Speech at the plenary session in the debate on the Chinese sanctions
You have committed yourself to this, Mr Xi Jinping.
In this draft investment agreement, you say you want to ratify the ILO conventions.
So do it, Mr. President.
Don’t wait a month, or a week, not even a day to do it, because we, the representation of the European Union, will not vote on anything until you have fulfilled your commitments.
And then a second point, Mr President.
You have taken sanctions against several of our colleagues and an entire sub-committee of our Parliament, the Human Rights sub-committee, which I have the honour of vice-chairing.
You have not imposed sanctions on crimes there, but on the denouncement of human rights violations.
We do not accept this, Mr President, because it is unacceptable.
We are therefore telling you clearly, solemnly and definitively that we will not vote on this draft agreement until these sanctions have been lifted.
You now know our conditions.
They are twofold and if you want our relations to return to normal, the ball is in your court.
