What João spoke about.

25

Nov

2024

PT Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, general increases in wages and pensions; upgrading careers and working conditions; strengthening public investment in housing and the responsiveness of public services, health, education, social security and culture; support for productive sectors and scientific and technological development; a fair taxation policy with the alleviation of taxes on labour and the effective taxation of…

25

Nov

2024

PT Speech

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Outcome of the UN Biodiversity Conference 2024 in Cali, Colombia (COP16) (debate)

Mr President, the rate of biodiversity loss is now at rates that experts consider to be unprecedented in the period of human history. The announcement of targets is not enough to halt this trend, particularly in international protocols. Moreover, the European Union is well aware of the failure of such an approach, failing to meet the objectives of halting the loss of biodiversity in the territorie…

25

Nov

2024

PT Speech

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International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (debate)

The struggle for a life free from exploitation, discrimination and inequality is a millennial struggle of the human being. But the recognition of women's rights is only part of recent history and, in many cases, even today, it is only a proclamation with no concrete consequence in women's lives. Domestic and dating violence, prostitution, sexual violence, discrimination and harassment in the workp…

14

Nov

2024

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EU actions against the Russian shadow fleets and ensuring a full enforcement of sanctions against Russia (RC-B10-0161/2024)

Madam President, the scheduling of this debate and the corresponding resolution are part of the logic of instigating and promoting confrontation and escalation of the conflict in Eastern Europe, with the serious dangers it entails for the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, but also for the peoples of Europe. The resolution confirms this, first of all, by insisting on the strengthening of sanctions and…

13

Nov

2024

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, Portugal is currently experiencing a difficult situation with regard to health care, particularly in the area of medical emergency and INEM. And some of those responsible for these difficulties in Portugal are sitting in this Parliament. Here sit those responsible for approving policies of privatization of public services and favoring the business of disease, instead of defending the…

13

Nov

2024

PT Speech

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Order of business

Madam President, the Israeli Parliament has decided to block the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. This inhuman and intolerable decision leaves hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without the humanitarian aid they need, imposing a brutal degradation of their already weak living conditions. The Commissioner-General of this UN agency said t…

24

Oct

2024

PT Speech

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Closing the EU skills gap: supporting people in the digital and green transitions to ensure inclusive growth and competitiveness in line with the Draghi report (debate)

Mr President, labour productivity has always risen above real wage developments. The consequence of this is the transfer of wealth created by the workers to capital, and this problem can only be solved by increasing wages and ensuring a fairer distribution of the wealth created. That is the bottom line. However, this debate on competitiveness focuses only on the competitive comparison with the Uni…

24

Oct

2024

PT Question

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Closing the EU skills gap: supporting people in the digital and green transitions to ensure inclusive growth and competitiveness in line with the Draghi report (debate)

Mr Sérgio Humberto, in your speech you spoke of the importance of education and training for the qualification of workers. And I want you to tell us: How can this be done by accepting the budgetary constraints that the European Union imposes on us? How is this done – as is currently the case in Portugal – with the government that you support submitting a proposal for a State Budget which, acceptin…

23

Oct

2024

PT Speech

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Need to strengthen rail travel and the railway sector in Europe (debate)

Mr President, it was not because of a so-called fragmentation of the European railway area that Portugal lost its international rail link, going back 100 years, or that it lost 1 200 kilometres of railway lines. This has happened within the framework of European Union policies, which have promoted public disinvestment in this strategic sector. It is necessary to discuss the consequences of the pol…

23

Oct

2024

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Need to strengthen rail travel and the railway sector in Europe (debate)

Mrs Vasconcelos, you have brought us concerns about the railway, and I would like to ask you: Why don’t you criticise – o mea culpa – the policies of liberalisation of the sector, which have forced privatisations and concentration of the railway sector in the hands of multinationals? Why don't you tell us your opinion on the project to create a public-private partnership on the high-speed connecti…

23

Oct

2024

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Findings of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Poland's abortion law (debate)

Madam President, the report of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded that the situation in Poland has dramatically deteriorated. Polish women do not have access to safe and legal IVG and are forced to take desperate measures, often looking for unsafe alternatives, or to travel abroad to access necessary care. The situation in Poland is a real dem…

23

Oct

2024

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Managing migration in an effective and holistic way through fostering returns (debate)

Madam President, safe and legal pathways for migration, investment in social integration policies, respect for social and labour rights as universal rights, rejection of discrimination and combating the instrumentalisation of migration by major economic interests – none of this guides the policies of the European Union. From the Migration Pact to the 2025 Budget and the latest European Council con…

23

Oct

2024

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Managing migration in an effective and holistic way through fostering returns (debate)

