This edition comes to you from Strasbourg where MEPs voted on no fewer than 90 files.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:12 Hello there and welcome to Brussels My Love, Euronews' weekly talk show.
00:17 Coming to you this week from Strasbourg, I'm Maeve McMahon. Thank you so much for tuning in.
00:23 Coming up this week, time is up. After five eventful years, this week marked the very last
00:29 plenary of the current session. MEPs flocked to Strasbourg to vote on no fewer than 90 different
00:36 topics. We take a closer look at what matters and what's less important and ask if these 705
00:43 lawmakers got the job done. And with final business wrapped up here in Strasbourg, all eyes are now on
00:51 upcoming elections. Aspiring MEPs have under 50 days to convince voters why they should be their
00:58 ambassadors for the next five years. Fresh data suggests that Europeans are for the most part
01:04 engaging with these elections and planning to vote. We check if that is true with our guests
01:10 this weekend. Robert Biedron, Polish MEP from the Socialist Group. Hello. Dierdre Clune, European
01:16 People's Party MEP from Ireland. And Chiang Mai Duke, the spokesperson for the European Parliament,
01:22 the main man responsible for communicating this institution. So lovely to have you all with us.
01:28 But as usual, before we get your views, let's just tell our viewers, in fact,
01:31 what was done and dusted this week here in Strasbourg.
01:34 90, the number of issues voted on this week in this chamber, from improving air quality to
01:43 changing the EU fiscal rules that limit government spending. It was a full house in Strasbourg.
01:50 This five year term has seen some big wins. Lawmakers sealed a deal on a migration pact
01:55 after a decade of wrangling. And Europe became the first continent in the world
01:59 to regulate artificial intelligence. But overshadowing the term, a global pandemic,
02:07 rocketing inflation, bloodshed in Ukraine and a controversial set of environmental laws,
02:12 the Green Deal, that now seem to be on life support,
02:15 not to mention the largest corruption scandal in the history of the Parliament.
02:19 As MEPs pack up their belongings to check out, we ask them if they think they got the job done
02:28 and what is still unfinished business.
02:30 So that's the question. Are you ready to check out? Have you got the job done? Do you feel that
02:37 you've done what you promised your voters that you would do?
02:39 Oh, one thing is sure. It was not a boring term of European Parliament
02:44 when we delivered so much in very difficult times. There is this saying,
02:48 may you live in interesting times. And I think that was for sure an interesting time.
02:54 Well, we've been saying that on repeat, I believe, over the last couple of years.
02:57 We've just seen in that report how many hurdles had to be jumped. And of course,
03:01 in that context that we've been in, Deidre Cleme, will you go back home now to Ireland
03:05 feeling satisfied that you've done what you promised to do?
03:08 Well, I think you can point to the Green Deal and what was done there. We've addressed climate
03:12 change a lot and we need to need to put structures in place to make sure it happens. And that's what
03:16 we did by establishing targets for 2030, not yet 2040, but 2050 as well, that Europe will be
03:23 climate neutral. I think that was important. And if you see lots of the legislation we put through
03:27 was measures and how to implement that. We couldn't have predicted COVID. I didn't predict
03:32 it in the last election or the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis that come from that. I mean,
03:38 this is the thing about Europe that you can't predict really, and that responds to crisis
03:44 sometimes well, sometimes not so well. But I think from COVID, we can see we've got a renewed focus,
03:49 not a renewed, but a focus now on public health. We've strengthened European Centre for Disease
03:53 Control, European Medicines Agency, more vigilance to ensure that such a crisis or
03:59 a pandemic won't happen again. And just on the climate crisis, we'll come back to that later,
04:03 because there was actually a group of activists here in Strasbourg this week, very vocal. But
04:07 Jaime, from your position, what have been the highs and the lows for you over the past five years?
