Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, in the Netherlands, the shortage of people in care has risen to 50,000 over the past year. In ten years' time, there will be 190,000. For the people of Amsterdam among us, for the Dutch among us: That's four times a full Amsterdam ArenA. This has consequences for the quality of care and for the employees in the care sector. The pressure on employees is too high. These people do their work with passion and the result is often a burnout. Healthcare workers are modest, but they are indispensable. At the same time, we see that people are looking for other solutions, such as informal care, arrangements within families, with neighbors or friends who take on the care responsibilities. That happens with love, but that is not the ideal solution and also not the best care solution. We need to solve the shortages in care by making jobs more attractive and not hesitate to take real measures and invest more. This not only improves the lives of the people who need care, but also that of the care workers.

Mr President, the case of Jean-Jacques Wondo, who was not given a fair trial and was sentenced to death along with 36 others, was discussed. The European Parliament must speak out against this and advocate the swift release of this Belgian Congolese/Congolese Belgian. Parliament must work hard to ensure that human rights defenders, journalists and other experts have free speech and can speak and say whatever they want anywhere. If they are threatened, we must support them. Parliament, together with the European Commission, must guarantee freedom of expression for these people, support them and let the Congolese government know that it is seeking support and wants these people to be released as soon as possible.

Mr President, the situation in Sudan is rapidly deteriorating. 3.5 million people have fled the country and 11.5 million people have been displaced within the country. That is half a million more than three months ago, when we also talked about Sudan. Half of the country is at risk of acute hunger. Hunger, as the Commissioner said, is used as a weapon of war, as well as sexual violence, particularly in the form of the rape of girls and women. The United States has sanctioned two of the leaders responsible for these human rights violations: the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, and the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The European Union should also extend sanctions to those responsible for these human rights violations. Let's bring more help to victims of sexual violence and fund organisations such as women's organisations. Let us lift the blockade on humanitarian aid and address the countries that are ensuring that this war can continue. External inputs are being provided to sustain this war.

Mr President, that is a very good point, because you see that many workers who, for example, work in the industries that I have just appointed, are brought to the Netherlands from Eastern European or Central European countries under false pretexts by temporary employment agencies that they imagine everything and anything that is not true, and that they then work under working conditions and with salaries that are really insufficient and also under the Dutch collective agreements. So yes, a lot is going well, but there is also a lot going wrong and we have to work very hard on that.

Madam President, Commissioner. In the Netherlands, 9000 distribution centres are spread over 40 million square meters. And in those distribution centers, Christmas packages are now being sorted. That sounds very nice. And that would also be nice if the companies behind it do not hide behind chains of subcontracting and cut down on working conditions and the salary of the workers who work there, often migrant workers. It is work that the Dutch do not want to do because the wages are too low, too many irregular hours have to be worked and the employees are too dependent on, for example, temporary employment agencies. We need to protect this group, including at European level, people who work in the distribution centres, in the meat industry, in glass and horticulture or on construction sites, by looking at a maximum number of layers of subcontracting, sending out a maximum number of times and then simply being employed permanently. And more money and manpower during the inspection, so that we can actually check this.

Mr President, Commissioner, a collective agreement, a collective bargaining agreement, protects workers. Employees know what their salary is. They know what the working hours are. They know how much pension they are accruing. But that legal protection can be crumbled in turbulent times, with a lot of pressure from the right – as we have already heard here. And that while the minimum wage directive specifically requires that we cover 70% in all European Member States, sorry 80% of our employees are covered by that collective agreement. In the Netherlands it is now 70%. The Dutch government must also go to jail. Social dialogue is important here. But if employers and trade unions do not agree, then there is the right to strike. And that right to strike is also important, because we now also see that under pressure, under right-wing pressure, for example, the right to demonstrate can be restricted. This can also happen with the right to strike. That is why, Mr President and Commissioner, it is so important that this right, which is included in the European Social Charter, is really protected and continues to be protected.

