Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, exactly what we feared and what I have denounced on several occasions has happened. Member States preferred to focus their efforts on the recovery and resilience plans, you say that it is right, but neglecting cohesion policy and arriving at today's very serious delays is not conceivable. Not surprisingly, the rhetoric of urgency prompted the Commission to close its eyes to too many distortions, because recovery and resilience plans could not be said no. I would like to call for this not to happen also with the partnership agreements of the next programming period, the consequences would be disastrous. All too often we are talking only about spending resources, a condition, of course, necessary, but not sufficient for real economic, social and territorial convergence, which is increasingly distant. Above all, do not give in to the pressures of those who want to water down the target climate with operations of greenwashing, using emergency rhetoric. We are living it in these terrible days: Delaying the transition is only a gift for those who profit from fossil fuels and certainly not for our citizens, who are increasingly vulnerable.

Mr President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, no reforms, no money. Without reforms, the funds will be blocked. It's right: Our countries need to enhance fairness and administrative efficiency by protecting the environment and mitigating climate change. But if the UN denounces that the reform of justice in Italy leaves environmental crimes unpunished due to too short prescription times, leading to substantial impunity for the ecoreates, who instead require complex investigations like the crimes of organized crime? If "simplification" becomes "deregulation", promoting unreliable and ineffective technologies such as CO2 capture and storage, incinerators, gas infrastructure, methane, producing more polluting and climate-changing emissions? If economic, social and territorial cohesion is not promoted, as required by Article 4 of the Regulation, but rather a competitive system of calls for tenders between municipalities amplifies the social and economic impact of the crisis, in particular on women in disadvantaged regions? The Commission must intervene to protect the weakest citizens, otherwise the RRF will not only be the tombstone of hopes of reversing the course of the Mezzogiorno and the disadvantaged regions, but will condemn the next generations to an unsustainable debt.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, first of all I congratulate the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteur. As a teacher of physical education as I am and as I will return to being, I believe that the European Union must and can put pressure on the Member States to reform their school systems, which provide for an increase in the hours and quality of physical education teaching from primary school onwards. Physical education must be provided by all national curricula and have a weight within the programmes. This is achieved only with teachers graduated in motor sciences, employed since elementary schools. Our children need quality teachers and programs that aim for harmonious psychomotor development. Only in this way will we have children who are more aware of their body and the space they occupy, more coordinated, healthier. Moreover, only in this way will we grow the citizens of the future, healthy bearers of values such as respect for others, gender equality and solidarity.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, first came the Lux Leaks and Europe said never again. Then the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers and Europe said never again. The Commission and the Council swore an unprecedented crackdown on tax havens, but today we are once again talking about another scandal, the Pandora Papers, and thanks to real journalism, investigative journalism. Yet the black list Non-cooperative jurisdictions, a key tool for putting pressure on tax havens, are becoming increasingly short-lived. Just yesterday, the European finance ministers removed three other countries; There are nine remaining, but the world's most famous tax havens for avoidance and money laundering remain out of it. The problem is political, but also credibility. With what credibility does Europe raise the flag of the fight against tax evasion, when two heads of government and a finance minister evade taxation? With what credibility they themselves ask the citizens to make sacrifices, they ask for the return of the austerity, but in the Council they oppose anti-tax haven measures, such as the common corporate tax base or the agreement on global minimum tax? This is not only a problem of tax justice, but also a problem of social justice.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have a minute and I will use it to make proposals to you. In view of the long time taken by Member States to quantify the damage caused by disasters, floods and fires, we propose at least to increase the percentage of the advance of the European Solidarity Fund by at least 30%. In the light of the IPCC report, I ask the Commissioner to draw up further recommendations, guidelines that redirect RRF resources, European Structural Funds on prevention, especially for the countries most at risk. We are at a crucial stage in the launch of the Cohesion Fund operational programmes, and it is still possible to do so. Because if countries like Italy allocate only 2 billion for hydrogeological instability, against a need of as much as 26 billion, it means that we must put more pressure on governments to make effective use of funds in the fight against climate change.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, funding for small-scale fishing vessels up to 12 metres in length, the drawing up of a plan for the development of small-scale coastal fishing and 25% of funds for the protection of biodiversity: These were some of the main demands that Parliament had approved with the aim of using European public funds to help those who really need them – the small-scale coastal fishing segment – and thus promote the protection and restoration of biodiversity in European seas. Unfortunately, we are faced with a text, once again, watered down by the Council which, as usual in a non-transparent manner, does the interests of the large fleet to the detriment of small fishermen and marine biodiversity. Public money cannot be used to support profitable businesses that risk further contributing to the emptying of our seas and must instead be made available to small-scale fishermen, the driving force behind the sustainable management of marine resources. I therefore call on my fellow Members to vote against this text: Parliament must send a clear signal of commitment to the defence of small-scale coastal fishing and the protection of biodiversity.