04:11 Obviously, it has been quite a challenging legislature because of Brexit at the beginning,
04:16 and then COVID, and then of course, the war in Ukraine, and now Middle East, and many other
04:21 things. But it has also been very positive and very constructive and successful. I mean, during
04:26 these five last years, more than 500 pieces of legislation have been adopted. And some of them
04:32 are really fundamental. I mean, everything linked to the Green Deal, and the Migration Pact, the
04:37 Artificial Intelligence Act, first in the world, the laws, and also being there to protect media
04:44 freedom. Many, many things have been done, I would say, in parallel to this extra work,
04:51 which was coping with COVID, working one and a half years in very difficult circumstances,
04:57 creating unity around Ukraine, and of course, negotiating Brexit in a quite positive way for
05:02 the continent, for Europeans. Well, you could see the interest was here. There was about 900
05:06 journalists, I believe, reporting from the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week.
05:10 We could hardly get a place to sit. The press room was so busy. But we saw as well, there was votes
05:16 this week on the Platform Workers Directive that we've reported on extensively here at Euronews,
05:22 also the Corporate Due Diligence Sustainable Directive. But also, when these votes finally
05:26 happen, nobody ever seems very happy. So that's something, you guys as MEPs, you need to accept
05:32 that nobody seems happy. I think there's a certain relief. I mean, when the due diligence went
05:36 through today, there was a round of applause. The Violence Against Women Directive, there was a
05:41 strong round of applause. But that's a round of applause inside the chamber. I'm talking about
05:45 the voices outside the chamber. It's important to finally get something because nobody has an
05:49 overall, no group has an overall majority in this Parliament. Well, you obviously have to budge a
05:52 lot on your values or on your beliefs sometimes. And then the last thing we all want, I want to
05:56 see, the last thing is that Parliament doesn't have a position on the file because that would be
06:00 catastrophe. So that's, I think that's what drives most MEPs. We want to have a position,
06:07 the European Parliament to have a position. It's compromise, it's consensus. You're not going to
06:12 get everything you want. I think the position of the Parliament and the flexibility, what we proved
06:18 in this term is that European Parliament became flexible to respond quickly on their knees, like
06:26 the platform workers. 30 million workers in Europe will be protected and will have the same rights
06:33 offline and online, which is very important for them. And the other example of practicality is
06:40 this charger. Now we will have one common charger for all devices. Isn't it something practical,
06:46 not only because you have a single charger, but also to protect the environment. Well,
06:52 what a great thing we have. And this is what the European Union and European Parliament is for,
06:58 to solve these simple things for people to work for common. And as I said earlier, we're talking
07:05 about 90 different votes that took place this week, which is of course a lot of content to get
07:10 through. But Jamie, I'm looking at you now because of course, what slightly tarnished this perhaps
07:16 mandate was also that horrific corruption scandal and money laundering scandal last winter that saw
07:22 a number of members of this house allegedly under the influence of certain governments. Now the
07:27 investigation is still very much underway. But how do you deal with a situation like that? Because
07:33 of course, that's what grabs the headlines. It's not the single charger or the platform directive.
07:37 It's these big scandals linked to some of your members. Yeah, I would say the first days, of
07:41 course, were difficult because we didn't know exactly whether this was a real corruption case,
07:49 how many members, how deep it would be. And still, we don't know because it's under investigation.
07:55 But now we see that this is not something or this was not something systemic. This was a couple of
08:01 people inside and outside the European Parliament. But how do you confront this kind of situation? I
08:06 would say in this case, it was quite easy in reality, not the first days, but after one week.
