Speeches

Mr President, the unrest experienced in recent weeks in Georgia is one more step of the many who have been giving their citizenship to get closer to the values of the European Union. We, in line with the motion approved in the Spanish Senate on November 2 at the initiative of my party, ask that this trajectory, maintained despite the Russian threat, be recognized and addressed. Georgia, when fulfilling the priorities indicated for this purpose, should be officially a candidate for accession to the Union. From an emotional perspective, for a Basque, we thus support a people with whom we are united by deep bonds of friendship. From the perspective of European values, launching a message of this importance in that area is a manifestation of support and encouragement to a citizenry that wants to maintain its freedom and that feels mostly European. But it is also a geostrategic investment and a new message for Putin's regime. The criminal invasion of Ukraine, neo-imperialism are reaping a result completely opposite to the intended one.

Mr President, France has just announced that it will delay the connection of its high-speed rail network to the Iberian Peninsula for 17 years. This decision undermines a European priority project, the Union, its finances, laws and values. It promotes protectionism and harms institutions and actors that have always been committed to the Union and to the free movement of people and goods. From the Basque Country we supported this project from the beginning, more than thirty years ago. We have faced terrorist threats and have suffered attacks for trying to finish the works on time on our side of the border. Ignacio Uría, murdered for committing to this European project, and the society that supports him deserves firm action from Brussels, at the height of their commitment. The European Court of Auditors recalls that these delays ruin those of us who have complied with EU laws and made decisions alongside states, and enable our global competitors to take advantage of our weaknesses. That is why the presidents of the Atlantic regions asked today in Vitoria-Gasteiz, as we demand here, that the Commission and the Council compel France to fulfil its commitments.

Madam President, Commissioner, there is a saying in Spanish: The best is the enemy of the good. Turning a utopia into a legal obligation doesn't usually work. An industry fully committed to the climate transition. Energy and automotive technicians, focused on innovation, accept the challenge of staying at 10% of zero emissions by 2035, something really ambitious and objectively good. I therefore encourage this transition with industry and its workers; their ability to generate employment and pay taxes; from technological neutrality ensuring more open competition; recognising and supporting the strengths we have in Europe to continue leading the transition towards the goal of climate neutrality that we all share. I therefore hope that some of the contents of this report will help to reconcile utopia with reality. I look forward to the annual report on the progress of this transition and its social, technological and economic development. It will serve to adjust, through the review clause, the objectives proposed here with which reality advises. I am sure that they will remain very ambitious, that they will greatly improve what we have today, but they will also be more pragmatic, especially if this same year we have a proposal on the funds that can help us in this transition. The politics of things allows us to move forward, helps to make the good workable among all, which makes us progress. Pompous headlines are part of the politics stuff.

Madam President, Commissioner, small-scale fisheries, together with large-scale and large-scale fisheries, are key to maintaining the life, activity and cultural heritage that coastal communities bring to the Union. The former urgently needs a definition that captures all its diversity and guarantees its access to European programmes. We have to guarantee generational renewal by making this activity attractive. And that requires improving the position of fishermen in the value chain so that they receive an income consistent with their activity and contribution to the diet of the European Union, which they enrich with sustainable, quality and guaranteed products. We need labels that distinguish their productions before consumers and improve the conditions of the boats in which they work. Financial support must be given to this and support the recognition of the role of women in the sector and the diversification measures that, together with innovation and digitalisation, must bring the Next Generation spirit to the seashore.

Madam President, Commissioner, the assault on the three powers of Brazil on 8 January deserves our resounding condemnation and demands the utmost solidarity with the new authorities that emerged from the polls. It is the second attempt that a world movement, reactionary and violent, makes to impose itself on the democratic will of the citizens. Trump supporters have already tried to storm the Capitol. If the third is not to be defeated, polarisation and extremism must be combated; We must strengthen pluralism, truly believe that diversity is richness and modernize the mechanisms of participation so that the vast majority feels involved and represented in our democracies. It is not enough just to denounce the algorithms that poison social networks. The path taken with initiatives such as the Conference on the Future of Europe, improved and practiced in a structural way, active and productive listening, the mobilisation of knowledge and, of course, equity and social justice are the best antidote against this plague; a disease that spreads best in places where there are too many people with nothing to lose.

