Speeches

Madam President Metsola, Madam President von der Leyen, in your investiture speech of July, when referring to migration and asylum – by far the most sensitive and divisive issue on the European agenda – you underlined the words ‘firmness’ and ‘security’ and alluded to imaginative solutions, such as an apparent subterfuge for externalisation of borders, in addition to migration and asylum applications. However, today, in your speech, you introduced ‘shared responsibility’ and ‘solidarity’, in addition to the commitment to fundamental rights, which is exactly the object of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, for which we worked so hard in the previous legislature. Those of us who are about to vote in favour of the College of Commissioners are going to demand from the entire Commission an active commitment to its role as guardian of the Treaties and of European law, to demand from the Member States – of the 27 – an effective and rigorous commitment to comply with the obligations undertaken with the legislation we have put into force – the Pact on Migration and Asylum – and, of course, with full respect for the fundamental rights of migrants and asylum seekers.

Thanks for your commitment with the regions, and particularly with the outermost regions and with the Canaries, as you have just mentioned. And just do one last service: convey your message, your commitment, gather your experience and send a message to your successor in the portfolio. Make a difference till the very last minute, like you have made it so far. Thank you!

Mr President, last week the Committee of the Regions met in Brussels on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary. At that meeting, the work of the European Parliament to increase by EUR 3 billion the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, which will allow European funding to be made available to repair the damage of the tragic flood that claimed the lives of 200 people in the Valencian Community, was very welcome. But do you know why it was so celebrated? Because the item initially budgeted for the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism was rickety, as it has been, until now, the financing of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and Integrated Border Management, despite the fact that this Parliament has increased them by 2025 (the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund by two million euros and the Integrated Border Management Fund by ten million euros). Both are absolutely essential for the external border regions of the European Union, such as the Canary Islands, an outermost region that is really plagued by immigration from the north-west African cornice. So here is a task for the European Commission von der Leyen II: present decent budgets for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and Integrated Border Management to enable the effective implementation of Member States’ legal obligations under the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Mr President, Commissioner Schinas, 41 years ago the illegal occupation of a part of the territory of which today is happily a Member State of the European Union took place: Cyprus. The European Union has never recognized that Turkish Cypriot entity in northern Cyprus and supports all United Nations actions to bring about the territorial reintegration of Cyprus and its reunification, which, incidentally, is pending the reintegration of the Cypriot Parliament and the bi-communal representation of Cyprus in this same European Parliament. But in the 2014-2019 legislature I had the honour of being the standing rapporteur for the Missing Persons Identification Programme – 2 800: 1 600 in Cyprus, on the Greek Cypriot side, and the rest on the Turkish Cypriot side – and this is a significant example of a European contribution to reintegration and bi-communal cooperation. In order for the European Union to be able to carry out its work, it is not only enough to condemn the illegal occupation of Cyprus, but it must be significant in its foreign policy and diplomacy in order to effectively help to overcome the problem definitively.

Mr President, Commissioner, all Member States' constitutions prohibit discrimination on grounds of sex, as prohibited by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. And yet, you don't have to be a lawyer to know that what is actually being banned is discrimination against women and, above all, its most ominous version, which is criminal violence that murders women for the mere fact of being one. According to the United Nations, there are 52 000 each year; one victim every ten minutes, tragically, of a man who happens to be his acquaintance or close associate. And the European Parliament has done everything in its power to finally bring into force a directive against gender-based violence that bridges the gap between the laws of the Member States. Because there are those who are pioneers and, instead, there are those who are far behind in this commitment against this structural violence that shakes the whole of Europe and all historically known societies. But the commitment will not be complete until we determine that the crime of rape and sexual assault throughout the European Union is based precisely on consent, and understand that the eradication of violence against women is a human rights issue.

Madam President, we are discussing in this plenary session of the European Parliament the Niinistö report on how to improve and strengthen the European Union's preparedness and response capacity to increasingly frequent and intense geopolitical, climate and technological crises, whether cyber or hybrid. And that certainly requires education, it requires communication and it requires awareness, but it also requires the European Union to step out of its comfort zone. Yesterday, in the debate with High Representative Borrell about the impact on the European Union of President Trump's return to the White House, we made it clear that it is imperative that Europe, in addition to sounding the alarm, get out of bed, out of its comfort zone, and prepare to respond. And it does so with this report, betting on an improvement in its defense and security capacity and an increase in investment, in addition to sharing intelligence, nothing less! Is the European Union currently prepared for that? No, the answer is no; But if there is one thing that becomes clear, it is the need to strengthen the European Union Solidarity Fund and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism to deal with increasingly frequent climate disasters, such as the appalling DANA suffered in Valencia, with a death toll of 200 victims that could have been avoided with better reinforcement. And, of course, funding for the European response must also be strengthened...