08:12 Why? Because there was a reaction. There was a positive reaction of this house,
08:17 starting by President Metzola. Immediately, the discussion about the rules to be modified,
08:22 to be adopted, to be added to the way this house is working was the real debate. And all these
08:31 rules have been adopted. The 14 points... And we'll have to see in the next term if these rules
08:35 have teeth. Just briefly, was that something, though, that voters back home in Poland and Ireland
08:39 were angry with you about this case? Well, they were angry and surprised, of course, of the lack
08:44 of transparency in the rules. But the prompt application of the rules set an example for the
08:50 member states. I come from Poland and we were struggling for years on corruption, lack of
08:56 transparency, lack of rule of law, demolition of all these fundaments of democratic state. So
09:04 European Union and European Parliament set a model how you should deal with this crisis
09:11 management issue. And I think we made it quite well for European Parliament and European citizens. So
09:20 another good achievement. Yeah, and we have, like in Ireland, we do have transparency requirements
09:24 where you have to register everybody you meet, but that didn't apply to MEPs. But now we have
09:29 situation place where all your meetings and all your staff as well have to be registered in a
09:35 public register. You can only meet people who are on the transparency register or individuals or
09:39 groupings. And I think that is important to give confidence to the citizens of Europe that we are
09:46 behaving or we're acting in an ethical fashion. We do our business clearly independent of any
09:52 influence. Even though not every MEP here is doing their business correctly. And this week we saw
09:57 the scandal as well about one German MEP, the head of the far-right group AFD, whose assistant
10:03 was actually arrested in his hometown of Tresen for allegedly spying on behalf of the Chinese
10:08 government. But we will keep an eye on that investigation and go back now to the topic that
10:13 you mentioned earlier, which was of course the legislation passed on the Green Deal. Because I
10:17 remember in 2019 the climate crisis was definitely one of the biggest topics of the elections.
10:22 But now it seems to have slipped off the radar a little bit and that's something that the climate
10:26 activists that were here this week from all across Europe really want to change. Many of them took
10:31 the train to Strasbourg to remind MEPs that they are not going anywhere. And I had the chance to
10:36 ask them if they think MEPs got the job done. No, I would not say they have gotten the job done. And
10:43 I don't think that's my opinion. That's the opinion of everyone who's aware of the climate
10:47 crisis right now. The last time I was here was in 2019 during the rise of the climate strike movement.
10:52 And since then really very little has changed. We've had a new European parliament but we haven't
10:56 gotten that much further. If you imagine the climate crisis to be Mount Everest, we may be at
11:00 base camp but we're nowhere near where we need to get. And we see that time is running out and we
11:07 see now more and more parliamentarians coming up with excuses and greenwashing initiatives instead
11:13 of real solutions and real demands for climate justice. And that's just not good enough.
11:18 So well-known activists there calling on people to elect politicians that put
11:22 climate science and facts first. They worry that the climate emergency is being ignored.
11:28 And Deirdre Clune, they mentioned your political party, the European People's Party, and blamed
11:32 your political party for watering down a number of these files on the Green Deal.
11:36 Well, I don't think that's actually true. If you look at the figures and what my party would have
11:40 voted for, we would have accepted the targets to 2030 and 2050. But how we get there, we had a
11:47 different approach. In fact, I suppose my Irish grouping as well, we wouldn't have supported the
11:51 group in many ways. But I agree with you, the BPP had a different approach but did not deny that we
11:57 needed to meet those targets of 2030, 2050. And ultimately, you know, you have to get a consensus
12:04 in this parliament, 705 MEPs. And that's what we have, a consensus. I believe it will deliver.
12:12 It's easy to put targets in place and say reduce your emissions by 55% 2030. But how you do that,
12:18 in a balanced way that you're conscious of industries, conscious of jobs,
12:25 conscious of farmers as well, to bring everybody with you. Otherwise, you're going nowhere.
12:29 Well, we've seen the farmers protesting many times outside the parliament here. And those
12:34 climate activists believe that they were prioritising the farmers as opposed to
12:39 actually the science here. One thing is sure in this discussion, there is no planet B.
12:44 And if we don't protect the burning already planet, we won't have any discussion in the future
12:50 because it will be done. So what we should remember is about what we prioritise and what
12:57 we should prioritise, of course, to save the planet. I think that the voice of these young
13:02 people is very important. They are really ringing the bell. And I'm really surprised that so many
13:08 politicians don't hear this sound. With the Green Deals, it's like with this old series TV show
13:18 where you have a lot of turns of action and a lot of plots and so on and so. But at the end of the
13:25 day, at the end of the day, it's about making our continent safe with this climate catastrophe.
