Speeches

Madam President, Dear Commissioner, Abortion cannot be prevented. Point. Only safe and legal abortions can be banned, putting women's lives at risk. Roe vs. Wade has an impact on us! In 2021, arch-conservative anti-choice groups from the US pumped millions of US dollars into Europe to limit our rights here. The Austrian industry alone has received nine and a half million US dollars. This is controlled interference in our democratic system. We must therefore defend our values. This is the right to self-determination over one's own body, the right to basic medical care and access to safe legal abortions. Our grandmothers, our mothers, have campaigned loudly for the right to abortion and fought for it. We have to defend this – we, these are women, these are men, young and old. We need to make sure that society evolves. And therefore: Pro-choice for every woman, also in Europe.

Just before we go on with the debate, I remind all Members who are participating in this lively debate that when you are raising the blue—card, it’s not one minute, it’s 30 seconds you have in order to ask the question, and 30 seconds to answer. So please respect your speaking time.

Thank you very much, Maria. There is a blue card again from Karen Melchior if you’re ready to accept it. I think it is great that we have such a lively debate where there are questions asked and Members are answering, so we are just doing exactly what everybody wants: a lively debate. But I also ask you, and this is something that applies to the ongoing speakers, not to raise the blue card more than once, otherwise the debate is taking longer and longer, as I indicated already. So Karen Melchior gets the floor, but we don’t continue like this.

Do you accept a blue card from Malin Björk? She would like to ask you a question. I will give her the floor, but first say yes, symbols are not allowed to be carried in the room. As chairing, I said that to those Members who I realise they are wearing a scarf, and I didn’t accept it. And Ms Reintke left the room right now. So I just repeat it to everybody: don’t wear symbols, even if you have a sore throat or something else.

The next person to speak is Mrs Simona Baldassarre, but I would just like to ask all the Members who are sore today to organise other scarves, especially when they come to the lectern.

Dear Frances, there is a blue-card, are you willing to accept it? I just look from whom it is coming. It’s from Malin Björk – and sorry, really with a heavy heart I have to ask you to remove scarfs that are symbols, so please follow that. So, are you ready to accept, Frances?

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on the global threats to the right to abortion – possible abolition of the right to abortion in the US by the Supreme Court (2022/2665(RSP)). I would like to remind you that, with the exception of the first two rows, which are reserved for the chairmen of the political groups, there is a free choice of seats. After inserting your voting card into the voting machine, you can then use your voting machine to request spontaneous interventions and blue cards. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern, with the exception of spontaneous interventions, blue cards and comments on the application of the Rules of Procedure.

Madam President, there is one message to the Commissioner: when you go out of this plenary room, take this Parliament seriously. This agreement can be really historic. We are representing the citizens of Europe, and this can be a really great moment. Denn was muss denn noch alles passieren, damit endlich wirklich diese riesengroße Vermögensungleichheit weltweit auch echt angegangen und geändert wird? Ein Krieg vor der Haustür, die Lebensmittelpreise gehen in die Höhe, die Energiepreise explodieren, Wohnungspreise sind viel zu hoch. An einer weltweiten, faireren Besteuerung von Unternehmensgewinnen führt kein Weg vorbei. Multinationale Konzerne haben überproportional von den Corona-Hilfspaketen profitiert, auch der Onlinehandel, die Streaming-Plattformen wurden überdurchschnittlich genutzt. Durch die Einführung dieser globalen Mindeststeuer für Konzerne kann eine echte Umverteilung von Konzernen auf Arbeitnehmer, Arbeitnehmerinnen stattfinden und können Steueroasen trockengelegt werden.

You have hopelessly overdrawn your time. I tried to turn off the microphone, it didn't work out right away. But now I have to be strict. We have a lot of speakers who overwhelm the time.

Since very, very many of you are exceeding speaking time, I ask you once again to be really disciplined in dealing with speaking time. The debate is delayed. Of course, I fully understand all the objections, because this is such an emotional and important topic. Nevertheless, we want to stick to our schedule on the whole. Therefore, now my request to the next speaker, Mrs Isabel Wiseler-Lima, really not to exceed the one minute and 30 seconds.

