Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, it is very right to decarbonise, the path is the right one, we must try to produce, to cultivate, to feed ourselves by polluting less. In this reasoning, however, I believe that there is a great absence, the absence of energy diplomacy, because Europe must not become the restricted traffic zone of the world. Limited traffic areas are those areas of our cities where you go for a walk and go shopping, but no one works there. I believe that the tangible risk is this, trying to avoid the problems of competitiveness that our companies are suffering every day. Then there is the big issue of addictions. Many colleagues have legitimately reasoned about the successes of freeing themselves from gas imports from Russia, but no one notices that we are entering the blind alley of dependence on Chinese raw materials, supply chains and technologies. We have faced several legislative excesses: the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which citizens in Italy have come to know as the "green houses" directive, with an absolutely unachievable roadmap. Without forgetting the issue of the obligation to introduce the electric car and no one has explained to us how we will generate all the electricity that will be used to ensure electric mobility. So there is not only electrification, there are arguments to be opened, for example, on the subject of nuclear power. Enough of the fable of dependence on fossil gases, given that gas will be a necessary backup technology for the coming years and, above all, I believe that the priority is to prevent Europe from becoming the LTZ of the world.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this is a debate that takes place in the context of a conflict, there are people who are suffering, so there is no point in making a controversy or proclaiming results that have not been achieved. The main mistake was not to learn from what happened with the circumvention of the 2014 sanctions, because Russia will be able to get more revenue this year thanks to oil exports, despite the maximum ceilings imposed by the European Union and the G7. Many are helping Russia: Trade with India tripled, trade with China increased by a third and exports from Turkey even increased by 90%. So, this is a scheme already seen, with third country operators buying goods in Europe and then reselling them in Russia. Sanctions had a strong impact in spring 2022 – this is undeniable – then the ruble recovered and interest rates fell. These are data that must make us reflect on the objectively limited ability of the European Union to influence major international issues and on sanctions it would perhaps be appropriate to make less philosophy and start thinking about the price that European companies are paying.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately today makes us understand the abysmal distance between words and the world of work, between the rigidity of thought of the building and the answers that a company must find in everyday life. The last storm we're trying to deal with is the interest rate storm. We all know well the historical and ideological reasons that lead the European Central Bank to raise rates, clearly trying to counter inflation, but the recent increases are bloody for the business world, with disproportionate increases in mortgage and financing costs. At the end of the month, entrepreneurs can't take it anymore. After having set out in any way the well-founded concerns about the timing of the ecological transition, we see the European Commission continuing to pull straight, regardless of the fact that Timmermans cannot represent those who do business, regardless of the fact that ambitions and objectives become increasingly abstract, while what is concrete are the continuous obstacles that are placed on entrepreneurs. Our concerns about the green shift are not prejudiced, Commissioner, but summarise what entrepreneurs, university professors, analysts and technicians think and say. You see, Commissioner, the arguments that I am sharing with this House up to ten years ago would have been off-limits to suggestions from Eurocritical circles; Unfortunately, it is different now. Get out of the building, get out of the European bubble, talk to entrepreneurs and workers. This Parliament must decide which side to stand on: must decide whether to follow the unrealizable roadmaps of bureaucrats, unrealizable and brainy, or whether to lend a hand to entrepreneurs, to investments, to their ability to have vision and above all to their dreams.