Ahead of the plenary session in Strasbourg from 7th to 10th March, Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D,ES), President of the S&D group in the European Parliament, holds a press briefing.

Strasbourg

plenary session

press conference

GARCÍA PÉREZ, Iratxe (S&D, ES)

Press conference by Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President - Briefing S&D

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&Iacute;A P&Eacute;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), President, As I said, of course, this week is very much under the influence of the conflict in Ukraine. This is the horror of war. This is something that had been extirpated, removed from Europe for so long and seemed so distant. But we have to be able to roll out the European project as a project of peace. Europe came into being with a view to bringing about peace and therefore Europe is more necessary than ever.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, Today, we are front row spectators of this horror, even humanitarian corridors are being bombed. This is a war crime and we send solidarity to the people of Ukraine who are fighting for their survival. And, as I say, when it comes to war crimes, what we trust we will see is Mr. Putin being brought before the International Criminal Court and declared guilty of these war crimes as soon as possible.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, So we stand in solidarity and we indeed will be judged for what we do for the decisions we make in this period. We need to be brave and we need to be prudent. There have been discussions over recent weeks and sometimes it's very hard to put aside the emotional component to ourselves but, remember, politics has to be done with a calm and cool head and with lots of empathy. And that's why we're working with the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, The European Union and its unity is the main weapon for Europeans today. Unity in defence of our values, unity to defend freedom and democracy, the unity to defend the Rule of Law. Indeed, these are the values for which so many Ukrainians, men and women are now dying.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, Putin's attack on Ukraine is not just a matter about territory, about land, about taking over the country. It also has a great deal to do with values and one's model. It's a clear attack on democracy.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, Those people who are defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine today are also defending those values of democracy and freedom. Nor can we neglect the impact of the situation in many other areas, one of which is refugees: you may know that last week I went to the border between Hungary and Ukraine to get a firsthand view of what's going on on these borders that Europe shares with Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, And the first thing I want to say is that I'm full of admiration at the commitment, the solidarity, the way so large swathes of Europe's population are giving themselves bodily to this struggle for Ukraine. People are showing their solidarity with the Red Cross and other NGOs and that's very much required. And that's why we make the point for the role, the need for institutions at all levels, from the European level to the local level, but also national governments.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, It's not just a matter of making it possible to open our borders to refugees, but also to be able to take on board all of these refugees, men and women, particularly women who are coming in to Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, The figures that are being mentioned and this may indeed well be the largest refugee crisis the European Union has faced ever, possibly more than four million refugees in just ten days, men, women and children. And there are many more yet to come. And this, of course, requires a clear commitment from us that we are going to do what we should.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, We have given the green light to the Protection Directive, which will ensure not only that these refugees can come onto our territory, but will also be provided with everything that they may require for their health, their education, housing, access to the job market. But over and above those issues, we also need to talk about the commitment for the distribution of these refugees right across the European Union, because such a large number of refugees cannot be simply managed by the bordering countries, the countries that happen to border with Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, So there we have to work on agreements for distribution as well. The Commissioner Hansen will be coming to the Socialists and Democrats group this afternoon to talk about this. I'll be having a bilateral meeting with her tomorrow on this and everything we can do to manage all of the aspects of this unprecedent tiddley large number of refugees arriving.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, But I also wish to add that when we're talking about refugees, we're talking about human beings wherever they may be from whatever the colour of their skin may be. But from the Socialists and Democrats view of Europe, the Social Democrats, Europe, we will insist that we can't make any distinctions amongst these persons, whatever the colour of their skin may be, whatever their faith may be, for example. And that's what we're working towards. And I've referred to the worst consequence, which is the humanitarian one, these refugees coming into the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, But we have also referred to other consequences, such as the economic impact. It's perfectly apparent that as a result of the economic sanctions that we have applied, there will be such an impact. And there'll be a summit of prime ministers this week. And we'll have to see if we can tackle their these consequences. We need to talk about how we can get as many economic resources as possible flowing to face this situation. So maybe more than ever, we now need the debate on the fiscal rules, on the budget rules that are in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, And we need to talk about energy in Europe as well. We need short, medium, long term measures regarding energy. We've been talking about this for many years now. Now we're facing the brutal reality: Europe needs to not be dependent in the energy field so as not to be taken hostage as we are right now.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, And thus we must ensure that we're able to give a vigorous response, as I say, with short, medium and long term measures having to do with energy efficiency, with greater use of renewable energy sources, having to do with diversification and energy interconnections, energy connexions amongst all the different parts of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, So today, the European Commission is going to table a plan in this regard. Frans Vice Timmermans, President, will be joining our group to set out the main lines of that plan. And this is likely to be another of the main issues that we're going to have to address over the forthcoming weeks and months.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, There are other items on this week's agenda. There's the report on disinformation and interference in electoral processes, which a great deal to do with what I've been talking about so far this morning: the role played by Russia as a country that tries to destabilise other powers.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, Over the last year and a half, the committee that's been working on this issue has found clear evidence of this interference in electoral processes elsewhere pursuant to Putin's clear goal of destabilising democracy abroad. So we need to recognise the work that's been done by this committee and that's going to be voted upon this week. It's very necessary that that committee be able to continue its work. So, as you know, we've decided we've made the decision to renew the mandate of that special committee for another year.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, Now I'm going to wind up talking about the 8th of March again, just as I began talking about it too much. We trust that today the European Commission will finally adopt the proposed legislation for a Europe against gender violence. President van der Leyen committed to that at the last plenary last year, after the S&P group had been working for many years on this aspiration, on this claim.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, There's no clearer manifestation of injustice in any country, in any area if part of the population feels that they are under threat simply because of their gender. Now, gender violence is is a reality right across the EU, right across the world. And we clearly need to increase the commitment from European institutions against gender violence is not just a matter of resources, but also a matter of legislation that was an absolute need for a European directive against gender violence.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, So I think that today is a historic day in Europe because of this commitment to defend women. We look forward to seeing the details of this draft legislation, of this proposal. We're sure that there'll be a lot of room for improvement.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), President, But that's our task here in Parliament. And we will do our job once the European Commission has tabled the proposal for legislation. And we'll be able to debate it here in the chamber and we'll be able to enhance the contents of it. But I think it was essential, it was indispensable that we get such a proposal. So I think it's necessary that in the midst of so much bad news, so much appalling news, we need to flag that today a step is being made in the right direction in this important struggle towards the Europe that we are of, both genders, need to work together to to build. Thank you very much.

Q&A, focusing on the official position of the Socialist Party regarding the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.