Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the social market economy is a founding pillar of the European Union and is based on the principle that there can be no real economic development without social progress. I am a bit surprised, however, by the debate we are having today, because in reality we have talked about quality jobs in these five years, first because of the pandemic and then for the whole issue related to the change in the production models of the ecological transition and the digital transition. Yet today the right-wing forces want to tell us what their vision is, what "quality places" mean on our continent, where in reality they have abandoned the social market model and feed more than anything else the throwaway culture, in which poverty is normal and in which it is legitimate to enrich oneself at the expense of the weakest. I see this attitude again in my own country, in Italy, where the debate on the directive on the minimum wage and the principle that starvation pay is exploitation have been deregulated by the Meloni government as a non-priority issue for our country and for our workers. Instead, quality jobs are at the heart of the priority of the social dimension and the internal market and we, as Socialists and Democrats, will do everything to pursue these objectives.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to raise the issue of social conditionality in public procurement, which is an unavoidable condition for ensuring not only European and national labour law rules, but also fair competition within the internal market between European companies and between European companies and companies from third countries operating on our continent. It is absurd that the very political forces that claim to be defenders of the national interest do not support this measure – in fact they are not even taking part in the debate – thus allowing non-European companies, which make social dumping their main instrument of competitiveness, to benefit from our public money thus making unfair competition and putting European companies, healthy, honest and law-abiding companies, out of business. It is essential to reiterate the clear connection between small public contracts and their greater capacity for control by public bodies compared to mega-procurements, in which the worst forms of abuse or even infiltration of organised crime often lurk behind the smoky instrument of subcontracting. Access to public contracts of reduced amounts, in fact, support small businesses and craftsmen in the area, creating a strong link with citizens and local communities and thus becoming well-being, prosperity and added value for all. Hence, therefore, our request to revise the 2014 Public Procurement Directive, because only in this way will we have a useful tool for the growth of the real economy and a real enforceability of social and labour protections.

Mr President, Mr High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a historic period in which conflicts and numerous crises on both sides of the Atlantic risk destabilising Western democracies and reshaping the new geopolitical balance at international level for the coming decades. Our values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law are constantly under threat and make it more necessary than ever to strengthen transatlantic unity as a prerequisite for a prosperous and free world. Next year is crucial. The European and American elections require us to remain vigilant and cooperate together to counter dangerous Russian and Chinese interference, both in information manipulation and election interference. This is one of the common commitments that we signed as delegations of the European Parliament and the American Congress last December 1 in Washington. The European Union and the United States are natural allies. Our historical, political, economic, commercial and above all cultural ties represent an essential barrier against authoritarian regimes and the very bulwark of democracy, capable of guaranteeing a system of international relations based on multilateralism and security, but above all on the collective well-being and full realization of the human person.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 2010, when I first started working on European agricultural policies, I addressed the issue of generational renewal, especially that of women, as a priority emergency. Since then little has changed, because, despite millions of euros invested, the real issues that prevent our young people from entering this wonderful production sector have not yet been addressed. It's an obstacle course: those who do not have a family business behind them are often cut off, those who can leave must deal with competitor non-European countries that engage in unfair competition and environmental and social dumping. Training, in itself, is not enough. The real problems are the difficulties in accessing credit, the complexity of the market, the long distribution chains that erode profitability, as well as the exponential increase in business risk linked to natural disasters. CAP instruments are not enough. More legal and financial certainty is needed to enable every young person to imagine a prosperous future for themselves and their company. It is therefore necessary to listen to the demands of young farmers to build together new paths of sustainability, because they are innovators, they are able to develop that multidimensional role of agriculture in territories, in rural areas and in our communities.