Madam President, on 25 October 2018, this Parliament adopted a resolution which put its finger on the problem at hand. In some Member States, falsification of the history of totalitarian regimes that have ruled in European countries is tolerated. In mine, it contrasts the admirable speed with which journalists or puppeteers have been prosecuted for making jokes about the Crown with the passivity with which the apology of crimes against humanity committed by Francoism is allowed. So it is easier to deform reality; manufacture fake news They defend simple, totalitarian and demonstrably failed recipes for solving complex problems. Thus we have seen in Germany nostalgic, fortunately isolated, planning to take Parliament and assassinate the chancellor and we hear, in other places, far-rightists applauding on social networks the incidents in Brasilia or the Capitol. Let us apply ourselves to combat the resurgence of fascism with truth, justice and reparation, a guarantee not to give wings to those who defend the repetition of this type of catastrophe.

Madam President, the Spanish PP today presents a problem of legal technique as an attempt to favour sex offenders. The legislator's will was the opposite. In fact, the criminal definition of rape has improved. As the objective seems to be shared, I encourage you to lower the tone and find the solution by agreeing on a better text in the Cortes. And, incidentally, apply the same recipe to a deeper problem. Spain does not have a problem of impunity. He has a serious problem of judicial independence. The system of renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary and that of the Constitutional Court stem from a bipartisanship that no longer exists. Those who argue here have become accustomed to judicializing the political and thus sentences were issued that, when they affected us, the "others", applauded in their day those who now argue. Decisions that many experts relate more to state nationalism and abuse of power than to law, that address political processes such as criminal cases, that deny a diversity that exists, that is expressed and that must be recognized and respected. They began by applauding an unfair condemnation of the president of the Basque Parliament for complying with the law. They ended up suffering from a scattering: a Constitutional Court with an expired mandate prohibiting the debate in Parliament. A regrettable example of political activism from the supposed guarantor of constitutional values. A full-blown breakdown in the division of powers. At your disposal to end this crisis based on dialogue, understanding and encounter. I encourage the European leaders to join the effort, with the level of discretion they need, now that they know that our repeated denunciations and forecasts were fully justified.

Madam President, relations between the European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean region need more attention. That is why the Summit, which, after eight years of waiting, will bring together leaders from both parts of the world this year in Brussels, must relaunch the relations between two regions that are needed to advance the cause of sustainability and social justice on a global level. The movements of our global competitors advise us to complete pending agreements, such as Mercosur, and open new chapters of cooperation, with mechanisms such as the Global Gateway in digitalization, energy, transport and governance. Progress is not just growth, it is social justice. There is no just economic development without social development. In this new stage we must work together to grow, eradicating poverty and inequality. That is the best way to strengthen democracy, to take away space from polarization, populism and the autocracies that are born from it; to promote advanced standards of coexistence and freedoms. Our support for any process that bets on these living conditions underpins peace, stability and progress, from which opportunities are born for all on both sides of the Atlantic.

Madam President, Commissioner, uniting in diversity implies recognition and respect. It manufactures coexistence. Prevents conflicts. Today we have to deplore the fact that in the Union there are diversity, cultures and minority languages, that we suffer unthinkable discrimination against nationalities, languages or cultures identified with a state; minorities, such as the Basque, who were from the beginning in the foundation of the European project. Ignoring this problem, resolving it to sentences, whose null relation to the Law is denounced by many experts, is a mistake. Beating citizens who want to vote, imprisoning promoters of parliamentary debates, reveals fear and absence of solid projects and failure of basic democratic principles. Political innovation, proximity, cooperation, participation and the efficiency of recognising these realities are solutions and not problems for our Union. The second proposal most supported at the Conference on the Future of Europe proposed a mechanism to resolve with dialogue, empathy and politics the conflicts that arise from repressing this diversity. Experience has shown the resounding failure of other recipes.

Madam President, Commissioner, in the aftermath of the pandemic, air transport is facing an enormous challenge to survive and to do so by contributing to decarbonisation and high safety standards, which are badly affected by the degradation of working conditions. This sector is key to our competitiveness, but it also brings coexistence and builds community, promotes affordable prices and freedom of movement that makes us fully aware and protagonists of our diversity. Let us consider, therefore, an opportunity that we will only seize if the rules that will guide the changes are based on dialogue and pragmatism. The sector needs us to focus public support on aeronautical technology innovation, on flight operations and management, which are still waiting for a true single sky, and on alternative fuels. And let us not forget that those most dependent on air transport – the outermost regions – need to see that reality recognised in the regulation of emissions trading for the sector. And why not? Think of the internal connections in some ORs as a privileged laboratory to test the potential of new aeronautical technologies that can have there, with full security, by flight ranges, frequencies and mobility habits, their first commercial opportunities.