Mr President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, sexual violence against women, rape, is being used as a means of war. Women and girls are used as a means of warfare. With these women and girls, entire communities are being punished, humiliated and disrupted. Sexual violence in conflict is a war crime and women and girls are disproportionately affected. 95% of registered cases concern women and girls. It causes physical, emotional and psychological scars in those involved, as well as in their communities. Victims and their family members run the risk of being isolated, of being placed outside their community. Today we are talking about the DRC and Sudan. But let's be honest, this happens in all situations where there is war, also on other continents at the moment. It involves rape, gang rape, sexual abuse, sexual slavery, forced prostitution. The armed forces are responsible for this in the DRC and in the Congo, on both sides. It is important for the EU to work to protect women and girls, but also the men and boys who are victims of this, in order to protect international law. Zero tolerance when it comes to sexual violence. Removing obstacles to humanitarian aid. I therefore call on the EU, together with the Member States, to step up humanitarian aid to ensure that there is targeted assistance for the victims, to ensure that there are targeted sanctions against the commanders of the armed forces who make this possible, but also to ensure that these women and girls are not only protected, but are given a place at the table. That they are not a means of warfare, but that they contribute to peace. Because that is the most important task that women and girls can tackle well.

Mr President, rapporteurs, thank you for your contribution. Mr President, 2024 has the dubious honour of perhaps becoming another year of natural disasters. We have just seen it again in Mayotte and all the support for the population there and for the victims. The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly clear. We also see them here in Europe. The terrible floods recently in Valencia, but also in other countries in Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Poland and Slovakia. And that while climate skeptics continue to deny that those consequences are here. These consequences are undeniable here in all Member States. We have to do something about that! That is why it is good that we are now making money available to help the victims, the people involved in the disasters and the Member States. These funds come from the cohesion funds and from the European Social Fund. However, it is also important that these funds continue to serve their primary purpose. That is why it is so important that, in times of crisis, the European Union can mobilise money, preferably from a separate fund. In this way, on the one hand, the cohesion funds can continue to do what they have to do, namely reach people with the policies for which they were created, and, on the other hand, mitigate the effects of natural disasters, which are no longer isolated and very common, and help people, victims and the Member States to do so.

Mr President, Commission, despite Mozambique's abundant natural resources, 73 % of the population lives in poverty; 670 000 people are displaced by armed conflict. Young Mozambicans calling for change are met with violence and human rights violations. Forty people have died in the post-election violence. Internet restrictions, including blockades of social media platforms, constitute violations of freedom of speech and access to information, and affects young people disproportionately in their livelihoods. We need to stand with the young Mozambicans fighting for common values of democracy and prosperity, including the right to protest and to peacefully assemble. Therefore, I ask the Commission, can you commit to investing in programmes with a main priority to advance the position of citizens? Will you sanction those committing human rights violations under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime? Will you refrain from supporting investments in Cabo Delgado, which violate the social and economic rights of the Mozambican population?

Madam President, every woman knows a woman who has experienced violence, another woman or she has experienced it herself. One in three women in Europe experience violence against women and sexual violence. That's 75 million women. Only one in eight report this. Why is that? This also illustrates the way in which we in society deal with this. We ask women the question: “Did you say no? Why didn't you leave earlier? Have you not given cause to do so yourself?’ And with that, we shift responsibility to the victim and not to the perpetrator. If we want to eradicate violence against women in Europe, we must do something about it! We need to listen to the girls and the women who are going through it. We must ensure that in our legislation consent becomes the basis for the legal definition of sexual violence. We must continue to support organisations that help and support women to ensure that we can continue to speak out and end violence against women.

Mr President, while the number of people living in extreme poverty is only increasing – by millions – the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation of the PVV, Mrs Klever, announced a halving of the budget: A total of EUR 2.4 billion will be cut. This chilling billion-dollar austerity in the Netherlands does not stand alone. For example, future President Trump with his Project 2025 puts the knife in development cooperation and the agreement to spend 0.7% of your GNP on development cooperation has not been achieved by many European countries for years. The EU's failure in this area harms not only people and communities in need, but also the EU itself. Foreign policy is not a one-way street. International solidarity is one of the key pillars of European foreign policy. If you cut into it like that, you cut into your own power. At the same time, we need strong international partnerships based on European values of justice and solidarity. Also for our own economy and also for our own security.

