Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner McGrath, what a bad thing it is to have hostile neighbours, the enemy at the gates! Putin's Russia, immediate border with the European Union, with its Kaliningrad enclave in Poland and its proxy, Lukashenko's Belarus, which threatens us with drones, balloons and attacks on the critical infrastructure of the European Union, but also with espionage and bribery. There we have seen national parliaments of the Member States bought by the interests of Russian military intelligence and a European parliamentarian, in the last legislature, also affected by that complicity with Russian espionage. Therefore, our response cannot be only reactive: 19 packages of sanctions against Russia, of course, but it has to be constructive and purposeful. If the Russians have an intelligence that acts against our interests, we must have a counterintelligence and a shared intelligence: a service that develops that effective intelligence embryo that we have in the European External Action Service to prevent and respond to when needed. In addition, it is imperative that we draw the consequences of the experience of the Special Committee on the European Shield of Democracy, not only to protect electoral systems, but also to be able to respond to that hybrid threat that disrupts the opinion-forming process in the Member States of the European Union and in the Union as a whole. It is the way to put an end to this constant interference of Russian espionage in the integrity of the democratic processes of the Member States and of the Union itself.

Mr President, Commissioner Šefčovič, we agree that Trump’s national security strategy – an insult to the European Union – accelerates our strategic autonomy and our declaration of independence. But the question is: how? With a multi-annual financial framework that does not have enough resources, that renationalises its policies in national envelopes and that does not provide funding for a European problem such as affordable public housing, the intervention of rental markets and the regulation of the intervention of vulture funds? How? Giving in to the green ambition policy to prolong combustion automotive? Or giving in to the blackmail of the great technological oligarchs who control polarizing algorithms? Isn't that what Trump wants by supporting far-right nationalisms and populisms? A weak and divided Europe? It is clear that the answer is the opposite: a united Europe, with a will to be, finally awake and faithful to its values.

Mr President, Commissioner Brunner, Lukashenko's Belarus is an indirect agent of Putin's Russia, a direct border with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland and therefore a very real threat. A number of points on the same agenda for the Strasbourg plenary session make this clear. We talked about the European Defence Strategy. We have spoken of defence preparedness, of the defence industry, of ReArmar Europe, to answer precisely that threat which is very hot and very real. But it is necessary not only to invest in security and cybersecurity, but also to show solidarity with Lithuania in the face of these balloon and drone attacks – which are multiplying and disrupting the operation of critical infrastructure and airports – by clearly invoking the article of internal solidarity of the European Union, Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union, which precisely guarantees that joint security of the entire Union and which sends a very powerful message. They won't be able to join us, no matter how thugs they get.

Mr President, in compliance with all the requirements of the treaty, 1 200 000 signatures collected in at least seven Member States will cause us to vote tomorrow on the citizens' initiative 'My voice, my decision'. So we have an opportunity to extend women's rights and guarantee health coverage for the voluntary termination of pregnancy, removing barriers to discrimination based on economic capacity or territorial establishment. No right is restricted or the competences of the Member States undermined, because the legal basis is cross-border healthcare. And I think the example of Spain is very eloquent. Forty-three years ago, a socialist government decriminalized cases of voluntary termination of pregnancy. It has been 15 years since the same socialist government established it as a right, and yet today there are still discriminations based on economic or territorial capacity depending on who governs, what conservative government there is in regions or autonomous communities that impede the equal dignity, security and freedom of women in their right to decide.

(Start of speech off mic) ... one of the Rules of Procedure, which is exactly the observance of the Rules of Procedure when it comes to making the combination of the catch-the-eye and the blue cards. We have seen more than 20 blue cards in this debate and all of them granted – even for people who were on the speaking list that have taken the floor after having a blue card, and then there is no time for catch-the-eye. There should be a formal announcement so that you know which rules you should be sticking to. But no improvisation and no arbitrariness when it comes to applying the Rules of Procedure.

Mr President, I would like to raise not only the opportunity but also the content of this report by Ms Jalloul Muro regarding the relationship between the European Union and Saudi Arabia, which has proved to be a relevant regional actor. The European Union should actually fulfil its commitment to become a globally relevant actor – if Saudi Arabia is a relevant partner for the US, for Israel, for the Islamic Conference, for the Arab world, how could it not be relevant for the European Union? But I would especially like to praise the strong message of the European Union's diplomatic commitment to human rights, empowering equal rights between men and women and, of course, fighting the death penalty – that is the number one priority for the European Union. But in order to enhance that message to a relevant actor, as Saudi Arabia certainly is, it takes enhancing the bilateral relationship between Saudi Arabia and the European Union. So I can only thank Ms Jalloul Muro's report on this relation between the European Union and Saudi Arabia.

Madam President, Commissioner Hansen, once again, the European Union degrades a plausible objective with obscure and incomprehensible language: Why call bus the reasonable objective of incentivising defence investments and coordinating the efforts of the European Union and its Member States with all the instruments at its disposal, such as the Digital Europe Programme, the European Defence Fund, the Connecting Europe Facility or Horizon Europe, which has a predominantly civil nature of innovation and research? Yes, we accept that it is essential to act together and not fragmented and dysfunctional, but, above all, we affirm that this cannot go against either cohesion or agricultural policy, for which you are responsible, or regional policy. Investing €800 billion also requires a financial innovation effort, with common indebtedness and own resources that are able to finance this final maturation of the European Union, if it really wants to acquire a globally relevant stature.

Mr President, the EU Drugs Action Plan and the Complementary Strategy have as their first obligation to draw the lessons from the work of the European Union Drugs Agency, which it is for, and which tells us that, first of all, it is necessary to adapt with agility to changing methods and routes; but, above all, to exchange information, including not only law enforcement agencies, but also Frontex and Europol, precisely to try to prevent this growing recruitment of minors for drug trafficking. And that also requires being able to invest in innovation and scientific research regarding precursors and synthetic drugs, which are wreaking havoc. And finally, the complementary obligation is not only to act repressively on the criminal dimension of this activity that is so harmful to the values of the Union, but, above all, to act in the field of prevention and education; and to teach that it not only causes stratospheric damage to the financial interests of the Union and causes corruption, but also wreaks havoc on the health of 450 million European citizens who are exposed to this drug penetration by European ports.

Madam President, this is the last plenary before Christmas of this European Parliament, and I take this opportunity to draw your attention to the relevance of Rule 181 of our Rules of Procedure, which gives you full power to prevent or curtail the misuse or abuse of false points of order – disguised political statements which belong rather to the one‑minute speeches, the last item on the agenda in plenary on Mondays. So stop misusing points of order, please!