Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, credibility in the defence of human rights is achieved when all those who violate human rights are measured to the same standard. China is large and powerful, admirable in many respects, but it deserves a resounding condemnation for the mechanisms of repression it applies to dissidents and minorities. Lately we have known evidence and evidence of intolerable behavior against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which confirms what we already knew: We are facing the real risk of a planned and systematic genocide of an annoying culture. And repression has also become a very profitable business. No one deserves to be treated like this. That is why the Union and its Member States must stand up to the big one, promote personalized sanctions for the officers and commanders involved in these practices, take the case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and reject the products of forced labor. I also encourage you to raise this issue with the Chinese leadership in as many forums as we meet with them.

Mr President, Commissioner, as shadow rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism on this report, I advocate setting the emission reduction for new vehicles at 90% by 2035, compared to the 100% proposed by the European Commission. I support my decision for three reasons. Firstly, I am betting on technological neutrality which should lead to more research and innovation and more alternatives to achieve climate neutrality of cars and vans. In addition, because I propose a realistic estimate of emissions that also takes into account those that occur from the manufacture to recycling of a vehicle and not only those that come from its operation. Finally, because we must clear the uncertainties that paralyze today the renewal of the current fleet by another already available, cleaner and more efficient, which will lead to an immediate reduction in emissions and from whose mobilization manufacturers must obtain the fundamental part of the resources to finance this transition. That is why I also support a credit system for allowances and a specific package to finance this key process to decarbonise our mobility. A path that we have to travel with and not against the industry.

Madam President, Senegal has failed to comply with the fisheries agreement it signed with the Union. It has placed on the verge of bankruptcy some pole-and-line vessels that operate with sustainable arts and under strict control. Signed, at last, the licenses they paid in January, have lost more than one million euros that they now need to return to the sea after five months of forced mooring. They would have obtained them, as always, fishing in conditions of maximum environmental and social sustainability. And they would have shared value and prosperity with the local industry, buying goods and services there and maintaining contracts, under International Labour Organization standards, of about 300 people who had to lay off. These fishermen, who have rightly felt abandoned, deserve recognition, respect and support to continue with two decades of impeccable human and professional career thousands of kilometers from home. A hard work that prestige in the world the Europe brand. That is why I call on the Commissioner to activate the aid provided for in the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund so that these sustainability entrepreneurs can recover their activity.

Madam President, talking coherently and realistically about the criteria for allocating State-to-State fishing opportunities is only possible considering the principle of relative stability enshrined in Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013. That is why we call on the Commission to produce a report that provides data that we do not have today to better understand the procedures of each State and the diversity that characterizes the sector. Non-discrimination between their sectors and the use of historicist criteria to make the allocation is the most social, economic and environmental mechanism known because all fishermen are bound by the same rules and conditions. This promotes stability, avoids facing sectors and makes clear the dependence of each fleet on the state of resources. We therefore support the role of fishermen's associations and organisations in the management of quotas and oppose the promotion of generational renewal by discriminating on the basis of age in the reallocation of quotas. These are more urgent measures than establishing a public register, as there is no transparency possible without complying with them. There is no data at the moment, but there is no legal authority to demand it, so as long as we do not do this and the rules are not changed, identifying and disseminating best practices is the right thing to do.

Mr President, Commissioner, political issues – and a sovereignty conflict is – are resolved with politics. When instead of opening a debate, recognizing the other, negotiating and seeking agreements one opts for the "for them", for espionage, for the "control of the courts through the back door", for the abolition of parliamentary inviolability, for the imprisonment of ideas, when political police brigades are created whose boss says in Congress that between the law and Spain he chooses Spain, when much more than the far right applauds this behavior and there is no prosecutor to act, these things happen. We have denounced it here many times over the years. And today we pray Martin Niemöller's prayer, because behind every illegal espionage in every state there is an "a for them". We need an investigation with results in all the States involved. We ask the Commission for more principles and fewer interests to defend democracy, but we are also committed to dialogue, peace and speech, democracy and more democracy. Because this is the best antidote to shame and to this scandal.