13:33 This is what we need to deliver. And Jaime, you're of course apolitical. You're the spokesperson of
13:38 the European Parliament. But you have to keep an eye, of course, on all this political squabbling
13:42 and communicate to the public what's at stake here and these very complicated files that often,
13:48 you know, you need to read the nitty gritty, the small print, which many people probably do not do.
13:54 How are you managing to communicate on all these various files? Well, I mean, you need to be very
13:57 factual. You need to just to communicate the facts, what the parliament has been deciding. And
14:02 then in some way you are preparing the ground for the political parties, for the political groups,
14:08 for the members to explain their political decisions and their positions. So first of all,
14:13 the journalists and sometimes I would say even the citizens need to understand what's at stake and
14:18 what are the possible solutions and what are the complexities of the topic. And then it's for the
14:24 politicians, it's for the real representatives of citizens to come with their own recipes and with
14:28 their own decisions. And this week there was that big vote on the plastics directive, but many NGOs
14:33 regretting that it wasn't as ambitious as they wanted it to be. But another group that, of course,
14:38 was keeping an eye as well as well here on the last five years of the European Parliament mandate
14:42 were people who work for SMEs and represent business. If you're focused on business in Europe,
14:49 there's a lot at stake for you right now, of course, with the cost of living crisis. We want
14:53 to check in with the business community and hear how they feel about this term and see if they feel
14:58 the MEPs got the job done. So we asked the president of Eurochamps, Vladimir Deluhy.
15:02 Maybe the MEPs, they did achieve their goals, but I don't know whether those goals are always
15:10 our goals and whether those goals and the achievements were positive or negative for
15:17 the business environment in Europe. Do understand well how difficult conditions for some businesses
15:23 in Europe are. Do understand well that we have been lacking behind over past 15 years. Do come
15:30 closer to the everyday reality. Speak to the businesses and understand the regulation and be
15:36 ready even to tackle what I'm calling the holy grails like climate change policies and other
15:42 things. So Vladimir Deluhy there from Eurochamps saying that businesses have felt a little bit
15:48 left out. Georgia Klien, would you agree with that? Do you feel that you've had your ear to
15:52 the ground here in the last couple of years? Are you mindful of their challenges? Well I think yeah,
15:56 but certainly we've listened to the business and they're concerned about it to the business
16:00 community. Eurochamps have a very strong presence here. They make their comments, their feelings
16:06 known and their opinions on various files that go through here. But I think there's a balance always
16:12 between consumers and as you mentioned climate and business as well. But I certainly would be
16:17 somebody who wants to encourage a business environment because without jobs there is no
16:21 future. But we're always going around in circles I feel. If I could say the next term like the focus
16:27 on competitiveness, the report we've had from Enrico Lete this week on the single market. I think
16:32 that those changes need to be looked at seriously and implemented because single market is not
16:37 working for services. It's not working you know if you're an architect, an engineer, if you're selling
16:42 or a software engineer living in Ireland where I'm from, it's difficult to sell your product and
16:47 your services across Europe. It's extremely fragmented and that's we had a whole show about
16:51 it in fact last week. The challenge for us to get that services and the digital bit right and then
16:57 I feel we can really make a difference. I would agree that we need to find a balance but you must
17:02 remember that without workers there won't be any business because employees they are the core of
17:09 every business and they're in this all of these crises, Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine, high
17:15 inflation in member states and European Union. So many people are left behind that we also should
17:24 remember how to take care also of them because they are usually paying the highest price and
17:30 European Union should also remember about those people who are left behind. And that's why for us
17:35 it's always so important as well to go beyond the bubble and speak to people and we caught up with
17:39 some people in Brussels to hear what they would do, what they would prioritise if they in fact
17:44 were here as MEPs. I think I'm the worst person to be having this conversation with. Well I guess it's
17:50 mobility, immigration and climate. Investment in technology, also migration policies and
17:59 ecology but being responsible at the same time. Don't have any interest in it so. I think I will
18:05 prioritise social inclusion of people yeah and of course the environment and the climate change.
