Speeches

Madam President, behind the green transition lies an industry that sweeps mountains, forests and villages to set up private wind and photovoltaic parks, serving their profit – no public plan, no limitation on the number of permits, completely unregulated. In Greece, ridges are uprooted in Natura areas, forests are uprooted and roads are opened for wind turbines that serve neither energy self-sufficiency nor citizens. On the contrary, they cut off the electricity to the farmers. The green growth that I defend serves people, animals, biodiversity. Not the selling off of every natural resource. I call for the exclusion of renewable energy from sensitive ecosystems and the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2024/1999 on nature restoration. I put two written questions to the Commission: to recognise Greece as vulnerable due to the dramatic 37% reduction of the environmental equivalent in Attica from fires and to demand a national map of areas of absolute protection with a ban on their business exploitation, the freezing of permits and targeted reforestation. I'm waiting for answers.

Mr President, Mrs Kallas, the trade war is intensifying. There is a plan: a trade corridor from Taiwan to Europe, through the Middle East, Iran, Israel, Gaza – to reach the beach and bypass China’s silk road. People pay for it with blood. Gaza is being bombed, children are dying of starvation. Blockade is a war crime and you do nothing to lift it. Rima Hassan, our colleague, was abducted in international waters. She is joined by 11 other Freedom Flotilla activists. Thousands of activists, including Greek MPs and MEPs, were blocked at the March to Gaza because they wanted to deliver humanitarian aid. We have sent letters to Presidents Metsola, vor der Leyen, Mr Costa, Mrs Kallas. We have called for Article 2 to be invoked, for the EU-Israel agreement to be suspended now. People all over the world are mobilizing for peace, but you don't listen to them. Why is it? Because your mind is not on the peoples, it's on your profits. It's a disgrace!

Mr President, Mr Tzitzikostas, public transport in a country like Greece, which has privatised everything, is a good target. But we are talking here about competitive and sustainable transport, while the main thing is the safety of passengers and workers. Of course, you can see that the EPP blockade did not work and the four MEPs who are independent were finally able to manage to talk about Tempi in the next issue. So I will tell you that two years after the state crime in Tempi, 57 dead, no answer. The freight train that collided has not been investigated, its cargo remains secret, the videos have disappeared, the responsibilities have been covered. The government is interfering in justice and the European Union is silent. Not a single security measure has been taken since then; not one. The same is true in the sea and in the air. Private investors reduce costs and together security – on ships, on planes, everywhere. People pay with their lives. This is not only a Greek shame; This is European complicity and it needs to change.

Madam President, Commissioner, in Greece the rule of law is not simply undermined; It has essentially been abolished. The Mitsotakis government controls the judiciary by appointing the leadership of the highest courts, while openly intervening and covering up cases such as the state crime in Tempi – even with police interventions at the scene of the crime, to remove evidence and responsibilities. It controls the media and funds oligarchs with public money, who in turn control information, image, social consensus. It allocates European funds to a closed caste, such as the OPEKEPE scandal and the 747 contract for trains. Public money without accountability, with direct assignments. There is impunity. No case can be brought to justice. Everything closes, everything goes into the archive. What is the Commission doing? Does he close his eyes to the EPP's chosen and personal friend, Mrs von der Leyen? The Mendes report is correct, but it is not enough. Sanctions are needed, not just findings.

Mr President, the Committee on Petitions is the main institutional forum through which European citizens express their concerns, concerns and problems. Our role is clear: defend and promote their rights without discounts. It is disappointing that a right-wing coalition within the committee is acting to close petitions that bother right-wing governments. It is also disappointing that the majority of Member States systematically choose not to answer the questions posed to them by this committee. Accountability to citizens cannot be selective. It must be universal and unavoidable. That is why I proposed, at the very least, the ‘name and shame’ procedure for those Member States that refuse to cooperate, to respond and to be held accountable. Unfortunately, most members of the political groups chose to protect their governments. We, however, will insist, we will continue to demand nominal accountability to defend the rights of ordinary people.

Mr President, mental health at work is a major problem of our time. In Greece, thousands of workers come home every day exhausted, anxious, scared. It is not a coincidence, it is the result of a policy that crushes the worker in the name of competitiveness. The Mitsotakis government with its choices consciously burdens mental health, abolishes controls, dissolves the hours with six- to six-hours, legalizes employer arbitrariness. They're not just indifferent, they're dangerous. They put profits above people. The European Parliament cannot remain apathetic. The European Union must treat governments that act as an extension of the interests of capital. We cannot speak of European values and at the same time be silent in the face of social disaster. We need binding regulations. Every company should ensure the mental health of its employees. We must legislate for work with rights, eight-hour-five-40-hour, for the dignity, the life of citizens in their daily lives.