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the war in Ukraine has demonstrated Europe's serious dependence on plant proteins, which are essential for human and animal nutrition. For this reason, the European Parliament asks the Commission for a European protein strategy to ensure food self-sufficiency, reconciling it with economic, social and environmental sustainability. I consider it essential, then, that the resolution clearly expresses the concerns of ourselves, of the agricultural world and of millions of consumers linked to the marketing of synthetic meat, which would put millions of companies and jobs at risk and destroy the model of food democracy that, on the contrary, is at the basis of our European agriculture, making few multinationals owners of the patents of what we eat and breaking the millennial link between men and nature. We need to support the new technologies of genome editing, which have nothing to do with GMOs, as they improve plant resistance by selecting the best genes of the same species: This is an inescapable tool if we want to increase agricultural productivity by using fewer pesticides, less water and less soil. We therefore call for courage and vision, to innovate, without destroying it, the European agricultural model, so that it remains the driving sector of our economies and the heart of rural development, thus maintaining our leadership in the world in terms of quality, sustainability and healthy products.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing unprecedented developments in the world of work that require new protections and new digital rights. At the origin of the spread of mental disorders there are also job insecurity, social inequalities and devastating health phenomena, such as mobbing and burnout. Eradicating all this by offering certainty about the future, decent working conditions, fair wages and quality work is the best antidote to preventing risks related to mental disorders. In 2022, 27% of European workers suffered from stress, depression and anxiety. According to the ILO, 12 billion working days a year are lost for these diseases, worth USD 1 trillion, a huge figure, higher than our Recovery Fund. For this reason, it is essential to have European legislation on mental health at work that recognises mental illnesses as occupational diseases, also due to the pervasive use of artificial intelligence and algorithms, which in fact represent new employers today and which, opaquely and arbitrarily, establish every aspect of work, from recruitment to dismissal. At the same time, it is no longer possible to postpone legislation on the right to disconnect, which, as the European Parliament, we have called for several times, in order to protect jobs that have neither a place of work nor a fixed working time and that can generate mental illness linked precisely to dependence on being connected 24 hours a day. We could pursue real social progress only if the technology is oriented and used in an anthropocentric way and if the person is put in a position to work in health.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, your proposal to extend the authorisation of the use of glyphosate raises concerns for public health and our farms because it is mainly based on an incomplete EFSA study that does not investigate the relationship between glyphosate and additives and because it does not take into account the precautionary measures taken by many Member States, such as Italy, which prohibit its use near public areas. It is necessary to establish that glyphosate can be used only and exclusively as a herbicide for soil preparation and not as dried in all pre- and post-harvest processes. Numerous scientific studies have found consistent traces of it even in breast milk. The WHO's Cancer Research Agency classifies it as "potentially carcinogenic," and U.S. justice orders Bayer to pay millions in compensation to thousands of citizens. It is therefore unclear why the European Commission is allowing it to be used for another ten years, when, at the same time, authorisations for natural alternatives, such as pelargonic acid, have been blocked for some time and above all while we continue to import cereals from third countries produced with practices that are prohibited in Europe and that cause environmental dumping to our farmers and threaten our food security.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Schmit, this weekend I discussed with young people in my region how much in-work poverty affects their entry into the labour market. With regard to this issue, the right-wing forces of the European Parliament are pretending nothing, while the right-wing forces that govern my country are turning the other way as if the problem did not exist. Six million Italians live in the most complete poverty also due to record inflation, and most are workers. Member States must do their part by transposing the Minimum Wage Directive, which lays down criteria for wage adequacy, including that linked to the basket of goods and services linked to inflation. Many governments have done it, they are doing it, but not the Italian one, and for this reason our workers have seen the purchasing power of their wages fall by 22 % only in the last year. At European level, then, we need an extraordinary plan to combat poverty and precariousness. The resources of the Child Guarantee and the Fund for the Most Deprived need to be significantly increased and the budgetary rules need to be modified to allow the decoupling of social investment from the deficit calculation. Redistribution of wealth and social justice are not an ideology, but the glue of a healthy democracy.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, one year after the publication of the World Health Organisation report classifying occupational exposure of firefighters as carcinogenic, the European Commission is finally committing itself today to dealing with the 3 million firefighters, after repeated requests from us in the Committee on Labour. Their role, in fact, for the protection of our communities and our territories becomes increasingly irreplaceable to face the extreme consequences of climate change. Many people underestimate or do not know that, even decades after leaving their jobs, these workers are 300% more likely to get cancer without any health care, leaving entire families to their fate. We therefore have a moral duty, first of all, to have European legislation that gives firefighters a specific status that guarantees full recognition of the occupational disease, prevention and decontamination protocols, modern protective equipment, public insurance coverage and access to social and health services for the treatment of their physical and mental illnesses. Because those who risk their lives every day to save our lives cannot and must not be left behind.