18:14 Defend the right for immigration, for labours. I think mainly education for everybody. To me that's
18:24 one of the most important things. So very interesting there that a lot of people don't
18:28 even know exactly what an MEP does. I mean you brought your charger there but as well we saw
18:34 social inclusion of people, education, big priority for people and according to a Euronews poll as
18:39 well that we did recently, rising prices and the reduction of social inequalities were the big
18:44 issues of course. And there we have the platform workers this week, working time, last term with
18:51 the work-life balance directive and minimum pay. You know there's been a lot as well in this term
18:57 and recognising that as Robert says, unless you have workers you don't have any business.
19:04 So Jamie are you satisfied? Yeah well I mean priorities of course are not the same country
19:09 by country because the situations are not the same. If you have a look to the last
19:12 spring Eurobarometer you see that in some countries it's about social policies, it's about access to
19:21 jobs, it's about fighting against poverty. In other places it's still mostly about environment
19:29 and fighting against climate change but there is also a trend which is now let's say growing in
19:34 most of the member states which is about defending peace and defending democracy. And on that
19:39 conclusion that brings this conversation to an end but stay with us because after the break we'll be
19:45 telling you about the big European Parliament election campaign that kicks off as of next
19:49 Monday. See you soon here on Euronews. Welcome back to Brussels my love with me Maeve McMahon
20:03 coming to you this week from Strasbourg. Now as you heard this week was the last plenary session
20:09 of the mandate and from the 6th to the 9th of June Europeans will have the chance to vote for the 10th
20:14 time. To set the scene the European Parliament quizzed the continent to see if people were
20:19 planning to go to the polls and according to the 26,000 people interviewed 71% are eager, 13% are
20:27 not and only 2% do not know. Jeremy this must be music to your ears no to see this outcome.
20:35 Well of course it's music to my ears but I'm also realistic and I know that in surveys people tend
20:40 to vote more than in reality but what is important is that the 71% of people means 10 more points than
20:47 in 2019. So this means that right now there are at least 10 more points people who are prepared
20:55 to vote. So in reality we could be quite positive or optimistic about turnout during the next
21:01 European election. And we could see quite a spike in participation something that I'm sure you're
21:05 really trying to work on and improve. Well just on that note earlier this week I sat down with the
21:11 President of the European Parliament in the hemicycle Roberta Metzola who is really begging
21:16 people to get out there and vote this June. Take a listen. Look at the chairs they're empty but in a
21:21 few minutes they will be filled with 705 today, 720 in just over a month's time where those 720
21:30 are going to be taking decisions for you. Now you have a choice you either decide who you want to
21:36 sit in these chairs or you let others decide for you. Those people sitting there from your country
21:42 are going to be your country's ambassadors. They're going to be taking decisions that affect your
21:46 everyday life. This is something you can affect with your vote every five years. Don't miss out
21:51 on that opportunity. How would your voters back home in Poland feel about that message? Would they
21:55 be like yes okay we'll go vote or they don't care? I think many people feel that these elections will
22:02 be fundamental for the future not only Europe but also the world because what happens in Europe
22:08 doesn't stay in Europe. Europe is not Las Vegas in this matter. It influences the world and we must
22:15 also understand that in this year in 2024 there will be 50 nations casting their votes and they
22:28 will shape the future of the world. We have Russia down which is undemocratic, India is voting now,
22:34 US will vote and European Union will vote. So the signal we will send in which direction European
22:41 Union and Europe will go will be crucial for many parts of the world and in also having the context
22:51 of the attempts of Russian Federation of Putin to interference the elections is very important that
22:58 we remember that it's really important that we stick together, we don't split and we don't allow
23:07 Europeans to hijack European Union. But the reality I mean over in Ireland, Deirdre Clune,
23:13 where by the way you'll get one more MEP this year from 13 to 14 but according to your barometers to
23:20 go back to this research Irish voters will be thinking about immigration and also about public
23:27 health and housing when they go to vote. Issues that are not really well apart from migration
23:32 competences of the European Union. So you could just see a massive protest vote and see your
23:37 party probably lose seats. Well you could see a protest vote but I think the point that the
23:41 President made there is important if you don't elect people, you're electing people to make
23:45 decisions for you and if you don't participate in that decision-making process you won't get
23:49 the representatives you want. But yeah well our elections are in combination with the local
23:54 elections which is our elections to our council so that's probably why housing is a real issue.
