Speeches

I strongly disagree with the Draghi report, which is completely in the wrong direction and essentially favours the rich, leaving the poor behind. Business competitiveness reduces bread at the household table. The future of work in Europe is at a crossroads. Artificial intelligence can increase business productivity, but without preventive measures it will lead to increased unemployment and inequality. The solution is clear: reducing working hours without reducing wages, creating new jobs and investing in training workers for new technologies. Mr Draghi, instead of looking for ways to replace human labour for the profits of the few, we must empower the many, the workers, the people, ensuring a better standard of living for all European citizens.

Mr President, today I am not just talking about livestock farming in general. I speak on behalf of people who see their herd being killed, their milk being thrown away, slaughterhouses being closed down and compensation coming in slowly and halfway. In Greece, more than 500,000 animals have been killed in the name of zoonotic disease management. No prevention, no adequate vaccination strategy, where feasible, and no real support. Today, entire farms in Lesvos are being slaughtered because few cases of foot-and-mouth disease have occurred. These people are being destroyed and they are desperately asking why, since there is a vaccine, not all available means are being used? They're not asking for a favor. They demand to live, feed to be paid, veterinary services adequately staffed to operate, controls on Hellenizations, fair price on milk, full compensation. And they're asking for answers. Europe must activate the crisis reserve, support animal feed and herds, provide veterinary assistance and say clearly: Is there a European vaccination framework?

Mr President, I support the Rule of Law Report and would like to take this opportunity to denounce what my colleague, Mr Maniatis, also denounced earlier on the Predator spying in Greece. What has happened, that is, the dismantling of the rule of law, which is not a national issue, is an issue, a European threat that concerns us, colleagues, here in the European Parliament. Among the targets at the time were a fellow S&D MEP, ministers who participated in the Council of the European Union, officers of the National Intelligence Service, the leadership of the armed forces and journalists. They were also monitoring European information and the European Union itself. Is this a European threat or not? I call on the Commission, Europol and the European Data Protection Supervisor, as well as the European Parliament, to call for a European investigation now and for this case not to be buried any longer, because it is also a case of espionage for the European Union.

Mr President, I support the report because it raises a fundamental question of justice. Rape is defined by the absence of consent. Silence is not consent. Fear is not consent. Failure to react is not consent. Victims in Europe today are not equally protected. Some states are required to prove violence or resistance, and this is second abuse. Greece has recognised rape without consent since 2019, but maintains a dual system where the absence of consent is treated with a different criminal gravity than violence. The European Union must ensure a single, clear human framework. Without consent, it is rape and must support victims with effective access to justice, education of the authorities and a change of mindset. Because dignity and bodily autonomy cannot depend on where one lives in Europe.

Madam President, three years after the state crime in Tempi: 57 dead – most students –, two trains on the same line, no telecommand, contract 717, European funding, safety system not working, signals not working, station chief alone, no automatic train protection · · Collision Huge pyrosphere, temperatures above 1000 degrees, unexplained explosion, unknown fuel, 27 young people burned, jamming of the site of the accident, alteration of the research field, removal of debris, transportation of materials to Koulouri · toxicological tests not done, exhumation requests rejected, biological samples destroyed, missing videos, lost audio-visual material, altered conversations, lost recordings, new data three years after· seizures of expert computers, searched hard drives, technical reports talking about unknown fuel, questions about freight train load, customs discrepancies, cargo difference, missing plates. Possible customs fraud? Smuggling? Military cargo? Families asking for answers. Why was there no pyrosphere in the Spanish accident? Why has the European Public Prosecutor's Office not taken over the investigations? The truth will shine.

Madam President, the housing crisis in Europe is not just an economic problem, it is a social problem. The report we are debating attributes responsibility mainly to the shortage of housing and proposes more funding for construction. But the reality that people live in is different. In many European cities, homes are transformed into products: Gold visas, funds that buy loans and drive families to auctions, even those who consistently pay their loan installments, apartments turn into Airbnb or stay closed to skyrocket rents. Housing is a fundamental social right, not a financial product. We need protection of primary residences, more social housing and rules that put an end to speculation. The report we are debating does not protect citizens. It is cut and sewn to market measures and in my opinion it will aggravate the housing crisis in Europe and I will vote against it. I warn you that in the coming period I will reveal a huge housing scandal in Greece that the report does not touch upon.

Mr President, today we are gathered here to discuss a very important issue and I really want to protest, because before Mrs Latinopoulou invaded and said that what we are discussing before the war is of no importance, I asked with a blue card to intervene. I wanted to ask her how many years she has had employment stamps and whether she has lived outside the European Parliament. Because reality says that in Greece women are still paid on average about 13.4% less than men, but this does not interest her. This means that for every 100 euros a man receives, a woman receives only 86-87 euros, while in some sectors the gap reaches even 25%. And as age increases, this inequality grows, with a larger pension gap. We need strong collective labour agreements, real transparency in wages, equal pay for equal work and a quota for women to participate.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, let us speak frankly. The main problem of the European Union is not the lack of dialogue between the institutions. It is the lack of a genuine democratic balance. Today, the Commission, a body not directly elected by citizens, has almost exclusive power to initiate the legislative process and determine the political direction of the Union. At the same time, the Council of the European Union represents governments, right-wing by majority. It addresses issues in terms of economic equilibrium and state interests. The only institution directly elected by European citizens is the European Parliament. However, it is the only one that does not have a real right of legislative initiative. It's no coincidence: A strong parliament means more democratic accountability, and it seems that many do not want it. If we want a Europe that serves the citizens and not the balances of power, then we must substantially strengthen the role of the European Parliament. This requires a change in the Treaties of the European Union.