Mr President, droughts, extreme weather events and energy dependence on non-European countries are showing us that the energy transition can no longer be postponed. It is very clear how high the social and environmental cost of the delays accumulated over the years, which are punctually passed on to the weakest subjects of our society, fuelling poverty and inequality. Today, 55 million European citizens, more than one in ten, cannot pay their bills. This shows that the energy transition is doomed to fail if we do not tackle it with ambition and pragmatism. The Social Climate Fund is therefore necessary for those households that do not have the means to make their homes more energy sustainable, but also for small businesses that cannot reduce emissions in road transport and buildings and therefore need to be accompanied by targeted policies and instruments. While the right carries on anachronistic battles and proposes spot subsidies, we socialists have found solutions and resources to allow everyone to bear the costs of the transition economically. This is how we think about the present and the future of companies and our citizens in order to leave no one behind.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, ladies and gentlemen, Parliament's report on the revision of the directive on European Works Councils sets out, in my view, one of the cornerstones of a new industrial relations system, which should characterise the European labour market. Parliament called for the further development of employee participation, information and consultation as prerequisites for a social market economy project. Those who, like me, have devoted many years of their work to the creation and smooth functioning of European Works Councils know what it means for workers to have the right – and not the possibility or a concession – to participate and be heard by the European Commission. management the undertaking on the decisions it intends to take, in particular those concerning employment levels or future prospects, in particular in the case of mergers, acquisitions and relocations. I firmly believe that European works councils represent the embryonic state of an evolution that will lead them to be the place to engage in transnational corporate collective bargaining. These are areas with great potential from the point of view of negotiation, which the directive with this revision can develop, provided that multinationals, however, assume a participatory culture of industrial relations and that they see these committees not as a mere legal obligation deriving from the directive, but grasp the true meaning of their function, which is to create quality employment and economic democracy.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, our farmers are on the verge of collapse. I give you some data regarding the inflation of my country which is Italy: +170% for fertilizers, +90% for feed, +130% for diesel, up to +500% for the costs of electricity to irrigate the fields. So I believe that the issue is not only that one in three farms is at risk of closure, but I believe that the very viability of the CAP is also at risk. That is why I believe that the proposal to bring forward its revision next summer is completely inadequate. So my request is this: I would like to ask you why you are not proposing a package of proposals now, before it is too late, precisely to limit the impact of inflation and tackle the devaluation of CAP aid, which risks burning 30% of its value, or EUR 85 billion. It is not a question, Commissioner, of reviewing the budget - as you have argued - but this can be done without changing the current structure of the budget, using the new own resources resulting from the taxation of emission allowances. Ultimately, it is only a matter of taking this political decision.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister Balaš, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union's insufficient action is condemning 18 million children to poverty and permanent social exclusion, and all this is happening in the almost total indifference of governments and institutions, which underestimate a dramatic situation, without having in mind the real repercussions on families and children. It is unacceptable that, in the face of the many crises we are experiencing, the Union is failing to provide itself with an adequate budget and instruments to guarantee decent living conditions for children living in poverty. The slogan on which President von der Leyen built her mandate, "no one should be left behind", after the initial enthusiasms, seems today to have left room for the restoration of selfishness and austerity, in which the life of a child amounts to a cost and his future rights to a negligible goal. This is why the Child Guarantee needs to be strengthened, bringing its budget to €20 billion for 2021-2027, while offering fast, immediate and effective access mechanisms to the funds. Every single delay, every single uncertainty, only aggravates the situation and precludes any possibility of human and social redemption.