Mr President, Commissioner McGuinness, since your war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia has been expelled from the Council of Europe. It has been subjected – because it has been a creditor – to sanctioning measures in which the European Union has demonstrated determination and also unity between the different institutions (of course, the support of this European Parliament). It is time to draw all the consequences from the fact that the Financial Action Task Force – the so-called FATF – has also suspended the rights of the Russian Federation as a member. Because, we know, Russia is an example of concentration of power like no other on the planet, where nothing moves except under Putin's splint and his absolute control, from the Armed Forces to intelligence, justice, prosecution and, of course, the economy. In that we talk about the oligarchs, who corrupt everything they touch internationally. And that is exactly why it is time for the European Union to deduce all the consequences of Russia's exclusion from the FATF and blacklist it, as a jurisdiction not only at risk but absolutely unworthy of the trust of the international community and the European Union.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President Schinas, any discriminatory prejudice that incites hatred and violence is radically anti-European. That is why anti-Semitism, which has no place in Europe, is so, as is anti-Gypsyism and hatred against Muslims and Palestinians. Jewish communities therefore have the right to live in safety in Europe. But condemning anti-Semitism does not amount to ignoring or justifying Netanyahu's indiscriminate actions in Gaza, the West Bank, or Lebanon. But what we are discussing here is not only a condemnation of anti-Semitism, we are discussing an episode - the riots associated with the Maccabi party in Amsterdam (Netherlands) - that demands criminal liability, because it clearly incurs crimes that have to be criminalised in all Member States and that is what we have demanded from the Commission, when we urge it, in accordance with Article 33, to criminalise hate speech that incites violence. Therefore, we also demand that there be exemplary prosecutions and convictions against Maccabi and everything similar in Europe.

Mr President, Vice-President Schinas, why are we talking in the plenary of the European Parliament, at this hour of the night, about suspicions of fraud in Georgia? Because we care. Because it turns out that, after the Balkans, we have granted the status of candidate country to none other than Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, three republics subject to Russia's aggressive interference in our neighbourhood. Many of us in this European Parliament, when we talk about accession, express concern not because they – the candidates – do their homework, but because we do our own: to prepare the European Union, with institutional and decision-making reforms, to welcome new partners. But, as for the new partners, what is indisputable is that they have to meet the democratic standards that we have set for ourselves: Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, separation of powers, pluralism of information, judicial independence and a strong anti-corruption strategy. Georgia has to do her homework without us getting lost along the way. We care about the purity of their democracies, because we care about cleanliness and their fight against corruption.

Madam President, High Representative Borrell, I have heard the metaphor that in the face of a shock to Europe's conscience it is not enough to sound the alarm, but that Europe has to get out of bed and out of its comfort zone. Trump's return to the White House imposes two enormous challenges on the European Union. One, that conflicts that matter to us in globalization lead to open conflagrations: Middle East, Iran, Taiwan, and Russia in the immediate vicinity of Europe. But there is another one even more imminent and it is the one that affects the European idea of democracy, insofar as addictive algorithms, ruled by extreme right-wing tycoons, impose alternative facts in which it is not only impossible to distinguish truth from lies, but truth loses all importance in the political process for which the European Union has the obligation to show its face. The European Union's response must therefore be, once and for all, to mature quickly, to get out of bed and out of the comfort zone and to take on the responsibilities of adulthood in globalisation.

Madam President, Commissioner, the business model of platforms – usually run by far-right tycoons – lies not only in exploiting the weaknesses, vulnerabilities and personal characteristics that users put at their disposal, but above all in generating addictive algorithms that target, especially, young people, who are the preferred users who spend half their lives in front of screens, consuming hate speech that radicalises, stigmatises, whole categories of people, in addition to violent content. The problem lies not only in the content, but in the exploitation of the vulnerability of young people: This is a huge challenge for the next Commission. We have adopted the Digital Services Act, we have put in place an anti-hate speech strategy that also includes not only a code of conduct for platforms – which is hardly binding – but, above all, an order that the Commission bring to this Parliament a legislative initiative to make hate crime that incites hate violence a European crime. But it's not enough: digital literacy, education, everything the Commission can do to protect young people, which is the future of the European Union, from the spread of hate speech online.