Mr President, Commissioner, European logistics is one of the victims of the illegal invasion of Ukraine. All transport sectors are affected, both by the impact of rising energy prices and by operational problems affecting all transport modes and people working in the sector. I welcome the content of the resolution proposed by the Committee on Transport and Tourism and encourage three aspects to be prioritised: direct attention to people who see their jobs at risk, support to companies in this dire situation to support people fleeing the invasion and review of investment plans included in the TEN-T to meet three objectives: strengthen the connection of the border countries with Ukraine, find alternatives to the Russian plan to control Ukraine's main export and supply lines and improve dual-use infrastructures that meet military mobility needs. I support, finally a shock plan to compensate the tourism sector, which loses customers in all border countries.

Mr President, transnational lists have only advantages. They do not subtract anything from the States, they only add and will bring fresh air to a Parliament to which they will help prevent national debates from recurring here. We have also reached a compromise in this regard among the major groups in Parliament. They also bring us closer to citizens because Europeans have proposed this reform at the Conference on the Future of Europe because people want to elect the President of the Commission, the way he expresses his belief in a European demos. I support this idea from the legitimacy of representing here to a formation committed to building the Union from below, to promote that the Basque Country has here the voice, the recognition and the role that it must play in a Union of which we are founders. We did it because we bet from the beginning to build it from all its diversity. That is why we oppose the percentages that can leave out nations and cultures that are European. In addition, we support transnational lists that strengthen upwards our willingness to live together and cooperate. That means living together in diversity. That is why talking about centralism, referring to the powers of the Union, is a joke here. It is the centralists who oppose upwards more Europe and renounce downwards their own diversity.

Mr. President, the path to dictatorship always starts in the same place: the independence of the judiciary is destroyed, freedom of the press and expression is threatened, dissidents and the organizations that bring them together are persecuted and all control mechanisms are laminated. Alejandro Giammattei's Guatemala is already going down that slope on the backs of corruption and impunity. But this deterioration is also catalyzed by despair. About half of the population lives below the poverty line. Storms Eta and Iota and the pandemic have only aggravated this situation. Too many people in Guatemala, because of these factors, already have very little to lose. That is why efforts must focus on restoring democracy, as well as ending injustice and misery. Hopefully, the Presidential Commissions against Corruption and for Peace and Human Rights will succeed, but with the same urgency, measures against poverty must be promoted for inclusive growth and equality. The European Union should use the clauses of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement to stimulate these decisive changes.

Madam President, Commissioner, Brexit cannot call into question an overwhelming biological truth: Atlantic waters form a coherent ecosystem. Its fishery resources must be managed in a sustainable manner through the agreement and the relations of trust that are agreed to all coastal countries and with the rigour that they allow and that the existing scientific data on the state of the stocks oblige. Scientific bodies, such as ICES, and governance bodies, such as the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, exist for this purpose; We are also united by a common history, procedures, international treaties in force, a culture of respect for the rule of law, respect for the independence of the parties and, I hope, the desire to maintain relations with the United Kingdom in terms of agreement and concord. That is why it is essential that the European fleet does not suffer quota reductions after the transition period ending in 2026, that scientific collaboration is strengthened, that objective data on the state of stocks are the basis of a long-term management system for fisheries in the area and that we put in place, with the experience accumulated in recent years, new mechanisms to face the destabilization that the European fleet is facing. Brexit has been produced in the European fisheries sector that faces the Atlantic.

Madam President, thank you to the rapporteur, Cláudia Monteiro, and to all our technical teams for such an important work on this report. This agreement on the use of driverless hired vehicles for road freight transport offers new tools to professionals to improve the services they provide, make progress in the decarbonisation of transport and match the conditions under which they operate across the European Union. We completed another piece of the so-called "mobility package", a key piece to guide the transition of this sector and make the most of the capillarity and flexibility it brings to mobility as a whole. With this agreement, logistics costs will fall, because the operating costs of many companies fall. The use of cleaner and more efficient vehicles will be promoted and there will be more flexibility to face unforeseen events or solve fleet breakdowns. Employment in small and medium-sized enterprises will also grow. leasing and rent, which, thanks to this standard, have new business opportunities and more possibilities in the market. Finally, we added another tool to combat fragmentation. Until now, legal differences in the use of this resource in different Member States were a factor distorting competition in the internal market.