Madam President, Commissioner, Article 36 of the Istanbul Convention: ‘The Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to criminalise, when committed intentionally: non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of another person's body with any part of the body or object; other acts of a sexual nature not consensual about another person; obliging another person to engage in non-consensual sexual acts with a third party. Consent must be given voluntarily as a manifestation of the free will of the person concerned in the context of the surrounding conditions.’ Only yes is yes. Let us take the utmost care to ensure that these principles are reflected in the criminal codes of all Member States. Because in some it was written in a sentence that was observed joy and rejoicing in the victim of a group rape, a context, as anyone can imagine, suitable for the expression of free will. And let us assume that, no matter how much it is legislated, as long as stereotypes and prejudices are at large in the consciences of many, they will continue to believe that, to their yes, there is no no. Dismantling these mental schemes is the first priority to end violence against women.

Madam President, Commissioner, I am going to support this report because strengthening harmonised, precise and powerful rules to boost cybersecurity will help us prevent huge threats, stimulate digitalisation processes and incentivise investments that grow under the protection of security and certainties, both material and legal. I think improving the definitions of what we consider an essential and important sector for cybersecurity purposes is a very good idea. Likewise, the treatment given to research and educational institutions, the improvement in the communication of incidents and a sincere, systematic and permanent exchange of knowledge are right. Finally, I want to bet on positive incentives, which are as important as sanctions to sensitize citizens. Training from an early age in safe risks and behaviors, free tests that shield the configuration of basic tools and intensive campaigns should be promoted.

Mr President, José Barrionuevo, former Spanish Minister of the Interior, applauded this week the mistake that was made there for decades to combat terrorism. Democracy, pluralism and the values that allow us to live together were at stake. Several governments bought ETA's war speech. They thus dispensed with threatened pre-political values. They committed serious crimes. Kidnappings and extrajudicial shootings were heroic acts. Uniformed assassins, capable of burying people they had tortured in livelime, were patriots. This double standard rots governments, courts and those who continue to applaud, forgive, understand and praise the crimes of the "good ones", of the "mines". They thus lose all legitimacy to criticize the same attitude in the "others", in the "bad ones". I call on all European institutions and organisations to ensure the quality of the rule of law rather than the severe wake-up call that this known infamy never received. And I denounce that this tragic mistake continues to encourage polarization, fracture the credibility of the system and offend the victims, who deserve truth, justice and reparation.

Madam President, I too hope that the Commissioner will recover as soon as possible. Aurelio, my father, is ninety-one years old; Hilaria, my mother, ninety. I went to university thanks to his effort, to the risk he ran for decades embarked on a shell, fishing; to the constancy of her working in the port. They are sustainability enthusiasts. They suffered the effects of overfishing and love the sea. Commissioner, forget the prejudices, kick ports and auction halls, processing companies... You will find many people like Hilaria and Aurelio, longliners who do not understand why you attack, with this decision on bottom fishing, a form of sustainable fishing. They will talk to anguished professionals because they either scrap their boat or change fishing grounds. They will thus turn into misery the quotas that they will have to share with those who work there, that if they solve the distribution without conflict. You will run into fishermen worried about the confusion created by a rule whose scope was not clear to you; others will tell them that they do not understand why they prevent European vessels from fishing, subject to tight control and very strict rules, while less sustainable productions are imported. Therefore, these decisions must be made after an impact study and updated scientific data. So I'm asking you to back off. Many of us suspect that biases outweigh data in their decisions: speak, know, listen, visit, apply the method of proximity. They will verify that the sector they seem determined to pursue would rather continue working than receive aid for cessation of activity. And that forces them to work sustainably. They are the first interested. That is why they deserve more words of support for their effort to conserve marine resources than impositions such as this decision that could lead to so many ships being scrapped.

Mr President, Commissioner, the European far right lives on the poison it spreads on social networks and the falsification of history and thanks to the impunity that in some states prevents it from investigating crimes against humanity committed by dictatorships such as Franco's. Interested amnesia like the one practiced, to be clear, political organizations that, in my small country, encouraged a few years ago murders, terrorist attacks and extortions, and resist today to assume that they did it, ask for forgiveness and recognize the damage caused. Preventing the darkest past from returning requires truth, justice and reparation. These interested amnesias feed back. Turning them into a show in the media gallery whitewashes them. And distinguishing between good and bad amnesias qualifies whoever practices that game. The annual EU Rule of Law Report should therefore pay more attention to this issue. Memory policies are a matter for the Member States, but the principles that inspire them are a European matter. When they are violated, it must be denounced and action must be taken.