Madam President, before our eyes is a heinous international crime, the genocide of the Palestinian people. 53 000 Palestinians have already been massacred to build the Riviera announced by Trump. You are the European Union of complicity and silence. When civilians are killed, you silence. When children are killed, you silence. Behind this silence, your bloody gains. Mitsotakis, the EPP's nominee in Greece, refuses to defend international criminal law, international humanitarian law, pretends to be an honest mediator between murderer and victim. In fact, he does military exercises, public relations and business with Israel. The people of Greece who have experienced the Nazi holocaust and genocide are not silent. He protests by standing up to the criminal Netanyahu and his associates. Stop the genocide now. Break off relations with the murderous state. Recognition of the State of Palestine. Freedom in Palestine.

Mr President, the Maltese golden passport scandal is only the top. You traced it to the Russians because of your known obsession. And in Greece, the golden visa has become a real estate bubble tool. You buy a house, get a residence permit and access to Schengen. China, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Israel are the main countries of origin. 2024 saw a record number of applications: 9.289. The result? Housing prices are skyrocketing, young people cannot rent, residents are being expelled from their cities. Who controls who buys and with what money? Who protects the right to housing? Europe cannot remain silent. We need a common European framework, a ban on these regimes and full transparency. Europe is not for sale. Neither our homes are sold, nor our countries.

Mr President, accuracy in basic foods is not a temporary crisis; It is a daily nightmare for millions of people. In Greece, food prices increased by 27% in the last two years, with olive oil recording a 30% increase in one year, in 2023. At the same time, producer prices are falling, while shelves are filled with overpriced products. Intermediaries speculate, consumers suffer and producers are pulverized. The problem is not just inflation, it is the structural imbalance in the food chain. Few chains control the market, small producers are under pressure and prices remain high. And while food cartels form prices in terms of speculation, the governments of each country invite investors and say "come here and you'll make profits." Profits with what? With our food? Food is not a luxury; it is a basic human right and the European Union must protect it with protection policies and respect for citizens and not for the profits of companies.

Madam President, the blackout on the Iberian peninsula is just the beginning. The same instability threatens Greece, where the uncontrolled private development of wind farms – wind turbines – without spatial planning, without storage, without infrastructure, leads to saturation, technical instability and energy waste. And it doesn't stop there. Mountains, ridges and Natura 2000 sites are being destroyed to install wind turbines, which do not offer stability, only profits for a few and expensive electricity for citizens. Uncontrolled power generation at zero demand hours destabilizes the grid. Nature pays the price. That is the problem, ladies and gentlemen, not to go back to nuclear power. Solve this issue, because this is not an energy transition; is a predatory policy with a green label, environmental colonization with public funding. Europe needs to set limits.

Mr President, Turkey – the state and the Erdoğan government – is an authoritarian regime that wages expansionist wars, flouts international law, destroys cultural monuments, violates democratic rights, humiliates justice and imprisons any opposing voice. Turkey threatens Greece with war because it does not accept my country's inalienable right to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. It harasses and violates our European borders and airspace, illegally occupies European territories in Cyprus and does not recognise it as a member state of the Union. A few days ago, he unilaterally announced the partition of Cyprus, attempting a new fait accompli in occupied Northern Cyprus. The European Union cannot go with closed eyes and open funds, offering it billions to keep migrants and refugees out of Europe or calling it to arms councils. Because then we are not talking about geopolitical balance, we are talking about European hypocrisy. Erdoğan was not and will never be an ally. He's a dictator. It's over. Stop the guns to Turkey. No financial transactions without a solution for Greece and Cyprus.

Mr President, Commissioner Roswall, allow me, in the debate on water resilience, to add the risk of the Greece-Bulgaria agreement for the burial of Bulgarian radioactive waste on Greek soil. I have been asking the Commission a question on this for two months and no one is answering it. You know that Greece is the sixth most seismic country in the world, which can affect the stability of geological formations. It has many aquifers, critical for water supply and agricultural production. In other words, the country is unsuitable for the burial of radioactive waste, with a very serious risk of radiation leakage and possible groundwater contamination. Also, on an issue that I have raised in a question about Lake Trichonida – which is also unanswered, how can pump-storage in a natural lake be supported – not artificially, destroying the drinking water of the area and the agricultural crops that have been pumping Trichonida water for centuries? I would ask you very much to include in this report the fact that we must not show any tolerance for the nuclear threat to our groundwater.

