Leila CHAIBI

Policy topics Leila CHAIBI is active on

What Leila CHAIBI has said (66)

• 2026-01-14 “Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas on behalf of the European Commission 30.3.2026 Written question The EU is closely monitoring developments in north-east Syria. The EU has repeatedly called on all parties to fully implement the ceasefire, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid (see statements of 10 [1] and 19 [2] January 2026). The EU calls for the full implementation of the agreement reached on 30 January 2026 [3] between the Syrian transitional authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces, to avoid further escalation and advance an inclusive political transition. The full respect and protection of the rights of the Kurdish people is key to the success of such efforts — an aspect which is constantly reiterated in the diplomatic contacts with interlocutors in the region. In this regard, the adoption of Legislative Decree No 13 is a step in the right direction. The EU remains vigilant about the respect for human rights and international humanitarian law in Syria and supports comprehensive accountability efforts for all perpetrators regardless of their affiliation. The EU constantly monitors the conduct of groups subject to sanctions, in view of the Council’s periodic reviews. The continuation of the sanctioned conduct will impact whether those groups are kept on the list or will be subject to further measures. Stability in the region further hinges on preventing a Da’esh resurgence. The EU calls on all sides to ensure the security of the camps and detention facilities in north-east Syria, and stands ready to support the transitional authorities in the framework of the Global Coalition against Da’esh. The EU will also spare no effort in supporting an inclusive transition and national reconciliation, free from any harmful foreign interference, which meets the aspirations of all Syrians without any kind of discrimination. [1] https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/syria-statement-spokesperson-latest-developments-0_en. [2] https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/syria-statement-high-representative-vice-president-kaja-kallas-ceasefire_en. [3] https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/syria-statement-spokesperson-agreement_en.”
  EU relations with Kurdish people · EU-Turkey relations · EU-Syria relations
• 2025-11-20 “E-004632/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen on behalf of the European Commission The Commission’s agenda for regulatory simplification is rooted in the urgency flagged by the Draghi 1 and Letta 2 reports to support the EU’s competitiveness and ensure the EU’s resilience. As part of this agenda, the Commission proposed a Digital Omnibus 3 . That proposal is not a response to external pressures. It seeks to solidify the EU’s digital sovereignty and facilitate innovation in Europe, in particular by cutting administrative costs with an estimated EUR 5 billion in savings expected by end 2029 and providing legal clarity and certainty in the data, artificial intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity rules to support small and scaling businesses. The Commission carried out extensive consultations ahead of the proposal to tailor the proposed amendments to the data, AI, and cybersecurity rules to EU businesses’ real needs, targeting in particular European companies and other stakeholders, such as civil society and the national administrations of the Member States. As per standard stakeholder practice, some third country companies, including from the United States, have sent their contributions to the Commission, even though the Commission focuses on the EU’s interest. The stakeholder input received by the Commission is presented publicly 4 and reported in the Staff Working Document 5 accompanying the proposal. In any dialogue with third countries, including with the United States, the Commission has made clear that its regulations and regulatory autonomy are not up for negotiation. The Commission continues to apply European rules equally and fairly to all companies operating in the EU. 1 The Draghi report on EU competitiveness, https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/draghireport_en. 2 Enrico Letta - Much more than a market (April 2024), https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/ny3j24sm/much-more-than-a-market-report-by-enrico-letta.pdf. 3 Digital Omnibus Regulation Proposal | Shaping Europe’s digital future, https://digitalstrategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/digital-omnibus-regulation-proposal. 4 Simplification – digital package and omnibus, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-yoursay/initiatives/14855-Simplification-digital-package-and-omnibus_en. 5 Digital Omnibus Regulation Proposal | Shaping Europe’s digital future, https://digitalstrategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/digital-omnibus-regulation-proposal.”
  EU digital & tech sovereignty
• 2025-05-21 “E-002023/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Mînzatu on behalf of the Commission Conducting public consultation on the Social Climate Plan is a mandatory process. Article 5 of the Social Climate Fund (SCF) Regulation 1 outlines specific requirements for Member States on public consultation. They are required to provide a summary of the public consultation process when submitting their plan. The summary must show how the participants’ perspectives have been integrated into the plan. The consultation must be conducted in accordance with Article 10 of the Governance Regulation 2 , where the Member States are to ensure early and effective consultation, reasonable timeframes and adequate public information. The consultation must also comply with the national legal framework. In line with its obligations under Article 5(4) of the SCF Regulation, the Commission has published a note on good practices for public consultations for the Social Climate Plans 3 . These good practices have been presented to all Member States at the Climate Change Expert Group formation for the SCF, established by the Commission. 10 Member States have been supported under the Technical Support Instrument to set stakeholder engagement plan and events. All requirements of the SCF Regulation will be considered by the Commission when assessing the plans. In accordance with Article 5(3) and Article 16(3) of the SCF Regulation, the assessment of the consultation process based on the criteria specified in the reply to question 1 is part of the overall assessment of the plans. Following this assessment, as outlined in Article 17 of the SCF Regulation, the Commission will adopt an implementing decision. Once the French authorities submit their plan to the Commission, the latter will assess it, including whether it complies with the abovementioned provisions. 1 Regulation (EU) 2023/955 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 establishing a Social Climate Fund and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, https://eurlex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/955/oj/eng. 2 Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, amending Regulations (EC) No 663/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 2009/119/EC and (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance.), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1999/oj/eng. 3 Directorate-General for Climate Action, Ramboll Management Consulting, Wuppertal Institute for Climate Environment and Energy and Gelibolyan, K., Support for the implementation of the Social Climate Fund – Note on good practices of public consultation for the Social Climate Plans, Publications Office of the European Union, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2834/49708.”
  Climate efforts
• 2025-04-30 “E-001758/2025 Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas on behalf of the European Commission Fighting the recruitment of minors in armed conflicts remains among key EU’s priorities, in line with the 2003 Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict, as updated in 2024 1,2 . The EU regularly raises the issue of child and forced recruitment in Colombia in its bilateral dialogues as well as in multilateral fora 3 . As part of the Group of Friends of United Nations Resolution 1612, the EU supports numerous projects on children and armed conflict in Colombia. An example is ‘Entornos protectores’, a project focused on providing guarantees and opportunities for children and adolescents at risk of recruitment/use by armed actors. This includes culturally sensitive education programmes, psychosocial support, and community-based early warning systems developed in collaboration with local leaders to prevent recruitment, particularly for indigenous communities and girls. The EU also supports disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration programmes to rehabilitate former child recruits, providing vocational training and reintegration support in a conflict sensitive way. The EU continues to support human rights defenders in Colombia - including those focused on the rights of the child and on child recruitment - through different means such as the EU Protect Defenders Mechanism 4 . The EU Delegation in Colombia is currently implementing human rights and civil society projects for a total budget of EUR 9 239 032. It is also expanding its partnerships with local actors to strengthen community-led conflict and recruitment prevention efforts. 1 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/06/24/children-and-armed-conflicts-councilupdates-eu-guidelines-and-approves-conclusions/. 2 https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/2025/02/joint-statement-by-eeas-secretary-general-srsg-for-childrenand-armed-conflict-on-the-international-day-against-the-use-of-child-soldiers/. 3 https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/un-new-york/eu-statement-%E2%80%93-un-peacebuildingcommission-ambassadorial-meeting-colombia_en. 4 https://protectdefenders.eu/.”
  EU relations with left-wing Latin America
• 2025-04-30 “E-001750/2025 Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas on behalf of the European Commission The rights of indigenous peoples are an integral part of the EU external human rights policy, as per the Council Conclusions on Indigenous Peoples of May 2017 1 . The EU is committed to supporting indigenous peoples and their ancestral authorities as part of its human rights and peacebuilding strategy in Colombia, including in its dialogues with national authorities and through concrete action. Several EU-financed projects – including those within the framework of the #DefendamosLaVida campaign – are focused on the protection and empowerment of human rights defenders and social leaders in Colombia. Special attention is always placed on indigenous community territories, working closely with their organisations to strengthen their collective protection mechanisms. The EU Delegation in Colombia is currently implementing human rights and civil society projects for a total budget of EUR 9 239 032. The EU has made numerous public declarations 2 supporting the work of indigenous communities and demanding measures to protect them. These declarations also increase public awareness and contribute to reducing security risks. During the 15th EU-Colombia Human Rights Dialogue, the EU stressed the importance of recognising and respecting indigenous peoples' self-governance and territorial autonomy as a key contribution to peacebuilding. 1 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8814-2017-INIT/en/pdf. 2 https://x.com/GBertrand_UE/status/1897359034065559625, https://x.com/UEenColombia/status/1864416363164450838.”
