Debate contributions by Salvatore DE MEO

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in recent months the issue of competitiveness has been on the agenda, especially in this House. But we read from the recent Letta report that 75% of dangerous products in circulation in Europe come from third countries and this is a worrying increase. You can well understand that this not only puts at risk the competitiveness of our businesses but also the health of our consumers, to whom we must guarantee safe products with strict controls, in particular those purchased on the market.e-commerce, platforms exploded during the COVID period. We must take urgent action to combat the excessive presence of products from third countries, which through platforms can easily reach millions of users in a very short time. This situation creates unfair competition that penalizes our companies, which are instead obliged to comply with increasingly stringent rules, while many products are imported without the necessary controls. Particular attention should be paid to toys, or drugs, because they are aimed at children and people in need of care. We need to ensure safety standards. In this context, the customs union can obviously do much more and we hope that, of course, the reform that has been initiated can be carried out to ensure stricter surveillance of imports, protecting our market and above all our citizens. Only then can we ensure fair competition and a future of growth and security for all.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Letta report, together with that of President Draghi, arrives at the beginning of this legislature, which I would like to see become reformatory, ambitious, courageous but responsible, so that the European Union is no longer a spectator in a global scene but becomes a protagonist. And we have the tools to do it: a single market that in recent years has not only been an instrument of integration but has allowed our economic growth and prosperity, an instrument that must be simplified from a bureaucratic point of view, but above all strengthened, to further express its potential and face new opportunities. Just as it is necessary to achieve a single energy market, a financial market that obviously makes it possible to guarantee conditions of competitiveness. So we have important challenges ahead of us, for which only a strong single market can guarantee us a future that lives up to our climate, social and productive ambitions.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today's debate follows and is linked to yesterday's debate on floods. And just last night, in the region of Emilia Romagna, Italy suffered a violent flood that caused over 1 000 displaced persons and showed us once again the devastating impact of climate change on our increasingly fragile territory. This dramatic event reminds us that we can no longer put off concrete and incisive action to address climate-related emergencies. Well, then, the choice of President von der Leyen to entrust the Commissioner for the Environment Jessica Roswall also with the delegation of water resilience. This shows his attention on a now crucial issue, but also the strong concern that we must express with respect to a natural resource, indispensable, irreplaceable, but unfortunately not infinite. During the last legislature, Forza Italia called for a debate in Parliament and obtained a commitment from the Commission to take concrete action to prevent and mitigate the dramatic consequences of this phenomenon. The agricultural sector will be the most penalized, because it obviously affects productivity and jeopardizes our autonomy and food security. We are at the beginning of the new legislature and I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate my call for a concrete European infrastructure plan for the use, reuse and storage of water, so that this disaster can be tackled effectively. At the same time, we need to speed up European legislation on the use of assisted evolution techniques, which are very different from GMOs, to develop new crops that are more resilient to new pathogens, but also to water scarcity. The European Union demonstrates a strategic and courageous vision in tackling the water crisis, because only through strong commitment and coordination between states will we be able to ensure the protection of natural resources and the sustainability of our economies.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the pain and suffering that millions of Venezuelans are experiencing under the Maduro regime cannot and must not leave us indifferent. The European Union must not remain indifferent, but must make its authoritative voice heard in a firm and clear position regarding a situation destined to turn, if action is not taken immediately, into an international and humanitarian crisis. For our part, the Italian government, also because of its strong ties with Venezuela, has immediately expressed its deep concern about an electoral outcome without any legitimacy and, through the intense diplomatic work of Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, we are urging each other to get to create a strong and coordinated response also at international level. The concern about what is happening in Venezuela, unfortunately, is not limited only to the lack of electoral transparency, for which we insist on asking for clear and verifiable results, but also extends to the systematic violation of all fundamental rights, from arbitrary detention, torture and persecution to freedom of expression and information. It is a moral duty for all of us to support Venezuelans in their legitimate expectations to see their vote respected and to be able to live in a context of peace and justice, free from intimidation and repression, guaranteeing for themselves and their children a future of opportunity, prosperity and democracy. We must insist on putting pressure on the Maduro regime and guarantee our full support to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected, but above all that democracy prevails over dictatorship. Europe should do its part, use its diplomatic strength, but do it today, otherwise tomorrow we will be complicit in an unacceptable injustice.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the conclusions of the strategic dialogue on agriculture have once again confirmed how vital the agricultural sector is for our Europe and, if necessary, we recall the resilience that our farmers have shown during the pandemic. This document is the part to start a programmatic discourse, which lays the ambitious and indispensable foundations for a sector that is not only an economic pillar, but a bulwark of food and environmental sovereignty, an increasingly strategic sector to ensure our competitiveness and autonomy, even though – allow me – Mario Draghi’s report did not adequately take this into account. The People's Party shares many of these parts, because there is a pragmatic and realistic approach, a vision that focuses on the farmer, innovation and the fight against climate change, where, however, sustainability cannot be understood only from an environmental point of view, but also from a social, economic and productive point of view. We must stand by our farmers, increasing their negotiating power, guaranteeing the principle of reciprocity towards third countries, facilitating the simplification of rules and procedures for access to funds, looking above all at young people, small and medium-sized enterprises and women, who still have too many difficulties in their commitment to agriculture. We are playing a crucial game for the European Union and this document is a first positive sign, which I hope will be followed immediately by the appointment of a strong, credible, authoritative and pragmatic Commissioner, who sees agriculture and the environment as allies and not as adversaries. We cannot get lost in dangerous ideologies as in the past, which have proved useless "I want to, but I can't".