Madam President, the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba is the only institutional tool based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect. I therefore ask the High Representative to explain to us with what right the suspension of the agreement is attempted for essentially politically selective reasons. Political dialogue cannot be subject to political considerations. Cuba does not need sanctions but equal relations. If we want progress for the Cuban people, let us invest in exchange, in science, in agriculture, in culture; not to blockade and colonial pressure. Closing the door on the only official channel with Cuba is not a principled stance; It is an act of self-cancellation. In particular, it is a failure of European Union diplomacy. Europe must not imitate the sanctions of others. He must lead with political responsibility.

Mr President, let us speak the truth here. What social Europe are you talking about? We have a jungle. At the same time that workers count the change in their pockets, prices rise, basic goods become luxury and social protection is dismantled piece by piece. In countries such as Greece, collective bargaining has been abolished by law, the right to strike has been restricted, public health and education have been dismantled. On the contrary, the European Union is preparing for armaments, wars, military industries. EUR 800. Not for health and education, not for work, but for weapons. You forgot the man. Bury him under numbers and statistics. You have been absorbed by growth rates, interest rates, surpluses, competitiveness. And as you watch the numbers go up, people in Europe are sinking into misery. And when a man ceases to hope, he is no longer afraid. And when millions of people stop hoping, then history begins to be written.

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner, how do you talk about strategic autonomy in metals when in Greece, with the participation of the European Union, Larco closed down? The only industry in the European Union that produces ferronickel, crucial for the green transition, has been driven to destruction. A government that for years destroyed this industry, private entrepreneurs who left the factory looted, and in the end the Commission instead of protecting this strategic pillar, fined 1 million euros for illegal funding, leading Larco to permanently close and divest assets. Nine months now hundreds of jobs have been lost, skilled staff. This priceless factory was dismantled, and an entire area, Larymna, was plunged into unemployment and abandonment. I urge the Commission to immediately revoke the fine and press the Greek government to relaunch Larco under public and social control and to rehire all dismissed workers. ‘...’

Madam President, we must admit that there is neither democracy, nor the rule of law, nor, of course, civil liberties in Turkey. The Erdoğan regime imprisons intellectuals, politicians, Kurds, mayors, trade unionists... And what is the stance of the European Union? Promote the deepening of the European Union's economic and trade relationship with Turkey by upgrading the Customs Union. Promote defence cooperation and Turkey's integration into Europe's defence planning. We can't go on like this. We must place the European Union's relationship with Turkey in positions of principle. Turkey should respect the rule of law and human rights at home, but it should also stop threatening and harassing Greece and should demonstrate a willingness to solve the Cyprus problem by ending the occupation of European territory and the illegal imposition of settlements.

Madam President, you are telling us to be ready for 72 hours, to have matches, lenses and cans. Why is it? To be said ready for crises, pandemics, natural disasters and external interventions. That is, you are spreading terror in the world to accept the militarization you are doing in Europe. You who have brought us thousands of times with your policies into crises such as the energy crisis and climate change. You who first destroyed public health and then left doctors and nurses struggling with the pandemic. You who cut pensions, reduce wages and are ready to finance military spending from depositors' money in banks and from workers' insurance funds. Now you're telling us to be ready. For us, however, there is a radical solution. To build a Europe of peoples with democracy, transparency and social justice. A Europe that is a peace-keeping force and not a sponsor of wars.

Madam President, Commissioner, you admit that with the Savings and Investments Union you will take the savings of citizens and insurance funds and play them on the markets. It is the trick you have thought of in the Commission to finance the war industries and capital in general. And if the people are going to finance the companies, why should they be privately owned? Let every citizen hear it well: Your money will no longer be deposited in the bank. They will not be covered by any deposit guarantee. If something goes wrong, the damage is passed on to the citizens – although no one will have asked you whether you want to risk the hardships of a lifetime or not, or whether you want to finance a war. I tell you clearly: Put your hands down. Don't you dare. You will not play our lives on the dice of the markets. We reject this trap design. Put your own money if you think it's safe. Not the hard work "..."