Madam President, Commissioner, this agreement to extend free ten years allows anyone to understand what it means to move forward in the digital single market. Thanks to an integration process we consolidate a right that we also notice in our pockets, because there will be no extra costs for making voice calls or using data services while traveling in the European Union. I would like to take this opportunity to propose that we endeavour – as the Commissioner has said – to solve the problem caused by the roaming to the millions of displaced people arriving in the EU from Ukraine: Connecting with their family and friends who defend there, on the ground, the values of our Union against Putin's dictatorship is a basic necessity, and doing so from here has a heavy cost for them. Advancing the digital single market is also a stimulus that opens up opportunities for innovation to lead to the emergence of new services that strengthen our competitiveness in the data economy, in the digital economy. Finally, this step forward is also a hope. This agreement shows that, if there is a willingness for dialogue and commitment, there are mechanisms to intervene in prices when the market itself does not function properly. The Union must urgently deploy this same regulatory capacity in other sectors, such as energy, whose market needs further integration. Europe's sovereignty and resilience depend on it.

Mr President, Commissioner, in 2005, I broke a glass ceiling: I became the first woman to preside over the Basque Parliament. One of the first calls I received came from here. That House had achieved parity thanks to a pioneering law that forced political parties to include quotas of women and intersect them with men in the candidacies. Today, here, there are those who discuss quotas, while that regional Parliament, preserving that achievement, makes a new leap, improving that norm with new measures on equal pay or the fight against violence. I welcome this new Communication to advance equality. It is a matter of laws and budgets, of comparison, of sharing good practices, of implementing what works, of pointing out the reactionary ideas that deny even sexist violence, as some far-right party does in the Spanish State. But let us not forget that it is also a personal, intimate task that begins in each individual and continues in the family and the educational system. Without that individual commitment, which undoubtedly catalyzes these plans from the institutions, the results will be slow to arrive. We need to manage this effort in women, to combine rigor and technical competence in the development of programs with the management of emotions, because the disarmament of prejudices that promote inequality needs a lot of work at that level. The first argument to convince those who hesitate is to inform them about the pleasure provided by the entire universe of emotions they renounce.

Mr President, our energy dependence is structural. It requires a swift response, such as the one we gave to the pandemic or to the effects of the invasion of Ukraine with the sanctions that its protagonist deserves. We need a strategic reserve of gas, but we must moderate the influence that this fuel has on the calculation of the price of light: the operating accounts of many energy companies show that the growth of their profits is much higher than the increase in the raw materials they use. We need to empower consumers as producers and a robust mechanism that forces those who make their August in March to return to citizens and the productive fabric part of returns that do not come precisely from innovation. It is a priority to consolidate the single energy market and the interconnections and infrastructures that we lack, such as those we need to unite the networks of the Spanish and French States. Let's accelerate the commitment to energy efficiency in homes and companies and the deployment of renewables. Meanwhile, states and regions need flexibility, understanding, to help their citizens and industries weather this storm. People need certainty and wages adapted to the cost of living. Industry, activity. Stopping our recovery, jobs and growth is the other objective of Russian aggression, and maintaining the capacity to seduce our freedoms and our economic and social development is the best response to force and domination.

