Speeches

The minutes of yesterday's meeting and the texts adopted are available. Are there any objections? I don't see that. The minutes are thus approved.

Madam President, Commissioner, those strong and incredibly courageous women and all those who support them in Iran are heroes. And therefore the European Union must not be silent but act. Since the beginning of the Islamic Republic, women have protested against the regime’s ideology, often at great risk, while many think now it is a rebellion. I say we are witnessing of a revolution. When women take to the streets, it is a revolution. When women cut their hair, it is a revolution. When women take the hijab off their heads, it is called a revolution. The revolution is against an incredibly patriarchal regime that will not back down from cruelty. We see it. Now the demands of Iranian women appear so simple and are yet so fundamental. Women. Life. Freedom. Dear colleagues, when women march in the streets to fight for freedom, they must know that we, the European Union, will support them in their struggle for women’s rights and simply for a free life, no matter what. Dear brave Iranian women, we stand by and with you.

Madam President, The European Union is 70 years old and it is doing its job. It is about values and equality: We have really achieved a lot. It is a mosaic stone of many, but a very important one that we finally reached. We are finally giving women a fair chance to get into top positions in companies. Women are smart, they are innovative, and they are simply capable of too much, and that should be depicted as well. We all know that this is just one of many mosaic stones; But all of us, we are still working on it. I would also like to mention very personally the thanks that Lara Wolters has now mentioned, because I have really been allowed to work on this dossier for a very long time now, namely to think about those who were just creative: Let's make a question to the Council again, let's try to do something about press work again, let's do all these things as MEPs. My thanks go to Hannah Buchinger, Sabrina Winter, Melanie Köller, Stefanie Ricken, Inês de Matos Pinto. These are some of these fantastic women who are just the right draftingWork done. And I think that's exactly how women work: inclusive, inclusive, across political group boundaries and across geographical and time boundaries. I congratulate all of us. Now it's time to celebrate.

You mentioned those enterprises who would like to have more women there in top positions. When you talked to those, I mean guys leading the enterprises, did you raise also the question of the culture of how the enterprises are led? I had talks with many of those in top positions and then got information: it’s about the culture, it’s about how the atmosphere is on boards and that many top women, meanwhile, already say, I expect that there is a change, that there is respect, there is another form of treat, how to treat each other concerning working hours and everything else. So did you take that on board with these considerations you just mentioned?

Mr President, Commissioner! Thank you, Lara, for the great collaboration. This policy is overdue. This directive, which is coming now, is the teamwork of many great ones, especially women, of course, across political groups, across institutional boundaries and - we can say it, of course - across legislative periods. When it comes to making more equality – I would say more normality – the way it should look in companies, we obviously need a particularly long breath, because it is always about power. As the European Parliament, we have kept the file alive for ten years. As rapporteur, I have been fighting for ten years from the outset, together with many in the room and beyond, for us to finally abolish the quota of men on supervisory boards. And now we've finally made it. This directive on more women in management positions means that on supervisory boards and boards, qualification is finally the first thing to count. By June 30, 2026, the goals are to be achieved, and thus we finally manage to better represent society, create diversity, top-down improve the corporate culture for all. The directive focuses on the procedure for the selection of Supervisory Board members and also Executive Board members. If the selection procedure is already flawed, the best-qualified candidates are often no longer shortlisted – to the detriment of both the company and the candidates. And that is why the directive focuses on transparency and performance in the selection process. Especially where it is economically difficult – with the pandemic, with Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, with inflation and the climate crisis – we need resilient, strong companies in the European Union, and we will only achieve this if these companies finally take women on board and let them drive. If we use the full potential of the smart minds and create transparent ordering processes, then of course the companies themselves will also benefit at the end of the day. You get the best qualified people. That's what it's about. And those companies that achieve the goals should also be put on a faming list, as a positive example for everyone. But we also know: Without binding measures, nothing happens. It also provides for effective, proportionate, dissuasive sanctions against companies that breach the obligation to meet individual quantitative targets, selection procedures and/or reporting. This can be a fine, an annulment of the election, as well as restrictions on public procurement, depending on what works best where. Of course, this also includes transparent reporting on what the figures look like, that good measures are taken and that an authority also verifies this. We have also covered this in this directive. The understanding of the Directive is clear: More women in decision-making positions – this is just one of many measures that need to be taken to achieve gender equality in the workplace. Nevertheless, it is an important part, an important part of this mosaic. It is high time for positive change, for modern companies and, above all, for equality between women in all areas of the economy. That is why, as a team of the European Parliament, we are more than proud that we have finally achieved this after ten years. And that is why I would really like to thank all these wonderful shadow rapporteurs, this great team that has simply held together in this respect. Thank you to Helena Dalli as Commissioner, who has worked incredibly convincingly. Thank you also to the representatives of several presidencies – to the French ones before, now of course also to the Czech ones, but also in the past to the Luxembourgish and Maltese ones. I say this especially now because we really had to stick together here for so much time. And it turns out it pays off. It's a big day, I think, for all of us.

