What Roxana spoke about.

20 May

2026

EN Speech

The cases of human rights and environmental defenders Andrie Yunus and Muhammad Rosidi in Indonesia

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Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, the European Union and Indonesia have had a comprehensive partnership since 2014. This means regular dialogue and broad cooperation, including systematically on human rights. They held the 11th round of consultations on human rights in February, in the framework of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, allowing both sides to address…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan following the Taliban's adoption of the Criminal Procedure Code for Courts

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Mr President, colleagues, thank you so much for this debate and for the many calls that you that you have made, which I have heard and I acknowledge here. Indeed, step by step, decree by decree, women and girls in Afghanistan are being pushed further out of public life, out of education, out of employment, and now increasingly out of access to justice itself. The introduction of the Criminal Proce…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Repression and execution of protesters, dissidents, political prisoners and religious minorities in Iran

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Mr President, honourable Members, the human rights situation in Iran has been deeply worrying for years. The repression of internal dissent, restrictions of civic space and freedom of expression are of particular concern. Widespread discrimination and restrictions against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities persist, adding to a very grim picture. The situation of women and girls, …

20 May

2026

EN Speech

The need to reduce work-related fatalities (debate)

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Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for the interesting and fruitful debate and for your strong commitment to support workers' health and safety in the workplace. You illustrated also with numbers and concrete examples that although we have achieved a lot, a lot more still needs to be done and our work is far from being finished. The Commission will continue to pursue this Vision Zero appr…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

The need to reduce work-related fatalities (debate)

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Mr President, honourable Members, today's debate is about an objective that we all share: reducing and ultimately, very importantly, eliminating work‑related fatalities and diseases. Let me be very clear – protecting workers' health and workers' safety remains a core priority for the European Commission. Over the past decades, the European Union and the Member States have built one of the world's …

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Advancing towards a care society: addressing the gender care gap (debate)

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Mr President, indeed, there is a problem. Thank you for the debate on such an important topic. We refer to two categories of people that are involved in care work. Yes, the formal care workers, whether they be men or women, and their working conditions, their salaries. In our Member States, we have a diverse landscape, but in most situations this is not the best-paid job, this is not the ideal job…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Advancing towards a care society: addressing the gender care gap (debate)

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Madam President, I cannot express enough my gratitude for this important topic today and tomorrow. The care society, one that doesn't limit opportunities but rather creates opportunities and the gender gap that exists and needs to be addressed. So I will thank Parliament for this debate. I will thank the two rapporteurs for their work on the report, and I want to underline the important challenges…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Recent proposals to fight poverty in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, thank you so much. One important call that I heard very loud is the budget. So clearly this Parliament has sent a very, very strong message that when we act to fight poverty, we also need to invest and support our Member States, and I really take note of this important call. Because in the end, if we look today at what the European Social Fund Plus does to help people – I was in Rest…

20 May

2026

EN Speech

Recent proposals to fight poverty in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, thank you for this opportunity to be able to discuss with you here in the plenary the EU anti-poverty strategy and the overall social package that we adopted in the European Commission on 6 May. I must start with the figure, with the numbers of truth that drive our action. That is that one out of five Europeans (that is, 93 million people in Europe) are at risk of poverty, at risk of…

10 Mar

2026

EN Speech

European Semester for economic policy coordination 2026 - European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2026 (joint debate)

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Mr President, thank you so much for the input from this debate on the European Semester process. Just a few remarks on some important topics which are reflected in the European Semester process, but are also present in our citizens' everyday lives. We are looking at topics such as energy prices, housing, but also their security, skills and how we prepare them for the transformations of our economy…

10 Mar

2026

EN Speech

European Semester for economic policy coordination 2026 - European Semester for economic policy coordination: employment and social priorities for 2026 (joint debate)

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Madam President, honourable Members, I would like to thank the two rapporteurs for their reports, which provide a valuable contribution in view of the European Semester priorities for 2026. This cycle was launched in a context marked by increased global uncertainties and by multiple economic, social and security challenges. Our competitiveness and our sustainable prosperity are fundamentally chall…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

Addressing subcontracting chains and the role of intermediaries in order to protect workers’ rights (debate)

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Mr President, thank you for the debate. What is clear, of course, is that we need to work to design a targeted and balanced policy response to all the challenges linked to subcontracting that you've mentioned. Our aim in the Commission is – I've said it and I repeat it – twofold. First of all, to protect the workers who are deprived of their rights in subcontracting chains. At the same time, to re…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

Addressing subcontracting chains and the role of intermediaries in order to protect workers’ rights (debate)