Mr President, I would like to ask you for a 20-second extension. I need you as a member of a fishing family to remember, in the heart of the Union, the victims of the shipwreck of the . My solidarity with the pain of their families, my fraternal embrace for those who have lost everything, and my vindication of a sector and people who deserve empathy, understanding and support, what it feels and understands also when, against wind and tide, you have waited for your loved ones on a pier. Rest in peace. The report we adopted today is key to stimulating the decarbonisation of transport and harmonising the tasks that EU Member States were applying in their road charging systems. These differences threaten the normal functioning of the single transport market. That is why we are replacing incomplete, unsatisfactory and more unfair regulation. To oppose this advance is to support what was there. We all share that whoever pollutes and whoever uses, pays. The fare is better adjusted by substituting time for distance, also lowering costs for cleaner vehicles and incorporating a congestion charge. The scope has been extended to include trucks, light transport vehicles and buses. It also opens the door to the application to cars, for which there will be vignettes of short duration, including one of a day for vehicles in transit. A revision of the standard is also foreseen if transport is included in a future carbon pricing mechanism. But users, those who pay, deserve in return that the money they contribute finance programs to support transport, sustainable transport, from incentives to renew the fleet, to investments in infrastructure. Because better roads, digitalisation and intelligent traffic management are vital for safety, to avoid congestion and to achieve the emission reduction targets we have set ourselves. The credibility and equity of this system require this exercise of pedagogy and justice.

Mr President, Commissioner, the European Year of Rail has been more than a good idea. The general public has discovered the train as a key agent against climate change. It has brought together operators and key players to triple high-speed passenger transport by 2050 and double freight transport by 2050. Continuing this initiative means that Next Generation Funds support innovation and digitalisation in the sector; obliges the Member States and the Community authorities to fulfil their commitments and to complete within the prescribed deadline the works which must make trans-European transport networks interoperable and free of bottlenecks; It encourages the rapid deployment of the ERTMS control system, which is key to technological interoperability and network and traffic management. We must implement the Fourth Railway Package, put an end to the regulations that fragment the European market in the sector and support the train with the same energy with which the airlines have been helped. Because the rail transport sector, because of the pandemic, has lost EUR 50 billion in two years. This work programme will allow users, who this year have won rights hand in hand with the Union, to enjoy trains that are becoming more comfortable, punctual, fast, economical, accessible and with the green label that makes choosing the train an act of militancy for the future of the planet.

Mr President, Commissioner, the free movement of people and goods is one of the keys to the European project. It is key for the construction of European citizenship, because it promotes the coexistence of diversity, and for the single market, because it eliminates the barriers that allowed many economic agents to live in their comfort zones. It is also a fundamental tool for integration. Promoting an integrated, smart and accessible system of mobility is therefore also a substantial part of the European social model. Let us therefore encourage a holistic debate on the role of mobility and transport from an integration perspective. Let's assume that public transport networks are vital for many people to have the opportunities that promote mobility. Let us recognize that combating transport poverty must be incorporated into the public agenda with the same energy with which we talk about energy poverty, and let us work to make this a priority commitment of our social model.

Mr. President, Nicaragua has become a dictatorship. Running for election carries a prison sentence. Defending human rights, opposing bad environmental practices, the destruction of indigenous communities, denouncing abuses, pointing out those responsible lead to the harshest repression, aggression and harassment. There is no freedom of the press or expression. Under these circumstances, the last elections have been a farce. Therefore, the current leaders are no longer the legitimate rulers of the country. They are usurpers who deserve to be treated as such, sanctioned and dispossessed of the economic performance of their corrupt practices, and investigated for their repressive policies within the framework of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Let us activate the democratic clause of the Cooperation Agreement and all our support to those on the ground who are playing it to try to promote the only possible solution: an inclusive national dialogue that can only be initiated when the repression ceases and those still imprisoned for defending a democracy worthy of the name are released.

Mr President, Commissioner, we applaud the global agreements of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and this Glasgow COP; these objectives are linked to the NextGenerationEU funds, with which we aim to transform our mobility, our economy and our consumption habits and advance sustainability and resilience, but, with the same energy, we recall that these objectives and principles are transformed into facts at local level. There are powerful regional alliances, such as the one that presides over the Basque Country, that offer commitment, work and leadership from proximity: need recognition and real participation in the management of these tools. It would therefore be appropriate for these summits to involve more local and regional authorities and for the mechanism for local and regional participation established by the regulation governing the funds to be complied with. Is this one of the measures that the Commission will defend to ensure significant progress at COP26? I look forward to your reply, Commissioner.

