Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, States have obligations. States have the obligation to guarantee all people living there a non-violent life, a life in which they can participate as actors without fear of violence. States have a duty to protect women from violence, from all forms of violence: rape, domestic violence, intimidation, femicide – there are countless forms of violence. And it is precisely this protection that the Istanbul Convention offers, so it is the most normal instrument that can ever exist to ensure this protection. That's why today is a big day. With the Istanbul Convention, we can guarantee the legal protection of all women and girls in our Union. You can request it from the European Court of Justice. And the Commission can impose sanctions on states that do not guarantee these fundamental rights to our women and girls. A step towards a more non-violent Europe is thus becoming a reality.

Mr President! We're closing the pay scissors. This is indeed a historic day, because this directive, the transparency directive, will change the personal lives of people, of David, of Anna, of Kim, because in fact this affects the lives of all of us. After years of negotiations and hard arguments, we have reached this agreement on the Wage Transparency Directive. It is a fundamental component, a building block to make the labour market fairer for women. It is an important step that is very important to me as a trade unionist and feminist, of which I am very proud and proud to have worked together with this wonderful, constructive team to develop this directive. I am very pleased that this long-standing social democratic demand is a reality. At the beginning of the parliamentary term, as Social Democracy, we said to the President of the Commission: We need, we want this directive. And now it is here, thanks to this great cooperation – so thank you, Kira, Samira. All female workers have the right to receive annual information on the average wage for men and women performing the same and equivalent work. This disclosure and transparency will help to end the systematic underpayment of women. The wage includes other goodies such as company cars, food stamps, etc. Because often the wage on paper is the same, but with such additional benefits then actually different. Women will know more easily how much they are entitled to, and thanks to reversal of the burden of proof and safeguards, they will be better able to enforce it. Of course, the prohibition of confidentiality clauses is also central – so that all employees can talk openly about their pay and with whom they want, especially with works councillors, with trade unions. The secrecy is over now. Everyone deserves what they deserve.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on deaths at sea – a joint EU response to save lives and measures to ensure safe and legal migration routes (2023/2590(RSP)).

Now, almost a minute after 16, i.e. after this debate has now been closed, I would like to give the floor to Mrs Demirel again, in accordance with Rule 173 of the Rules of Procedure, and this is a personal comment. Members who ask for the floor for a personal comment – and this was obviously the sign they gave me and not a further intervention in the spontaneous intervention procedure – have the right to speak at the end of the debate on this item on the agenda, which is currently being discussed, but only in person. That is to say, not on the subject of the debate, but only on this personal comment made to you by other speakers.

With these passionate words, the debate is now closed, and I would now like to draw everyone's attention to the fact that the Rules of Procedure require mutual respect in the debate, and I would like to remind all Members of this. (End of spontaneous interventions)

The regular list of speakers is therefore closed. Blue cards will be given to those speakers who have not yet had the opportunity to speak in the debate. Spontaneous interventions

Sorry, I would like you to start again, please. And I just really say to those quarrelling not to do so here in the plenary. We listen to the speakers. So if you could start again, please.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on strengthening the EU's defence in the context of the war in Ukraine: Accelerating the production and supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine (2023/2609(RSP)).

The President. – Madam Commissioner, you have seen it, a discussion, wide-ranging arguments, very rich. You are ready to draw your conclusions.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Commission statement on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the consequences for the stability of the financial system in Europe (2023/2608(RSP)).

Before giving the floor to our next speaker, I would like to remind you that the blue-card system should enable a lively debate, but the game is ’30 seconds each’ and no longer.

The next item on the agenda is the joint debate on the outcome of the negotiations on the Fit for 55 package: – the report by Jessica Polfjärd, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/842 establishing binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 contributing to climate action to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement (COM(2021)0555 – C9-0321/2021 - 2021/0200(COD)) (A9-0163/2022) and – the report by Ville Niinistö, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/841 as regards the scope, simplification of compliance rules, setting Member States’ 2030 targets and the obligation to collectively achieve climate neutrality in the land use, forestry and agriculture sector by 2035, and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 as regards improving monitoring, reporting, tracking progress and verification (COM(2021)0554 – C9-0320/2021 – 2021/0201(COD))) (A9-0161/2022), and – the report by Cyrus Engerer, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision (EU) 2015/1814 as regards the quantity of allowances to be placed in the market stability reserve for the Union greenhouse gas emission trading scheme by 2030 (COM(2021)0571 – C9-0325/2021 – 2021/0202(COD)) (A9-0045/2022).

Madam President, Commissioner, Madam President Lagarde! The numbers say it, and people feel it: Life is no longer affordable for many people. Inflation – you said it, President Lagarde – rose to 8.5% in January 2023. We have to do something about that. And the European Central Bank does the same: It raises the key interest rate. The common economic theory is that if inflation is high, you have to raise interest rates to cool the economy that is running too hot. But the economy was not too hot. The inflation crisis is the product of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, which has caused energy prices to soar. Speculation and inappropriate increases in profit margins do the rest. So we have a supply shock. And here a simple increase in the key interest rate, as the European Central Bank does, will not be enough and an aggressive rate increase carries risks of a recession and problems for people with loans. Therefore, further steps towards an interest rate increase should be waited for. Fiscal policy measures are needed to effectively counteract the inflation crisis. As always in business: Those who say monetary policy must also do fiscal policy. Without it, it won't work.

The next item on the agenda is the debate on the Council and Commission statements on the European Council conclusions: The need for a rapid finalisation of the roadmap (2023/2572(RSP)).

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Let me start today's speech with a simple question: Why is Siri female? Why is Alexa female? My provocative answer is: Because we are used to women working with us, having good ideas, working insanely efficiently, but somehow always just being assistants – in the case of language assistants – and then it is mainly the men in Silicon Valley who are developing the digital world – predominantly. Women can do everything that men can. Women can do IT, women can do digital – we all know that. And yet we have to keep repeating it so that even those who don't want to hear it can hear it, so that those who want to keep us women small can hear it. And that is precisely why it is so extremely important that the UN Convention on the Rights of Women meets and that we continue to advance equality year after year – together and globally – so that there are no more three more generations – up to my great-great-granddaughter – until women are finally on an equal footing. A girl growing up today needs to know that it can be anything, that it can be anything: Astronaut, roofer, site manager, cyber security expert – whatever she wants. And that is why it is of course also important that we, the European Parliament, often pioneers in so many gender equality issues, also get a correspondingly important role in New York in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Woman, that we have the hearing, that we can also act accordingly. We have a lever in our hands with politics that we can use to ensure that women, no matter where they are born, have the same opportunities as men. To conclude with the words of the great feminist Johanna Dohnal, who would have turned 84 today: “We wait a long time for goodwill. Women have always achieved only what they have fought for themselves." And that is what we do together globally, globally.