Ratification of the Paris climate agreement, Commissioners' conflicts of interest, the horrors in Syria and the right to abortion made for animated debates in Strasbourg.

﻿October 2016 plenary zapping: COP 21, Syria, abortion in Poland

Mr Secretary-General, first of all  thank you for these 10 years.

And Mrs President, welcome. I'm happy  you've found the way to our Parliament.

There's still an invitation on your desk  from the EMIS Inquiry Committee

The EU has a long and proud record  of leadership on climate change.

The Earth doesn't belong to us.  We belong to it.

And we have the duty to preserve it  and to pass it on to our children.

and the EU should not ratify  this climate agreement.

It is then imperative that all situations of  a conflict of interest are avoided.

Citizens' trust in their institutions  and representatives

And we know that  this confidence has been shaken.

that for certain segments of society,  for those way up there,

totally different rules, different laws hold  than for normal people.

Perhaps the only difference between  this summit and the ones before it

was that this time  you couldn't really blame the UK

for the failure to achieve  any kind of agreement.

While hospitals, schools, UN humanitarian  convoys are being bombed and starved,

EU leadership to come to a  negotiated peace is still lacking.

What we need now is a red card, that is,  strategic sanctions against Russia

and calling the thing by its name:  a crime against humanity.

We see in Syria now that it is all about  a pure lust for power, just like in Ukraine.

For it is true that abortion laws are made by  national governments and national parties,

but that is not to say that  the European Union is not to say anything.

when we have all these brilliant male  pundits talking about our bodies,

is that we share with the women of Poland  the fact that we are not incubators.

For me, our discussion is without a basis.

You want to discuss a law that does not  exist and to express views about an issue

that the European Parliament  has no power over.

Today I'm going to use this speaking time  that I get in this debate

to make heard voices that have very often  been ignored and overlooked in the debate.

And those are the brave Polish activists  who have been fighting in the streets,

in the parliament and everywhere in Poland  in the last weeks and months.

We demand respect for our dignity  and bodily integrity,

our right to have our privacy,  health and life protected.

﻿October 2016 plenary zapping: COP 21, Syria, abortion in Poland

October 2016 plenary zapping: COP 21, Syria, abortion in Poland