Now we come to the end of our session. The minutes of today's and yesterday's sittings will be submitted to Parliament for approval at the beginning of the next sitting. If there are no objections, I will forward the resolutions adopted at today's sitting to the persons and bodies referred to in those resolutions.

Madam President, Commissioner! Corporate sustainability reporting is of course a central concern, especially now in times of climate crisis and social inequality. Particularly from the perspective of employees along the often opaque, long supply chains worldwide, we must ensure that transparency and compliance with all human and environmental obligations are the core task of each individual company. And we have significantly improved transparency in this regard with the current proposal. But it goes even further. Negotiations on corporate responsibility along supply chains are only just beginning. Building on this directive on reporting, which we are finalising today, we must fight for a strong directive on companies' rights and obligations. Companies that accept child labour or pollution, whether as subcontractors or suppliers, must finally be held accountable.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Commission statement on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1614 of 15 September 2022 establishing existing deep-sea fishing areas and establishing a list of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known or likely to occur (2022/2879(RSP)).

The EPP Group has forwarded decisions to the President on the modification of appointments in delegations. These decisions will be published in the minutes of today's meeting and will enter into force on the day of this announcement.

In accordance with Rule 136(5) of the Rules of Procedure, a motion for a resolution has been tabled*. The debate is closed. The vote will take place on Thursday 20 October 2022. ___________ * See Minutes Written declarations (Article 171)

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the oral question to the Commission on Solidarity with Ukraine in the field of culture and a joint emergency support mechanism for the recovery of culture in Europe by Sabine Verheyen, on behalf of the Committee on Culture and Education (O-000030/2022 – B9-0026/2022).

It is with great pleasure that I can now also report something very pleasing to the Commissioner responsible: The President received the Council's position at first reading, including the reasons why it adopted that position. The Commission's positions and opinions have also been received. The title will be announced in the minutes of this meeting. The three-month period for Parliament to express its views thus starts tomorrow, 21 October 2022. This is a dossier which has been under negotiation for many years and which has now been adopted by the Council, namely the - now I say it in the succinct title - Women-on-boards-directive on gender balance on supervisory boards.

Madam President, dear Commissioner Dali, we have adopted three resolutions underlining the same thing: violence, and especially sexual violence, is not acceptable in the European Union, not in any of our Member States and not in our own House. We need mediators and we need trainings for everyone. I’m disgusted to see that someone convicted for rape did not only get away unpunished within the European institutions, but even got rewarded by getting more than a million of taxpayers money, a salary while being out of service. No wonder that victims do not dare to speak up. Our institutions need to stop this culture of tolerating sexual violence immediately. In December, 76% of Members of this House approved stronger measures, and I want to see them implemented by our own administration now. Make zero tolerance for any kind of harassment a reality – now.

We are now continuing our debate on the Commission statement on EU-Western Balkans relations in the context of the new enlargement package (2022/2881(RSP)).

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Commission statement on EU-Western Balkans relations in the context of the new enlargement package (2022/2881(RSP)). Before I give the floor to Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi on behalf of the Commission, I would like to make an advance request to all Members who are going to speak that they abide by the speaking time.

Thank you very much, good luck with your work at the Court of Auditors! Thank you to everyone who took part in this debate. The debate is closed.

Thank you, Commissioner. Tony Murphy has the final word. I would like to join the congratulations and wish you that the enthusiasm that has been shown to you across political groups in this House will continue next year.

Mr President, I am extremely horrified how the Iranian regime hunts down these brave Iranian women and men. But at the same time I’m proud, very proud, and proud of every single woman standing up for her rights, standing up for the rights of her sisters and daughters. And I’m proud of the many men supporting women’s rights openly. It is essential that all women around the world know that they are valuable, that they have rights. And these brave women in Iran are the reasons why these rigid structures begin to change. So we, as politicians from other parts of the world, have to show the Iranian government that we will not accept their crimes against their own citizens, not accept their crimes against these brave women. So rest in power, Mahsa Amini.

Commissioner Hahn, you saw: It's about the canned. The European Parliament pays close attention to what the Commission is doing. Finally, I would ask you to send us your message from the Commission.

You just got a blue card, a question to you, and if you want to ask a blue card yourself, that's possible if you take a seat. However, I would like to say that, because the debate is very lively and we have other debates afterwards, I will only accept blue cards if they are not presented by speakers who have speaking time anyway and then give input in their speech. These are the rules for this debate.