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, you have presented a very optimistic picture, you have tried to defend the indefensible, because in the twelve years of preparation for these World Cups in Qatar the European institutions and international institutions have remained silent in front of 6 500 dead workers, these are the data of the Guardian, and the rights of women, homosexuals, ethnic and religious minorities systematically trampled on. A silence that sounds like assent, but also like connivance. 220 billion have been allocated, an exorbitant amount, equal to one third of our Recovery Fund, the highest budget ever allocated for a world championship, perhaps with the intention of legitimizing any action to clean up the image of Qatar, world champion of denied rights. So I wonder what this discussion on human rights in Qatar is for today after the World Cup has already begun. I hope that this debate does not serve to wash the conscience of someone in the face of the most scandalous case of sportswashing, also defended by the president of FIFA who a few days ago said: We take note of the issue of rights, but now let's think about the world. Commissioner Schinas on social media yesterday even praised these World Cups and wrote "The European model of sport, an inspiration for all". So I would like to ask the Commission, in view of this situation, so that thousands of people have not died in vain: What are the relations that the European Union wants to establish with Qatar in order to bring this country to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of the person?

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the conflict in Ukraine is generating a world food war that threatens our food security and the possibility of guaranteeing food in the poorest countries. Fertilizers, whose price has increased by 200%, have become a rare commodity for farmers, while producers struggle to stay on the market or close due to high bills and shortages of raw materials. To lower the price and increase the availability of fertilizers it is necessary to set a cap on the price of gas to nip this speculation to the detriment of families and businesses. Natural alternatives such as legumes or organic fertilisers should be promoted. It is necessary to suspend the anti-dumping duties on imports of fertilisers and derogate until the end of 2023 from the European regulation on the marketing of fertilisers, because the compliance criteria set in 2019 today block our manufacturing companies. That is why the European strategy must be ambitious, able to respond to our farmers and also to prevent new famines, wars and poverty.

Mr President, Commissioner Schmit, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow's vote on the minimum wage directive is historic, because it closes the legislative process of the first truly incisive European law of social Europe, the labour law, in my opinion, more important than the last seventy years of our European history. I am deeply attached to this directive both because of my political history and because it represents the meaning of my mandate as a Member of the European Parliament. Seeing most of my amendments to part of this law is really a source of pride and satisfaction. But now the real challenge is to immediately implement it without hesitation in all Member States; we must end in-work poverty and unfair competition in the internal market linked to dumping salary. But not only: I believe that for countries such as my own, Italy, the minimum wage directive is crucial not only to guarantee everyone a decent wage but also to ensure a fair wage, which must reflect the skills and professionalism acquired by every single person working. This issue is very much felt by millions of young people who, due to indecent wages, are often forced to emigrate because they are denied the right to economic independence.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Vice-President, the Social Climate Fund will provide important support to vulnerable households and micro-enterprises, which have already been hit by the pandemic and are now even more affected by rising inflation and high bills. As a 5 Star Movement, we are satisfied, because this regulation recognises the 110 % superbonus for energy efficiency as a good European practice. A measure strongly desired by the Movement I represent, which is allowing thousands of citizens and businesses in Italy to face the energy transition with more confidence. At the same time, however, we must recognise that the EUR 72 billion planned for the Fund until 2032 will not be enough to drive a green, sustainable and inclusive revolution. More resources are needed and my proposal, Commissioner, is very simple: As provided for in its founding regulation, the scope of the European instrument should be extended to support SURE unemployment, in order to create an instrument capable of mitigating social crises, be they employment or energy crises. The invasion of Ukraine reminds us of the importance of energy self-sufficiency to be achieved thanks to a new mix based on renewable sources, as well as the need to involve our whole society. The Social Climate Fund, together with this strengthened SURE, can really enable us to achieve this extraordinary goal and really implement the Fit for 55.