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the water crisis has highlighted several problems in Europe: from unequal distribution of resources to water security for human activities, agriculture and livestock farming. Now, without getting lost in impractical and adventurous solutions, immediate priorities are linked to investments in modern and dispersive water infrastructure. We are talking about building reservoirs, artificial catchment basins, we are talking about modernizing pipelines and canals to eliminate losses. These are concrete solutions. You invest to save resources and to add security. In addition, and this is a more perspective reasoning, it is necessary to promote a conscious and sustainable use of water. A serious reflection must also be opened on the issue of the constraints with which public operators have to deal. Too much bureaucracy slows down investment. Local measures with a high cost per unit of emission cut are irrelevant, constitute a waste of resources. It would be preferable to use them where reducing emissions is much less expensive. We are fighting, colleagues, a holy war on climate change, with the standard bearers of unique thought who are ready to camouflage ideology with science. There are those who finance fear, there are those who finance those who smear works of art and block traffic. Here, maybe tell these gentlemen to also finance some useful work to cope with the water emergency.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I shall come straight to the point. Under these conditions, Europe is not the place to invest. Problem number one: interest rates. Mortgages and financing for households and businesses are becoming increasingly expensive with the European Central Bank ready to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, while the United States is blocking them, while China is even cutting them. Second problem: the ecological transition. We are the ones who pollute the least, but with a certain taste for masochism we equip ourselves with the most restrictive legislation globally. Under these conditions, who do you think is going to invest in Europe? You want to get to the most important green industrial revolution in history, but you want to do it with restrictive monetary policies, shaping the future of the Stability Pact with austerity. Return from debt and cut in public spending: recipes already used in the past, recipes that have not worked. And here a limit emerges, I can not say whether cultural or ideological. Too many capitals are prioritising balanced budgets over structural improvements in the economy. There is a lack of focus on the manufacturing industry because, instead of incentivising it, the Union is inventing new barriers to competitiveness with its overzealous and brainy climate and energy policies. Be careful because the easing of state aid rules, while it can be useful, on the other hand can become a boomerang, as countries with more fiscal space will invest and help their companies, while companies from other countries, those with less fiscal space, will remain to look at a gap that will widen more and more. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, no one is talking about this, but I would also like to reflect on the problems of the placement of securities for the financing of Union programmes, starting with Next Generation. In fact, despite having a rating with triple AAA, the Commission pays higher rates than Germany and France and on short maturities even the Union pays more than Spain. So investors perceive a higher risk and demand a higher return. I conclude, Mr President, because these are numbers that dismantle a certain propaganda carried out in Brussels as a successful broadcaster. And it's certainly not a good show.

Mr President, I candidly confess my astonishment at the choice of title: An appeal for further urgent measures. This is a report, what we are discussing, which calls for radical changes in the food sector, in the energy sector, in transport, even in terms of food, in order to achieve the objective of reducing emissions. However, a question arises: What else do you expect us to do? While our competitor World championships go in a completely different direction, here the illusion is fomented that tightening the belt until it chokes will be enough to solve what is instead a world problem and therefore requires a solution at a global level. You have banned the sale of petrol cars, we have asked the Member States to rebuild the entire building stock, you have asked the Europeans not to eat meat, again in the name of combating emissions cuts. And all this without any consideration for the social and economic repercussions that derive from this stigma of Europe as the only defendant for global warming. More than 92% of emissions come from outside Europe. This is a fact and therefore this means that the problem cannot be solved without the commitment of other countries and, if we do not understand this in this House, we are not going anywhere.