I know the subject is very emotional, the heart goes over, and speaking time passes very quickly. I ask all speakers to really stick to the limited time you have been given.

Mr President! And above all, thank you, Commissioner, for the excellent work you are doing. Women in Ukraine were forced by the war, alone or with their children, often with the children of their neighbours or siblings, to leave their homeland behind from one day to the next. By fleeing, they have lost their homes, their social environment and often their financial autonomy. We need to help women find their way around the new day. And for their independence, they therefore need unrestricted access to educational institutions, care facilities and fair-paid work. These women are often traumatized by the war. Not only the fear of bombs and the fear for their relatives seem debilitating. Sexual violence and rape by Russian soldiers – war crimes under the rules of international law – is targeted as a weapon against girls and women. Of course, we cannot undo these extreme experiences of violence. But that's why it's all the more important and our responsibility to help those affected process the trauma. Psychological care and access to emergency contraception and, if necessary, legal and safe abortion must be possible in every Member State of the European Union without bureaucracy and free of charge. And here I am thinking in particular of Poland, where civil society is doing great things, but the government must also do its part to ensure that women have quick access to emergency contraception and abortion, if necessary. And I am also thinking of what President Macron of France announced at the beginning of the Council Presidency, namely that the right to abortion should finally be enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. We need it urgently.

The next item on the agenda was the debate on the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe (2022/2648(RSP)). I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, with the exception of the first two rows, which are reserved for the chairmen of the political groups, there is a free choice of seats. You can use your voting device to request spontaneous interventions and insert blue cards after inserting your voting card. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern. However, this does not apply to spontaneous interventions, blue cards and interventions on the Rules of Procedure.

I can see just now that a ‘blue card’ has been lifted by MEP Francisco Guerreiro. Are you ready to accept this ‘blue card’, Mr Pimenta? The answer is no, and this ‘blue card’ cannot be given either. Accordingly, I would like to ask Mr Francisco Guerreiro if he only wants to make a statement, because a statement is possible for 30 seconds, no question.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the report by Nicolae Ştefănuță, on behalf of the Committee on Budgets, on the general guidelines for the preparation of the 2023 budget, Section III – Commission (2021/2226(BUI)) (A9-0062/2022). I would like to remind you that, with the exception of the first two rows, which are reserved for the chairmen of the political groups, there is a free choice of seats. After inserting your voting card into the voting machine, you can then use your voting machine to request spontaneous interventions and blue cards. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern, with the exception of spontaneous interventions, blue cards and comments on the application of the Rules of Procedure.

Madam President, dear Vice-President! There is extreme wealth inequality globally and in Europe. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the high energy prices, the climate crisis exacerbate this wealth inequality even more. The OECD predicts that: Without rapid global agreement, we will incur high costs, which will again have to be borne by the broad mass of employees. The introduction of a minimum global corporate tax of at least 15 per cent – I keep stressing the word ‘at least’ – can mitigate this huge inequality, and we can also drain tax havens. The revenues generated not only relieve the burden, but they are also suitable for strengthening education and creating jobs. Nevertheless, the following applies: It is a minimum tax rate of 15%, as the name suggests. Our goals are higher. We need to get the most out of the OECD proposals so as not to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on "The need for an EU urgent action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine" (2022/2593 (RSP)). As we now want to gradually move back towards normality, at least as far as parliamentary work in plenary is concerned, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you can use your voting device to request spontaneous interventions and use blue cards after you have introduced your voting card. I therefore ask you to always bring the voting card with you. The instructions are in the Chamber for those who have forgotten it in the meantime. If you would like to register for a spontaneous intervention, I would ask you to do so from now on and not to wait until the end of the debate. This gives us an overview of how many Members would like to speak. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the interventions in the Chamber will continue to take place from the central lectern. However, this does not apply to spontaneous interventions, blue cards and interventions on the Rules of Procedure. These are done in place. I would therefore ask you to keep an eye on the list of speakers and to go to the lectern shortly before the start of your speaking time.

Our next rapporteur, Irene Tinagli, is stuck in Strasbourg traffic and will therefore be given the opportunity to present her report later when she arrives.