Madam President, Commissioner, when we are talking about hybrid attacks on the security of the European Union, under that cryptic reference we are talking about Russia: their campaigns of disinformation, intoxication, sabotage, interference in electoral processes, as well as funding or inspiring anti-European and europhobic speeches, formations and candidacies and platforms; for example, we have unfortunately heard Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who holds the rotating presidency, speak of the European Union as a new Soviet Union, calling against the rule of European law a movement like that of 1956 – a real nonsense. Well, in front of this we have instruments: the Digital Services Act, the EU Blueprint for Critical Infrastructure. But the next Commission has the job of ordering all this equipment and financing it properly, to make the European Union stronger against the threats to its internal security posed by those who despise and trample on European values: Russia.

Mr President, Commissioner, when we talk about the role of regions in the development of the European Union, I am talking about outermost regions: nine, including the Canary Islands, the only ones mentioned by name in the Treaty of Lisbon, which has a specific basis to protect them and single out the response. And the Members born or resident in the outermost regions have addressed a letter to Mrs von der Leyen making it clear that the pilgrim idea of centralising cohesion funds is unacceptable and particularly harmful for the outermost regions, which have to be decisive in the transition of their economic models dependent on some monoculture - in agriculture - or from tourism towards the blue economy, the circular economy and, of course, their incorporation - through innovation, connectivity, with European aid and renewable energies - into the future of the European Union, protecting them also against unequal trade agreements that require specific clauses with respect to sensitive or vulnerable products. That is doing regional policy and that is also having the potential of the outermost regions to make Europe.

Madam President, Commissioner, once again this Parliament pays tribute to investigative journalist Daphne Caruana, on the seventh anniversary of her murder, and also pays tribute to the half-dozen journalists who have been murdered in other Member States of the European Union, in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands or Greece, because what is at issue here is the protection of freedom of information, of pluralism of information, and not of attacking Malta, as is obsessively heard from the seats of the right simply because there is a government in Malta that is neither of its colour nor of its complacency. The point here is to draw lessons from experience, and this European Parliament has done so, legislating with nothing less than the Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Directive, in order to protect journalists from intimidation, and with the European Media Freedom Regulation, which ensures transparency and accountability in institutional advertising, funding and media ownership. This reminder therefore serves as a reminder that Parliament has a duty to protect freedom of information and pluralism of information, which are fundamental rights protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. And that's what it's all about, nothing more than that.

Madam President, Commissioner, why are we discussing in the European Parliament restrictive abortion laws in Poland? It is true that there are aspects of criminal law and family law that remain within the competence of the Member States, but it is also true that in the European Parliament we put in place an EU Rule of Law Framework so that the regression that took place in Poland at the hands of an ultra government that restricted this right of women would trigger the procedure of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union for serious violation of the founding values of the rule of law, and it is true that the EU Rule of Law Framework enshrines the principle of non-regression, that is, that legislation that restricts rights that were previously established cannot be produced. I am convinced that the voluntary termination of pregnancy is a human right, because women's sexual and reproductive rights are fundamental and human rights. I know that it is not easy to change a Constitution – it requires a qualified majority – nor is it easy to change the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – which requires nothing less than the unanimity of the Member States – but yes, this European Parliament can clearly state that this regression, this regression of fundamental rights, is completely contrary to European values and European law.

Madam President, a ghost haunts Europe: the spectre of denial and rejection of migration, which we can only manage if we do it together and in accordance with European law. We have worked very hard for a legislative pact, which now requires fair and rigorous enforcement, incompatible with the outsourcing of borders and the outsourcing of asylum applications. Von der Leyen's letter "melonizing" European politics is a serious mistake, a strategic concession to the far right, contradictory to the facts and the interests of the European Union. And to those who are obsessed with returns I say that the priority is inclusion, the priority is to fight mafias and illicit trafficking and, of course, open legal and safe pathways. And so I tell the Commission that it is time to demand that Member States faithfully fulfil their obligations under the Pact, with shared responsibility and binding solidarity.

