Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that cohesion policies are a pillar of the European Union and an absolutely ambitious and necessary challenge. What we want to remember is that the European Union, with all its institutions, must ensure that we grow and support what is already there and which is important in our socio-economic fabric, and in this case I am referring to small and medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized enterprises create cohesion, they are companies that make up our territory and in these years they will have to face increasingly important challenges and increasingly competitive moments. It is therefore essential, in addition to recognising this important role, to ensure that all calls for competition take this category into account in order to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises, which are already a fundamental context, can grow and build communities and thus also create cohesion within the European Union itself. So they must be defended to make sure that they do not lose what is already there. Not to mention that we will have to work hard on the taxation of individual Member States and also to ensure that there is no more dumping, which is very frequent in this period, and also states that have taxation where there are real tax havens.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in this important debate, I would like - with the short time I have available - to highlight three important points. The first point is certainly to think of a real reform of the treaties towards a Europe as a single, geopolitical, strong entity, and a reform in the liberal, federalist sense to have a really strong economy. The second point is to predict the 4th generation nuclear, because on this one could think of quickly obtaining a form of energy independence. And finally, let me consider small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent 100 million workers and which do not find adequate space in Europe for their growth because of bureaucratic oppression that stifles their agility. Above all, there are certainly very serious problems with access to finance and therefore we must work on this.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, there has been talk for some time now of a crisis in education systems, without ever wanting to admit that the problem is upstream and also arises from the training and working conditions of teachers. Lack of attractiveness of the teaching profession, lack of homogeneous continuing education programmes, significant geographical and didactic imbalance, mismatch between teacher supply and demand, not forgetting that school is now hostage to extreme bureaucracy and there is a lack of professional development, as well as inadequate remuneration. These are some of the scourges that afflict the profession and which must also be addressed at European level. The process of European integration must involve education systems closely, promote transnational mobility and the free movement of qualifications and skills, while at the same time protecting local history and identities. Only in this way will we be able to make our school great for our young people.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is undeniable that there is also a gender disparity in the European Union which has increased the impact on women of the recent energy crises. The report mentions aspects that should certainly not be underestimated and there are also positive aspects, such as support for women to enter the world of work in STEM disciplines, to name a few, but we must bear in mind that our credibility does not depend only on these great declarations of principle that we make in these Chambers. It depends and will continue to depend on the ability to translate our stated goals into concrete actions. Poverty now grips women more, and this is a statistic, but we must be very careful because it is Europe that is becoming poor and we must act united and one-way.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today is a crucial moment for our planet and for the future of the new generations. COP28 marked a fundamental milestone because we found an important agreement, in which a serious and realistic path was defined: Pragmatism, gradualness, neutrality and accompaniment are the polar stars of this agreement. Financial commitments have also been made to reach the target and, on such an ambitious path, fossil fuels also have a role to play in avoiding serious social backlash. The big news is that the theme of fourth generation nuclear has been introduced; to date, according to research that will continue, it is the cleanest source and presents the whole world with a great chance to achieve our ambitious goals. With the COP28 in Dubai, China and the United States have also returned to talk to each other. Now we all work together with great determination and join forces: Our commitment and our action today are the key to our future and that of the new generations.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are faced with a crucial choice between common sense and ideology. The Euro 7 proposal, as presented by the European Commission, risks stifling our automotive sector. We strongly support the compromise reached in ENVI to ensure a cleaner environment, listening to the needs of industry and thus safeguarding employment. The Council of the Union, with the support of Italy, has reached an agreement that reinforces this compromise. That is why we will remain firm in rejecting any amendment that would make this text more punitive.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to say at the outset that air quality, improving air quality and combating pollution are top priorities. However, I would like to submit to you our concern that the morphologies and geography of some regions have not been taken into account, for example Padania or Catalonia or the Netherlands - there are others that I could mention - and therefore he absolutely claimed, and I ask you to take into account, our minority position which presents some critical points of the Commission's proposal. Indeed, this proposal is based on an impact assessment flawed by structural errors affecting the feasibility of achieving the proposed limits due to the use of simulation models underestimating the actual values provided by the sampling points in 2020. The lowering of the values proposed by the rapporteur would therefore not be possible even with the application of the best available technologies. We really ask you, therefore, to take into account our real conditions.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we believe that it is essential to establish the highest possible standards of transparency and privacy for the protection of European citizens. We cannot compromise on the issues of human rights and individual freedoms. Sensitive data is a weapon and not only an economic resource, therefore, Commissioner, it is appropriate to achieve the highest objectives in terms of the protection of European citizens. Only then will we be sure to act in the interest of all European citizens.