Prior to the plenary session, Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), co-Group Leader of the Left in the Parliament, gives the piorities of the group.

Strasbourg

press conference

AUBRY, Manon (The Left, FR)

The Left

Press conference by Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), The Left co-Group Leader, The Left press briefing

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We have a lot to talk about today. First of all, the conflict in Ukraine and the terrible escalation which Vladimir Putin has gone on. He's persisting with his view, with his sham referendums, with the compolsury participation. This shows that he has gone on to a new level in the war in Ukraine, also in terms of the Nord Stream incident, which has released a lot of greenhouse gases into the environment, the European Commission has announced a package of measures which we welcome.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We do think it's necessary to make sure that the European Union shows that it's a diplomatic power and should be asking in terms of a cease fire and a withdrawal of troops. For more on sanctions, we should be seising oligarchs properties. We would also ask for more support for the mobilisation against Putin in Russia. And we would like to see the situation deescalated by, first of all, having the International Atomic Energy Agency protecting the nuclear power plants.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We would like to see the blue helmets sent there by the United Nations. Also, it would be good if the European Union had more diplomatic initiatives in this area, to launch a major peace conference. We would like to see everybody round the same table, however difficult that is. Now on the energy issue connected with the war in Ukraine, we heard a very blunt response from the president of the European Commission during the State of the Union speech.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, I was saying that I would give her the the bills of consumers who are suffering. And she condescendingly replied that she would send them on to Putin and Moscow. What kind of way is that to treat people, millions of people who are working really hard in Europe to pay their energy, energy bills? Yes, send them on to Putin.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, But here there's a president of the European Commission who's quite happy to pass on responsibility and not then help the millions of European consumers who are suffering, not only because of the war in Ukraine, but also because of an obsolete energy market, which is then having this impact on consumers.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We would see the windfall taxes being actually a victory for our political camp. The president of the European Commission has looked into all of the details and wondered whether it would be possible to get around the unanimity condition for member states. But it was the Left that all alone was defending a windfall tax all of these years.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, Two years ago, there was the issue of pharmaceutical groups, and that was something that only our group was defending. And there we had 216 votes in favour and 400 votes against it. But finally, the European Commission has recognised that there are companies making profits off the back of the crisis. The European Commission has recognised these windfall profits that are being made. And I think that this is really a cultural victory that we've witnessed.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, Then the devil is in the details. The European Commission has recognised that there are these windfall profits, but is only looking at fossil fuels, not looking at all the other companies that are making these windfall profits outside of, for instance, in luxury goods, in banking, in the agricultural sector, where there are companies making 5 billion euros in profits.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, The European Commission has talked about this windfall taxes being a contribution, but it isn't enough because it hasn't covered all the other sectors where companies are making these profits. And it has decided that it could use 2022 as being the reference year or 2023, rather than looking at the record profits that these companies have made. 16 billion euros just in the first half of the year. At the moment, only 23 million euros is being collected from these companies with this very low tax take.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We've seen that the survey results this year, which show that a lot more could go into the coffers. The strategy here needs to be aimed at the large multinationals. At the moment, there's a very fragmented approach. Instead, we should be doing what Italy is doing and looking at a sales based tax. I'd like to finish off on the reform that the European Commission has put forward. And we've seen that the energy market has failed and they want to completely overhaul the system with a top price per kilowatt hour of one hundred and eighty euros.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, But we've seen that energy companies can produce energy at 50 euros per kilowatt hour. That leaves them a lot of room for manoeuvre. On our windfall tax. We have produced this document here, which you can see, this is a document produced by the Left, which is demanding a new energy model in the European Union with 10 key demands. And we're going to be presenting this in detail tomorrow at a press conference. And I hope to see you there.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We would like to cap energy prices to have a lasting cap in the European market rather than making it a temporary measure. We want to make sure that energy companies are renationalised and that also there are renovations done to housing stock so that we can save as much energy as possible. Those were the points I wanted to raise about energy.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, I'd also like to mention Iran, that is very necessary that the European Union supports women who are so bravely defending their rights on the streets and I will be able to take the floor on Iran in the hemicycle this afternoon. There's also the agreement with Mercosur. This was an agreement that was put on ice for Corona, but now has been taken out of the freezer. This is an agreement which would then take away political rights, since the agreement is not going to be scrutinised by all of the national parliaments.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, In fact, it's going to be split into two to make sure that one national parliament can't block the agreement. There's the clear environmental impact that this agreement would have in terms of the deforestation of the Amazon. And now we have a situation where most European parliaments won't be able to take a point of view on the agreement. I also wanted to say something about the elections in Italy, just like Manfred Weber.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, Now we have a founding member of the European Union, which has elected a neo-fascist government. It is the EPP group, the right wing group here in the European Parliament, which applauded Berlusconi's party and the victory of Maloni. Here we're talking about people who are drawing on the worst historical events in Italy and we need to be concerned about how fundamental rights will be defended there.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, We want to reform the liberal system. And I think that the Left has a very powerful role to play there to make sure that we're not being betrayed by the liberal policies, which then the Democratic Party in Italy has been using for the last few years. That has then left the people moving away from the Democratic Party and voting for a neo-fascist party.

SOUNDBITE (French), Manon AUBRY (The Left, FR), Co-President of the Left Group, This can't be allowed to continue. I wanted to sound the alarm because in terms of women's rights in Iran, women's rights are also under threat in Europe. For instance, the right to abortion in Italy. That's why I want to send out this strong signal and say that we need to make sure that the rule of law is fully established and the EPP has not made that position clear. Thank you.

Q&A, Regarding the possibility of a diplomatic path to end the war in Ukraine.

Q&A, On whether the Left supports the idea of sanctions against Iran which has been proposed by several members states. Second question regarding the EU-Mercosur trade deal.