Madam President, criminal attacks in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Bochum (Germany) and a brutal assassination attempt against a former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal‑Quadras: It does not matter if his political positions are not mine or are in their antipodes, he is a European citizen, and all the police and judicial investigations behind this chain of attacks point to the Iranian secret services, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in short, to the Iranian regime. Iran is a regional power and certainly not the only international actor violating international law and human rights with a relentless chain of executions of human rights activists and people exercising what we in Europe understand as fundamental rights. It is therefore imperative that the European Union deducts the consequences and activates all sanctions; cooperation is needed not only to shed light on these criminal attacks, including the one that threatened the life of Vidal ‑Quadras, but any action that violates human rights and international law deserves the strongest sanctions in European Union diplomacy and foreign policy.

Madam President, everyone knows that, since 1971, it is the People's Republic of China that occupies the seat representing the Chinese people in the United Nations system and in its Security Council, and that the principle of 'one China' has been assumed in the foreign doctrine of the chancelleries of all the Member States of the European Union. But the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy does the right thing by recalling that Taiwan has been a vibrant democracy for forty years, that it has been practicing free elections and respecting citizenship rights, and that it is even the only country in that region where same-sex marriage is legal. And that is a message of restraint and restraint with regard to military manoeuvres in the Taiwan Strait, the waters of which, incidentally, are not peacefully delimited in international law; maneuvers that can create an escalation of tension in a region in which three nuclear powers coexist: China, Russia and North Korea. Therefore, the world does not need another conflict that could threaten world stability and peace like the one we are experiencing, so bloody and so painfully, in the Middle East.

Mr President, before the European Union it was the Council of Europe, an organisation that was born in 1949 with ten Member States and grew to 46, and which ceased to be a reference for guaranteeing democracy, human rights and peace in Europe with the entry of Russia, which made war on Georgia – also a member of the Council of Europe – and on Ukraine – a member of the Council of Europe – and has waged war for proxy i.e. by interposition with two former Soviet republics: Azerbaijan and Armenia (with an Azerbaijani enclave in Armenia, Nakhchivan, and an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been subjected to ethnic cleansing incompatible with human rights). This poses two challenges for the European Union. The first is to complete the process of accession to the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights, which is still pending. Secondly, to grow diplomatically to be able to face the challenge of participating in COP29 without incurring the flagrant contradiction with its commitment to human rights to do so in a country that violates, at the hands of leaders of the former Soviet Union such as Ilham Aliyev, human rights continuously on the European continent.

Mr President, Commissioner, solidarity and cohesion are the European social model and if there is a threat hanging over that model, it is the difficulty of access to housing that runs throughout Europe. This last weekend in the Canary Islands, again, thousands of people have taken to the streets again to protest against what they consider to be an excess of tourist pressure, because in the Canary Islands there has been a population increase of 30% in the last twenty years and because, in addition, 60,000 extra-hotel accommodation offers have been declared in recent years, which is equivalent to twelve hotels with 250 beds each. But the corresponding investments have not been made either in hospitals, or in residences, or in electricity networks, or in airports, or in maritime connections, or in the water cycle and in relation to discharges into the sea. And we have our hopes set on the next von der Leyen Commission, in which there is finally going to be a Commissioner in charge of housing, the Danish Dan Jørgensen, who will be able to mobilise European funds against investment funds, against vulture funds, to finally generate an offer of housing for rent or for sale that will allow the emancipation of young people and access to housing for the working class. That will mean an opportunity to restore the European social model with a European housing policy.

Madam President, Vice-President Schinas, this is 2024, isn't it worrying that we are talking about the growth of intolerance and religious hatred in the European Union? The diagnosis is made: It is put on the table by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and we have heard it exposed in choral polyphony here in this debate in the European Parliament. The point is to act, because, since the Framework Decision on combating racism, xenophobia and hate speech of 2008 and the European Commission's Strategy, there is no place for hatred in Europe. There is a decisive legislative initiative by this European Parliament to incorporate into the criminal codes of the Member States – with the coverage of Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – crime that incites hatred and therefore also incites violence against entire categories of people based on their membership of a cultural, ethnic or religious community. What is needed, moreover, is to tackle the problem of the proliferation of hate crimes online, to mobilise the European Security Fund to protect threatened people and places of worship and to incorporate all levels of government: Member States, local authorities and regional governments. But lastly, President, it is not just about protecting the victims – which, of course, is also the case; It is also about protecting European society as a decent, open and pluralistic society.