24:00 But migration is certainly coming up and the Migration Pact has been adopted by Ireland.
24:08 It's important to protect those that are coming from war-torn areas or genuinely seeking refuge
24:14 so that is important and we need to get that message out. That'll be a challenge to explain
24:20 and to explain and to explain what it's about. And you're kept up I'm sure at night these days
24:25 trying to communicate about these elections. What is the strategy? First of all to communicate to
24:31 citizens that these elections are completely different from the previous ones. This is not
24:35 about roaming or about the internal market of course these things are important but now it's
24:39 about the future of the continent not just the European Union, the continent. There are two wars
24:43 in this moment in this continent. One is the Russian war against Ukraine. It's a territorial
24:48 it's an aggression but there is also this disinformation war and this war which has been
24:54 also launched by Russia against us, against Europeans, against our way of living, our way of
25:00 creating democracy and respecting freedom and values and this is also a real war and this war
25:07 is happening now and European elections will be in the middle of this war. So yeah citizens need
25:12 to know that this time it's about how we are going to shape our future not just for the five
25:17 next years maybe even 10 or more depending on the result of the European elections and I agree
25:23 in reality this is going to depend on the combined effect of the European elections and the American
25:29 elections but we cannot vote in American elections we can only vote in the European ones. So go and
25:34 vote. And polls are showing now that we could see a shift to the right here in the parliament.
25:40 Robert what would that mean when it comes to all these various legislative files that we discussed?
25:44 Well I come from Poland I can tell you a lot what the populist anti-democratic shift means.
25:50 It would mean that a lot of progress we made in this term will be not implemented and will be
25:57 stopped and I think this pushback against democracy, rule of law, human rights will be not
26:06 visible only in Hungary or in the like it was in the past in Poland but will be visible in more and
26:13 more states because they will be encouraged by the strength of this institution which is European
26:19 parliament to unfortunately to demolish more and more of the fundaments of our democracy.
26:25 Very dangerous, very dangerous. And Dierdre you're on the way out you're literally packing up and
26:29 leaving politics but what kind of a parliament and EU are your voters have they been asking you of?
26:35 My voters I think that they followed the parliament because a lot of our votes made
26:41 headlines like nature restoration law, the green deal, the migration pact recently. So I suppose
26:47 they're looking to I mean I think innately they don't see that anything we do here has an immediate
26:51 effect on them but they do understand that Europe is important and that it matters. Do they do they
26:56 have a positive perception as well? I think after Covid you can see that the ratings are the
27:00 positive there was a very positive reception to Europe in Ireland because we realised as a small
27:04 country that's where it's our future is in Europe and and and post Brexit we're looking across as
27:10 our neighbours in the UK and we see the difference there to compare to what we have in Ireland in
27:15 the south of Ireland you know because we're members of the European Union and we have all the benefits
27:19 than that so I think in in Ireland certainly the voters maybe not on individual items but certainly
27:25 they have a broad picture or a broad sense of how important Europe is. Well that wraps this
27:30 discussion about the campaign trail which kicks off on Monday. Thank you so much to Robert Beatheron,
27:35 Dierdre Clune and Jaime Duke for being with us and thank you so much for watching. See you soon.