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, first of all a greeting to Coco's brave mother. The best way to deal with cyberbullying is to call it a social scourge: When we talk about cyberbullying, the tendency is to focus only on those who suffer the gesture, without dwelling on the multiple aspects of an enormously complex phenomenon. Cyberbullying obliges us to go, even legally, beyond the classic distinction between victim and perpetrator, because the variety of formats offered by a myriad of applications and platforms involves the branching and differentiation of this phenomenon. The short- and medium-term effects of cyberbullying are under the eyes of each of us and we must now also predict that this is likely to happen in the metaverse. It is essential to think of severe penalties, severe penalties to ensure that this European strategy to combat this phenomenon is effective. We know this, it is an ambitious goal and sets us a long-term plan. This is why we must involve all the actors involved: kids, families, schools, institutions and tech giants. Our goal is not just an educational goal, we are talking about a matter of civilization.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that this is a very important moment for our future. It is clear that there are conflicting actions regarding industries and sometimes the public interest, health, soil. I think we need to change the paradigm altogether: Money must no longer be the engine of our choices, but a vision that we must give to our children and future generations. Therefore, only by ensuring a European strategy based - as you mentioned, Commissioner - on scientific evidence, coherence, synergies with the environment, work, chemicals, water, soil and waste will we be able to ensure the full implementation of what the Commission is proposing. Eliminating eternal chemicals once and for all from the European production cycle is first and foremost a battle of civilizations. Ensuring that we live in a clean environment while protecting public health is the challenge not of the next decade, but of the next century.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we are discussing the EU-Armenia relationship and the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. As rightly pointed out in the resolution, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms are common values of democracy and the European Union still needs to address some important issues concerning the stability and security of the region. It is worrying to note the lack of leadership shown by the European Union during and immediately after the 2020 war. We are here to promote a safe, stable, peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus region, and the European Union must take responsibility for being an important player in this process. The situation in Nagorno Karabakh remains precarious with the blockade of the Lachin corridor representing a serious obstacle to freedom of movement and human security in the region. In conclusion, the European Union must do all it can to promote security and stability in the southern region.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today, when we talk about the financial context in development cooperation, we are forced to acknowledge a bitter reality. The fact that immigration is being rebounded in many Member States and that there are also such silly discussions between Member States is, I believe, the result precisely of the fact that we do not start from factual evidence and reality. Human beings, men, as long as they are hungry and have to escape from thirst, hunger, unfortunately from war and any other primary need, it is certain that they will seek the survival of themselves and their children and therefore also a safe haven in Europe. The fact that we are about to vote on this text, which is a balanced and timely report, adopted unanimously in the Commission, is precisely because we are aware that we need more development, more cooperation precisely... (The President withdrew the floor from the speaker)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, 'shoot him on sight': These are the watchwords of the Chinese police in the forced re-education camps for the Uyghurs. The shocking revelations about the totalitarian policy of persecution of this minority in China leave us no longer in doubt. For years, the Beijing regime has been trying to hide what we have been denouncing here in Europe for so long. Now that the evidence is clear and leaves no room for any hesitation. The European Union must move towards a policy of decoupling from the communist regime. Just do business with those with blood on their hands! Let us therefore return to favouring our economic and diplomatic relations with those who have always been our allies: The United States, the Atlantic Alliance and the Free and Democratic West.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Pegasus spyware affair is first and foremost a problem of credibility for Europe, for its values and rights, those that we would like to defend and therefore the rights, the values of European democracy and also of its governments. Let's face it, those who should have watched over the privacy and integrity of their citizens' data evidently did not. They have also been put on committees of inquiry by some national governments, but they have not drawn any conclusions. And let's face it, it's even more serious than our colleagues in here, and so their families underwent the same treatment. This is an attack on European democracy. Pegasus spyware cannot be declassified as a route incident. For all these reasons, I sincerely wish the European Parliament's Committee of Inquiry into Pegasus a good job. We do not have and will not have democracy without respect for our values, which have unfortunately been violated.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, freedom of research is increasingly under threat in various parts of the world today. According to the latest UN report from July 2020, university autonomy and reductions in higher education funds are on the agenda in different parts of the world. In Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan the violations are constant and often lead to the removal of teachers and researchers not aligned with the dominant political and religious thought. But we Europeans must not mistakenly believe that we are safe: pluralism of opinions and freedom of research have been two pillars in the construction of the European identity and its democratic institutions. In order for history not to turn back, we must recognize internal and external threats and act promptly to ward them off. Let's keep our guard up.