Antonio TAJANI, EP President, opens the plenary session (11-14 June 2018) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He speaks about the Guatemala volcano eruption and the sustain of the EU, and on the decision of the European Court of Justice to overturn a decision of the European Parliament which had imposed sanctions on former Polish MEP Janusz KORWIN-MIKKE.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

Strasbourg

plenary session

speech

natural disasters (T)

KORWIN-MIKKE, Janusz (NI, PL)

EU - Guatemala (T)

Introductory remarks by Antonio TAJANI, EP President: the situation in Guatemala and the case of Janusz Korwin-Mikke

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I would like to begin the session with sending out a message of solidarity  to the people of Guatemala. The volcano there is still active and the Guatemalan authorities have said that the death toll has risen above a hundred people. The number of people who have disappeared is also very high, almost 2 million people have been affected by the eruption. That is more than 10% of the total population of the country. I know that the Copernicus system is being used to help people and humanitarian aid is arriving from the EU. But I would like on behalf of the EP express our support for the people of Guatemala in such a difficult moment.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, On the 21st of May the Court of Justice overturned two decisions of the paerliament's bureau, decisions that were made against MR.KORWIN-MIKKE for comments that he made in July in which he defined migrants as human rubbish that don't want to work. Then in Marche when he talked about fair remuneration for women, he said that women should earn less then men because they are weaker, smaller and less intelligent than men. As regards these decsions from the court, I feel that it is my view that I sanction anyone who says that women are inferior to men.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I will never renounce defending equality between men and women and I recognize the value of the efforts made by women in order to achieve their rights over the years, centuries in fact, but I Know that they are still victims of discrimination and I have asked the legal service to evaluate the possibility of an appeal against the court of justice's decision, this is something that we will also discuss in the Conference of Presidents.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I owe this to my mother who is no longer with me, but also to my wife, my children and to all of you as well.