousands of people like us Palestinians, including children; the establishment of humanitarian aid to so many people. These are criminal atrocities. I condemn the statements of the Isr…

7

May

2025

EN Answer

Watch

Malta's Golden Passport scheme circumventing EU sanctions against Russia (debate)

Thank you for the question because it brings me to something that is very important and I'm going to answer in English so that there's clarity. We are talking about the aid needed for our country, which is detached from the rest of the continent, in order to continue to prosper and grow our communities and invest in their well-being. What you are saying means that the EU policies need to cater mor…

7

May

2025

MT Speech

Watch

Malta's Golden Passport scheme circumventing EU sanctions against Russia (debate)

Sir President, Malta is a resourceless island. We have a long history of suffering in order to become a nation. In armed wars and during the pandemic, our islands found the strong spirit of its people and a citizenship programme that saved it from bentness. A programme that has saved jobs, built social housing and invested in the communities that shape its identity. A programme approved by the Com…

7

May

2025

MT Speech

Watch

Competition policy – annual report 2024 (debate)

Mr President, Europe is failing its isolated peoples. In European islands, competition is not a case of numbers, but a case of human realities. It is becoming more difficult to improve basic services for the well-being of peoples. Competition policy must be a means of social protection and justice. More flexibility is needed, so that islands get more direct and targeted aid, thus more effective. F…

6

May

2025

EN Speech

Watch

The European Water Resilience Strategy (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, thank you to shadows and colleagues who engaged in this important and overarching work. Floods devastate communities, droughts dry up livelihoods, demand for water continues to increase. These are not abstract threats – they are lived realities. To address some comments made, yes, dams are needed when they are environmentally sound and properly managed, but our fight…

6

May

2025

EN Speech

Watch

The European Water Resilience Strategy (debate)

Madam President, water is life – for our people, our economy and our environment. But across Europe, this vital resource is under stress. Groundwater and rivers run dry, droughts intensified, floods become more frequent, and still our water policy remains scattered, sectoral and unreactive. This is why the Parliament has been proactive in presenting its position for a European Water Resilience Str…

6

May

2025

MT Speech

Watch

A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing world (debate)

Sir President, this is the beginning of an important process by which we will decide how billions of euros will be spent for seven years. We will decide how our future and that of our children will look. And this is a crucial moment, in order to make a Europe that is fairer and closer to all, with more social justice, a more sustainable environment and a policy that looks at people's realities. An…

2

Apr

2025

EN Speech

Watch

European oceans pact (debate)

Mr. President! What's the ocean for me? The ocean is not just a resource for me. It is the lifeblood of entire communities. This is all about our daily realities. In Malta, the sea defines our economy, our culture, our food, our identity. We are at the border of the impact of illegal fishing and aggressions by third countries and the impact of climate change. We know what needs to be done and hope…

11

Mar

2025

MT Speech

Watch

European Council meetings and European security (joint debate)

President, do we want peace or to continue the war? As a socialist and as a representative from a country, a neutral Member State, I have traumatising worries, working only to create a war economy. From a single European market of peoples, goods, services and capital, we are transformed into one of destroying and non-combining ammunition and armaments. Yes, it is clear that there is a need and a s…

12

Feb

2025

MT Speech

Watch

Commission Work Programme 2025 (debate)

President, Commissioner, European competitiveness should be a concept that strengthens the position of the Union, but also that lifts our citizens, communities and families, from metropolitan cities to our smallest island. Competitiveness and the environment go hand in hand, indeed, with simplification that strengthens the well-being of the citizen and not simplification without a resulting ecolog…

23

Jan

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Combating Desertification: 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention (debate)

Mr President, desertification is not a story from far, far away. Its serious implications have long been affecting the Mediterranean region due to its unique ecosystems, economic dependencies and limited natural resources. In southern Spain, over-irrigation has led to soil erosion. In Crete, aquifers have been overexploited, leading to salinisation. In the neighbouring Sahel region, desertificatio…

20

Jan

2025

EN Speech

Watch

Heat record year 2024 - the need for climate action to fight global warming (debate)

Mr President, this is a discussion about the people, about the Maltese fisherman who is seeing fewer fish in the traps due to changes in fish migration, about the farmer in the Greek Islands who is seeing his olive trees bury under constant heat, about the family in Sardinia forced to ration water, even during the winter months. For those who regard the Mediterranean as their home, the situation i…

18

Dec

2024

MT Speech

Watch

Restoring the EU’s competitive edge – the need for an impact assessment on the Green Deal policies (topical debate)

Mr President, a strong European competitiveness should go hand in hand with a Green Deal that is both ambitious and fair for all. The Green Deal reflects our collective commitment to a sustainable future for us and our children. But we cannot ignore the fact that its impact exists on small economies and vulnerable communities. Small countries and islands face unique challenges. Impact assessments …

17

Dec

2024

MT Question

Watch

Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)

Mr President, then, explain to me a few of you: is it saying that the right to freedom of speech should not have any structure of responsibility for our actions on social platforms? Tell me, do you want to have a right without responsibility for your actions? Do you want a false profile to have a right, without responsibility, to spread lies, to spread half manipulative truths and to spread distan…

16

Dec

2024

EN Speech

Watch

Right to clean drinking water in the EU (debate)

Madam President, access to clean drinking water is a human right. Yet this right is increasingly under threat. Across Europe, pollution, climate change and deepening inequalities are putting this right at risk. We must act now to improve access to drinking water while safeguarding sustainability and equity for all citizens across the EU. Research now reveals the alarming presence of PFAS – the 'fo…

28

Nov

2024

EN Speech

Watch

Need to adopt an ambitious international legally binding agreement on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment

Mr President, plastic is everywhere: it is in the food we eat, the water we drink and the seas that once symbolized freedom and purity. The world is drowning in plastic, and we are running out of time to act. I just had lunch before this debate, and I can’t even be sure if what I ate is free from plastic. Every single day, the equivalent of 2.000 truckloads of plastic waste is dumped into the ocea…

24

Oct

2024

EN Speech

Watch

Protecting our oceans: persistent threats to marine protected areas in the EU and benefits for coastal communities (debate)

Madam President, this is embarrassing. We are discussing the future of our ocean when the plenary has practically already ended, when most MEPs have already gone. Is this the attention our future deserves? This is a clear statement that our ocean, our future, is not a priority for the leadership of this Parliament. Dear colleagues – whoever is left – the ocean is in peril, with climate change, unr…

23

Oct

2024

MT Speech

Watch

Seven years from the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia: lack of progress in restoring the rule of law in Malta (debate)

Mrs President, when a journalist dies, part of democracy dies. These were the words of my colleague, the Honourable Ruotolo. This is because journalism is an integral part of upholding the right. Malta is the first Member State to adopt anti-SLAPP rules and has made steps forward aimed at protecting journalists. But we can never say that enough has been done. There is always something to strengthe…

10

Oct

2024

MT Speech

Watch

World Mental Health Day - need for a comprehensive EU strategy on mental health (debate)

Mr. President, we often feel comfortable talking about mental health only when it is something far away from us and our family. But today I would like to say to you that I go through moments of sadness and anxiety. If you're feeling like me, if you're suffering in silence, I understand you. But we need to learn to talk. Many times I thought I was alone, but the numbers say otherwise. According to …