Madam President, Commissioners, improving the cybersecurity of digital products is a step forward in protecting users and businesses from the consequences of cyber-attacks that have become increasingly frequent and targeted. Security should not be seen as a cost, but as an investment, given that every data breach has an economic impact that could be avoided through the adoption of advanced technologies. However, I would like to draw attention to a critical point concerning the new regulation. In fact, there is a risk of blocking the development of theopen source in Europe. According to Article 16 of the Cyber Resilience Act, programmers could be held responsible for breaches to the security of their software even if they receive no economic return, and this could damage the innovative drive of open software, which, we recall, plays a prominent role in the European digital economy. We're talking about $100 billion in impact, so it's essential that any legislation takes into account the unique perspectives of software. open source and that future regulations should also take into account the difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises in finding effective solutions to protect them. To this is added a problem, a punitive approach that is provided for small and medium-sized enterprises. We are not there, since we are talking about realities that often do not have the resources to adapt in such a short time. One example is Italy, where three out of four companies, we always talk about small and medium-sized enterprises, do not have a business plan. disaster recovery, and this could cause damage to companies, which in addition to being poorly defended, also risk the mockery of sanctions. I conclude, colleagues, by asking for attention to the world of small and medium-sized enterprises, since we are here to help them and not to invent new obstacles.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, over the past few months, higher than average temperatures have enabled us to reduce gas consumption, which is good news, leading to a reduction in prices and thus guaranteeing us an acceptable level of energy security, thanks to high levels of gas in storage. However, we must not consider the challenge as close to its happy conclusion. In fact, we must avoid deluding ourselves that it is enough to keep the deposits full to avoid the danger of staying dry for the next winter, since in this case it would be the failure of the programming. Energy storage, however important, cannot replace imports that are missing. There has rightly been talk of strengthening cooperation agreements with suppliers such as Algeria, Azerbaijan, or of recovering important projects such as DISMED, while imports of liquefied natural gas have increased very considerably, which have certainly helped to avert a crisis in the winter that has just ended. A reflection: the increase in LNG imports in 2022 was made possible by a particular cyclical situation, with a decrease in demand from China, South-East Asian markets, although the International Energy Agency warned that a return of purchases to important levels by China such as those of 2021 could cause Europe to face a fuel shortage, with a supply-demand gap of 27 billion cubic meters. It's not a small thing. So it is right to continue the commitment towards decarbonisation. But the Europeans, our people, are asking for reassurance, since we cannot pray that a mild winter will make up for the lack of planning.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have asked to speak on this point because I am very intrigued by the title: "More Europe, more work: Let's build the competitive economy of tomorrow. Attractive title, then one returns to the committee, begins to work on and begin the problems related to competitiveness. Since the beginning of the legislature, we have been told that the Green Deal He wouldn't leave anyone behind. But the numbers tell us the opposite: Just a few weeks ago, Ford announced the cut of 3,800 jobs in the name of the transition to electric. That's not good. We continue to insist on a militant ecologism that puts the human being in the background and does not take into account that Europe goes in one direction and the rest of the planet instead goes in another. It is difficult, ladies and gentlemen, to be competitive when the Union's policies are so zealous, let us think, for example, of climate and energy. Let's reflect, for example, on the theme of the packaging regulation, which always follows the same method: proposals made without impact assessment, without listening to companies – companies that define these proposals as wrong and dangerous. So, colleagues, everyone likes the concept of competitiveness but our entrepreneurs ask us to realize it and not just talk about it.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, you will want to apologise, but I agree with little of what I heard today. Let's think about the future and imagine two scenarios: in the first, the electric car will be a luxury, expensive asset, within reach of a few; in the other, it will continue to be a mass good, but the Chinese car manufacturers will have supplanted the poor European manufacturers. Is it science fiction? No, it is not science fiction if we realize, if we look at the numbers and see that BYD, the Chinese electric car giant, doubled its market share in 2022. Meanwhile, to try to maintain competitiveness, European industry is looking around, because here we are at risk of relocations that mean unemployment. We are among those who pollute the least, but it seems that so many times, too many times, in this House we are doing what we can to create more and more difficulties for Europeans. We are working, Commissioner, to pollute less, it is right to do so, but not in this way.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there are more honest people than honest parties. Qatargate is writing one of the most embarrassing pages in the history of this Parliament. I cannot hide the fact that I am appalled by the attitude of the Socialist Group. An example for everyone is the candidacy, the alleged candidacy for the vice-presidency left vacant by Eva Kaili by my colleague Glucksmann. We are talking about the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Interference, the body that should have overseen Qatargate. The goal failed, but the socialist Glucksmann wanted to be rewarded by being vice-president. And if it was a joke, I think it was a joke of bad taste. What we have left from INGE 1 is a biased and outdated final report. It became waste paper because only yesterday the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office requested the filing of the case of the alleged funds coming from Russia for the benefit of my party. And it would be the least that those in this House who have staged a squalid witch hunt now apologize, although unnecessarily engaged in the regional election campaign in Lombardy. This Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, has one last chance to show some credibility. Tomorrow we will vote for the surrogate for Mrs Kaili and it would be a sign from the majority of this Parliament to include Mrs Tardino, a representative of Identity and Democracy, among the winds that sit in the Bureau of this Parliament. Show that you are not afraid of those who can be seriously vigilant. Show respect for the 10% of European citizens you did not want to be represented. This is the last train that passes.