  EU competences on human rights
• 2025-03-04 “E-000906/2025 Answer given by Mr Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission Negotiations on the EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) were concluded in July 2024 1 . When ratified, the DTA will complement the existing EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) 2 that was concluded at a time when the EU had not yet developed a modern digital trade chapter for its FTAs. The DTA contains state-of-the-art digital trade rules and builds on the EU-Singapore Digital Partnership 3 , which focuses on regulatory cooperation on digital policies, including artificial intelligence (AI). The DTA’s rules on the protection of software source code follow the EU’s approach that carefully balances, on the one hand, the need to uphold EU’s competitiveness by ensuring protection against forced technology transfers by means of mandating source code disclosure as a condition for market access, and, on the other hand, the need to ensure space for legitimate and effective regulatory oversight, in line with EU’s competition and digital acquis. These rules focus on eradicating market distortive practices that threaten to erode the EU’s industrial base and that cannot be effectively addressed solely by the rules on the protection of intellectual property. The Commission considers this approach consistent with EU law, including the AI Act 4 . In this regard, the text agreed with Singapore specifically references the need to ensure safe and trustworthy AI as a legitimate public policy objective, ensuring the possibility for competent authorities to require access to source code where justified and subject to safeguards against unauthorised disclosure. This includes inter alia requirements to access source code for conformity assessment procedures for AI systems. 1 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_24_3983 2 OJ L 294, 14.11.2019; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AL%3A2019%3A294%3ATOC 3 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/eu-singapore-digital-partnership 4 Regulation (EU) 2024/1689; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj/eng”
  International data transfers
• 2024-10-17 “E-002154/2024 Answer given by Ms Kos on behalf of the European Commission The Commission is aware of Mr Can Atalay’s case as attested by the Country Enlargement Report published in October 2024 1 . As stated in the Report, although the principle of separation of powers and judicial independence is enshrined in the Türkiye’s Constitution and other legislative provisions, politicisation nevertheless increased. In many instances, as in Mr Atalay’s case, lower courts ignored or delayed the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s rulings. According to the Report, the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that the right to vote and be elected and the right to personal security and liberty of Mr Atalay had been violated. Since Mr Atalay’s arrest in April 2022, the Commission has been monitoring the developments of his case. The EU Delegation to Ankara is following up on the imprisonment conditions of Mr Atalay through its contacts with his colleagues, lawyers, and other stakeholders. However, it has not been possible to visit him in prison. As stated in the Joint Communication on EU-Türkiye relations of November 2023, dialogue on the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms remains an integral part of the EU-Türkiye relationship 2 . The Commission will continue monitoring the situation of fundamental rights and the rule of law in Türkiye. 1 https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/turkiye-report-2024_en 2 https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/joint-communication-european-council-state-play-eu-turkiyepolitical-economic-and-trade-relations-0_en”
  EU-Turkey relations
• 2024-09-18 “E-001751/2024 Answer given by Ms Lahbib on behalf of the European Commission As set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, equality and respect for human dignity and human rights are values common to the Member States on which also the EU is founded. The Commission remains steadfast, within the limits of its competences, in its commitment to tackling discrimination, inequalities and challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) individuals, including in education, as outlined in our LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 1 . The Commission is aware of the law adopted by the Bulgarian parliament. On 13 August 2024, Commissioner for Equality sent a letter to the Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science to request further information on the legislation. The Commission received the reply of the Minister on 3 September 2024 and is analysing whether the legislation is aligned with EU law, taking into account also the information transmitted by the Bulgarian authorities. Any potential further steps will be based on this analysis. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0698”
  LGBTIQ+ · Role of education (social change vs. tradition)
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you very much, Vice President, for coming here today and for your presentation. This will help us to see how funding of affordable housing works by the EIB. So it could this could help us to look at what can be done in the future action plan on housing. I have three questions. First of all, the environmental and social conditions. So when it comes to. Finding that you are the intermediary for. Is this something that already exists? Are there social and environmental conditions that need to be met? And if not, is that something that you are planning or that could be possible in the future? For example. In the conditions there may be a ceiling on rents, on on prioritizing the most low income families, the whole households. Secondly, state aid, the Commission provided us with a document and this shows the difference between affordable housing and social housing. Do you have any objectives based on figures on funding for that, whether it should be 5050, for example, or 75, 25%? So the proportion for affordable housing or is there is a objective to have more for affordable housing than social housing? Now thirdly, I feel that we don't talk enough about homelessness here, especially when it comes to the report that we're going to vote on next week in the plenary. But the EU did set out targets to reduce homelessness or even eliminate homelessness by 2030. That was one of the objectives set out in Lisbon in 2021. The EU could play a role here not to fund housing but to fund, for example, shelters or other forms of action. Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you. Chairman. As we said at the beginning, in order to diversify everything in an unstable situation, uh, the EU is ratifying free trade agreements. And here with Malaysia, it's part of this. Now, having to deal with a major contradiction here, but the urgent need to strengthen our own industrial independence and the reality of this agreement that tends to make us dependent rather than developing our own production capacities. What is even more concerned is the shade of a agreement to the detriment of climate change and labor rights. Colleagues have mentioned Malaysia and the others are the two of the greatest. Palm oil production and the uh. And there's even more, um, deforestation and. Damage to the environment. So here there are some realities here which are brutal. Deforestation is in is increasing and local communities are having to leave. And also local workers to have to leave. So in this agreement with Malaysia must not become a new, uh, source of injustice, especially when we look at the legislation on fundamental rights and deforestation have to be at the heart of the negotiation of this agreement, if there will be one. Because even though the right, uh, look, puts our own standards in entirely, we do want to have a certain consistency on the international level in terms of social rules and regulations. When we look at our policy, we have to serve the protection of the environment and social justice. I must also allow us to guarantee our strategic position, which is not only obtained through this formal agreement.”
  Free trade agreements (FTAs)
• “Thank you very much. President. Commissioner, this is a debate on the defense of our democracy, which is essential all over Europe. We are seeing all sorts of measures taken and the old world is suffering. We need to combat the far right and the attempts to undermine democracy on our continent. Unfortunately, with this text, the European Union is not dealing with those people who are undermining our Parliament. On the contrary, they are providing weapons to them to attack those who they don't like. It's a copy paste on the Hungarian or Georgian foreign agent laws with one objective. Mr. Orban, Mr. Fitzer, Mr. Moloney. Mr. Moloney pointing the finger, stigmatising those in civil society who they don't like. We wanted to turn this text into a genuine general transparency act against all lobbies to avoid destabilisation coming from abroad, mirroring what happened in Qatar, which shook the foundations of our institution. But that was rejected. Rejecting this text, send it back to the commission for them to do their homework. That was refused as well. So maybe the parliament proposal is less bad than the original. But let's not forget a bad version of a bad law is still a bad law. Listening to what you say about civil society organisations, lobbyists and defenders of democracy and reject this text, please.”
  Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “Thank you. Chair. The rapporteur. Colleagues. What civil society organisations feared has now happened. Madam rapporteur, by refusing to expand the scope of this directive, you're getting two things wrong. One, on the substance. You said that you were reluctant to make this a transparency register law because there hadn't been an impact study, and the commission proposals are not from the Bible. Sometimes the commission gets things wrong. This proves that this very case. There's also a straightforward way to make up for that lack of impact assessment is to vote in favour of the amendments in favour of rejection, and that will give a signal to the Commission that the Parliament wants to play a full vote of democratic oversight, and that, uh. That's the one mistake. The second mistake is, in terms of the forum, the fact that you won't consider the amendments from other groups, in particular from the S&D, shows how the far right is getting it wrong. And when it comes to compromise. Epp believes that it can have a comfortable, uh, relationship with the extreme right, not even here today when it comes to Mr. Fico. Uh, Madam Orban, they take these kind of measures. And needless to say, we will not support this. All those in favor of freedom are against it, as are the NGOs.”
