Debate contributions by Nicola PROCACCINI

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the outcome of the American elections will not change the relationship between the European Union and the United States of America. We have a bond of culture, history, blood and dreams that cannot be scratched by anything or anyone. The US elections will not damage relations with the European Union, but they have burst the "Brussels bubble". We are not used to celebrating the elections of others, yet the frustration of the European left deserves to be celebrated. High Representative Borrell, I hope that your funereal and sad tone is a child of the previous debate and not of this one now. My feeling is that you did not expect the victory of Donald Trump and you cannot understand it, you cannot understand how it could have happened, because the European left does not know any of those who voted for it. Indeed, those men and women are disgusting to you and you are not afraid to hide it: You don't know the workers of the rust belt, nor small entrepreneurs who fail and recover; you do not know farmers and ranchers in rural areas; You don't know the families who live every day in terror in big cities ravaged by drugs and illegal immigration. But you know the Hollywood singers and actresses, the CNN reporters, the academics of the Columbia University, None of them voted for Trump. The truth is that the people always have their own wisdom and the left is not able to understand it, neither on this side nor on that side of the Atlantic Ocean. We will have to deal with the new American administration without political prejudice. We know that US foreign policy has historically been much more stable than that of Europe. We do our part, strengthening the European pillar of NATO, relaunching our competitiveness without curbing it with the ideological excesses of the past years. In America a conservative Republican won, because the real revolution today is to preserve, not destroy: anywhere in the world, including in Europe.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, two messages came loud and clear from all the peoples of Europe five months ago: No more "green madness" eco-chic No more illegal immigration. We, who really believe in the word democracy, without having to write it in the name of the party or parliamentary group, think that the will of the people should not be betrayed. So far, the line has been followed in Europe. no borders on the left: We have had thousands of migrants die at sea, a million have not been repatriated, and our cities have been consigned to degradation and insecurity. I would say it's time to change course: It's time to govern immigration. Not everyone enters but only those who are really persecuted, who we can welcome with dignity and the possibility of integration. To do this, we must deal with the phenomenon of migration before it arrives on European territory. Connect Perez, outsourcing is already in the new pact. It is the reason why a dedicated economic fund has been set up and it is the reason why the new pact can be seen as a first small step in the right direction. Addressing the issue of migration outside European borders prevents migrants from paying thousands of dollars to hand over their lives to smugglers; prevents them, once they arrive, from becoming labour for the mafias; It prevents a socialist chancellor from deciding to restore the borders within the European Union, while, unbeknownst to German citizens, with their taxes, it finances NGO ships that fuel human trafficking in the Mediterranean. Helping the countries of origin and transit of migrants by promoting their economic and social development, asking for help from democratic third countries, such as Albania, is neither right nor left: It's just common sense. And this is what Italy began to do, obtaining results unimaginable until recently. Some socialist governments, such as the British or Danish governments, have finally understood this. Honestly, no one can know if and how much a new European immigration policy will work. For sure we know that it has not worked the one practiced to date, that is yours.

