Speeches

Madam President, Madam Executive Vice-President, in this Parliament lately we have only heard about the competitiveness of companies and productivity, and they forget what is important: The key is the people, those we all represent. And I also want to tell you that training is a right. Investing in people, a dual vocational training more oriented to the economic reality, a first decent work experience - I am thinking above all of young people and the quality of their first job - ... is the key to making Europe more competitive because its companies will be, and productivity always increases with training. We need a commitment from employers to the training of their workers, which increases their productivity, but avoids future layoffs when they have to face changes in their businesses. Agile public-private dialogue in the design of appropriate retraining and upskilling is the key to ensuring decent jobs, with good wages and good working conditions. The best guarantee for people is that we can offer training for the green and digital transitions especially to those with low educational levels and particularly vulnerable groups, with a special focus on women.

Mr President, Commissioner, we are having a crisis of health and care workers in Europe, and this is mainly due to the ageing of staff and also the abandonment of the profession. To cope with this situation it is necessary to recruit new professionals and also be able to retain those we have. To do this, it is clear, it is necessary to improve their working conditions and manage the workload much better, with greater flexibility so that they can reconcile their work life and their personal life, and this will review the working hours, because professionals are working more hours than they are supposed, and it also goes from salaries. A fair salary is another key to retaining and attracting new professionals. And today, which we will also talk about mental health later, I do not want to forget the fact that about 70% of European health workers suffer from symptoms of poor mental health, deal with depression and anxiety, and let us not forget that many also suffer violence and aggression in their workplace. That is why I call on the Commission and the Member States to ensure a sufficient budget so that health and care workers can provide care...

Mr President, demographic change is the result, above all, of the success of public health. But Europe today is not prepared for the impact of ageing on employment, housing, health, long-term care and the social, economic and political participation of older people. So far, this issue has been addressed in a piecemeal way, in watertight compartments, and with well-intentioned documents, strategies or sets of proposals, but which have proven ineffective in achieving our objectives. That is why, in addition to the fact that we must review the strategies we have and that we must continue to fight against this inequality and against the ageism that nests between us, it is time that we seriously, from this Parliament, demand that the new European Commission draw up a comprehensive ageing strategy, which guarantees us that we will be able to respond successfully to the tremendous challenge before us and that, in addition, we can do so with an intergenerational view of young and old for a European Union with a future.

Madam President, Commissioner, at Disability Week we discussed and analysed the situation in Europe and concluded that we can actually do much better. We all recognise as a major step forward the adoption of the European Strategy in 2021, with all its actions and objectives, but we have also seen that it has not been possible to implement concrete actions that really transform the lives of people with disabilities as regards access to accessible housing, easy mobility, real non-discrimination and, above all, decent employment that guarantees them an independent life. Therefore, it would not be understood that the Commission does not propose new concrete actions for the remainder of the Strategy and does not review some of the existing actions that have not yielded the desired result. We must guarantee equal opportunities to the more than 100 million people with disabilities living on our continent, with proposals such as the creation of a European disability agency, a guarantee of training and employment for people with disabilities in the way that exists as a Youth Guarantee, and so many other proposals. I ask the Commission, please, to move the record, to be courageous in setting up the necessary measures.

Mr President, Commissioner, it is clear that working conditions, health and mental health are closely linked. The primary sector is under a lot of stress. It suffers from aging, seasonality and temporality. And it has – we also know – very difficult generational renewal, and this threatens its long-term viability. We must therefore be able to guarantee good working conditions if we want to make it attractive. The Socialists have already taken a very important step in the last reform of the CAP by including social conditionality to access this aid. However, from the public we must offer and demand training in the prevention of occupational risks and psychosocial risks, and we must recognize occupational diseases in this sector. If farmers do not feel cared for or cared for by institutions, tensions will continue to arise and the gap between rural and urban areas will continue to widen. Agricultural activity needs to be enhanced and public employment services should promote the creation of pockets of workers trained to cover seasons, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, and holidays. Because, yes, workers in the agricultural sector also have labor rights.

Mr President, mobile and migrant workers are essential for the proper functioning of our internal market. But experiences such as COVID and labour market schemes, involving undeclared work or abusive subcontracting, clearly point to the vulnerability of these workers. The number of infringements detected demonstrates the value of the European Labour Authority, but also the need for further stronger actions to make this agency more recognised and more effective. Therefore, in this mandate we must prohibit abusive subcontracting and limit subcontracting chains, establish joint and several liability of the main companies, regulate intermediaries in a transparent European register and also strengthen the role of the Authority, that is, expand the rights of workers and their social protection, especially those who are mobile and posted.

Mr President, Commissioner, this Parliament is committed to promoting social dialogue, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Trade union action is always complicated, but today we have new difficulties added. There is a fierce campaign of attack on the trade union movement that is taking place from economic, political and media sectors. And don't be distracted. Behind these discourses, the subtle legislative changes that are suggested, the objective is clear: to eliminate the role of trade unions as collective representatives of workers. It is done from different fronts, from those who question the representativeness or the financing of the unions, or the very existence of people dedicated to unionism exclusively. And I go back to the beginning: We must not lose sight of things. We are suffering an attack on the waterline of the last trench they have left to take down the big ones. lobbies economic.