  Transparency requirements for interest groups
• “Thank you very much for your presentations. And thank you for organizing this hearing. This is our first panel, which I think was just looking at the general situation, giving an overview. And then we have a second panel later, which will be focused more on what we might put in potential future legislation in the form of a directive. But I think we need to look at this overview in the context of knowing that we're going to be legislating. So I'm interested in the scope. The speaker said that there are discussions about what and what isn't. I. But I think as legislators, we need to get past that. Clearly, there is a discussion about whether AI at work just means decision making being automated. So robotization if you like. But there's also a definition related more to generative AI and neural networks. So I think as this committee continues its work, and I hope that we will come up with a directive on AI at work. I think we need the broadest possible definition, because it would be easy for things to fall through the gaps, and if we just focus on robotization, on decision making simple algorithms without neural networks, well, at the moment, for instance, there is no regulation of that and it needs to be regulated.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Thank you to everybody who spoke and thank you for holding this hearing. I think it is important to hold these joint hearings between the Housing and Employment and Social Affairs committees. I'm a member of both committees, and I'm saying that, in fact, not only for that reason, but as Mary Linda said, housing is a right. It's a fundamental, non-negotiable and social right. It's not, um, just, um, a cash point, uh, something where the market is able to solve everything. So let me turn to Mr. Testa, the representative of the, uh, owners, and pick up his important words, namely, that we have to avoid ideological prejudice. Well, Mr. Testa, it seems to me that in what you were saying, there was a certain number of ideological prejudices. And I think just to pick up on some of those. First of all, you were saying that proprietors and, um, renters were on a par, but somebody who needs somewhere to live so their kids can go to school, they can do their job. And, uh, an owner who owns a housing, um. Certainly in France recently, there's been a study which demonstrated that 21% of, uh, French people, uh, are multi owners and they have two thirds of all the housing stock. So it's they who tend to, uh, own their houses that are up for rental.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you very much, Mr. Cronin. Mr. Sabolsky, I'm very happy to learn. That we're invited to visit Amazon warehouses and that you've hosted hundreds of thousands of some visitors in your warehouses, because the last time I attempted to go and visit where an Amazon warehouse, we were not particularly well received in France when when you're a member of Parliament, you're entitled to visit prisons. I can assure you it's easier to go and visit a prison than an Amazon warehouse. So I'll certainly accept your invitation. And the reason that the lobbyist badges were suspended was because there was a visit planned to go and see an Amazon warehouse, and two weeks before the visit, you cancelled it. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. And that's why we withdrew the badges. We? Several times we invited the senior management team to come along to hearing here and you refused. I'm glad to see Mr. Sapolsky being here today. They obviously are very keen to get the badges back. I'm sorry, Mr. Sapolsky, that you're hidden behind a screen, that you're online, that you didn't take the trouble to get on a plane and fly here. Had you done that, you'd probably have seen that. We have collective bargaining agreements here in Europe with a right of association and the right to be part of a trade union. And unlike what Amazon management said, every day we hear workers saying that there are barriers to freedom. We have some workers from the Brittany warehouse in France, and they're actually organizing against the ban on association. So what are you actually doing to make sure that there is a freedom to join a trade union? I'm sure Mr. Sapolsky is not going to answer my first question, so let me try a very specific question. We we were told that there is a cell called Terrapin in Italy, and it's supposed to infiltrate trade unions. Do you do you speak out against this revelation by the Italian press?”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “Good morning everybody. Thank you to the rapporteur for this draft report which is an excellent basis, I believe, for the work that we're just starting. And I'm very glad that you're asking for directive. And I'm glad that there's broad consensus behind this request for a directive. You say that the current legislation has a lot of loopholes, and that's true. And it doesn't allow for the use of algorithms in the workplace and doesn't cover the workers, therefore. I'd also like to remind you, as others have done, that we can to certain extent use the platform workers directive. I mean, it only affects platform workers, but it does have some good points, which indeed we found in your report. When you talk about protecting personal data and the necessity of having human oversight of decisions taken by algorithms, and I think we can take on board something else from the platform workers directive, and that is the definition of the workers. At issue in your draft directive. You're saying that there would be workers who would be self-employed and workers who would be employed. Perhaps we could use the same notion as we have in the platform workers directive.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Commissioner. I will be speaking French. I'll give you enough time, of course, to put your headset on. Now, the housing plan that you've announced for the 16th of December. Well, there's a lot riding on it. Our hopes are high, and the European Commission has decided to draw up an action plan for housing in. We'll see if it's in favour of banks and the lobby of the construction sector, or if it's in favour of housing as a fundamental, fundamental rights. Expectations are very high. So are we going to have to wait until the 16th of December to know more? First of all, on the issue of short term rentals, how do you intend to solve this? Will you be could you tell us a bit more? Is it about better defining what is main place of residence? A secondary place of residence? Are you considering banning them or compensation? What type of tools can be made available to local authorities? Secondly, state aid reform. I think it's a good thing that you have that, but you will have heard the concerns that there exist within some member states where there is a fair amount of social housing.”
  EU regulation of short-term rentals
• “Yes, I am. I am replacing my colleague, Rudy Ness. He gave me a text. Uh, I'm going to read to read it for for him. Uh, dear colleagues. The EGF is an important tool to provide financial support to the millions of dismissed workers all over Europe. While there are some positive measures in the report, such as faster procedures to allocate the funds or support for potential small businesses, owners, cooperatives and workers acquisitions, I also found some parts of the report concerning. First of all, I believe the funding allocated to this purpose is insufficient to deal with the scale of the crisis in the European manufacturing sector, particularly if we compare it with the resources announced for defence spending. It's a clear message to workers from this commission that the total disruption in their lives, in their lives caused by a dismissal, is just an afterthought. The commission's focus really is not just move around workforce from a company to to another to guarantee production as if these workers were robots. Another concern regarding the fact that, to my understanding, the funding will not be allocated to companies directly. The same companies which created this crisis, instead of being channelled directly to workers, and to the agencies in charge of training and recruitment or relocation. This is disappointing and poses a huge which risk that funds could be misused. We must ensure that very strict social conditionalities are imposed, and that these funds are wing funds to be used solely for the purpose of supporting laid off workers. For this reason, it's important to not to bypass parliamentary scrutiny for EGF allocation and its.”
  European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
• “Dear colleagues. Amazon, Google and Big Tech are trying to capture European sovereignty. I mean, that seems plain to see at a time in which we are seeing a risk of armed conflict between the US and the European Union. The Commission is throwing the door wide open to our sovereignty. But we should explain that our sovereignty is predicated on the use of our those services. And I think that even a child of five years of age would see that we are being scammed. Now, Miss Vaknin, you need to put this question to the owners of these big companies. I mean, do we have to share European data if Washington demands that we do so? And do we have to bow to the demands of Donald Trump? Because being sovereign means emancipating oneself from the demands of US big tech. It means that we make our own major infrastructure investments. That is the price we're going to have to pay if we are going to satisfy the insatiable demands that we are faced with.”
  EU digital & tech sovereignty
• “Rapporteur, you're a magician. It was supposed to be a report on housing. And now it's a report on properties. The goals for 2030 have decided it's all about the rights of owners. You're stronger than David Copperfield, Mr. Jimenez. It's not about the right to housing. It's about lobbies of lobbies. For example, Airbnb. That's what you've been defending all the time. You've seen the representative of tenants just once more market and nothing about limiting rents. It's a pretext for deregulation. We had the negotiation. You tried to tell us that the housing crisis was caused by the directive on the protection of birds and speculation, not by Airbnb, but by birds. Your proposals. Have to do with involving Europol, with those who don't pay their rents. It's indecent what you're proposing. Mr. Jimenez will be voting against your report and will propose a Europe where cities aren't museums, but places of life. We should have our center, our city centers, populated by those who work. The Europeans. They don't need magicians. They need of solutions to make the right to housing a reality in Europe.”
  EU regulation of short-term rentals
• “However. I was surprised to see you mentioned several times that in the European Parliament we need official data and that you are basing yourself on official data. As you know. Well, just to let you know that the official data that I found about Barcelona goes against what you said. 5.1% of the rent has gone down since the Barcelona legislation has been implemented in Parliament. You know, we also have official data. We have a service which carried out a study over the months, the press. Thank you for that work. By the way, this isn't carried out by my political group or by the EPP. This was carried out by the political, by the Parliament, and they came up with figures that go against yours, notably saying that there are two studies, the 2025 beg and the G.o.d. studies. And they both show that the short term rental legislation in Barcelona has had a positive impact on long term rental and housing. The housing market in general. So I just wanted to remind you of that. Thank you.”
  EU regulation of short-term rentals
• “Thank you. I have three questions and comments. Firstly, we need to stop this nonsense about if we regulate, we'll lose businesses. It will harm competitiveness. That's just an excuse to do nothing. To give you an example, Spain. Spain didn't wait for the Platform workers directive to regulate food delivery services. The rider worked on by Yolanda Diaz. And what's the result been? Well, just eat, which works with a employee based system, are now the top one. Whereas in France, we roll out the red carpet for the platform. The platforms which use exploit people as self-employed people while they should be employees. We've got Uber Eats and others in a very good Uh, position and Justeat are struggling. So I think it's important to make sure we have equality for all, fair competition. And it's beneficial for for businesses, for us to put an end to this and provide stability. Secondly, to the gentleman from Business Europe, thank you for your suggestions. But we don't need you interfering. You are at the European Parliament. We are legislators. We are here to legislate. We are co-legislators. We have adopted a directive on platform work which has been adopted. So your suggestions to turn it into an omnibus? No thank you. We certainly don't need that. Thank you for your ideas. But we know what our job is. You talked about social dialogue, and we certainly won't be falling into the trap that was seen in France, where social dialogue was used as an excuse.”