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Wojciechowski, the organic action plan can be an important tool for reconciling environmental objectives and European agricultural sovereignty, which are now more important than ever. But setting the target of 25% organic land by 2030, when several states do not even reach 5%, means two things: Either it's an excuse to create a watered-down organic that will fuel environmental distortions and dumping, or it's proposing something that is doomed to fail at the outset. In my country, in Italy, millions of farmers have already invested very important resources on organic and certainly do not want to compete with new organic products, the result of a bland or trivial European policy. It is certainly necessary to expand the market for organic products, but without putting them in competition with products with a designation of origin, which instead represent the excellences to be protected and not to be cancelled. No shortcuts, therefore, such as the exclusive distribution of organic products in public canteens, or the transfer of European funds intended instead for the promotion of agri-food products or the total absence of controls on organic products coming from third countries. So we would like a true organic, respectful of nature and that recognizes farmers a fair compensation and a fair profit.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, since the beginning of the war, there have been 4 million Ukrainian refugees in the European Union, including more than 1 million minors, of whom we are talking today, with regard to their path of entry into Europe and all the actions we are taking to welcome them and obviously protect their rights, which, as has been said, are fundamental. However, I would like to stress a problem that is particularly dear to me, namely the fact that all these children and young people, students, are forced, among other things, to stop all study and training activities. So, I think that if we really want to, as it is true that we want to protect young people fleeing war, we must go beyond welcoming and also work on integration. In my view, it is essential to organise humanitarian academic corridors and other solidarity initiatives in order to welcome Ukrainian teachers and students to our universities. So, in my opinion, we must make every possible effort to ensure that dialogue and relations between the scientific community, universities and students on the run are never interrupted. That is why I believe that we must promote a European strategy to guarantee the right to continuity of education and university education, both for young refugees who are in the Union and for young people who want to flee and come to the European Union, through the implementation of an extraordinary programme, a "Erasmus4Ukraine" for example, providing for the possibility of enrolling for free in this year's course and above all promoting a small derogation, which is the derogation from the learning agreement between universities, which evidently in this period is not possible because many teachers and many professors unfortunately are at war. In this way, therefore, it will be possible to promote the recognition of educational qualifications and credits acquired in European universities, thus representing a fundamental element for young Ukrainians, also with respect to their future participation in the reconstruction and rebirth of their country. The greatness of our European political project has always been to put before everyone the need to unite peoples and build together widespread well-being and peace.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, Putin's unjustified and unjustifiable war against Ukraine is showing us that food pressure and famine are also political weapons and negotiating issues. That is why a strong and cohesive response from the European Union is urgently needed. We must help Ukraine, a country with a strong agricultural vocation, not to interrupt its production and to supply it with food, working on the construction of food corridors together with humanitarian ones. We must unleash our productive potential to achieve the highest possible degree of food self-sufficiency, while at the same time preserving those social and environmental sustainability goals that are themselves the fundamental tools to achieve our food sovereignty. Finally, we have a responsibility to feed those third countries, I am thinking, for example, of those in Africa and the Middle East, which depend on Ukrainian agriculture. Already unstable and fragile regions that could become new hotbeds of tensions and conflicts with unpredictable consequences. Preventing hunger and famine is not only a moral but also a strategic imperative to ensure a peaceful future for all of Europe and for the entire planet.

