Quote of the week by President Iratxe García:
“Migration, as old as humanity, is one of our biggest challenges. We will never forget the arrival of the million Syrians, who fled death in 2015, nor the four million Ukrainians we have welcomed because of Putin's war, nor the many immigrants who day after day risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Atlantic. We need to protect our borders. But, as long as forgotten wars, exploitation of the poor and natural catastrophes are a reality, walls can never be built high enough to stop the weakest.
"I reach out to the soul of the EPP, to those willing to welcome, protect and integrate. Walls and nationalism pushed us to devastating consequences in the past. Let's not fear those who are different. Let us make Europe a land of peace, progress and opportunities.”
Upcoming activities
Our members in several committees will be on mission in the upcoming period.
Group President Iratxe García, and vice-president on Foreign Affairs, Pedro Marques, will be in New York from February 24 to 26, and in Washington DC from 26 through March 1. During this mission, they will be promoting a progressive agenda on topics like multilateralism and the war in Ukraine, sustainable development, the green transition, trade and women’s rights.
Next week, S&D members of the civil liberties, justice and home affairs, Pietro Bartolo and Matjaž Nemec, will visit NGOs and local authorities in Belgium, France and the Netherlands to find out about the challenges facing reception facilities for asylum-seekers and understand what could be improved within the scope of the Migration Pact.
Also next week, MEPs working on home affairs will visit the headquarters of Frontex, the EU border agency. S&D MEP Theresa Bielowski will take part in the mission to follow-up on recommendations given by MEPs in response to alleged violations of fundamental rights by the Agency.
On 20 to 21 February, the Pegasus inquiry committee will travel to Budapest. Our MEPs Sándor Rónai and Łukasz Kohut will meet with members of the Hungarian Parliament (notably the committee for national security), the National Authority for Data Protection, journalists who worked on the Pegasus Project and with NGOs (such as Amnesty International and the Helsinki Committee).
Not surprisingly, the representative of the Hungarian government, the Justice Minister who was supposedly in charge of the purchase/use of Pegasus spyware, does not want to meet the delegation.
Members in the committee for development will travel to Washington from 21 to 23 February. Our MEPs Udo Bullmann and Carlos Zorrinho will meet representatives of the International Monetary Fund, USAID and other governmental and civil society actors and think tanks working in the areas of development cooperation and humanitarian aid.
During the same period, the committee on foreign affairs will be on mission in Indonesia and Vietnam, with a focus on all ASEAN countries. Our MEPs Tonino Picula and Juan Fernando López Aguilar will join.
The European Parliament will also organise a mission to Palestine. César Luena and Nicolás González Casares will attend.
On 25 February, our members Evin Incir and Robert Biedroń will join an electoral observatory mission to Nigeria, for the country’s presidential elections.
Upcoming events
On 3 March, in Warsaw, we’re joining forces with the Global Progressive Forum, FEPS (the foundation for European Progressive Studies), Kozminski University, leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza and many other partners, to debate on the European Union’s Open Strategic Autonomy.
During this open event (both online and onsite), we’ll be discussing our Group’s latest position paper on the topic – a comprehensive and concise strategy roadmap, which will prove to be an asset in both our parliamentary work and the upcoming electoral campaign.
We will be hosted by the Kozminski University, and former Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski will be among the keynote speakers. The event will be webstreamed by Gazeta Wyborcza, and on our Group’s site. The main objective is to discuss the practical implications and implementation of the ideas incorporated in this roadmap – also as a contribution to the preparation of the 2024 electoral campaign.
And don’t forget to stay updated on all our initiatives and reactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and TikTok!