  Platform workers
• “(15:48:35 – 15:51:08): You very much, chair. I would like to thank the commission. I'd like to thank the representative of Amazon. I'm very happy that Ramazan can come and report to our committee. It's over the last few months, we've been talking about the problems that have been caused by problems such as a Shane or AliExpress. And we often forget to say that Amazon is guilty of the same things as AliExpress and Sheen. We've had the sale of pornographic dolls on Amazon Marketplace. Now I understand why this is of interest to customs officials because we've been working for the last few months or even years on the reforming the customs code. In the reform of the customs code, what we want to do is we want to ensure that we have more warehouses in Europe with lower management costs. That's good for customs units because they don't have to check all of these small packages. But in a warehouse, the products are centralized, and it means it's easier to check them. And I think everybody admits that it's much easier than having just all these individual small consignments. But Amazon's model should not become the norm when it comes to working conditions. The working conditions have been criticized by a number of trade unions. And coming and establishing yourself in Europe, respecting the single market also means respecting the social model, collective bargaining, and workers' rights. We had a hearing in the EMPO committee of wearing 2 hats here, MCO and MPOL. At the end of January, Amazon representatives came to talk to the employment committee, and there was great concern because you're representing Amazon. And you're saying, no. You didn't want to commit to respecting the collective agreements that exist in Europe in terms of the social dialogue. This is very important for us. Social dialogue is extremely important for us. In France, Amazon had to pay a €15,000,000 fine because they did not respect the GDPR in the algorithm management because it had been proven that there was excessive surveillance, and that actually undermined workers' rights. So do you intend to respect workers' rights in Europe? This discrimination against trade unions as well from Amazon. Do you intend to stop these disastrous practices in the warehouses that you have in Europe and those you're going to open in Europe? Thank you.”
  EU policy on customs fee on non-EU imports
• “Thank you so much for. Our colleague Charlie. Thank you very much, Commissioner. The action plan for affordable housing is something we've been waiting for for a long time. Throughout Europe are being chased from the centres of towns which have become museums and are being sent off to other areas. This is the right to housing that we're talking about. You preferred to give this to the construction lobby, listening to you. The solution is the market and the competition. You mentioned the market 39 times in your present, in your legislation. You're going down the wrong road because the. The market is the cause of the problem. I talk about think about mayor who's been in a flat with three children, a one bedroom flat. I'm talking about Mateo, who serves coffee in town in Italy, but who has to travel three hours to get there because I can't afford the housing there. I'd like to urge you to read this. It's been drafted with 100 citizens of Europe, so please read it on the right road for SNS. Uh. Henrik.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Colleagues, thank you very much for organising this debate at such short notice. But it needed to be done because so much is at stake. We were all flabbergasted by the appearance of these, uh, sex dolls on this platform. At the same time as this company inaugurated its physical shop in Paris. This recalls that, uh, China is the worst of capitalism. China is, uh, taking advantage of precarious families in Europe to make these sales. Though, of course, we need to be banning all of this in the next digital act. The digital Fairness Act. But this is not all. Of course Any one could go and buy these, uh, products. But since then, the place in the market have been suspended. We don't know. For how long will it be for the duration of the inquiry? We don't know how long the suspension will will last. This is not the first time we've had something like this. 2021 in the UK on Amazon, where machetes were found. And yesterday in Sweden, uh, it was found that Amazon was selling sex dolls. This shows the lack of responsibility of these platforms. The DSA as we see, is insufficient. It cannot enforce. The only obligation of the platforms is to withdraw the articles. Basically nothing. Sanctions are not sufficiently dissuasive. Let's be realistic. So we need to go further. At the moment we are in trilogue on the reform of the EU customs code. This is an opportunity to have greater responsibility for these platforms by pushing them to be presumed importers, or giving the responsibility to their representatives in the union. That would respect the DSA article eight, but would also close the gaps that this affair has brought to light. The presumed importer is an important aspect. I'd like to point out to the commission on this. Thank you.”
  Liability for online marketplaces
• “That's something which is extremely important, and there's a risk of addiction there. And thank you to Deerfield for having, uh, showed me on strike, um, how that actually works. I didn't know the game myself, but, uh, I've now seen this pay to win, play to win mechanism and the loot boxes, and it's a very big problem. You also address, uh, dark patterns and false interfaces and addictive nature of online platforms. They affect young people's health, and they also need to be banned. I'd also like to see an expansion of risks, for example AI tools as well. To conclude, I'd like to mention one point. I think certain some people and certain governments would like to ban social networks for the under 15. That's what I used to think. But after having met many stakeholders above all. Um, uh, children protection organizations, I've changed my mind. It's not a solution. There is no silver bullet here. We shouldn't be banning and excluding young people from the social networks because they will find their way onto them. We've seen in the US. If you ban access to social networks, then people just use VPNs and young people know how to use VPNs and they'll circumvent the ban. What we need to see is that there's inclusive content for all on platforms, and they assume their responsibility And make sure the content is safe. But to be clear, it's a good starting point and very much look forward to working on this text with you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Yes, I'm happy that Jean has come here to respond to this, uh, committee. And I hope that the platform will quickly have to be sanctioned. I would also think that other platforms that have sold illegal platforms should be called Timo AliExpress. But Amazon to now going to the substance to the point here you are prized by taking the defense of the European Commission. Because when we look at the speed with which the DSA sanctions are applied, it's easy to accuse the commission when the Commission simply applies what we negotiated and voted for, we could have had a faster and more dissuasive sanction system, which is our role as co-legislator. We weren't helped by council, but we must remember that this was refused at the time by the majority groups by S&D renew a DPP. We could have had a majority to have more dissuasive and faster measures, but it did not happen. So we have our own responsibility to as European Parliament and we have to show a bit of humility here. Now, I'm saying this for sanctions, but not only that, the weakness of the DSA can be seen too. When we look at the responsibility of digital platforms on the products present on the market, the marketplace. What a trilogue. Now for, for, um, reforming the, uh, the The customs code, the customs system, and also looking at the making the platforms responsible for the products that they place on the market. Unfortunately, we could not defend this to the end because article eight of the DSA forbids any type of monitoring for the platform. So we found an alternative solution. It's not quite the same thing. However, luckily for us, the Commission now will re-examine DSA in 27 and we were able to fill certain gaps. But my question to the commission, when do you think you're going to change the sanctions so that we can apply them quickly and not have too many multiple procedures? Second question, what about the revision of article eight so that the, uh, the, uh, sellers are responsible to thank you, EPP.”
  Liability for online marketplaces
• “Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for all of your statements. You can be sure that you have the full support of the left group in the Parliament. In the face of the pressure you're under from the US administration, I think it's fundamental to recall the case of Judge Nicola and Francesco Albanese, who were also sanctioned by Donald Trump and who no longer have access to their bank accounts simply because they defended the implementation of international law. With these sanctions, Washington is crossing yet another red line, Unfortunately, European leaders miss van der Leyen, as the leader, remain in complicit silence. This is the state of transatlantic relations. A former commissioner of leaders of NGOs can be sanctioned simply because they combatted some of what American Big Tech was doing by applying a tax, the DSA, which was voted on and applied democratically. This is an unacceptable attack on our digital sovereignty. However, while other countries have sanctioned European leaders, the response of the union in those cases did not happened immediately. The removal of trade agreements, resolutions in the parliament, just to name a few. But here absolutely nothing. On the contrary, the Commission is negotiating to send European citizens biometric data to Trump. Everything is upside down. I have two questions. The European Commission was supposed to speak in the initial statements. I have a question for the Commission. If there is a representative of the commission here, perhaps you could reply to me. Will you show a minimum amount of solidarity with your former colleague by, for example, suspending access badges to the Commission for the members of the European, the US mission and members of the US Chamber of Commerce? And then a question for Mr. Breton. How would you describe the support provided by the European Commission and its president? Were you able to obtain legal assistance that you deserve to have? Thank you.”