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Madam President, honourable Members, let me express my gratitude to the rapporteur – Johan – and to the shadows for this report, which is very timely for the Commission. On 4 December last year, I presented the Quality Jobs Roadmap and on the same day we launched the first-phase consultation for a Quality Jobs Act. At the same time, we launched our preparatory work for our fair labour mobility pac…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

Developing a new EU anti-poverty strategy (debate)

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Madam President, thank you for a very rich and intense debate. I thank you, João, for the report, for the proposals. I thank everybody who contributed. Of course, it is no easy task to take on the battle against poverty and exclusion, but I think it is a task that we must all embrace, and to do so with all the energy and all the belief that our citizens need it and deserve it. We cannot speak of d…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

Developing a new EU anti-poverty strategy (debate)

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Madam President, honourable members, thank you. As you know, this year we will adopt the European Union's first ever anti-poverty strategy. And this should send a clear signal that, in 2026, we cannot accept that around 93 million people, that is 20 % of the EU population, are at risk of poverty, are at risk of social exclusion. And that 1 million people experienced the most severe form of poverty…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

International Day of Education, fighting inequalities in access to education (debate)

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Madam President, I say to the Members, thank you for the very diverse contributions that you offered today – a lot of challenges, some common to our European Union, some more local. What is clear – and I want to emphasise that – is that the European Union, in the context of our enhanced cooperation, in the context of the support we give to Member States in education, is one of the most important i…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

International Day of Education, fighting inequalities in access to education (debate)

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Madam President, honourable Members, we know that education is the great equaliser of opportunity. But this is only true if every child and every learner in Europe and beyond has access to high quality, inclusive education, no matter their origin, no matter their gender and no matter their background. In Europe, we can be proud of our education and training systems. Yet pride must go hand in hand …

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Joint action addressing the increased use of death penalty (debate)

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Madam President, honourable Members, the debate today shows the importance of our ongoing efforts to promote the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. Let us be very clear. The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill treatment. It is an affront to human dignity. Proponents of the death penalty often base their argument on deter…

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Joint action addressing the increased use of death penalty (debate)

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Madam President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, abolition of the death penalty is a long-standing priority for the European Union. Our position on it couldn't be any clearer: we object to its use in all cases and in all circumstances – no exceptions. Regrettably, 2024 was a record year in executions, and the preliminary data concerning last year, 2025, indicates that executions hav…

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

A new action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (debate)

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Madam President, Members, I thank you for quite a lively debate. I attend many debates and this was lively, important, but polarised on certain issues, and it should not be. Somebody said that there is no Europe without social Europe – this is what the Commission believes and this is what I believe. I greatly appreciate your questions and the level of ambition that you want to set for all the topi…

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

A new action plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (debate)

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Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to thank this House for the oral question that you adopted in December on the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. It gives an important opportunity to us to take stock of where we are so far in the mandate and what is yet to come. A large number of policies, measures, legislation and guidance have been agreed since the Pillar Action Plan was…

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Drones and new systems of warfare – the EU’s need to adapt to be fit for today’s security challenges (debate)

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Mr President, thank you for the very valuable debate, for your contributions. It is important to reiterate that drones and drone defence are a top priority of the Commission, and clearly also of the Parliament. On my side – because my portfolio is connected with the work on our own defence industry – it's important to note that designing a defence industry that extracts value from our European tal…

22 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Drones and new systems of warfare – the EU’s need to adapt to be fit for today’s security challenges (debate)

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Mr President, honourable Members, I thank Mr Pozņaks and the shadows for this important report and urgent call to action. Drone and counter drone capacities are top Commission priorities. As the Commission and the HR/VP presented in the defence white paper already nine months ago, and in the defence readiness roadmap in October. The drone danger threatens all of Europe. It is part of the toolbox o…

21 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Conviction and imminent sentencing of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong

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Madam President, honourable Members, Jimmy Lai has now been detained for more than five years. Most of this time, he was held in solitary confinement. In December, the Hong Kong High Court convicted him on national security grounds, and he now faces a lengthy prison sentence and will likely spend the rest of his life in jail. The trial against Jimmy Lai was politically motivated. He was prosecuted…

21 Jan

2026

EN Speech

Case of Joseph Figueira Martin in the Central African Republic

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Madam President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, we share your concern regarding the case of Mr Joseph Figueira Martin, a European citizen currently detained in the Central African Republic. Since the outset of this case, in May 2024, the High Representative and the European External Action Service have been closely monitoring developments in coordination with the Belgian and Portug…