Madam President, colleagues, first of all, there is a mistake in the title and in the meaning of the debate proposed by the Greens. The Italian court ruling mentioned by the colleagues deals with something else. It does not call into question the Italy-Albania agreement. Any international agreement, of course, cannot be judged by a civil code. So next time, please colleagues, collect more accurate information or go back to school. Regarding any other proposal debates, I understand that there is a desire to discuss how to deal with the legal and illegal migration. Fortunately, a debate is already planned for Wednesday morning where we can compare our points of view for almost two hours. We will do it. You bet.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Orbán, we share several objectives of your programme. I only say a couple for reasons of time. The peoples of the European Union are experiencing a chilling demographic winter season, which must be addressed by caring more and better for the primary cell of any political community: the family. Immigration cannot be the solution to declining birth rates. On the contrary, if immigration is not carefully governed, stopping departures, collaborating with the nations of origin and transit of migrants, Europe risks imploding together with its heritage of civil rights laboriously obtained over time. We too believe that the European Union's green transition needs to be changed, and we are already beginning to see clearly the limits and problems that we had foretold. These include the loss of competitiveness, the loss of economic resources to defend the environment and the weakest social classes, but also the growing industrial and political dependence on an insidious regime like the Chinese one. Here, as a friend, I must also tell you what we do not share about your political project. We have an internal adversary and it is the progressive fury that wants to erase Western culture from within and with it the reasons for our being together. But we also have a much more dangerous external enemy, of which you do not seem to be aware. And it is the alliance between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, the so-called "chaos quartet", which is the antithesis of any Hungarian, European, Western patriot. The antithesis of freedom and beauty, of justice and democracy, of those values that define us and that we intend to defend, as the Buda boys of 1956 taught us.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is right to talk about competitiveness in this House today. It's late. I thank President Draghi for his valuable analytical contribution. I only regret that it comes later, indeed, because of the mistakes made during a political season, last year, dominated by the red and green lefts. For years we have asked to use common sense in pursuing a fair and shareable goal such as the conservation of the environment. For years we have struggled against measures that seemed furiously radical and short-sighted, looking at the international geopolitical picture. The result of those errors is in the Draghi report: a sudden, heavy, but not unexpected loss of competitiveness, which does not correspond to the benefit for the planet that we all would like. 2023 was the year with the highest global CO emissions2 This has always been the case, despite the collapse of the EU's emissions. We are the only major region in the world to have introduced a price on its CO emissions2This translates into an increase in production costs and the final price, in a market that is increasingly global but also increasingly uneven in terms of starting conditions. It has already been said: European companies are facing two to three times the cost of electricity in the United States, not to mention China, where the price of natural gas is five times higher than in the United States. Of course, with large investments we would still be able to change course, but if the European Union continues to self-sabotage its economy, it will be like wanting to empty the sea with a teaspoon. We need to come back to the awareness that environmental conservation, as well as social inclusion policies, are a privilege that only thriving and dynamic economies can afford. Even this morning, in the conference of group presidents, I happened to hear from the left words that betray a feeling of annoyance with economic competitiveness, as if it were something to stigmatize, to contain, to sacrifice on the altar of environmentalism, something sinisterly similar to the concept of "happy degrowth" with which we had to deal a few years ago. It is socialism that returns from the window after coming out the door in the last century. On the contrary, we believe that we need a self-limitation of European legislative and regulatory activity. Today, as yesterday, we believe in innovation, technological neutrality and the free market. We believe in human beings who, if left free to pursue their own happiness, make the world grow.

Madam President, Madam President von der Leyen, ladies and gentlemen, I want to immediately disappoint those who expect an indication of vote from the ECR: Our parliamentary group is made up of parties that do not renounce their national prerogatives and each will speak out on the basis of its own national interest. We are conservative because we defend the values that have shaped Europe, as well as Western civilization. But we are also conservative because, unlike others, we defend the founding treaties of the European Union, where it is written that the choice of the presidency of the Commission, taking into account the result of the European elections, belongs to the national governments and its ratification to the European Parliament. President von der Leyen, four days ago the Politico newspaper wrote that his fate is not in the hands of the European People's Party, nor of the European Conservatives or even of the Brothers of Italy, but it is in the hands of the great losers in the elections a few weeks ago: the Greens first, the socialists like Timmermans, but also the liberals dragged down by the débâcle Macron's party. He will understand that something is going wrong. We have nothing personal against her, mind you. For almost your entire term of office you have been forced to pursue the claims of the left, because the European Council, the Commission and Parliament five years ago were held hostage by a left-wing majority. No more today! Today, thanks to the result of the European elections, but above all thanks to the result in the national elections held in all the states of the European Union, our fellow citizens have overwhelmingly embraced the common-sense ideas of the centre-right. I think you should take this into account. We will remain what we are: people measured in tones, but firm in principles. Like that young university student of the Italian right, who has become a transversal symbol of justice and courage that you, President Metsola, rightly mentioned on Tuesday and whose 32nd anniversary of his cowardly killing will be celebrated tomorrow: Paolo Borsellino. To paraphrase one of his best-known statements: It's good to live for what you believe in.