Madam President, Commissioner, every year 300 000 disappearances are reported in the European Union. Our goal, joining organizations such as Missing Children or AMBER Alert, is to improve the response of the authorities to this phenomenon, particularly dangerous for children. The risk of serious violations of rights or endangering the integrity of missing persons grows the longer it takes us to clarify what happened. That's why immediate investigation is key. Police authorities now intervene at an early stage when a disappearance is linked to a crime. But if that doesn't happen, the risk persists. AMBER Alert Europe Foundation addresses this gap in its proposal for a Common European Approach to improve the prevention and investigation of disappearances. Taking advantage of this knowledge, we propose to enrich risk analysis, consider more data and better coordinate the services that can provide them. Thus, we will evaluate more and new factors and prioritize better. This cooperation should be more intensive in cases of disappearance of children and in cases occurring in cross-border areas.

Mr President, today I bring to this House the SOS of European pole-and-line tuna vessels in Senegal, which may end up being scrapped if the European Commission does not unblock the payment of the aid they need to survive. They had licenses in place. They paid for them. An unforeseeable, arbitrary and unfair decision by the Government of Senegal left them five months moored to port and without fishing rights. The accumulated losses, added to the inflation that affects many of their costs, and the bad campaign in the two months they have been able to work have put them in a critical situation. It can be reversed. It is enough to apply the provisions that the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund provides for the cessation of activity due to force majeure. Hundreds of European and Senegalese jobs are at stake. It is at stake that ships with an artisanal and sustainable trajectory end up in the scrapping. Commissioner Sinkevičius does not reply either to his letters or to the repeated requests of many Members. If you really defend the sustainable fishing practiced by the European sector, listen to this SOS and resolve this issue immediately.

Mr President, Commissioner, I would like to express my support for these initiatives because the deployment of sufficient, visible and accessible recharging and refuelling infrastructure for alternative fuels is a prerequisite for the decarbonisation of transport. It forces the industry to innovate in the production of vehicles and fuels. But also legislators must offer legal certainty to the industry and guarantees to transport professionals and citizens about the network of recharging points. The deployment of these infrastructures on the TEN-T core network should be prioritised, as should ensuring simpler and more homogeneous means of payment than those available today, especially for e-mobility. The current dispersion disincentives as much as the scarcity of recharging points. As for the regulations on low-emission renewable fuels for the shipbuilding sector, I am again betting on making the transition with and not against the industry. The savings announced to us from indirect costs associated with pollution and operational improvements must be applied to innovation. It opens up an immense opportunity for European shipbuilding to consolidate our global leadership in sustainable solutions for this mode of transport. We have an obligation to take advantage of it. Finally, I would like to draw attention to the sensitivity we owe to the outermost regions on this issue. They are particularly dependent on shipping. Let us justify the exceptions well, but let us admit the specificity of these territories.

Madam President, Commissioner, I share the need to strengthen ocean governance and protect diversity, but I recall, as the common fisheries policy has shown, that achieving this requires involving all the actors involved. This has not been the case with the decision by which the European Commission intends, on 9 October, to close 87 fishing areas to European vessels. This Decision is arbitrary because it does not include environmental, social or economic impact reports and because it is not based on the best available scientific reports. That is why it is not understood or shared by the sector. That's why I encourage it to be withdrawn and reviewed before October 9 comes into effect. Let's protect the sea, but counting on everyone. The Common Fisheries Policy is an example of how to do this. The fishing sector has undergone a very hard socially accepted adjustment and assumed from the full awareness that only sustainable fishing and the protection of biodiversity guarantee the future of the sector. In line with this reality, we must redirect the discourse that is usually launched against the European fisheries sector, exemplary in terms of compliance with the provisions in force and operating within the framework of the most demanding standards and control measures in the world. Accusing exemplary professionals of overfishing and other irregularities is not true, it lacks empathy for people working in very harsh conditions and affects the credibility of the common fisheries policy and of the Union as a whole.

Madam President, regions should have direct access to cohesion funds: the direct involvement of regions and cities ensures better alignment of programmes with the needs and capacities of the productive fabric, brings decision-making processes closer to citizens and improves control possibilities. This measure also better involves cohesion policy in the energy transition and decarbonisation processes. Knowledge of the environment and the productive fabric, the ability to connect with citizens and work together on essential changes in mobility, in the treatment of waste and other key matters, resides in regional and local institutions; Therefore, connecting cohesion operations directly with those who know the territories best is not only a necessity, it is already an obligation. Finally, I call for the knowledge that cross-border regions can bring in terms of integration and cohesion to be harnessed: Its 150 million inhabitants know like no one else what we lose by not completely eliminating the borders that separate us for centuries.