Madam President, I believe that the time has come to look ahead and dare to make inroads that will protect workers from the automation that technology will bring, for which automation I think we should discuss from now and set the framework that the surplus value that will be created will be reaped by society and not by the capitalists, because it is society that has financed its development. My colleagues, what does the chapter behind the word "restructuring" hold for workers? Unemployment, employer promiscuity and violation of labour law. Today, restructuring processes are often carried out without meaningful employee involvement. Their representatives are summoned on a pretext, simply to be informed, without any possibility of meaningful intervention or negotiation. That has to change. Only in this way will jobs and rights be guaranteed in practice and not on paper, when workers have legislated, real, meaningful interference in their work. What I would like to say to colleagues on the right is that slavery has ceased since the 18th and 19th centuries. Let's come to reality. Oh, thank you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the direction of the Union of Skills is problematic. Education is the cornerstone of democracy, equality and social cohesion. We cannot allow competitiveness to set its goals alone. Education is not just a tool of workforce production but the way to cultivate free, critical and active citizens. When education policies serve only the market, we neglect the importance of humanitarian education and social justice. We must invest in an education system that promotes knowledge, critical thinking and values of solidarity, that promotes culture. Artistic education is unfortunately not equally recognised as higher education – an example I say. Education, then, must shape people, not just workers. To bring talent back, we must first ensure decent wages, terms and conditions of work, social benefits, freedom and funding for scientists' research, and a quality of life that ensures their well-being. Those are the reasons they're leaving. Oh, thank you.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the religious reverence with which European leaders worship the numbers, markets and profits of businesses has led to the destruction of the welfare state. It has sacrificed society on the altar of competitiveness. This is the root of the demographic problem. Mrs Mînzatu, support for collective bargaining and collective agreements everywhere, without exceptions, without special zones of exploitation, is non-negotiable for workers. As far as artificial intelligence and quantum technology are concerned, we will not accept a new technological feudalism, where shareholders reap the surplus value and workers pay the price with layoffs and poverty. The surplus value that this progress will produce belongs to society. My fellow Members, I will vote against the European Semester, which is a noose around our necks, because it glorifies competitiveness over the well-being of peoples, and I will fight for a Europe that respects and defends its people and is not the long arm of the employers. Oh, thank you.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, after welcoming the criminal jihadists into the Syrian government with smiles and statements about supposed democracy, the European leaders are now deafeningly silent about what they call an inclusive Syria. Now that there is genocide in Syria, where is it? Massacres of civilians, women, elders, children and infants being butchered. Christians, Druze, Alawites, Kurds, innocent victims. I denounce shame and hypocrisy. It's a disgrace! When the European Union is silent in the face of crimes against humanity, it becomes an accomplice. When innocent lives are sacrificed for interests, that's not politics, it's complicity in slaughter. Take measures now with immediate effect to fully condemn the crimes by the European Union, impose sanctions on those responsible for the massacres, break all diplomatic relations with the forces that are bloodsucking Syria, send humanitarian aid to the affected communities. Stop the massacres of Syria now.

Madam President, I can see that the President of the Commission has run away. Mrs von der Leyen, where are you entitled to take 800 billion from the pockets of European citizens to give to the war industries? I read that you handed out the contracts to gun lobbyists like Pasatempo and walked away from the German Ministry of Defense. Is it true? Now you want to sacrifice the whole of Europe for their own interests. Random? - Yeah. And you are also calling on Turkey in European defence; Turkey, which owns half of Cyprus, is threatening Greece with casus belli. Turkey, Mr Costa, is, according to you, a strategic partner. In fact, he is an intruder on European soil. But I forgot: Cyprus does not have rare earths. Ladies and gentlemen, you have abandoned peace and diplomacy to fill the war industries' coffers. Our taxes will become weapons instead of health and education, while hospitals will be closed, schools will be devastated, pensions will disappear. I call on all European citizens to take to the streets to stop the war. Yes to peace.

Madam President, the report, for which the Committee on Employment has made an enormous and indeed remarkable effort, really gives some new dimensions, which I am also pleased to have tabled with an amendment to the Committee on Employment. It therefore gives families with many children, single-parent families, people with disabilities, the unemployed the possibility, through the European Social Fund, to become beneficiaries and to be able to help these people in a quagmire of accuracy and a very big blow from the market. I also underlined with an amendment the importance of workers' representatives in collective bargaining, which is currently a problem in several countries of the European Union, as well as the need for decent wages. I would like to call on all my colleagues to vote in favour of this report. It is very important for European citizens and for our peoples.