Speeches

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the EU-wide ban on the use of wild animals in circuses (2021/2999(RSP)). I would like to inform you that for all the debates of this part-session there will be no catch-the-eye procedure and no blue card questions will be accepted. Also, as in recent part-sessions, remote interventions from Parliament’s Liaison Offices in the Member States are foreseen. I would also like to remind you that the interventions in the Chamber will continue from the central step. I would therefore ask you to follow the list of speakers and come to the floor when it is your turn to speak.

The debate on the oral question by Ms Evelyn Regner, on behalf of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, on "MeToo and harassment – the consequences for the EU institutions" (O-000074/2021 - B9-0045/21) (2021/2986(RSP)) is now resumed.

Before continuing with the debates, I will start today's first vote. We shall vote on the dossiers as they appear on the agenda. Voting will be open from 09.45 to 11.00. The same voting method as in previous votes will be used. All votes will be taken by roll call. I declare the first vote open. You can vote until 11.00. The results of the first vote will be announced at 13.00.

The first item on the agenda was the debate on the oral question by Ms Evelyn Regner, on behalf of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, on ‘MeToo and harassment – the consequences for the EU institutions’ (O-000074/2021 - B9-0045/21) (2021/2986(RSP)). I would like to inform you that for all the debates of this part-session there will be no catch-the-eye procedure and no blue card questions will be accepted. Also, as in recent part-sessions, remote interventions from Parliament’s Liaison Offices in the Member States are foreseen. I would also like to remind you that the interventions in the Chamber will continue from the central step. I would therefore ask you to follow the list of speakers and come to the floor when it is your turn to speak.

The next item is the debate on: the report by Mr Gheorghe Falcă, on behalf of the Committee on Petitions, on the deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in 2020 (2021/2019(INI)) (A9-0323/2021).

Before we move on to the next item on the agenda, I have an announcement to make. Following the resignation of my colleague, Sven Giegold, who has taken on a role within the new German Government, Parliament has noted the vacancy of his position since tomorrow 16 December, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, and has informed the public authority accordingly.

Madam President, the Recovery and Resilience Fund is an important positive step and must succeed. This money needs to get somewhere, not go into the pockets of a few and powerful. This is why we need strong transparency and monitoring institutions that ensure project implementation, honest management and a strong social agenda, because the pandemic has greatly increased social and regional inequalities. In the European Parliament we have created a strong committee that exercises the necessary control to get the money in place and not go into the pockets of a few corrupt oligarchs, political and economic oligarchs. And this control must be extended to all countries. Parliament, and the national parliament, must play such a role. I am sorry, because what has been done in the European Parliament, in my country Greece, has not yet been done, because the government denies it. This money does not belong to the parties, it does not belong to the governments. They belong to the European peoples and must go where we have planned.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen of the Council and of the Commission, the resurgence of the pandemic is proving to be more resilient than anticipated, which is why speeding up vaccination, not only in the European Union, but among the global population, is a top priority. It is a one-way street, because as long as Africa has 7% vaccination rates, it becomes a laboratory for mutations such as Omicron, which originated in Botswana and threatens global health and the economy. That is why the patent on vaccines must finally be lifted and the vaccine must become a global public good. The majority of the European Parliament calls for this. More than 100 member states of the World Trade Organization are calling for it. 60 Nobel laureates are asking for it. The Commission and the Council must put the value of life and public health above the interests of Big Pharma, with life and public health against the interests of multinationals. What you need to do at the summit.

We are now continuing the debate on the Commission statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the state of play of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (2021/2979(RSP)).

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the state of play of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (2021/2979(RSP)).

The President has received from the Council his first-reading positions, as well as the reasons which led the Council to adopt them, and the Commission's positions and opinions. The full titles will be entered in the minutes of this meeting. The three-month period for the Parliament to take a decision therefore runs from 26 November 2021. *** Before we move on to the discussions and before today's vote which will start at 9.30 and during which we will vote on the decision of the EMPL Committee to enter into interinstitutional negotiations on: - the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adequate minimum wages in the European Union only one speaker in favour of the committee’s decision to enter into negotiations and one speaker against the decision can take the floor.