Madam President, Commissioner, the arrest on 19 August of Bishop Rolando Álvarez together with nine other people and the closure of Catholic radio and television stations are the last straw of the deterioration affecting freedoms in Nicaragua: The flower Sandino planted withered. The Government issues the charges on the news, and there are judges and police who abide by, detain and imprison: dissent is being pursued, critical people are being threatened, humanitarian and human rights organisations are being shut down, media outlets are being shut down, and hundreds of prisoners without rights, without visits, remain imprisoned for activities that can only be criminalised under a totalitarian dictatorship. Let us remember and support the families of these people; This was requested yesterday by Berta Valle, journalist, human rights activist and wife of Felix Madariaga, imprisoned for the serious crime of standing for election. We ask for the freedom of these people. The European Union must implement the democratic clause of the cooperation agreement. There are those responsible who deserve international sanctions. The International Criminal Court must investigate whether this massive and inquisitorial witch hunt is a crime against humanity.

Mr President, I would like to congratulate Søren Gade, because his proposal, as balanced and realistic, will be able to turn good intentions into concrete facts. That is the best praise that can be made of a legal text. This text is more demanding with the percentages of progressive use of sustainable fuels in aviation, which will apply to all companies operating more than 500 flights per year; makes airport managers responsible for providing them with the necessary infrastructure; considers the problems of the outermost regions; updates the list of sustainable fuels, with the exception of those that come from raw materials whose production can compete with food, and obliges the list to be updated every three years to incorporate the novelties produced by innovation (in fact, sources such as electricity or synthetic fuels produced from green hydrogen have already been introduced during these negotiations, which are an example of technological progress). The text also proposes a monitoring and sanctioning system that allows to prevent frauds, punish them when they occur and allocate the money collected by the sanctions to innovation in this field, an example of how to turn a fine into a circular economy exercise.

Madam President, one of the consequences of the invasion of Ukraine is the effect it is having on the world's food security. This republic is a world power in grain production, and its export under the difficult conditions created by Russian aggression is very complex. From the Committee on Transport, after listening to the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, we are committed to making customs procedures more flexible and faster to avoid the long queues that now continue to occur in some cross-border crossings. This week we solved the problem of permits for Ukrainian transport professionals. It is also advisable to review all investments in trans-European networks that are focused on improving the infrastructures through which this connection is made. Finally, we are committed to establishing special corridors, such as those that were enabled during the pandemic for the circulation of medical equipment, to facilitate the mobility of these critical goods. Let us hope that the solidarity corridors announced by the Commissioner can be implemented as soon as possible, because we cannot wait any longer.

Mr President, Jordi, thank you for your commitment in this report, because boosting the social economy is boosting the resilience and transformation of the Union: an environmental and digital transformation, but focused on people. The social economy places them at the center of entrepreneurship, takes care of their working conditions, promotes transparency and solidarity, fixes development to the territory and thus turns corporate social responsibility into a natural consequence. It also restores to the financial system the role of instrument at the service of the productive economy that it should never have abandoned. It's not a fairy tale. Many studies confirm this very present reality in the Basque Country, one of the reasons that explains the solidity of our model of economic development with social development. In the Basque Country, the cooperative is the preferred option for young people to work. Nine out of ten people know one. Two out of three have a known person working on one. And it is not uncommon if we remember that it is the largest industrial corporate corporation, with more than 80,000 employees and sales in 150 countries, in the Basque Country. In addition, Basque companies, world leaders in their sector, are heavily invested by their workers. That is why this European plan is a powerful tool for making our resilience people-based. And in this regard, Commissioner Schmit, I would like to ask you if you consider that the Basque Country model can be a good practice for improving the values of the production system.

Madam President, an expressive sign of the seriousness of what happened on 25 June at the Moroccan Hispanic border is that today, nine days later, I cannot pay tribute here to those people by pronouncing their name. I also don't know how many died there. They crashed into a police action, on both sides of the border, that demands an immediate and independent investigation. It is urgent to identify the victims – human beings like us –, repatriate their bodies, clarify the facts, establish responsibilities, establish reparation measures and avoid impunity and the repetition of similar events. But this incident also reminds us of two things: We must deepen cooperation in the medium and long term, the Common Vision 2030 emerged from the last Africa-European Union summit is a good starting point that must be completed by correcting with fairer trade relations the economic and social outcome of our colonial past. Meanwhile, humanitarian aid and prevention are needed so that these massacres do not recur. And more shared work. The reproaches among those who know that the solution is not the fences only benefit the ultra-rightists who point to them as the only strategy.