Madam President, Commissioner, if farmers are 'guardians of the land', EU fishermen, seafarers, are 'guardians of the sea'. They deserve that the high-quality proteins they contribute to the EU’s diet are fully integrated into a strategy that should be called ‘From Sea and Farm to Fork’. They provide proteins that are fished or grown under environmentally and socially sustainable conditions and with a lower carbon footprint than those produced on land; are produced under the most demanding regulatory framework in the world. We must distinguish this value, protect it in the markets with labels, traceability and control: It is good for consumers and good for combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Care must be taken of professional groups such as fishermen's associations and they must be given access to Community aid. Forgetting aquaculture and fishing in this strategy is a slap in the face in the common fisheries policy and an offence for those who work at sea every day so that we feed ourselves better.

Madam President, Commissioner, the crisis that the pandemic has caused in the tourism sector has accelerated another reflection that was already underway: sustainability should be one of the key factors in the design and delivery of tourism services. Digitalisation and the use of new technologies and innovation processes should improve high-impact issues in the tourism sector: The design of the offer, the incorporation of new operators, the improvement of the position of local actors in the value chain, the prevention of saturation, the energy efficiency of buildings, the treatment of waste, the decarbonisation of mobility and training in line with these challenges are some of them. In short, NextGenerationEU philosophy for a new generation tourism. That is why I ask you: Will there be funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility in a specific plan for the European tourism sector? Are there plans to accelerate the growth of users of this new generation tourism?

Mr President, the human factor is today the main cause of road accidents in the European Union. Alcohol and drugs and speeding, usually combined, are at the origin of more than half of the million accidents that occur every year in the European Union. We need zero tolerance for these infringements, to remove consumers of these substances from the road, to strengthen training, to bet on digitalisation; a productive connection between infrastructure and vehicles will make roads safer. These are the regulatory and financial bets that the Union can make on road safety that needs better indicators and a special effort in cities. There is an urgent need to better protect pedestrians and cyclists in order to safely promote more sustainable mobility. Bilbao, awarded by the Commission for being the first European city to implement the limit of thirty kilometers per hour in the entire urban area, has avoided in a year, with this and other measures, one in three accidents that were recorded in its streets. I think it can serve as an example.

Madam President, Cuba is facing the abyss. Our best contribution is to denounce the obvious, serious and repeated violations of human rights that the Díaz-Canel Government is carrying out and to promote active solidarity with the victims of this wave of repression. The answer lies in the values and instruments of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba, in the possibilities of sanction offered by the Magnitsky Act and in the cooperation and support for the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders of the United Nations and her possibilities of acting in this escalation. It is time for denunciation, but it is also time to act. The presence on the ground of observers from the United Nations and the European Union is mandatory, as is the immediate meeting of the Joint Committee provided for in the EU-Cuba Cooperation Agreement in cases of particular urgency regarding violations of fundamental rights. We must bring to the situation what it needs most: sanity, dialogue, recognition of the reality of Cuban civil society and its opposition movements and the immediate cessation of repression because, at this moment, the attitude of the authorities of the island puts at risk the continuity of this instrument of cooperation and dialogue and the obvious benefits it implies for Cuban citizens.

Madam President, Mr Borrell, once again, speaking of Nicaragua we have to regret that the worst prophecies have been fulfilled and try to put the means so that the current political and social crisis that shakes the country does not end up transforming into a trace of the humanitarian crisis that shakes other countries such as Venezuela. Sandinismo overthrew a dictator. Unfortunately, the country is back on track. To stand for election today is a guarantee of ending up in prison. Today, the stray bullets that end up casually finding those who bother the dictator the most have returned to Nicaragua. The threats, the persecutions, the beatings, the harassment, the persecution, the gag for the press that points out and denounces have returned. I therefore hope that this resolution and the work of the European External Action Service in favour of dialogue and in preventing the political crisis from becoming humanitarian will help the dictator to think. That's why I think he and his team deserve the sanctions that have been imposed on them. And so I believe that this regime, which has copied Somoza's worst ways, deserves to be under the focus of the Financial Action Task Force. These are the tools that we put into play so that they understand that yes, they have turned the flower that Sandino planted into a sad dictatorship.

