Speeches

Madam President, the de facto abortion ban of the Polish PiS government is a fundamental breach of fundamental human rights, and I can repeat again: we will not accept it here in this House in the European Parliament. Democracy and women’s rights are intrinsically linked. If you attack the one, you also violate the other. The European Union will take action. I call for freezing the funds of the PiS government. Let me also remind you it is part of the responsibility as government to support human rights activists and NGOs and not to have them arrested, brutalised and chased in court cases, as is happening right now. It is utter disrespect of the European Parliament to sue an expert we invited to hear on the many issues women are facing in Poland and why. Therefore, full solidarity with all those fantastic women’s rights defenders in Poland on the streets. Full support for all of you.

Madam President, first I would like to thank everyone who worked on this resolution and all those brave women and men, in the US and beyond, for being loud and for calling the Texan misogynists out. They are de facto banning safe abortions, a crucial aspect of women’s health and safety, and this violates human rights, especially since there are no exceptions for rape, incest or fatal foetal health conditions. We know that laws like these not only reduce safe abortions, but cause a rise in women’s death rates. We know that women on lower incomes and black women will be especially affected by this. On top of that, we know now how unimportant a woman’s bodily autonomy is in Texas. Rapists are punished less for their crime than women for having an abortion, and this is outrageous. I call on the Texan Government to withdraw this law and ask for all of your support. We are standing in solidarity with all women.

Mr President, I would like to congratulate Aurore Lalucq on this excellent report. Jedes halbe Jahr ein neuer Steuerskandal, und das in immer größeren Ausmaßen – Panama Papers, Paradise Papers und nun die Pandora Papers, die noch keine zwei Tage alt sind. Wir können einfach nicht mehr zur normalen Tagesordnung übergehen. Sagen wir, wie es ist: Steuervermeidung ist schlicht und ergreifend moralisch verwerflich. Steuerhinterziehung ist schlicht und ergreifend Diebstahl – Diebstahl an unserer Gesellschaft, Diebstahl an all den Menschen und kleinen Unternehmen, die da draußen brav ihre Steuern zahlen. Obwohl die Steuerskandalenthüllungen die Namen wunderschöner Karibikstaaten tragen, dürfen wir eins nicht vergessen: Steuersümpfe und schädliche Steuerpraktiken existieren yesterday bei uns in Europa genauso. Genau deswegen ist dieser Bericht, der zur Reform der EU-Politik bei der Bekämpfung schädlicher Steuerpraktiken aufruft, so essenziell. Denn die Häufigkeit und Größenordnung der Steuerskandale zeigen uns eines auf: Wir brauchen mehr Transparenz, wir brauchen effektive, viel effizientere Kontrollen. Genau darauf zielt der Lalucq-Bericht ab: darauf, dass der europäische Verhaltenskodex für die Unternehmensbesteuerung einfach nicht mehr zeitgemäß ist und daher auch nicht mehr effizient. Darüber hinaus erkennt der Bericht an, was wir zwar ohnehin schon alle wissen, aber leider noch nicht umgesetzt wurde: Es braucht verbindliche Maßnahmen gegen Steuersünder. Es braucht ganz einfach Sanktionen. Aggressive Steuerplanung, Steuervermeidung und Steuerhinterziehung müssen der Vergangenheit angehören. Denn jeder und jede muss einen fairen Beitrag dazu in unserer Gesellschaft leisten. Wir können das schaffen. Wir brauchen dazu den politischen Mut und den Willen, das Ganze auch wirklich durchzuziehen.

Madam President, Commissioner! And the marmot salutes forever. Here it is again, the next tax scandal. Panama, Paradise, now the Pandora Papers. But these Pandora Papers revelations surpass their predecessors with a force you can hardly imagine. This inevitably leads to many questions: Why is it still possible that there are letterbox companies whose sole purpose is to avoid taxes? Why is it still possible to create offshore accounts whose sole goal is to hide wealth? Why is it still possible that banks and law firms are the beggar for these morally reprehensible actions? There can only be one answer to these questions: It's enough for us, until then! Governments of all countries must finally take effective action in the fight against tax evasion and tax avoidance. Tax avoidance, tax avoidance, that destroys our society. It is about billions of euros that we as a society need and that simply belong to society. All good taxpayers deserve that. Therefore, only one thing remains to be said: Tax the rich!

Madam President, Yes, there is a lot of talk about the pandemic, but not enough about the much longer-lasting shadow pandemic of violence, violence against women, violence against LGBTI people. And that is why it is good to hear that you, Commissioner, will be presenting a law on combating violence against women later this year. It's time. Because in our democracy, we cannot simply accept the fact that, for example, in Austria, almost every week a woman is murdered by her partner, ex-partner. Only yesterday again. So we urgently need legally binding instruments, better cooperation across national borders, clear definitions, minimum standards and money. And we achieve this by supplementing violence against women as Eurocrime in a broad definition. Hatred on the net is one of them, and of course femicides. And yes, violence against women is a crime. Let's put an end to this shadow pandemic once and for all!

Dear Commissioner, First of all, thanks to the rapporteur, it was a lot of work. The concept of administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxation, the automatic exchange of information, that's a paper, okay. But it's practically awful. Far too often, people or companies bypass their tax liability or even engage in money laundering. And that hurts our economy and our society enormously. Especially now that the European Union is taking billions into its hands for states to invest massively, we also need revenue again, i.e.: Taxation. And we need to get these from the wealthy individuals and companies who do not pay taxes – . And how? Currently, tax avoidance is relatively simple because we do not have a uniform EU-wide direct taxation in our Union, and this is where administrative cooperation comes into play. The Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of direct taxation is the central basis for combating tax evasion. In our report, we confirmed the importance of this directive, but also noted: 18 Member States have implemented them insufficiently – 18! Exactly two-thirds. This is an exposé of the Member States. What's missing? The guideline is a puzzle of several pieces, but it lacks puzzle pieces, namely data. And without data, tax fraud cannot be prosecuted. Therefore, the Commission must ensure that the exchange and quality of data is guaranteed. And that would be relatively easy. This is because we in the European Parliament have found that the shortcomings in data quality are due to outdated technologies or insufficient staff in national authorities. And we can't accept that. The European Union must set a good example worldwide. I firmly believe that we can do that. All that is needed is political will. And by the way, tax competition between states is always harmful. We must work together to finally put an end to the massive tax evasion.

Madam President, women and girls in Afghanistan need our full attention. They need to be heard and they really need help. The situation is worrying. The little progress made over the past 20 years – especially when it comes to the education of girls – is in danger. But even more worryingly, so many women are in danger. Their lives and future is looking very dark, because ‘Taliban’ means systematic, brutal oppression; it means hating women. It is against this backdrop that we, the European Union, have to re-evaluate the past in order to avoid mistakes in the future. This means we need strategic autonomy. (Our most important partners are the UN and the NGOs on the ground.) And we need to make all money and help contingent on clear conditions like the respect of human rights, especially the respect for girls’ and women’s rights.