  EU-US relations
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. Colleagues. With this vote on artificial intelligence at work, there is a very simple question put to you. Yes or no? Do you accept that AI can supervise you? Do you accept the frequency of your blinking to determine whether or not you Deserve a pay rise, or the speed at which you type on your keyboard should determine your promotion. You might think this is a dystopia, but yet all of this is entirely legal. 40% of large businesses already use AI, but we don't have any safeguards in place. Everything which is included in the conventional work organization doesn't apply. Once an algorithm replaces a manager, the algorithm supervises, it punishes with complete impunity and opacity. And this is why we need a European directive to put a stop to this digital far West. Colleagues, will you agree to protect workers and even to ensure that we have AI as a tool to emancipate people at work, which is possible? Or are you going to go along with Jordan Bardella and the Rassemblement Nazionale? These fanatics who will hand over the workers rights to robots? This is a question which is put to us and to you tomorrow and we count on you.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you very much for your presentation. I wanted to ask you about the choice of KPIs in the report. These indicators are the KPIs, to use the jargon that comes straight out of an expensive consultants excel sheet. When it comes to the single markets competitiveness, you wanted to focus, for example, on the share of private investment in European GDP. Economic integration of the European Union with the rest of the world, i.e. liberalising the economy through free trade agreements and simplifying European rules, i.e. deregulating our laws through omnibuses in every sector. In addition, the opening of member States to posted workers despite the risk of social dumping. And you draw a simple conclusion, which is that it's necessary to continue deregulating, continue liberalizing, including thanks to the proposed 28th regime in order to measure effectiveness and competitiveness of the single market. It would, in fact, have been very relevant to study other types of key performance indicators. Other types of KPIs, for example, the number of accidents and deaths at work. The most recent figures from Eurostat tell us that there is an increase in the number of workers dying at work. This figure should have been included in the report when it comes to gender equality. For example, despite all of the calls from feminist organizations, women still make less than their male counterparts, or the increase in the number of people in poverty in Europe, for example, that would have been an interesting indicator. And it's also part of the reality of the single market. I'm not going to list every point, but I'd like to know why the Commission did not want to take into account other types of indicators, like like the ones I just mentioned when it came to drawing up this report. Thank you.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion · Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “(11:08:13 – 11:10:05): you. Hello, everyone. I'll just give you some time to put your headphones on because I'll be speaking French. I wanted to highlight a study which was published recently from Etouille, which says that in most European capitals, the rent cost is above that of the minimum salary. It's over 700 euros in Czech and Prague as well as in Lisbon and certain other capitals such as in Malta. So that raises the question of what a tense housing market actually means, of course, in the context of building, but also in the context of the affordable housing act. What's a stressed area? Is it an area where there's not enough construction or when there's a discrepancy between offer and demand? Are there other reasons such as vacant housing, rent which is too high, houses which are left vacant by people who own multiple homes or when they are engaging speculation? Is it due to short term rental? So I would like to have the opinion of notably Federico and Mett Miguel or Ms. Katurit on this. My next question is on construction. This mainly relies on subcontracting. So that raises questions in terms of work conditions and environment. Are you ready to accept aid from the European funds or the EIB when we are thinking about these environmental conditions? So this is directed at the panelists, particularly mister Laurent Pais.”
  EU policy on urban development
• “But that's no surprise when you see that, uh, the National in France wants to replace the post office with Amazon. But we need to stand together to ensure that we do something to stop Amazon from, uh, trampling over democracy. Now we hear that it's harder to get into a warehouse than a prison. Uh, members, as members of Parliament, we have the right to go into places where people are deprived of liberty, but not into Amazon. There are people behind me. Um, they haven't spoken, but they're from an Amazon warehouse in France. I went there two months ago at their invitation. I couldn't get in, even though the trade union invited me. As the Amazon worker said, a moment had said it's not a black box. Any business, any company in Europe has to respect the rules of our continent. And juju, Jenner and Habib said to me, when you go to Amazon, you're not in France or Europe, you're in the United States. And I'd like to have your opinions on some of the questions that perhaps haven't been tackled. Um, fraud about, um, workplace accidents. Uh, we see that Amazon um, um, denies workplace, um, accidents. To avoid paying for them. And then on AI and digitalization, what's your opinion there? Because that's a file that the European Parliament will be passing legislation on soon. Thank you all very much.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• “Thank you. Chair. Around us, we've all seen children have been seen a problematic content on the internet. That's why protection of minors online is something that is absolutely crucial. The draft proposal has a number of positive points, and I'd like to thank the rapporteur for her text. Hopefully it will then lead into the Digital Fairness Act, which will come from the commission next year. There's a few points I'd like to raise. Firstly, regulation of the influences at the European level. There are some positive points in the draft report, but I would like to see us going further. As the European Commission has said, only 20% of influences systematically state the commercial nature of their content. The majority of people, um, uh, fool the public by by being paid by the brand without saying so. So we want to see ambitious regulation here, and we need to also provide penalties for those who, um, betray people's trust. This text has allowed us to ban the promotion of dangerous products and also to make it compulsory. Uh, if it is, um, in partnership with or advertising for the entirety of a paid product by an influencer, and that is currently working very well in France. The European Parliament, I think, should in support the conclusion of these these points in the Digital Fairness Act. The second point, the draft report has some very good points in relation to video games. For example, um. There's a ban on loot boxes and the pay to win mechanisms which exist in video games which are accessible to minors.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Commissioner, in 2021, Europe promised to put an end to homelessness by 2030, while its 2026 and 2030 suddenly has never seemed further off. There are four times more people sleeping in the street in France than anywhere else in the EU. Young people, workers. Women, people who are unable to find a home and living in extreme poverty. Europe has not kept its promises and this is a political failure. The platform to fight homelessness has been held up. The Housing First model hasn't been copied. The European Social Fund is being dismantled. The housing Report of the European Parliament responds more to the desires of the construction lobby than the homeless. You are launching an anti-poverty strategy at a time where all EU policies are creating mass poverty. 2030 is around the corner. We are going to have to decide are we combating poor people or are we combating poverty?”
  EU housing policy
• “The concerns that state aid reform to help fund affordable housing. This could dry up funding for heavily subsidised social housing for those who are in the most need. Miss Ribera, your colleague, came to the housing committee two weeks ago and mentioned rent control and control of housing prices. That would be a very good thing indeed. Will that be in your action plan on housing? And finally, my last question. You said tenant protection. That's something was raised by several colleagues. I fully support that. We have an imbalance of power between tenants and landlords. There are some exceptions, such as in Sweden, where tenant organizations are actually able to determine rents to an extent. To take part in it. But in many member states, it's not the case. Tenants are being thrown out of their houses. And all sorts of things are happening. I think something can be done at EU level. And bonus question. Vacancy. That's a problem for Europeans. They can't get access to offer that's there, but it's actually been put on the market. Can you do something about these vacant housing units? Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “These 100 days seem to have lasted a lifetime, said Mrs. von der Leyen, and I can assure you that they seem even longer when you have to decide whether to fill up your fridge or pay your bills for 100 days. The European Commission has been talking about competitiveness, simplification and defence, but this is being done against the will of European people who are suffering from more and more austerity against students and working people, all of those who work in Europe. You found billions for weapons just in just a few days. But over so many years you haven't found any money to fight housing problems or poverty. Imagine if you'd worked as hard to unblock investments in housing as you have done to unblock military investments. Our emergencies are social and climate in nature, and those should have been your priorities over the last 100 days. You have 1705 days left. I wish Europeans all the best in sticking those out. Thank you.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. Colleague. Rapporteur. Like the Greens, I tabled an amendment to reject this proposal from the Commission. Let us be clear. This text does not answer the real issue of the influence of third countries in our decisions. And in fact, it doesn't assist the defence of our democracy. It would mean that illiberal states can attack CSOs, specifically Hungary and Orban and his transparency of public life law that he has put forth. It means that the government can slap sanctions on CSOs that have received support from outside without the okay from the government with 25% in terms of a fund fine, and that as we know, the EPP voted down the transparency body in the Juri committee. And again, there's a an approach to commission proposal on foreign parties that will not have any the only effect of stigmatising NGOs and making their work worse. Before we went to a negotiation, I hoped that we could agree on a amended text with more transparency in terms of all lobbies. But honesty means that I have to come to state that after the first technical meeting. I am extremely pessimistic, and I'd like to state to those CSO representatives that are listening to us. Considering this huge attack, you can count on the full support of the left group. We will remain fully mobilised, mobilised even outside of these buildings and on the ground. Thank you.”
  Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “Okay, so another point I would like to make is that I found it extraordinary that workers, particularly older ones, are simply expected to seamlessly transition into new jobs and accept whatever job offers they receive, or risk not receiving unemployment benefits. This is the reality. I've been made aware of from workers and trade unions on the ground. It is not acceptable. Workers dismissed through no fault of their own should be given more options, including the a possibility to receive redundancy payments from their employer and to retire earlier if there is a wish. So we just, uh. Well, we do. We did. Uh, not in my, uh, language. It's a bit, uh, there are very labor intensive job, and workers have a right to retire earlier. Finally, I'm disappointed that there is only minimal focus in text on the management and anticipation of change. That is basically on corporate social responsibility. If millions of workers are being dismissed, it's not because the digital and green transition could not be foreseen. It's because businesses made certain choices. They choose quick profits over investment in research and development. The reason why EU manufacturing is not competitive is because. So it's because we have an old fashioned parasitic business class that want to be subsidised by your Taxpayer. If we look to ArcelorMittal in Belgium, they took millions in public funds to invest in the transition, but they didn't invest and now they are firing thousands of workers. We really need to stop subsidizing private companies that behave this way. If they don't invest, it's only fair that they fail. This is the end I should. It shouldn't be taxpayers and workers to pay for their incompetence and bad faith. Who would have read it better than me?”
  EU policy on social criteria in public funding
• “Madam Commissioner colleagues. After many years of investigation, the European Commission has finally decided to find Google for its abuse of a dominant position. It's a fine, which really reminds us of the obvious. European market is not the far West, with the big tech companies seeking their profits, but at the same time, what an appalling spectacle from the Commission. Mr. Sefcovic trying to defer the decision to not defend Donald Trump. Another vice president, Mr. Ribera, here today has announced a decision on the quiet without any transparency, in full discretion. So we have two faces of the same commission hesitant, divided and too often subordinated to the big tech giants. But Parliament will remain alert to what's going on. We do not believe that the patch is announced by Google will really deal with the problem. The interests of Europe need to be defended and we do not need Google Maps to show us the way forward.”