Mr President, the European Parliament, with a hard effort and because it was united, has made significant improvements to the draft budget presented by the Council with too many, unnecessarily harsh cuts. But we must seek even better results in the 2023 budget, and you must understand, gentlemen of the Council and gentlemen of the Commission, that we cannot achieve the objectives you set, not the most that the European Parliament demands with a budget of 1% of European GDP. We need a stronger budget with stronger own resources, as the European Parliament calls united from the left to the parliamentary centre-right. We too, who are satisfied with the improvements we have achieved, must see that the Council, with the help of the Commission, which was not once again the 'honest broker', as it describes itself, has limited our objectives. We asked for EU4Health 80 million and got 51 million. For innovation, through Horizon we got three times less than what we claimed. The same goes for LIFE: That's four times less than what we claimed. For asylum and immigration of only EUR 85.5 million. We are satisfied with what we have achieved. But let us not celebrate, because difficult negotiations await us in the future.

The next item is the debate on the report by Dita Charanzová, on behalf of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2009/103/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, and the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability (COM(2018)0336 - C8-0211/2018 - 2018/0168(COD)) (A8-0035/2019).

Mr President, the European perspective of the Western Balkans is in our common interest, but it is progressing too slowly. It was decided in 2003 at the Thessaloniki Summit and few steps have been taken since then. As long as the European Union is slow to deliver on its commitments, others will fill the gap: Putin’s Russia; Erdogan's Turkey and nationalisms, such as the cries we heard from Mr Dzhambazki before, which, fortunately, are also rejected by the people of Bulgaria. I ask you to take quicker steps, both from you in the Commission and from you in the Council, Mr Logar. The European Union needs to draw up a timetable, make commitments, provide funds and the Western Balkan countries need to progress faster with democratic reforms and align with the Copenhagen criteria. And you must immediately start the accession negotiations for both North Macedonia and Albania. Because North Macedonia made with my country, Greece, an important step that was welcomed here by all wings, the Prespes Agreement. So you cannot say to these peoples 'tea and sympathy', wait for an indefinite future, because then their trust in both the European Union and democracy will be diminished.

Madam President, the European Parliament, with a very broad cooperation and consensus from the European People's Party to the Left, is calling for concrete increases in the budget, which are absolutely realistic and necessary. He asks, Mr Hahn, that you honour and respect what you have proposed and which the Council is savagely and unjustifiably cutting, overturning in many respects the interinstitutional agreement on the multiannual budget. We call for more care to support research and innovation; more funds to protect children from poverty, social exclusion and illiteracy; strengthening the effort to tackle the health crisis by promoting the European Health Union; strengthening Erasmus+ with more opportunities for education, training and support for the young generation; more funds for EU-LIVE, environmental protection and support for the green transition; more funds for the COVAX initiative to boost vaccination coverage worldwide; and more support – also with money – for gender equality in all dimensions of the budget. For this to happen, the Council must stop cutting and saying 'no' to things it has itself agreed to, while the Commission must support its proposals, not give in to the Council all the time and listen a little more to the voice of the united European Parliament.

Madam President, the Recovery and Stability Facility funds, Mr Gentiloni, are an important positive step and must be taken in all 27 Member States, applying the rules that also apply to society and the economy and the many. Not to go into the pockets of a few and powerful, not to fuel corruption and, as the European Union calls for – and rightly so – to have rules on deficits and debts and to respect them in all 27 Member States, we must all respect the rules on respect for the rule of law. The European Parliament called for and succeeded in having a mechanism with conditionalities, with conditionalities, linking Community funds to respect for the rule of law. This mechanism must be respected, because it is signed by both Parliament and the Commission and the 27 Member States. Several delays have been made. And one last one: We are asking for transparency from both you and the governments of Hungary and Poland. What are you negotiating? Where are you stuck with each other? It is not only you who know behind closed doors what are the issues on which there has been no agreement so far. The people of Poland and Hungary, who are waiting for these funds to resolve the issue, are also entitled to do so.

The next item on the agenda is: Commission statement - State of play in relation to the submitted RRF recovery plans awaiting approval (2021/2911(RSP)).

The debate is closed. The debate on the amendments will take place today and the final vote will take place tomorrow, Thursday 7 October 2021.