Ahead of the European Council on 17-18 October, S&D leader, Iratxe García, outlined this morning in a plenary debate in Strasbourg the priorities of the Social Democrats. García called on the EU to lead the arms embargo and sanction Israel, and to continue supporting Kyiv against Russian aggression. On competitiveness, García warned EU leaders to not look for shortcuts and to tackle the decarbonisation of the economy and technological transformation with the mobilisation of €800 billion a year.

The leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Iratxe García, said:

"The wars that are causing devastation on our neighbourhood in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Sahel are forcing us to wake up. We cannot react by turning a blind eye. The EU must allow Ukraine to use its military capabilities to strike military targets on Russian territory. It is intolerable that Orbán's blackmail jeopardises support for Ukraine. We need to banish unanimity in fiscal matters and in foreign and defence policy.

"At the same time, we must stop the carnage in Gaza and Netanyahu's irresponsible drift towards total war. Yesterday we painfully marked the first anniversary of the cruel Hamas terrorist attack that ended with 1,195 dead and 251 hostages. One year after, Netanyahu ignores Israeli citizens´ call to declare a ceasefire to allow the release of hostages, denies the entry of humanitarian aid in his brutal war on Gaza, and kills thousands of civilians with bombs in Lebanon in what constitutes a war crime. Words are not effective anymore. It is time to deploy all our sanctioning and trade power against the government of Israel so that international law prevails and for the EU to lead the imposition of an arms embargo so that the European Union is not complicit in Netanyahu's madness."

On competitiveness, Iratxe García, explained:

"The Draghi report calls on us to mobilise €800 billion a year through common debt if we want to simultaneously complete the ecological and digital transitions and boost the defence industry. If we don't do it, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain the European social model and our Union will become an irrelevant geopolitical player.

"The decarbonisation of the economy and technological transformation will only be possible if we guarantee workers decent jobs with rising wages, if we invest in public housing so that young people have a life plan, and if we lift almost a quarter of the population of the European Union out of poverty and social exclusion.

"The reformation of the European Union can only work if it's based on our core principles and values: the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that humanity has ever seen."