Mr President, Commissioners, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, 2022 is also coming to an end, but unfortunately many of the questions we were denouncing before the summer remain open. In the first place, many uncertainties about energy prices remain unresolved and it was only yesterday that the Extraordinary Energy Council held in Brussels last smoked black. I would have liked to have told President von der Leyen, before she left the Chamber for the current debate, that accelerating on the energy transition means not having understood that the problem is the Green Deal roadmap, which is totally unrealistic. The President then spoke of preserving the internal market, which is all very well, but it is clear that if only governments with fiscal space intervene, Europe will be split. Too much philosophy, too much ideology and too little attention for competitiveness and for the defense of jobs. So you don't go far.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the rapporteur for his practicality. I believe that ideology and bureaucracy are the first elements that must be opposed in order to achieve a territorially-friendly energy transition. On the subject of green hydrogen, technologies are improving, prices which, I recall, are made up of 70% electricity and 30% electrolysers, are falling, but demand is lagging behind and the market actually still needs to be created. The quest for energy autonomy for the Union goes in the right direction, but this Parliament does not always manage to legislate with a roadmap that is consistent with the possibilities and generation capacities of the Member States. Sustainability must not only be environmental, but it must also be extended to the social and economic side, because if companies close or relocate and if jobs are lost, then we will have failed.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I am disappointed, but not surprised by a debate at times worthy of the banality of an ordinary child. There are big absentees in this discussion, and it is the men and especially the women of Christian religion who in Qatar are forced to hide their faith, in a country where the conversion from Islam to Christianity is not even recognized by the government. But today we are discussing, dutifully, many, too many cases of white deaths in the shipyards of the world, we are discussing violations of the rights of the LGBT community, but we have seen that a piece is missing. Everyone, I say, everyone has the right to respect, but those who are following this plenary from home tonight have come up with a different idea, they have come up with an idea of a Europe that thinks of certain rights and in a cowardly way turns to the opposite side and does not think of other rights. Colleagues, just to keep a football vocabulary: You have missed yet another opportunity to show that there is no second-class discrimination in this House.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, first of all I congratulate the rapporteur on his good work. The digital transformation of society and the economy has broadened and differentiated the range of threats, creating new challenges that require rapid and innovative responses. The number of cyber-attacks continues to increase, with increasingly sophisticated incursions both from outside and within the Union. The group worked on strengthening guarantees and incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises, which was later included in the agreement. The most appropriate direction is to reduce administrative and bureaucratic burdens and improve the reporting of cyber security incidents, in particular by ensuring adequate support for all micro and small enterprises falling within the scope of the Directive. There is still the problem of skills shortages, which need to be addressed quickly and of course.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Luigi Einaudi, the second President of the history of the Italian Republic, called inflation an odious tax on the poor. These are prophetic words in light of how much the increase in energy prices is weighing on low-income groups and I believe that, in a normal world, we would start to reflect on how harmful the Union’s climate and energy policies have been because – let’s be honest – the Green Deal is becoming a matter for the rich. The goal can be shared, the path and the tools no longer. A gas war has been unleashed for years that has reduced investment and led our continent to become increasingly dependent on Russia. We can no longer wait, now we need a bath of humility and realism and we need to decide whether the Union wants to act as a narrow circle for the rich or the spoiled or whether, on the contrary, we will abandon the overdose of ideology and start working for ordinary people.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, drought, cost explosion. 2022 in the agricultural sector sees a marked deterioration compared to last year. Consider that in Italy 34% of farms are forced to work in a negative income condition, while more than 13% are even at risk of closing down. The measures proposed by the Commission last July on the reduction of tariffs for the import of raw materials needed to produce fertilisers are certainly positive, but while tariffs are being removed to lower the very high production costs, on the other hand with a stronger strategy, we are creating the basis for further increasing import dependency. We are under the illusion that we can overcome the crisis in the agricultural sector with restrictive actions like this one, but the risk is to increase the dependence on imports that has been recognized as the primary cause of the explosion in costs. So I wouldn't want us to repeat the same mistake, the same misstep that we're already doing on energy, relying on the rationing plans and the package. Fit for 55. So, Commissioner, I ask you, I propose you, let us think seriously about a new assessment that finally takes into account the changed international context and that is ready for the road map of the European Union. Farm to Fork.