27:40 [Music]
27:47 Welcome back to Brussels my love. I'm Maeve McMahon and along with Robert Beatheron,
27:52 Dierdre Clune and Jaime Duke we're just taking a look back at the big headlines this week here in
27:57 Strasbourg where MEPs met for their final voting session of the whole mandate and one issue that
28:03 grabbed our attention was the final vote on the first ever EU rules to prevent gender-based violence
28:09 and protect victims from domestic violence. 522 MEPs voted in favour, 27 against and 72 abstained
28:17 and EU countries will now have three years to implement these rules. Now the European Women's
28:22 Lobby in Brussels has applauded this step even though the final law they believe is not perfect.
28:27 Irina Rosales told us what is exactly at stake. It's terrible that we are still having like almost
28:34 50 women being killed every week across the EU and one in three are victims of violence against
28:44 women since the age of 15. One in 20 are victims of rape and what is more outstanding is the level
28:51 of impunity that exists. It's also super fundamental to ensure that there is a commissioner working for
28:57 women's rights. It is essential to have feminist leaders so we need parity democracy because it's
29:02 a matter of democracy. Without the word parity there is no real democracy so we need women to
29:08 be in leadership positions and to be elected in the parliament. Irina Rosales there from the European
29:13 Women's Lobby calling for more women in power. Robert Biedron you're actually the chair of the
29:19 Women's Committee here in the European Parliament. What is your reaction to that clip and also how
29:24 hard has it been to get this new directive in place? I fully agree we need more women but we
29:29 also need men to understand that is our common fight and they should be the allies in solidarity
29:36 with women. But about the legislation I'm sure Simone Weil who established the Women's Rights
29:43 and Gender Equality Committee in 1979, the first female president of this house, she would be proud
29:49 of us because this legislation finally establishes the fundaments to protect every girl and every
29:58 woman in European Union. Imagine we are in 2024 and since this time women were not protected
30:06 in European Union against violence. And it was crucial to get it done now because there was a
30:12 concern that if it wasn't done now it would have just perhaps disappeared. Deirdre Clune as we said
30:16 you're leaving politics but would you recommend to other women to get into politics because it's
30:21 still really a men's world. It's not here in this parliament I wouldn't think. Well it's about 30,
30:25 38, 39 percent I'm not quite sure the figures but I would recommend women to get involved. Women have
30:31 something to say and something different to say not necessarily better but their voices should be
30:36 included and you can see in the the violence against women directive a colleague of mine
30:39 Frances Fitzgerald led for that on behalf of the FAM Committee and she has a long history of working
30:45 with the National Women's Network in Ireland. So if you can get women who want to improve things
30:50 well that's that's great and I think they should be encouraged because they can really
30:54 you can really make a difference here. And Jaime you've been walking the corridors of
30:58 this European Parliament for decades you know them like the back of your hand. Have you seen
31:02 a behavioural change because we've seen as well this week a vote on rules to prevent conflict
31:07 and harassment to make this a safe place for both women and men. There has been a huge improvement
31:12 and in some way this parliament is becoming also a model again to many national parliaments and to
31:19 and to many public institutions in many member states and this is also maybe linked to the fact
31:24 that this is a parliament where gender balance is becoming better and better. This time 40 percent
31:30 of MEPs are women. Let's hope maybe next time will be 50 or why not 55 percent. This is in the hands
31:37 of first of all the political parties but also in the hands of voters but don't forget the
31:42 president of the parliament is a woman the president of the commission is a woman right now
31:46 and who knows maybe after the elections two three four of the top jobs in brazil are in the hands
31:51 of women. Well we'll be kept busy over the next couple of weeks and months reporting on who of
31:56 course gets those big top jobs but that indeed concludes this discussion. Thank you so much
32:01 Jaime Duke for being with us. Thank you Dieter Kloon and thanks as well to Robert Biedron. Thank you.
32:05 And thanks as well to the staff here the technical crew at the European Parliament for putting us on
32:10 air. We'll be back of course in Strasbourg in July to get to know all the new MEPs but in the
32:15 meantime if you have any comments for us do reach out. Our email address is brusselsmylove@euronews.com
32:22 We're also on social media Instagram, TikTok and also Twitter and LinkedIn. See you soon. Take care.
32:28 [Music]