Plenary focus - September 2021

Ursula von der Leyen and the European Commission have still not lifted vaccine patents. On climate action, the Commission is far too unambitious and falls far short of what science demands. This is a sobering result. The Left will continue to raise questions about fair taxation of companies and about migration and respect for international law. Trying to turn the EU into a military union as a solution to the Afghan disaster is evidence of incompetence. The EU should be a Union for peace.

Commission President von der Leyen failed to tackle the two main challenges of our time: climate change and rising inequalities, and she has not learnt any lessons from the crisis. VDL’s Fit for 55 package won’t be enough to meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement. VDL still negotiates free trade agreements all around the world. She advocates for the return of austerity rules. She has not made any progress on social rights. VDL missed the occasion to launch an ambitious green and social new deal and used the recovery plan as a tool to impose her neoliberal agenda. The State of the European Union is deeply worrying: a radical change is necessary if we want to bridge the growing gap between European citizens and the EU.

The myth of Western “betrayal” of Afghanistan must end. For twenty years Afghans suffered and died under a grisly NATO occupation. That “mission” ended in Taliban rule. There’s a lesson in this, and Europeans must learn it. Demilitarise. Stop interfering in other countries. And if you want to help Afghans, end Fortress Europe and welcome them here.

Natural disasters used to be rare events all across Europe. Due to the climate crisis, they are now recurring. In the future, they are going to be all the more frequent and destructive. We should make sure that European policies help the regions to implement the necessary adaptation to climate change.

Ending gender-based violence is an urgent human rights issue and the inaction by the EU and many of its member states is unacceptable. In this report, we are urging the European Commission to step up its legal efforts to combat all forms of physical and sexual violence against women and girls. However, we are getting some worrying signals that right-wing political forces may not support the report as it contains progressive language on sexual and reproductive rights. If they go ahead and withdraw their support for this report, it would be a historical betrayal of women’s rights, rarely seen in the European Parliament.

This resolution aims to reaffirm the right to free movement in the Schengen Area and the mutual recognition of LGBTIQ relationships and parenthood. Equality and freedom of expression are the driving principles of this text. There must be no place for discrimination in the EU. Rainbow families’ free movement is a European matter, and LGBTIQ rights are human rights.

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed several serious shortcomings in the EU’s health crisis response and a strong need to increase cooperation and coordination at the EU level and among the member states in the field of public health. The proposal to extend the mandate of the ECDC aims to provide reinforced capacities of the Centre, to support preparedness, surveillance, risk assessment, and early warning and response to face future cross-border health threats. I welcome it. However, the main concern in attributing new tasks to the ECDC is related to a limited budget to support these new tasks. Member states must find other necessary sources to strengthen the ECDC or we will not be prepared enough for another health crisis.