Speeches

Madam President, Mr Buxadé spoke about the freedom of patriots and the legitimate demonstrations in the United Kingdom against immigration, but I am sure you remember: These were not peaceful demonstrations, they were racist riots where vulnerable people were beaten and stabbed and homes burned. And why? Because they spread a hoax – with the help of Elon Musk – falsely attributing murders to an immigrant when, in fact, the perpetrator was English. And in Spain they tried to do the same. Mr. Buxadé, you are at war with the truth. And the problem is that many people – especially young people – are settling in a parallel world, and fear, hatred and aggression are growing; For you, when you point to those who come with boats, fleeing war or famine, it is so that we do not see those above, the elites, those who exploit them, those responsible for crises. That is why, Commissioner, we need European legislation that protects us from the extreme right, from its hoaxes, as Mr Buxadé said today. Lying destroys democracy, the right to have truthful information and, therefore, to form an opinion and be able to express it. That is not censorship, as the far right has said; If there is no truth, there is no freedom: There is oppression. And as Camus said: The worst epidemic is not biological, but moral. The epidemic of lies.

Mr. President, do you know how much an apartment of sixty square meters costs today in Madrid? EUR 1 200 on average. And do you know how many young people can't access that floor? 70%. It's a real shame. We have been living for years with a runaway capitalism that aims to commodify everything and that has generated an unprecedented housing crisis with more anguish, despair and poverty. How long are we going to tolerate it? Organised civil society has said: "Enough is enough". And that is why this Sunday he has organized mobilizations throughout Spain. Europe cannot sit idly by. The future commissioner must act with courage, with a plan to stand up to the vulture funds, to stop the lack of tourist control and to make more social housing, as Barcelona has done with the Government of Ada Colau. Because without decent housing there is no freedom, and without freedom there is fear. And with fear there is no democracy.

Madam President, thank you to Mr Borrell for talking about the victims in Lebanon, because yesterday we all stood up to express our solidarity with the families of the 1 200 Israeli victims. But today, as yesterday, a thunderous silence is heard: that of the bench of the right and the extreme right. What about the other victims: 42,000 in Palestine and 2,000 in Lebanon? They don't exist? Are they cockroaches, as Netanyahu's fundamentalist government says? Or are they potential terrorists, as one of your MEPs has suggested? Even the boys and girls, those victims, you are bothered, you would like them to be invisible. True, we don't know their names and surnames, like those of the Israeli victims, but they do. They also have family and face, and they question us and point the accusing finger at us. Because, yes, they were murdered by the Netanyahu regime, but with the economic, financial and political help of Europe and its governments. "It happened and it can happen again," Primo Levi said after World War II. And, behind the rubble in Lebanon and Gaza, there is not only international law, but the categorical imperative of never again that arose from that mistake. Now we can't say we didn't know.

Madam President, Commissioner, how long will Europe stop supporting the butcher Netanyahu? Last Thursday, he killed seven United Nations employees. And as you recalled, we have already killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, most of them women, children and girls. How long will the international community tolerate it? How long will you ignore the demands of the International Criminal Court? How many thousands more dead do we need to stop being complicit in this barbarism? A thousand? A hundred grand? A million? Because the truth must be told, and the truth is that it is hypocrisy – criminal hypocrisy – to come here to lament those killings and then to be in favour of continuing to provide the weapons to carry them out. It is hypocrisy to sanction Putin and not to sanction Netanyahu. The victims are equal in Ukraine and Palestine. And it is hypocrisy to accept what the United Nations says about illegal settlements and then finance them, buy their products, keep that European Union agreement with Israel, which is a criminal agreement. We must break with the regime of apartheid, as has been done by the Barcelona City Council of Ada Colau. If Barcelona has done so, so can Europe. You have to say things by name. In the face of genocide, there are no half measures. Either you're with the perpetrator or you're with the victims...