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the issue of the rules on the management of space traffic becomes fundamental at a delicate time for space, which sees, in addition to the International Space Station, also the presence of the Chinese Space Station and in the coming years the spread of commercial space stations. As early as 2023, the first module of the future private Axiom Space station will be sent into orbit. Going into detail, the debris issue is of great importance for the safety of the vehicles, but above all for the safety of the crews, since on average the International Space Station makes at least four rapid orbit changes to avoid swarms of space debris every year. These are numbers that must make us reflect who will be called to legislate. At the same time, the mapping of debris is becoming increasingly complicated, increasingly complex, given that so far the international community has adopted good practices, providing engines for re-entry into the atmosphere and minimizing those parts that could then become debris. Unfortunately, however, in recent years some countries, see the latest launches of the Chinese Space Station, have not respected these good practices, often not even monitoring the return of their carriers to the atmosphere. So we need international agreements that are clear and binding on debris reduction, but above all projects to collect and burn the largest debris in the atmosphere. So, in conclusion, it is essential that the European Commission and this Parliament find the most suitable synergy to summarize the European rules, also in view of the colonization of the Moon, which with the Artemis mission will provide for the use of a lunar orbiting station as a support base for moon landings and future missions to Mars.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let us return to the plenary session with yet another questionable exploitation of Article 7, which Europeans have now come to know as the gun aimed at the heads of governments less aligned with Brussels' wishes. And it makes you smile, but not so much, that you are concerned about the rights of minorities when you are the first in this House not to respect the thought of those who have an idea of Europe different from yours. But it is all dramatically consistent with President von der Leyen's reckless exit, which, a few days after the vote in Italy, threatened to have tools available if things went "in a difficult direction". Then perhaps the President will explain to us where the "difficult direction" is. I would like to suggest a reflection: Is the aspiration of democratically elected governments to evade the one-sided thinking of so-called new rights more dangerous for Europe's stability, or is it rather the self-crowning of the President of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties in matters which the Treaties themselves do not assign to the Union? Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, democracy can probably make progress in Hungary as well as in many other countries, but certainly the current summits of the European Union are the last ones that can teach lessons.

Madam President, Commissioner, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, there will soon be elections in Italy and only a few days ago I was a guest on a television broadcast: In connection with this, merchants in the historic centre of Vicenza threatened to put bills in the ballot box instead of ballot papers. Let's talk about the heart of the Italian Northeast, one of the traditional economic locomotives of Europe. This is a signal of the energy crisis and a strong signal of distrust in politics. What are we doing, then, to solve what is effectively becoming the Lehman Brothers of energy? It does not help the de facto nothing that came out of Friday's Energy Council; does not help the absurd war on gas fought until yesterday, because it has curbed investment; It doesn't help that the incoming response is called austerity. What worries me the most is the total underestimation of the social emergency that will be unleashed in Europe in the coming weeks. On the failure to implement the cap on gas prices, which is technically very complicated, the hunt for the bad guy on duty continues, while the leaders of unsuspected parties that make up the majority of this Parliament look at the profits of the gas suppliers of their countries. So we need more energy, we need more gas, we need to slow down the ecological transition and, above all, we need the humility to recognize that Europe has been so wrong about energy policies.