Debate contributions by Mario FURORE

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, when we talk about online piracy, we are not just talking about sports or big platforms. Let's talk about the future of European culture. Piracy affects everything: films, series, music, books, information and especially affects those who work there. Behind a work there are workers, often invisible, with precarious contracts and too low compensation. Culture needs investment and stability in an already fragile sector. Piracy takes away resources and makes it harder to create new works. And it is also a matter of common sense, because no one would enter a cinema or a museum for free and illegally. Online, on the other hand, this culture has spread that everything must be immediate and without costs and it is wrong. This is why Europe must act in a concrete way, with simple and clear rules. The Digital Services Act It was created to make a simple principle real: What is illegal offline must also be illegal online. Yet, in live piracy cases, EUIPO data from the last two years shows that enforcement is still too slow to be effective. Protecting culture means protecting work, creativity and therefore our democracy.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a click today is enough to steal a person's identity. With the deepfake, Artificial intelligence can create fake videos and audio to humiliate, blackmail and destroy a life. At the same time, on too many platforms and social networks, pornographic and hateful content spreads quickly. Younger people are the first victims of this aberration of our times, because what happens online does not stay online, but enters their lives, marks them. In Europe we have the rules, but we do not really apply them, they remain only on paper and the platforms continue to pretend to control themselves, while generating profits on the skin of the weakest. Today we are at a crossroads: Either we leave our digital lives in the hands of a technological oligarchy, or we defend citizens and democracy. Because the virtual and the real are not two separate worlds. You have to take care of the words, you have to take care of the digital identity. We must make sure that the social space remains a democratic space, without space for the deepfake, for pornography, for false and provocative content. And this Parliament must give a clear signal. It is necessary and must be taught to the great technological giants what democracy is.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, academic freedom is under attack, not only in authoritarian regimes, but also in countries that call themselves democratic. Just think that in the United States the recent executive orders of the new Trump administration have frozen billions of dollars for research and censored areas of knowledge, such as climate change and gender issues, and all this because we are hostage to an ideology. And today here we denounce a very serious fact: A French researcher, traveling to a conference in Texas, was blocked and expelled from the U.S. after his critical messages to Trump were read at customs control. An act of political repression disguised as national security. TheAcademic Freedom Index It shows a disturbing decline and Italy, unfortunately, is not immune, because we are witnessing political interference and structural precariousness that undermine the autonomy of our universities. We call on the EU not to remain silent and to step up its commitment to academic freedom.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, anyone who is a father or a mother in a Member State must be a father or a mother in any other country of the Union. This principle, which should be the norm in Europe, is not, however, respected in many countries, demonstrating that a Europe of rights has yet to be born. For more than two years, the European Certificate of Parenthood has languished in a Council drawer and has not been approved. This serious obstruction undermines the best interests of the child, who should be the star of any European regulation. Two million children today cannot travel freely in our Union because their identity and parenthood with their parents are not recognised. There is no more time to waste: if there are countries that for ideological reasons oppose their veto, we hope that the rest will proceed by activating the enhanced cooperation mechanism, taking a decision of civility and respect for the fundamental rights of the EU. And Italy, we hope, can be part of this group of countries that looks to the future and does not look to the Middle Ages.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, one in four children in Europe today lives in poverty. Then there are children whose parents are not recognized, such as those of rainbow families and children who, despite being born here in Europe, are not European citizens. Today, the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, must not be a mere circumstance: Our real goal must be to combat all forms of physical, psychological and digital violence, through laws that combat poverty and social exclusion to promote more rights and more integration. For this reason, the 5 Star Movement proposes the Ius scholae, a draft law aimed at promoting the integration of foreign minors through citizenship. In conclusion, I would like to hear from this Parliament a self-criticism: You voted theausterity This leads to cuts in kindergartens and then in words we defend all the rights of children. Let me tell you this: What hypocrisy!