  EU rules on digital competition
• “Bonjour. Merci, madame. Good morning. Thank you chairman. Thank you. Rapporteur. I'm delighted to be able to start working with the EPP on the subject of subcontracting, which, as has been said, a very important issue because subcontracting is generalised today and it's one way for employers to avoid respecting their obligations. It's also something which plays into unfair competition, which the rapporteur has said as well. And I'd like to thank Mr. Danielsson for this excellent first draft, which contains several aspects that my group was hoping for. The fact that we're asking for a directive, we would like a directive on this, that's the only tool to clarify the legal vagueness which exists on subcontractor today. I'm not going to run through them all, but another good aspect of your report is the proposal to limit to two levels of subcontracting for the high risk sectors. That's all well and good, but why should we just limit this to the high risk sectors? Does that mean we agree that those sectors considered not high risk? We can have five or 15 or 20 levels of subcontracting perfectly legally? I'm asking the question. You said in your introduction that subcontracting is a systemic problem.”
  EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains
• “Thank you. President. Colleagues. We've got cancer, organic chemicals in toys, uh, clothes made by forced labor in countries like China and India. Counterfeit goods that don't comply with our environmental standards or social standards. We need to legislate in Europe. We need to ensure that, of course, we, uh, Remove this threshold for the small parcels and we need sanctions if necessary. That would be a start. But taking a look at this text, which is going in the right direction, even if we adopt it, we're only halfway there because darn dangerous online purchases and fighting against that is also fighting against practices that are very much present in Europe. Not we're not just talking about Chinese platforms. Amazon, for example, working conditions in their warehouses. Totally unacceptable. Um, the DSA isn't implemented. And we can say that Amazon is no better than the Chinese platforms. Now, when people ask for the directive on the vigilance or the Green Pact, people calling to put an end to this are calling for us to allow to allow in imports from forced labor and with containing chemicals that are dangerous to our health.”
  Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights)
• “Thank you. 65 for 26 billions in turnovers for our stadiums and our Olympic villages. And at the end of that chain are workers who work in precarious conditions. And often it's they it's at the risk of their health and even their lives. But for companies, these are just, you know, subcontractors. This is not about competitiveness. It's about exploitation. And we cannot turn a blind eye to it any more. Limiting subcontracting to two levels. We need to Ensure that when there are, when there is fraud or when there are accidents, that companies take responsibility. Yesterday I met with trade union representatives from Paris Express, and this was they work on a construction site that started six years ago. But they had they've had six deaths. That's just in the first three years not to talk about injuries and. And and they've now stopped subcontracting below, below two levels. And that means that there has been no deaths over the past three years. Madam Commissioner, now it's up to you to act. Thank you.”
  EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains
• “Happy New Year, everyone. I'm going to speak French. The first question. Hopefully you've got your headphones on now. So I want to talk about the reform on state aid and the rules underpinning that in France. We have a particular concern with social donors. Our system in France is that we have, um, specific owners who run social housing for non profit purposes. So there is a concern that by introducing more affordable housing, there will be less money available for social housing. I looked at the commission document and I looked at your definition of affordable housing, and you indicate within that definition that it is possible to use reliable indicators to decide what is a affordable housing. So ratio between rent and the ratio between rent and your wage a credit and wage. So do you think 25% is the right ratio. 25% of your wage going to housing, is that right or not? You know, 25% of €1,000. That's €250. And then you haven't got much money left then. But compare that to someone who earns €10,000 a month and spends the same proportion on their rent, So maybe I could put my question to you in a different way. You know, are you not just going to look at the ratio, but also look at how much money is left over once that person has paid their rent and then the housing simplification package, the package, the housing simplification package, does it just simplify building permits? Okay. That would be okay. But could you provide some reassurance in shadow meetings under Mr. Jimenez's leadership, we're hearing some concerning things. So could you provide some reassurance because we're hearing in some quarters that you want to make changes to some environmental directives, including the Birds directives, which apparently stops the building of houses in the Epbd air directive could potentially be undone as well. So will you provide some reassurance there that those directives are not going to be altered?”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, divide and rule is an effective technique to exploit workers. Preventing them from organizing and fragmenting the decision making process are ways in which a business can achieve that. One example is Big Mac. Whether it's cooked here or in Bratislava, it tastes the same and it leaves the same bad taste in people's mouths. But because people we work at McDonald's don't have a right to an EUC, whether it's national or whether it's European or National Works Council, I'll now vote tomorrow. The Parliament initially wanted to resolve the issues and the model was facing when it comes to overcoming franchises circumventing these rules, but unfortunately that hasn't been achieved. We will be voting for the revision, but the franchise model has to come to a stop when it hampers the rights of workers, whether it's Pizza Hut, McDonald's or any other multinational using the franchise system. Thank you.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “The European Commission always has a major, fantastic imagination when it's about sabotaging workers rights. This is a perfect example. Why the 28th regime? Well, because there are 27 member states. And this is a bit as if the, um, the commission was setting up a 28th member state, a fictitious state with its own rules. Parallel optional law. Um, but it's supposed to be more affordable, more straightforward, one which employers will choose but will be forced upon workers with the 28th regime. Companies will be able to circumvent national laws, select the weakest law, and, um, be get involved in this downward spiral. The commission knows it's explosive, but we know what lies behind this legislation, which is put across as inoffensive. And at the the end, we're going to have, um, legislation which is tailored for multinationals and the workers will pay the price. Now, um, they're going to be applauding and asked to have this extended to all companies. We refuse this organized dumping, uh, in Europe and this, uh, leaving of workers without protection. The 28th regime, uh, is out of control. There are no rules that apply to it. We don't want this. We want a Europe which is based on law for the people who work there. Thank you.”
  EU competences on social policies
• “Dear colleagues. As Karl Marx said, nature has a horror of a vacuum and capitalism as the horror of a lack of profit. We have the web, we have the internet, and this is being transformed into a market. And the idea is to attract attention, create addiction and rake in profits. And there's an arsenal, which there's advertising, which is misleading. We've got loot boxes which act like a casino. And then there we have this solution, i.e.. Coming of age, minimum age. But this is not going to work because you can, uh, you click on a VPN and then the everybody else has no responsibility. It's big tech who's at fault here, and they're the ones that create the traps. What we need are safe social media, inclusive social media so that everybody in minor or adult, uh, is safe because what is toxic for children is toxic for adults as well. We have to do something about the world of influencers, and we need to ban these addictive, uh, tools. And this has to be part of the Digital Fairness Act in order to protect our minors. We should not let Big Tech set the rules. Our responsibility is exactly the opposite. We have to take this in hand and create an internet which protects you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “(12:01:22 – 12:05:03): Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I'll be speaking French. Thank you very much. Thank you to the 3 panelists for your presentation. Very interesting indeed. And my dream is that what you call for be included in the EU action plan for affordable housing, and I certainly hope that everything that all of your findings and, all of the requests that you have can also be taken on board by the housing committee. But not for the 1st time, we would have hearings here, are very interesting, very pertinent, but for none of that to then be reflected in the humanist report, which was voted through in the parliament. Anyway, quite apart from an exchange of best practices, what I hear all of, you say, and as you said, mister Oterbrook, is that we need to rest back control and that this cannot be commodified. The financialization of the housing market has a negative impact on student accommodation. As you said, missus France, it has an impact on the quality of student, rooms, but also, an impact on the supply and, therefore, access to that housing. So 2 questions. On the universal guarantee of rents, in France, we have, the VISAL instrument, and that provides, an alternative to the security that has to be lodged by students. It also makes access to student accommodation more equal. Everyone has access to that guarantee. If your parents have a lower income, you can nonetheless have access to student housing. But, if you don't make this instrument mandatory, then landlords will still choose a student with a classic guarantor, someone who's able to lodge money as a guarantee over the instrument, this Wiesel option that we've made available. Is that something that you see across Europe? And if so, this use of universal rental guarantee, you know, don't you think it should be mandatory because it replaces 1 having to lodge a security with a bank? And my 2nd question. Well, anyway, in cities, there's a new problem that has arisen. It's called co living on the whole. This is the for profit housing, and it's the next step on from Airbnb. You know, basically, they're trying to make more money than through long term lets. And after Airbnb, the next step, what we see in Brussels is, well, rather than having Airbnb people in short term rentals where they it changes every 2 days, I'm trying to improve my financial income, and I will go for for profit housing. So this co living is very developed in Brussels. Profit is being made on student accommodation. But in Toulouse, that's not the case. So do you have any data on that front?”