Madam President, the European Union is talking about objectives, indicators, job quality and transitions. Workers in Greece count dead: 201 workers were killed at work last year. Almost one every two days. 21 was over 60 years old. 330 were seriously injured, not by accident, but by 13 hours that recently became law. Intensification, exhaustion, employer impunity and viewer-state. This is the competitiveness that is being built in a Europe of two-speed workers, with rights in the North and annihilation in the South. Collective contracts demolished, hunger wages, young people fleeing, families that can't even afford rent, security measures non-existent, checks pretentious, but with a lot of profits for the few. And then you talk to us about a pillar of social rights. I ask you: Will you legislate for real protection or will you continue to cover exploitation with fine words? Homelessness, poverty and dead workers are not statistics, they are a political choice. Are you going to clash with that choice, Mrs. Mînzatu?

Mr President, Mrs Kaja Kallas, as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, I would like to ask you why I have this question: How can you not speak, representing the European Union, with Russia? I really wonder why your anti-Russian rage is not a useful tool, you know, for diplomacy. And let me tell you that in this speech you made, after the six minutes you talked about Ukraine, which is a country outside the European Union, in the rest of the speech and up to the tenth minute I did not hear you really say anything about Cyprus or Greece, about the casus belli that Turkey has declared for so many years, and I do not hear anything from the European Union. You only talk about where there are rare earths. That's all your interests are. So, please, I'll be here to listen. I want you to give me an answer to these questions.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. When Steve Bannon in 2017 saluted Nazis, when Elon Musk in 2025 saluted Nazis, when Trump said he would make Gaza a tourist resort, and with him you supported the genocide of the Palestinian people, there was no orderly reaction from Europe to international law. So when Trump entered Venezuela – because the regime you say, the Maduro regime, did not fall, it became a kidnapping – the sovereignty of one state was violated. Do you understand what that means? It means that you agreed – implicitly, because you did not react forcefully then – to something that under international law we will find in front of us. And we find it in front of us, because now he's in Greenland, and Sheriff Sam is here. Don't support the Nazis anymore.

Mr President, I would like to make it clear that every time I have intervened I do so without supporting either Putin, Zelenskyy, Trump, von der Leyen or any of them. I am interested in European citizens. They're the ones I've come here to protect and represent. The intention to use the 200 billion euros of Russian state reserves is an extremely dangerous option, and I want what I'm going to say to be heard here, be aware of it before it happens: If Europe breaks the principle of the immunity of state reserves, it will cause capital and deposits to run out of the European banking system. Confidence in the euro will be severely damaged. To prevent a banking collapse, the European Central Bank will be forced to print money. This leads to inflation, perhaps hyperinflation. In practice, citizens with their salaries, pensions and businesses will fall out. Europe cannot shoot at its feet.

Madam President, dear colleagues, today I will take this minute to address mainly the men in the room – not so many, unfortunately – since women know, almost to their bones, what I will talk about. How many times have you been catcalled on the street? How many times have you walked home holding your keys, almost running, drenched in fear, just to make it home? How many times have you been judged for your choices? Stripped of your value at the workplace, dismissed for your opinion, for being a woman? 'What are you wearing?' 'Are you sure you are eating that?' 'Isn't this dress short?' 'You provoked him.' 'What were you wearing?' 'He is your husband, you have to forgive him'. Thank you for your time, and please take a moment to ask yourselves: if patriarchy is not in the room with us, then why is femicide an established term?

Mr President, in February 2024, the Committee on Petitions examined Ms Karystianou’s petition on state crime in Tempi, which was supported by 1.5 million citizens’ signatures. However, after the examination, the petition was stuck in a simple exchange of documents between the services. And then silence. No institutional inquiry was launched, only pretentious debates in plenary, closed between groups and mined by the EPP – the Greek government’s party – and the far right. When, as a member of the Committee, I requested that the petition for discussion be urgently reopened, when I informed you that the father of a victim, Panos Routsi, had just started a hunger strike and his life was in danger, what did you do? Nothing at all. Two and a half years of mocking the Greek government towards its relatives. One and a half years of inaction on the part of the European Parliament. It took 23 days of the father's strike to restore the rule of law. Citizens with their demonstrations, their solidarity, forced the authorities to retreat. Not the institutions; citizens. What does the Committee on Petitions actually do? What role does it play? What role do you play, gentlemen?