Madam President, Presidents, ladies and gentlemen, the peace that we have all taken for granted in Europe today is no longer the same. Peace requires four essential conditions: truth, justice, love and freedom. This phrase of Pope John Paul II today is more relevant than ever. If Putin is trampling on all four of these conditions, on the contrary, we must bear witness to them, with all our political, diplomatic and moral strength, so as not to slip into a new devastating world conflict. Pursuing the truth, advocating for free journalism and never lying to citizens. Pursue justice and punish war crimes committed in Ukraine. Love, welcoming Ukrainian refugees with dignity, and freedom, helping the Ukrainian people to defend themselves from bombs but also accompanying them on their way to the European Union. We show by facts that we are different from barbarism and we work for peace in Ukraine. At the same time, the European Union must take a new step forward. Let us close the Stability Pact once and for all and approve a Energy Recovery Fund against expensive bills and for investments in renewables. We show once again that when the European Union is needed, it is there and it is serious.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, with the report we are about to vote on, the European Parliament establishes, among other things, the principle of 'zero tolerance' for deaths at work. A massacre that only in my country, Italy, sees the death of four workers on average a day. As a 5 Star Movement we welcome this relationship; thanks to our amendments, all of which have been adopted, fundamental principles have been established, such as the single and coordinated European approach, which is essential to protect health, but also how to eradicate the most scandalous forms of dumping carried out on the skin of the workers. The European strategy "zero deaths at work" cannot be limited to a mere declaration of intent, but must include adequate funding, clear and monitorable objectives and indicators, and binding mechanisms to ensure the health and safety of all workers. It is absurd that, when the European Union monitors the economic and social performance of the Member States in the context of the European Semester, it does not take into account key indicators such as accidents and deaths at work, with a view to their progressive reduction. Health and safety can no longer be considered a optional, but an inalienable right of every worker, as well as the cornerstone of a just and civil society.

Madam President, Commissioners, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the European Semester should focus on social priorities: on education, skills, combating youth unemployment, combating in-work poverty, for which the minimum wage directive needs to be adopted as soon as possible. In the Committee on Employment I voted against the report because, in my opinion, it does not take due account of the aspects I have just mentioned. It absolutely does not take into account the fact that the pandemic is currently devastating us from an economic and social point of view, moreover in a very particular, atrocious context, where precisely this conflict that has just begun can seriously put our economies and, above all, our democracies at risk. We of the Five Star Movement consider it absurd that in such a complex economic and social context, some politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels insist on defending the principles of austerity that have done so much harm to millions of citizens and businesses. We therefore strongly reiterate the need to revise the Stability and Growth Pact, to amend the fiscal rules and to adopt a policy that is truly open to green and social investment, free from anachronistic budgetary constraints. Only by fundamentally changing our system of governance will we be able to create a Europe that is truly player authoritative and resilient global, able to cope with any internal and external threat.

(IT) Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in Italy there are 1 200 deaths at work per year, on average three people a day, a real daily slaughter. These losses add up to 8,000 deaths per year from exposure to carcinogens in the workplace, which occur in silence and absolute indifference from institutions, the media and society. At least 5% of these malignancies are due to workplace exposure to carcinogenic substances; only 20% of these cancers are identified and recognised as such, with the effect of destroying not only the lives of those affected, but also their families, often completely abandoned to themselves. The agreement we are about to vote on strengthens the levels of protection against carcinogenic substances, in order to protect workers and prevent the formation of cancers. And, finally, I say that we do it with a different approach, because from the pandemic we have learned that health cannot be considered a cost, but a fundamental investment for individual well-being and the common good. Then never as in this circumstance does social justice merge with the inalienable right to health and dignity, an indispensable premise for a truly fair and sustainable recovery, which leaves no one behind.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the agreement reached in trilogue is crucial because it guarantees a new CAP that is complemented, for the first time, by a green architecture and social conditionality, but I think that the real challenge begins tomorrow. Member States will have to be able to incorporate the new principles into their national strategic plans, accompanying thousands of small farmers, especially young people and women, to innovate and make their production sustainable by guaranteeing their fair income. This is why the alignment of the CAP with the Green New Deal It will need to combine legal certainty with ambitious, realistic targets and monitoring. Social conditionality will have to defeat the caporalato and reward those who create quality employment, allowing the deduction of labour costs in the calculation of the capping. It is now time to extend the country of origin requirement to all products, reject misleading labelling schemes such as Nutri-Score, ensure a strong external projection of the CAP, ensuring reciprocity of environmental, health and social standards in trade agreements. Only by bringing together the local and global dimension, as well as the three pillars of sustainability, can we truly strengthen the agri-food sector, making it the vanguard of the green and social revolution that the new Europe intends to represent.