  EU regulation of short-term rentals
• “Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues. President, we have a situation which is strange. The council has the Cyprus presidency with a partial occupied occupation by a NATO member illegally. Turkey, because of its strategic interests. Another member of NATO is threatening European sovereign territory for the same reasons Washington is threatening to invade Greenland. You talk about rapprochement and reinforced cooperation with them as if nothing was happening. Not a word on the threat, not a word on Greenland. So the question is this how will you react when Trump will enter into the streets of Nuuk? Will you roll out the red carpet? Red carpet? You should. If you left the room today because of the because of turkey, you would be right. International rights should be our compass again, and the Cyprus presidency should be the guardian of that.”
  Relations with NATO · EU-Turkey relations
• “Madam president of the European Commission. Colleagues, may I remind you of something really important? The European Parliament is made up. It's made up of legislators, people who've been elected to build laws to improve the life of Europeans. That sounds pretty evident. But it's important to remind you because after 16 months of this new mandate, personally, I have the impression that the Commission sort of expects us to try and, um, dissect the laws rather than write the laws. You are a changing and completely dissecting these particular laws and omnibus omnibus. Nobody knows what this is and we expect the worse. And you call this simplification? Well, this work is something we do every single day. A few weeks or months ago, there was a consensus on consensus on the right to, um, connection, the right to disconnect. All of that is now being called into question. So instead of simplification, regulating is almost the only thing we do. Mrs. von der Leyen we need to simplify democracy. Let's get rid of the European Parliament and you can govern all on your own. You can run the European Union with no law or no objectives. Thank you.”
  Von der Leyen
• “(12:06:46 – 12:09:18): thank you very much to the 4 speakers. I'll give you some time to put your headphones on. Thank you to the 4 speakers on this panel. I think it's a very, very interesting panel. I'm sorry that the, that mister commissioner Jorgensen didn't stay longer to listen to, more feedback. I think this is a very important meeting because you're showing us that the this matter of accommodation isn't a market issue, a speculation issue. It's a social issue. Those are the stakes. And notably, young people are on the front line in terms of being victims of this housing crisis, whether that be, students or vulnerable young people for all the reasons you've brought up. My questions are mainly for and Malas the students in general. When it comes to, living together so this is something that's very common among young people, roommates and flatmates and so on. More and more, cities are using flatmates as a lever to make money, and this seems like a new way, a new, well to get money and to speculate on. So co shares and so on. Is this something that you've noticed? And is this a stake we need to tackle from the start? Because it feels like we're really focusing on short term let's, but in cities where that that is regulated, well, investors have found ways to make money with housing in other ways, and I'm thinking about coliving, co shares, and so on. My next question is about, rent and the context of rent. Young people are experiencing a housing crisis times 1000, but it's the same housing crisis. Often, young people have small living spaces and they often are victims of very high rent. Do you think I think we speak too little about rent. I know this isn't a competence of the EU, but we can make recommendations to the member states. So do you think that creating frameworks for rent would be a useful way to help young people, not have to deal with rent, is higher than the, minimum wage, for example, in the case of Barcelona? Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “Madam Commissioner, I was in Douai and I met with the workers of the Amazon workplace and the way it operates, uh, they're harassed. There's industrial accidents that are necessarily the, uh, upshot of that. And then there's miscarriages that are part and parcel of working for Amazon. So when it comes to labor legislation complying with our standards, that's part and parcel of the internal market, because enterprises that comply with labor legislation when it comes to Amazon there. That's totally. That's what you call unfair competition. And when it comes to the internal market, there's other reasons for these platforms not to comply with the internal market rules. The bailiwick has just reported that there's PFAS in Amazon products. They're not allowed to be selling them. And despite the DMA, Amazon still have to agree to have their data used. And they make it difficult for consumers to unsubscribe. So this digital fitness check that was announced yesterday. Are you going to put your foot down vis a vis Amazon and Cian Temu Alibaba and the rest of them to make it clear they have to comply with our legislation or otherwise they should be banned. Thank you. As I said, by way of introduction, boosting the internal market and to enable enterprises to operate throughout the EU, that it be easier when it comes to goods and services.”
  EU rules on digital competition
• “Rapporteur, you're a magician. It was supposed to be a report on housing. And now it's a report on properties. The goals for 2030 have decided it's all about the rights of owners. You're stronger than David Copperfield, Mr. Jimenez. It's not about the right to housing. It's about lobbies of lobbies. For example, Airbnb. That's what you've been defending all the time. You've seen the representative of tenants just once more market and nothing about limiting rents. It's a pretext for deregulation. We had the negotiation. You tried to tell us that the housing crisis was caused by the directive on the protection of birds and speculation, not by Airbnb, but by birds. Your proposals. Have to do with involving Europol, with those who don't pay their rents. It's indecent what you're proposing. Mr. Jimenez will be voting against your report and will propose a Europe where cities aren't museums, but places of life. We should have our center, our city centers, populated by those who work. The Europeans. They don't need magicians. They need of solutions to make the right to housing a reality in Europe.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “Commissioner. Dear colleagues. 14% of the EU's GDP, €2 trillion. Public procurement is an important pillar of our economy. Yes, the recast of the Public Procurement Directive will be a key opportunity for this term. Currently, low prices rules supreme and the cheapest suppliers must be selected, which leads to decent working conditions and other problems. 1% of public procurement is €20 billion. That would be better distributed. We must defend workers and protect our economic sovereignty. In order to be able to do that, we need binding social conditionality and real preference for European offers. This is not something we're going to be able to do tomorrow. We can still change the way we do things by adopting our amendments, because European public procurement should support the European economy and better working conditions, not the US or Chinese economies. Thank you. **Nicolae ȘTEFĂNUȚĂ @Chair: The floor goes now to Mrs. Dora David.”
  "Buy European" provisions
• “So we saw a false kind of social dialogue and that was the excuse to not regulate platform work. The third point I want to make and the last point is on regulation. Thank you, Valerio Di Stefano, for the reminder of how important it is to have regulation that's based on the platform work directive. And just to remind you that when it comes to algorithmic management and so on, there will be a transparency requirement. So algorithm transparency that is you can't fire someone basically without there being human supervision of that process. So there are a number of elements to take into account. And the idea that goal would be for all platform workers to be able to have access to that. And I think if I could just say one more thing, we're going towards regulation. That seems to be the way things are moving generally. Yesterday we saw a global convention on platform work approved. We don't know whether it will be. We didn't know whether it would be binding or non-binding. But at the ILO yesterday it was voted on and there will now be an international convention on platform work. So the world is going towards regulation and we will need to regulate and go far beyond platform work as such.”
  Platform workers
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'm going to speak in French. I'm really delighted that we're able to have this exchange in the Employment Committee on Housing. As you know, I've got two hats. I'm also in the housing committee See, and I'm really happy that the rapporteur is present today to hear the concerns of our committee and the concerns about the fact that renters are in desperation. Rents are too high. Then, of course, we've got homeless. We've got poverty. I think of, well, I know you're really focused on the lobbies from the construction and bank sectors, so we should look at the social dimension of the question of housing. I thank you, Mr. Commissioner, for having talked about the anti-poverty campaign, and that's something that we voted on in the European Parliament last month. The question of financing is very important. I am sorry that in your action plan, the question of homelessness is in four pillar for its present. Yes. We received in our Committee on Housing the representative of the European Investment Bank, and he said that they're ready to finance housing for the homeless, but that there isn't any demand from the member states. Therefore, given the Pan European Platform for investment in housing, do you foresee dealing with homelessness as well? To combat that problem and also in your action plan? I haven't really understood about financing from charity organizations, philanthropic organizations. I'd like your opinion on that. And on EPoC, the European Homelessness Anti-homelessness program, which has existed since 2021, many people think of it as an empty shell. And given the 2030 deadline, do you what do you foresee happening with the platform? Thank you.”
  EU housing policy
• “Thank you. Chair, thank you very much to the four of you for your presentations and for your interventions. It was very interesting. And I'm sorry that Mr. Jimenez, the EPP Rapporteur here wasn't present when you actually did your presentation so that he could have listened to them. Anyway, this seems to be his habit. Mr. Jimenez never listens to anything, and if he heard the reports from our committee, we wouldn't have a draft proposal, which completely goes against everything we've heard and we've been talking about. Okay, well, I just wanted to put that out there. But anyway, thank you for your excellent presentation. I saw that you were able to create a political consensus, including with the center right and the center, not just the left, to be able to regulate the platform. The short term rental platforms I fought about, uh, I really remember what you said about the right to one house. Being having to go before the right. Having to. I also listened to Mr.. Mr. Baker said. And the unfair competition that short term rentals create uh, against uh, the hotel sector. Mr. Buffett, I wonder whether you have any concrete proposals, uh, about our draft legislation on short term rental and if you have any proposals in terms of quotas or, uh, bans when it comes to different tools, are some tools more interesting than others? And, Miss Moreau, thank you for your intervention.”