Mr President, Commission, "skills, skills, skills", that is the mantra we see in the new Commission. The word "skills" is even in the title of the new Commissioner who should actually be about social rights and social policy, while the terms "social rights" and "social policy" have disappeared from her title. Reskilling and upskilling workers to best prepare for the green and digital transitions is important. We need to make sure that people have the right skills to be able to work in the future. But it also means: listen to employees and ask them what they need; work together to plan for the future and protect workers if their jobs are at risk of being lost. Because without employees, we can still want so many transitions, but they will not come. Mr Draghi himself writes in his report: we can only increase our competitiveness if we do not forget about social policy.

Mr President, Commissioner, when we talk about our labour market and employment, it is strikingly often only about competitiveness, skills and also about how companies with as few people as possible can make as much profit as possible. Everyone should benefit from this profit. Yet it appears that companies, employers and their shareholders in particular benefit from it. We need to get rid of this frame. The frame that work is only there to ensure profit. Because work, that's also meaning for people and a way to earn a living. Work is also a way of ending up in a social environment and we must protect it with good wages, good working conditions and good development opportunities. I hope that this will also be a priority for the European Commission, the Member States and the companies themselves. Because work is so much more than just a profit machine.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, one of the greatest human rights violations of our time is now taking place in Sudan. Many, many Sudanese are victims of crimes against humanity. Children cannot go to school. Sexual violence against women and girls is endemic and millions of people are at risk of starvation. There is not enough international aid and – as you mentioned – part of that aid is also blocked. The fact that there are no words to describe the inhuman suffering of the Sudanese community cannot and must not mean that the international community is doing nothing. Sudanese feel abandoned by the international community in this – it seems – forgotten war. We must not look away, we must make a fist against this violence. The Member States and the European Commission can do three things: 1) Ensure that the blockades on humanitarian aid are lifted and that there is sufficient aid where people depend on that aid to survive. 2) Sanctions should be extended, including against those specific organisations and individuals responsible for these human rights violations. 3) The High Representative has said that the EU will not look away and witness another genocide. I therefore hope that, at the forthcoming summit between the European Union and the Gulf States, he will speak out against the countries in that region that are facilitating and financing this war. That would also be a good step to stop the war.

Mr President, Commissioner, the industry needs clarity. The automotive industry also needs clarity. Sustainability is the clear direction we need to take. Mop policy or going back again as some here suggest is not a good direction and offers no certainty. Not for the industry and certainly not for the workers who work in that industry. Because the automotive industry is under pressure because of the competition with China and because we are too slow with this sustainability. This also has consequences for the employees who work there. I have seen it myself in the car factory near Brussels, where almost 3 000 employees are going to lose their jobs, even though they have indicated for years that changes are desperately needed. So if we are working on that just transition that is so necessary, it must be a fair transition in which we also keep our eyes open for what is needed for the employees and ears open to listen to what employees ask. In short, if we have a policy for the car industry and for that fair transition, let us leave room in that action plan for the voice of workers. Because they know very well what is needed in their own factories and in their own industry.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya are severely affected by the mpox virus. This year alone, more than 700 people have died from the virus in 15 countries, most of them children. The World Health Organization calls the outbreak an international health crisis and calls for international solidarity. Of the 10 million vaccines estimated to be needed this year, the EU is sending around 500 000. That's nice, but certainly not enough. Japan, for example, has already pledged three million vaccines. During the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen the consequences of a health policy that has been inward-looking for too long, with countries sitting on vaccines that they do not use themselves. And yet that is exactly what a number of right-wing governments in Europe and also the Dutch minister Agema would like to do with the mpox virus again. I therefore call on the Commission, together with the Member States, to rapidly step up its efforts to support these affected countries, to prevent further spread of the virus and human suffering, and to be a credible and solidarity-based international partner.

(NL) Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, more than 700 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty and, after decades of successful fight against extreme poverty, it is now increasing again. At a time when the European Union and member states such as the Netherlands are skimping on relations with other countries, the presidency of Brazil of the G20 shows how things should be done. It is right and necessary for Brazil to put poverty reduction, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the creation of equal opportunities back at the heart of G20 development cooperation. And that while here in the European Union we seem to be mainly concerned with ourselves. But only with equal partnerships and the involvement of civil society organisations can we tackle extreme poverty. Member States and the new Commission should recognise that investing in people and in sustainable development is the necessary basis for international cooperation and trade and therefore for a social, solidarity-based and strong Europe.