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I thank the rapporteur, but we are not there. In fact, I cannot hide my concern because I do not see in this text the perception of the emergency that is bringing families and businesses to their knees and, in spite of the efforts made by the rapporteur, the final text is reduced to a series of numbers that do not take into account the post-pandemic context and the conflict in Ukraine. My group has been denouncing for years that the direction is the wrong one: Unfortunately, the facts are proving us right and European companies are becoming less and less competitive. Doesn't this Parliament want to make a change? We are in favour of working towards a decisive but gradual increase in renewable sources, but we must admit that these are intermittent and unprogrammable sources and that the investment capacity in Europe is brought to its knees by what has happened over the last two and a half years. And if Europe doesn't understand it, we're not going anywhere.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, when the wise man points to the moon, the fool looks at his finger; If demagogic solutions are adopted, a critical situation is likely to worsen. On the other hand, good politics, the good one, not the ideological one, does not pursue public opinion but, on the contrary, manages to act on structural problems and to make self-criticism, especially on years of energy policies that have proved wrong. We cannot deny that the European rules on the functioning of the energy and gas markets have turned the price factor into a mad sliver, forcing governments to make debt to prevent companies from closing down, and all this without being certain of what will become of the Stability Pact. Above all, it must be clear that the objectives must be greater energy autonomy on the one hand and the rejection of austerity policies on the other. I, Commissioner, have listened carefully to your speech, but I wonder: If we tax extra profits, what do we do with the losses? Shall we tax them? As far as the Green Deal is concerned, I believe that the plant should be rethought, also in the light of what is happening to prices in recent months. Finally, the price cap I think it is an appreciable idea, but the negotiating power for now is in the hands of those who sell and not those who buy. So, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that the Union must be attractive to investment and not become the operator of new taxes.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, rapporteur, and I would also like to thank President Buzek, who was a patient weaver of a final agreement that included the diversity and different sensitivities expressed by the political groups. This is an anomalous phase in the history of the energy market and brings out clearly all the limits of the gas crusade that we have witnessed in this House for too long. A crusade promoted by those who refused, perhaps still refuses to accept that gas is an essential source of transition. Beyond this, I believe that the greatest risk of its approach to mandatory storage levels is to create tension on the issue of gas prices. However, the Council's acceptance of the proposal to my group to maintain a lower threshold is likely to lead to price savings. No solution has been adopted to curb speculation on gas prices and this will be the next urgency to work on.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, a bubble totally disconnected from reality. The debate today, which has seen the increasingly surreal Commissioner Timmermans and many, too many colleagues, lead me to think that those who sit in this House live on another planet, a planet where it is unknown that there has been a pandemic, the crisis of raw materials, the explosion of energy prices, a conflict. The dramatic side is that few have thought about the damage that this package will do to competitiveness and employment, not accepting the proposals of those who, instead, from the territories, ask for a gradual path, which accompanies companies and workers towards the ecological transition. You want to do in eight years what Europe has failed to do in thirty, posing as ambition what are actually big economic interests and an overdose of ideology. Meanwhile, international competition mocks what European politicians are deciding, with China poised to deliver the coup de grace to European industry. You are destroying Europe, you are ruining those who work. Yours is no longer environmentalism, it's called collaborationism.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are many shadows, few lights, too many resolutions that are bound to remain on paper. REPowerEU states that the Commission is living in a bubble. Europe takes the risk of zero emissions, not taking into account economic indicators and dramatic growth estimates. This is a plan that starts from the wrong assumption, namely that the current crisis coincides only with the conflict in Ukraine, ignoring years of wrong energy and climate policies. And there is a very serious lack: It is all about renewables, but not about a European supply chain that can develop the technologies that are essential for the transition. Away from energy dependence on Moscow to increase technological dependence on Beijing. Brilliant. The extraction, processing and transport of minerals and metals used intensively in the solar panels of wind turbines depend on an adequate supply of diesel and other fossil products made, look at it, by those who still produce energy exploiting coal capacity. Writing that energy saving is the quickest and cheapest way to bring down the bills seems to me a little trivial, I would say on the threshold of the offensive; It was not necessary for the Commission to reveal this to us. REPowerEU is only the last piece of an ideologised narrative; Timmermans said the law, with a Commission totally unable to bring it back to reality.