Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Dalli, Minister, the gender gap in digital skills and opportunities is still too high in many countries. Most women, and not just in developing nations, do not have access to information, services and proper digital education. These circumstances constitute an obstacle on the road to gender equality, of the oldest, most disparate and most widespread type: exclusion or marginalisation from the labour market and thus from economic independence. Digital development can be an indispensable tool to enable women not to be forced to choose between work and family, to improve the quality of their lives and to promote advancement in the professions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Removing obstacles, therefore, is not an option, it is a duty and a political responsibility.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, with the ever-increasing importance and use of digital, it is increasingly difficult for citizens and businesses to keep up. New technologies contribute to economic and social development, but are accompanied by risks, insecurity and disinformation. Many small and medium-sized enterprises have been abandoned to themselves during the transition to IT management. Dedicating a higher percentage of the RRF budget to the digital transition is indispensable to give the opportunity to all companies to be part of a virtual network that connects and unites all member countries. Data security is also often underestimated. Informing and providing guidance on this issue is key to the success of this vision. Connecting member countries can and should serve to increase financial opportunities through guidelines and protocols that facilitate data exchange. Europe must be united in setting clear targets and setting the right paths to facilitate this unstoppable progress.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, about one in three women in Europe is the victim of physical or psychological violence, so it is clear that the laws we have are not enough. Preventing violence and protecting victims is what we have called for in this Parliament with the report on the impact of domestic violence, of which I was a co-rapporteur, and the report on the inclusion of gender-based violence among Eurocrimes. Today we can finally work on the first European directive on violence against women and we cannot miss this opportunity. Gender-based violence will never be defeated unless women are able to report it, which means securing themselves and their children and having legal protection and economic independence. We will not be able to prevent violence if the sentences are not effective and rapid, the sentences are certain and the courts are prepared to deal with this phenomenon with specialized personnel and exchanges between the criminal judge and the civil judge and until all schools work on the culture of respect, starting from the first classes. Women will never feel safe if first reception points, law enforcement and first aid personnel are not ready to protect them. This struggle must not stop, but must see us all united towards the one goal.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are more than 33 million people with diabetes in Europe and these numbers are set to increase. Diabetes is also a complex disease, because in most cases it is connected to associated pathologies: cardiovascular disease, kidney complications, up to permanent disability. At the base of the treatment of this highly disabling and widespread disease, whose cases are significantly increasing, there are diet, physical activity, but above all drugs. The European Union must encourage a fertile field for research, which must not stop, in order to make efficient medicines available to patients at affordable prices and to make our health systems more resilient, including through screening and prevention programmes. These must be the main objectives of the European commitment to improve the care and quality of life of the many people with diabetes and also of their families.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the report on Better Law-Making, which we are adopting today in plenary, is of fundamental importance in increasing the transparency, clarity and also adequacy of European legislation, for the benefit of citizens and businesses. In its role as co-legislator, this Parliament has a duty to streamline and simplify the legislation it helps to adopt. High-quality legislation ensures legal certainty and directly affects the competitiveness of the European Union, its territories and businesses. We need a more ambitious approach to removing obstacles and bureaucracy, to the benefit of the public interest and faster implementation of legislation affecting national economic and social realities. With our vote today, ladies and gentlemen, we are calling on the Commission and the Member States to make the legislative process and the system for transposing laws more accessible, proportionate and transparent. We face many challenges but also opportunities on our way to a stronger and more united Europe. Effective enforcement and enforcement of law in the Union can and should be our priority.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we must ensure that drought does not also dry up the budgets and competitiveness of our farms, which are a key sector for the economy, not only in Italy. This can only happen with the decisive role of Europe, which is called upon to launch structural solutions to ensure food self-sufficiency at Community level. Climate change and the resulting dryness of recent years are not only an Italian problem, but involve other European countries and for this they must be solved with joint action by the Union. We therefore wonder what measures are being taken in Europe to tackle the serious problem of drought, both economically and structurally.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, today's anniversary leads us to reflect on a phenomenon that constitutes not only a public and social emergency, but one of the most shameful violations of human rights. We come to this symbolic day with a tragic balance: Only in Italy in 2021 there is one femicide every three days. But anyone who thinks women are the weaker sex is wrong. Living a woman's life requires much more strength and determination than that of a man and often having to resist injustice, oppression, oppression and abuse. In a democratic society there can and must be no room for any form of violence against women, but this is achieved through a revolution in terms of raising awareness of the community and certainly cannot be separated from European and national support. The Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive international human rights treaty to prevent and combat violence against women, and while it is true that all Member States have signed the Convention, challenges remain regarding its ratification. Urgent action is therefore needed to put an end to the misinterpretations of the Istanbul Convention and to put the protection of fundamental rights, gender equality, security and justice at the heart of the European political agenda, in order to be able to say today: We do not leave you alone, we are there!