Madam President, Ana Catarina Mendes, the members of the Socialist Party have approved the Pact for Migration – which contains a large part of the inhumane measures with which migrants are treated today – and the group of Socialists and Democrats, of which you are one, is preparing to approve the European Union budget for 2025, which even refers to the physical infrastructure to contain migration.…

22

Oct

2024

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Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (debate)

Mr President, Parliament's position on the employment guidelines improves the Commission's proposal to the Council, but it does not erase the framework for these policy guidelines or their harm to workers. Although short and insufficient, we welcome the references to fair wages, decent working conditions, collective bargaining, the objectives of full employment and poverty eradication, and the nee…

22

Oct

2024

PT Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 – all sections (debate)

Mr President, the European Parliament wants to reverse the cuts made by the European Council to the budget of the European Union, but it does not reverse the wrong choices that underlie this budget. This budget reflects militaristic and armamentist choices and meets the interests of economic groups and the wishes of the military industrial complex, but ignores the problems of workers and peoples. …

22

Oct

2024

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Urgent need for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for safeguarding the UNIFIL mission in light of the recent attacks (debate)

Madam President, the conclusions of the European Council and the title of this debate reflect the double standards of the European Union and its complicity with Israel. Yes, the attack on the United Nations forces must be condemned. Yes, such an attack is a serious violation of international law. And yes, it was made by Israel. The fact that the aggressor is not mentioned is indicative of the Euro…

21

Oct

2024

PT Speech

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One-minute speeches (Rule 179)

Mr President, the post-electoral survey carried out by the European Parliament has shown that the main concern of peoples is the cost of living. This Parliament should be discussing the solutions to this problem, but no other political group has agreed to hold such a debate. No other political group wanted to discuss options to combat the rising cost of living, measures to control and fix the pric…

21

Oct

2024

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Implementation of the Single European Sky (recast) (debate)

Mr President, it is true that this new version of the Single European Sky Regulation does not go as far as the position that the European Parliament had adopted, with all that it represented of an unambiguous attack on national sovereignty, in an openly mercantilist approach and even greater liberalisation of the air sector, aiming at its concentration and centralisation. But these are still trait…

21

Oct

2024

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Empowering the Single Market to deliver a sustainable future and prosperity for all EU citizens (debate)

Madam President, seen from the board of a multinational, the deepening of the single market may seem like a vein; seen from the reality of workers and peoples, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the development possibilities of a country like Portugal, the deepening of the single market is a heavy burden that drags us to the bottom. A few decades ago, PCP member and former Member of this P…

21

Oct

2024

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Empowering the Single Market to deliver a sustainable future and prosperity for all EU citizens (debate)

Madam President, defending the single market by advocating competition policy, ignoring the concentration and centralisation to which that policy and that market have led, does not do us much good. Just look at the Portuguese banking sector and realize that, without the deepening of the single market, all banks were in the hands of foreign capital, with the exception of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, w…

21

Oct

2024

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Signature of acts adopted in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (Rule 81)

Madam President, I would like to express my total disagreement with your unsubstantiated and discretionary decision to reject, without justification, the proposal for a debate on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, following the statements by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. On Thursday, the UN declared that more than 1,800,000 Palestinians face extreme hunge…

10

Oct

2024

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

Mr President, mental health problems are serious health problems which have various origins, and some of them are well established, linked to the consequences of the inappropriate organisation of working time. The fact that there are health professionals in a situation of burnout is perhaps the most caricature example of the socio-labour background that has many of the mental health problems. Othe…

9

Oct

2024

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Urgent need to revise the Medical Devices Regulation (debate)

Madam President, the pandemic has shown that access to medical devices is a matter of vital interest to any country. The retention by some countries of ventilators that were lacking in neighbouring countries was a dramatic portrait of this. It is essential that there are rules for the production of medical devices that meet public interest criteria and guarantee quality standards that are indispen…

9

Oct

2024

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Ensuring sustainable, decent and affordable housing in Europe - encouraging investment, private property and public housing programmes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the difficulty of finding affordable housing is an ever-increasing problem, affecting people in poverty, but more and more middle-class people. Housing difficulties are a consequence of the liberalisation of the sector, the favouring of real estate funds and speculation, the precariousness of the rental regime, the abandonment of the role of the state, the high interest…

9

Oct

2024

PT Question

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Ensuring sustainable, decent and affordable housing in Europe - encouraging investment, private property and public housing programmes (debate)

It is not possible to defend the right to housing and, at the same time, to accept the budgetary constraints and liberal policies that deepen real estate speculation. And the debate on the State Budget in Portugal is once again confirming this incompatibility with the acceptance of economic governance rules that restrict the possibility of public investment and, at the same time, the response to h…