Mr President, Commissioner, digital and green job training is not the only one we need. The demographic challenge requires putting care on the political agenda, promoting a model guaranteed from the public, accessible and quality. We need a European legal framework that ensures good working conditions and lifelong learning, that values these key jobs for economic activity and that ends gender segregation and abuse of undeclared work. Public employment services are key to providing the necessary skills and connected to the real demand of the territory. We are doing so in the Basque Country, with the ZainLab project. The European Care Strategy was an important step, but it has proven to be insufficient. We must promote a European legal framework that makes this right to quality care possible in all Member States, promoting the professionalisation of the sector and the recognition of its qualifications.

I thank you for the question, because it gives me the opportunity to continue to insist on what we Socialists stand for, which is a transformation of European industry, with funds, such as those from the Recovery and Resilience Facility that were approved after the pandemic, that are allowing us to transform the economy: we have to bet not so much on the quantity, but on the quality of the steel we produce in Europe to compete with third countries; for more innovation that, in the end, will bring us better jobs with better wages. That is what the European Union has to defend and what we have to work on in this mandate to be able to continue defending both the rights of thousands of workers and the future of plants, without regressing either in the decarbonisation and, therefore, in the sustainability of our industry: That's the future, that's what we socialists are doing where we rule.

Madam President, today we are discussing a crucial issue for Europe's strategic autonomy and for thousands of workers. The steel industry is a strategic sector for the EU and it is essential to defend that we maintain the entire value chain in Europe: the solution is not to backtrack on climate commitments; on the contrary, we must move decisively towards a clean, sustainable and competitive industry. In my region, in the Basque Country, companies like Sidenor mark the way forward, betting on quality versus quantity, investing in innovation to compete globally, decarbonizing their plants and betting on diversifying their production; all this with the financial support of national and regional institutions. That is why we Socialists call for the EU to guarantee competitiveness accompanied by the social pillar, thus guaranteeing quality jobs, and an ambitious European investment plan for innovation and industrial transformation: Europe needs funds for a competitive and socially fair industry.

Mr President, Commissioner, first I wanted to thank the rapporteurs for their work. Employment is at the heart of the green, digital and demographic transformations, connected to competitiveness, yes, but with a social commitment to continue building a fairer and more inclusive Europe. We defend decent, quality and inclusive employment with a focus on underrepresented groups in the world of employment, such as women and young people: we must ensure that they are fully incorporated into the world of employment, as we are doing in Spain, where we have more than 10 million women working – more than ever – and we are reducing youth unemployment. And, above all, we must not forget the right to access to regular employment of persons with disabilities. We need all the talent to face the future in Europe and we must boost the role of public employment services to achieve these objectives, to guarantee the right to training for all citizens: more digitalisation and more European integration of public employment services. And we defend the protection of workers' rights in terms of wages and working conditions, with a focus, above all, on occupational health and social protection systems. We demand compliance with the directives on minimum wages, pay transparency and digital platforms. Europe needs to stand with its citizens and invest in a fairer and more equal society.

Mr President, Commissioner, the right to decent and affordable housing is a fundamental right. In the Basque Country I led in 2015 a pioneering law that has positioned us as one of the most advanced regions in Europe in housing policies, by acting on demand, declaring stressed areas that limit prices, offering direct aid to people with less income and increasing rehabilitation and building housing for protected rent. The example of Euskadi is a good starting point. But Europe, like the Basque Country, needs to go a step further by implementing a European housing strategy with concrete measures and sufficient funding to guarantee decent and affordable housing for all. Despite the opposition of the EPP, von der Leyen has demonstrated his commitment to socialist priorities by creating the figure of the Commissioner for Housing and committing to establish a European plan for affordable housing. Because housing is a right, it is not a commodity, it is not a market good.

Mr President, Commissioner, we are at great risk and not only in my region, the Basque Country, where the automotive sector employs more than 40 000 people, a figure that reflects the importance of this sector. We are at a decisive moment for European industry, which needs specific funds for its transformation and an ambitious plan at European level. Europe has recently shown that, when we act together, we are stronger and overcome all difficulties. Therefore, we need to control the entire value chain of the electric vehicle and consolidate the charging infrastructure, betting on innovation and training. Without this, Europe will not be able to lead the transformation towards a green and digital economy. The Just Transition Fund should be expanded and strengthened, including social dialogue, to offer our citizens the necessary tools for the acquisition and improvement of skills, as we have done in my region, in the Basque Country. With this strategy, we will meet a twofold objective: on the one hand, preparing workers for new green jobs and, on the other hand, making our European companies much more competitive and productive. What is at stake is our future and the future of industrial jobs in Europe.