  EU regulation of short-term rentals
• “Thank you, chair. And thank you very much to all of the workers and workers representatives who have, um, accepted the invitation from our committee and the European Parliament. Thank you for explaining how Amazon tramples over social rights and social dialogue every day. Um, and, um, but unions, I think the fact that there's no Amazon management here today demonstrates the truth of everything you've told us. We've asked for management from Amazon to come. And yesterday instead, what we got was an email from an Amazon lobbyist. This has been going on for four years now. It's not the first time that Amazon has chosen to flout our institution. Every time the workers come and speak to us, Amazon management don't come in December 2023. There was a planned mission from the European Parliament to an Amazon warehouse, and just a couple of days before Amazon decided to cancel the mission and say that we couldn't go in January 2024. It was the last hearing. Same thing. Management from Amazon decided that they weren't coming. So it's for years that Amazon has been insulting our institution. We've deactivated the accreditation and badges of lobbyists. Um, so they're trying to get that, uh, working again. And I'm asking my socialist colleagues to go further, to go further, and to ask that the European Parliament puts an end to any contract with Amazon, um, the cloud or any other type of contract. And I'm quite happy to see that we're all united, all political groups apart from the Patriots.”
  EU regulation on worker representation in company decisions
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you very much, Vice President, for coming here today and for your presentation. This will help us to see how funding of affordable housing works by the EIB. So it could this could help us to look at what can be done in the future action plan on housing. I have three questions. First of all, the environmental and social conditions. So when it comes to. Finding that you are the intermediary for. Is this something that already exists? Are there social and environmental conditions that need to be met? And if not, is that something that you are planning or that could be possible in the future? For example. In the conditions there may be a ceiling on rents, on on prioritizing the most low income families, the whole households. Secondly, state aid, the Commission provided us with a document and this shows the difference between affordable housing and social housing. Do you have any objectives based on figures on funding for that, whether it should be 5050, for example, or 75, 25%? So the proportion for affordable housing or is there is a objective to have more for affordable housing than social housing? Now thirdly, I feel that we don't talk enough about homelessness here, especially when it comes to the report that we're going to vote on next week in the plenary. But the EU did set out targets to reduce homelessness or even eliminate homelessness by 2030. That was one of the objectives set out in Lisbon in 2021. The EU could play a role here not to fund housing but to fund, for example, shelters or other forms of action. Thank you.”
  EU policy on urban development
• “It's not just an issue of those companies that don't respect human rights or call on third country workers to exploit them. It's a generalized problem, a systemic problem. For some companies, in fact, it's a business model. And you said in your introduction you said this in your introduction, but I think this is missing somewhat from the report. And I think we can improve that aspect to be able to say that much more clearly. What my group is in favour of is a ban on subcontracting once it affects the heart of the activity. When we're talking about the essential tasks of a company, to be more specific, subcontracting must be justified solely by the need for expertise or technical expertise, knowledge that is not part of the company, or to delegate non-essential tasks, which is not part of the business. A hotel should not subcontract their cleaning services. The car companies should not subtract the building of its motors or airlines not subcontracting its crews. That's the only way of approaching this generalized use of subcontracting. Thank you.”
  EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you very much for your presentation. I wanted to ask you about the choice of KPIs in the report. These indicators are the KPIs to use the jargon that comes straight out of an expensive consultants excel sheet. When it comes to the single markets competitiveness, you wanted to focus, for example, on the share of private investment in European GDP. Economic integration of the European Union with the rest of the world, i.e. liberalising the economy through free trade agreements and simplifying European rules, i.e. deregulating our laws through omnibuses in every sector. In addition, the opening of member states to posted workers despite the risk of social dumping, and you draw a simple conclusion, which is that it's necessary to continue deregulating, continue liberalizing, including thanks to the proposed 28th regime, in order to measure effectiveness and competitiveness of the single market. It would, in fact, have been very relevant to study other types of key performance indicators. Other types of KPIs, for example, the number of accidents and deaths at work. The most recent figures from Eurostat tell us that there is an increase in the number of workers dying at work. This figure should have been included in the report when it comes to gender equality. For example, despite all of the calls from feminist organizations, women still make less than their male counterparts, or the increase in the number of people in poverty in Europe, for example, that would have been an interesting indicator. And it's also part of the reality of the single market. I'm not going to list every point, but I'd like to know why the Commission did not want to take into account other types of indicators, like like the ones I just mentioned when it came to drawing up this report. Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “(14:52:54 – 14:54:55): Thank you very much, Chair. Commissioner, I would like to ask you about the reform of the directive on public tenders, which should come out in the next few months. You know that there's a lot of expectation on this text. The public attendance is at €2,000,000,000,000 and 14% of the European GDP. Now fortunately, in what you've said on various occasions on this issue, you have not proposed any social conditionality or environmental conditionality, and this is a problem for us because public money is essentially engaging in a race to the bottom, especially in the construction sector. On this particular point, we're not really surprised at your view. However, there is one point where we have a lot of expectations in you, and that is the European preference in public tenders so that public tenders actually support the European economy and not the US or Chinese economy. We are counting on you on this issue. Unfortunately, when we hear how you've defined made in Europe and other texts, especially in the Industrial Accelerator Act, we are concerned. According to your definition, made in Europe includes the US, Mercosur, Japan, India, all countries that the EU has signed an FTA with a customs or customs agreement with. This gives rise to a question. I hope you're going to reassure us on this particular point. In this review of European preference, if a region wants to modernize its rail fleet, will a Japanese giant in the sector be afforded European preference? Will Brazil still be able to provide food for our school canteens? Given that the EU and the US are partners in the WTO public tenders, for you, European preference, is Boeing the same as Airbus? It's a very important question for me. Thank you.”
  "Buy European" provisions
• “That's one ideological, which is the second one is, uh, property rights. Uh, and you're saying they're being challenged? Well, no, you can own what you'd like As long as it doesn't affect the general interests of people and the interests of society. And the thing that I, um, would attack is to owners who do nothing with those properties. 15% of houses are vacant in Europe at the time when people have no where to live, they have to cough up a huge amount of money. And there's an insufficiency of supply over demand. So prices, rents go up and it's criminal to have these vacant houses. So doing nothing with your house would appear to be a problem. The other and final ideological prejudice I have to pick up on is these, um, evictions. Reminded us that forced evictions are a last resort. But one more figure evictions for not paying rent. It's about 2 to 3% of, uh, rent situations. But stop therefore making us believe that this is responsible for creating a crisis in housing. So let's drop the ideology, and hopefully we will get a housing committee report that will allow us, once and for all to get an ambitious, uh, report and plan for, um, those that need houses.”
  EU housing policy
• “We've done some work on this for platform workers through the platform work legislation, but the work related aspects of AI goes far beyond platforms. So there's a concern not just when it's generative AI, but in general. So I'd like to have your opinion on on that point please. Secondly, do you have any examples where workers have been included into the process? So we saw the graphic. Showing AI and its impact on work, for instance the way that we. Feed AI with data. Regular checks. But is there any social dialogue? Are there examples of social dialogue? I know in France, for instance, there's a lot of criticism from unions where AI has been used in the work of tax authorities. And yet the workers of that service haven't been included at all. The first speaker talks a lot to us about various examples, but the examples were just about AI supervision at work, which clearly is an attack on the dignity of workers. But could you give some other examples of AI at work? Because our goal is to make sure that AI liberates us and not the opposite. Thank you.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “So we just say persons performing work. That will also cover trainees and others who are sort of in a gray area between being salaried workers and self-employed. I think we need to shore up articles three and four. So when it comes to the integrated management algorithms with proper choice. And just because algorithms are negotiated between the social partners doesn't mean that they're fair, which is why we need some European level when it comes to scope. I think it's important to have as broad of. Vision as possible of artificial intelligence and workplace is not just a matter of algorithms, but the use of bots. For example, when a worker uses a bot to reply to a. Client. If the bot says, oh, we'll reimburse you €45,000. Is that the responsibility of AI or is the responsibility of the employee? So I think that goes beyond what we have at the moment. I don't know whether that gives a broader definition of management algorithm. We certainly need to keep that at the back of our minds. I'm really looking forward to starting work with you. I think the corporation is starting in a very good basis.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “(17:00:22 – 17:01:22): concerns. I'm not a shadow, rapporteur, but my colleague, was unable to be here. I have a question. Do you have any kind of estimate about the impact in terms of jobs of of integrating social into the MFF because the ESF Plus, I mean, maybe you have an idea because the ESF Plus, we know, is implemented by NGOs, associations, And no. You've you've not you've shook your head. We often talk about the impact on the beneficiaries, but we rarely talk about the impact in terms of jobs of, everything that's implemented in the, health and social areas, the NGOs, the associations, all of those who, in fact, ensure that the funds arrive at the appropriate beneficiaries.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• “For months now, European sovereignty is something that we talk about in Brussels. But in fact, the commission is a vassal of the US and does what Trump says. You refuse to talk. So you want to put somebody from Facebook at the top of your management, but at the same time, Washington orders and Brussels obeys. But you need to construct a digital sovereignty by having real European preference. And we need to tax the huge profits of the web giants. We need to have a digital market which is at the service of the European citizen, not at the service of the millionaires from Silicon Valley.”
  EU digital & tech sovereignty