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, I would like to thank Mrs Montserrat for the excellent work she has done and for taking account of the suggestions made in the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs, for which I was rapporteur. This initiative expresses the parliamentary will to ensure better prevention and response to future health emergencies, as well as to stimulate the development and competitiveness of European businesses. In this regard, it is crucial to maintain a robust, efficient and balanced European intellectual property system in order to encourage research and production in the Union and ensure that Europe remains innovative and a world leader. In addition, the strategy is patient-centred and focuses on key issues at the heart of the European legislative agenda in the coming years, such as the fight against antimicrobial resistance, rare and chronic diseases and paediatric cancers. I therefore welcome the report and call on all Members to vote on it.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is a central instrument in strengthening the European Health Union and a first, important step towards the European Health Union, which we have long hoped for. The pandemic crisis has shown all EU countries that health threats, such as COVID-19, do not affect borders or borders. That is why I can only express my satisfaction at the emergence of an Authority such as HERA, which will improve the Union's preparedness and response capacity to serious cross-border threats to health and make the necessary countermeasures and their distribution rapidly available. Clearly it is necessary for this Authority to be operational in the shortest possible time, but without this implying a reduction in the prerogatives of Parliament, which has an essential power of scrutiny and democratic scrutiny vis-à-vis the other institutions. The response to health threats, as this pandemic has shown, must be collective and the European institutions must continue to work together in the broadest spirit of collaboration and in accordance with their respective roles.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank Commissioner Dalli for her speech and all my fellow Members for their speeches. On such an important issue there can only be a wide-ranging and participatory debate. The file under discussion has seen the cooperation of all the groups, and I would like to thank them for their commitment and cooperation. The issue we are discussing today is a crucial example of the importance of a Union of law, especially in times like these, where European policy requires maximum cohesion. It is inevitable that such a sensitive subject will be discussed, but let us remember that the aim of the report must be to protect women, mothers and their children and to prevent and combat domestic violence and its harmful effects on children who are the subject of custody and custody decisions. In the vote, therefore, I ask my colleagues to reflect on the need to produce a letter free from political ideologies or considerations that are not relevant to the case, in order to protect legal certainty and the clarity of our institutional message. Today, the right of women and children to be protected and to live a life free from physical and psychological violence must be overcome. Let us make this report a further step towards a society in which no woman should fear abuse and ill-treatment for herself and her children and in which no discrimination and violence can be tolerated.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour for me today to introduce, with my co-rapporteur Mrs Kontoura, this debate on the own-initiative report on the impact of domestic violence and custody rights on women and children. The vote we are called upon to cast today, as the European Parliament, is of great importance, and I believe it is our duty to send a strong, clear and hopeful message to all women who have suffered and continue to suffer acts of physical, psychological and economic violence by their partners and who are fighting every day for their own survival and that of their children. Domestic violence is a serious and often hidden social problem, causing systematic physical and psychological trauma, with serious consequences for the victims and with a serious impact on the emotional, economic and social well-being of the entire family. The victims of this stigma are not only women, who suffer firsthand from the mistreatment of their spouse, but also children who often witness acts of violence against their mother, with very serious consequences on their psychological and emotional development. With this report, we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, all forms of domestic violence and violence against women, and we call for justice to be ensured for women and children, particularly in proceedings for the separation of spouses and parental custody. In too many cases, domestic violence is still neglected and court decisions involving shared custody or shared parental authority can turn into death sentences for women and children. This is also because criminal proceedings resulting from a domestic violence complaint are often treated in a completely separate manner from civil separation and custody proceedings. National justice systems should also have a college of professionals and experts, who can be leaders in judicial proceedings involving children and women who are victims of violence, to ensure that they are treated according to the most appropriate approach and to avoid further harm to victims. All this, however, cannot fail to start from a necessary revolution in terms of community awareness, as well as training and education against violence in all locations and which cannot be separated from community and national support. To this end too, in this report we call on the Commission and the Council to add gender-based violence to the list of areas of crime laid down in Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, taking into account the particular need to combat this crime on a common basis. With today's vote, ladies and gentlemen, we have the opportunity to demonstrate to all women victims of domestic violence who are not alone, that the institutions do not abandon them, but rather actively support them. This struggle has no political color, but it must see us all united towards the supreme objective of protecting fundamental rights, equality between the sexes, security and justice.