Mr President, Commissioner, I believe that the best way to celebrate the European Year of Rail is to launch debates and initiatives such as those brought together in this joint debate. It is another step towards ending the fragmentation of the European railway area, a problem that prevents this means of transport from bringing all its virtues to European mobility. A mobility that we want to turn, in a decade, into an integrated and intelligent system that surpasses the philosophy of management by modes, called to reduce logistics costs and, consequently, bring competitiveness to our economy. A system that will reduce saturation and that rail needs as a key piece to meet climate objectives. We have been working for decades to end the fragmentation of the railway space by eliminating infrastructure problems, the great objective of the TEN-T, establishing financing mechanisms with the CEF and alleviating regulatory problems that now make private entrepreneurship in this sector more than an adventure. We have devoted up to four sets of railway rules to this, the full implementation of which I take advantage of to reclaim. One part of this process is the timely deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) across the European rail priority network. This is a decisive step in ensuring interoperability between national rail systems. It will make it possible to increase the speed of trains, optimise the use of infrastructure by increasing their capacity by up to 30% and lower the costs of acquiring and maintaining signalling systems. According to the Union’s climate monitoring methodology, the deployment of ERTMS represents a 40% contribution to climate and environmental objectives and also connects with support to the overall digitalisation process of the Union economy. Therefore, investments related to this process should be one of the priorities of the State Recovery and Resilience Plans. In this report we call for a European strategy to speed up the replacement of national systems by the European one. We call for national deployment implementation plans to be aligned with binding targets at EU level. We want no derogations from the installation of ERTMS in new vehicles and to streamline authorisation procedures. We will try to limit duplication through a transparent register of prototypes that have funding and we propose a common model of public tender to improve procurement for work related to this deployment. We also call for a legislative proposal establishing an industrial strategy for ERTMS. The parties involved consider it essential to increase our capacity, to have a stable and predictable budget and to support the training of qualified personnel and the proliferation of retraining workshops. I thank all those involved in the drafting of this report for their work, sincerity and contributions. We have worked with all the operators involved and we have tried to combine the technical rigor that the subject requires with the emotional intelligence that the situation needs to be able to improve. The deployment of ERTMS is delayed, yes, but we have not stopped at the juicy headlines that the simple whiplash could produce. To elaborate these recommendations we have preferred to share the vision, expectations, proposals and also the feelings of all the agents involved and prevent the paralyzing effect that fears and misgivings cause in collective efforts. The deployment of ERTMS is and needs much more than an exchange of reproaches. By integrating action, knowledge and emotion I hope that instead of a toast to the sun we have achieved a shared collection of practical and realistic solutions to be able to build the confidence that is needed to work all at once. That is the goal and the way to get ERTMS deployed by 2030 across the core network and by 2040 across the global network.

Madam President, I want to conclude this interinstitutional agreement because it improves the Fund we had, makes it a more flexible and simpler tool and incorporates lessons associated with the pandemic, climate objectives and new problems, such as those associated with . I regret the 5% cut, but I hope that, by increasing the participation of the sector, recognising its diversity and getting closer to needs, without losing sight of the basic objectives of the CFP, we will put an end to the rigidities and complexity that have so penalised access to the Fund that we renew with this Regulation. The goal is that with less we are able to do much more. This agreement has great achievements. We share the special programmes for the outermost areas, to which I would add the island areas. We agree on the measures taken to promote generational renewal. We applaud the fact that we have finally opted for the decarbonization of the fleet, with more imagination and openness in the modernization of engines, and we underline the impulse offered to the improvement in the living and safety conditions on ships, which could have been completed with a less closed formula on scrapping. We like improvements in measures to support temporary or permanent cessations of activity. To complete them, we demand proximity and imagination for the income diversification programs of coastal communities in general, and in particular for those most affected by the new restrictions, such as those being imposed on drag. Listening to these professionals, taking advantage of the knowledge they accumulate is to incorporate assets into the value chain of the sector. And this is the message that must be left to the States.