Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the silence you have just heard is the silence of millions of women who live every day: is the silence of fear, humiliation, isolation; It is the silence of those who no longer have a voice to ask for help. But we must break this silence with strength, determination and concrete action. The numbers are terrible: One in three women in Europe has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. And we know that behind these statistics there are faces, stories, families destroyed: They are mothers, women, sisters, daughters, friends. They are people who demand justice, protection, security and attention. And we representatives of the institutions have and must have the duty to defend them, to be their voice, their strength and their hope. Every year, Parliament organises the Gender Equality Week to take stock of achievements and identify new measures. As Vice-President in charge of the initiative, I invite everyone to take part, contributing ideas and reflections. We must ensure that those who denounce are believed, those who suffer find refuge and those who commit violence pay without mitigating circumstances. We need to educate: Women's dignity is non-negotiable! There are no traditions, religions or ideologies that can justify even a single act of violence. We will not stop our efforts until every woman is free to live without fear.

The Minutes of today's sitting will be submitted for Parliament's approval at the beginning of the next sitting. If there are no objections, I shall forward immediately the resolutions adopted at today's sitting to their addressees.

Motion for a resolution on the misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758 by the People's Republic of China and its continued military provocations around Taiwan (2024/2891(RSP))

Motion for a resolution on the situation in Azerbaijan: violation of human rights and international law and relations with Armenia (2024/2890(RSP)).

The next item is the Commission statement on the protection of the oceans, persistent threats to marine protected areas in the European Union and their benefits for coastal communities (2024/2888(RSP))

The sitting has resumed. The Minutes of yesterday's sitting and the texts adopted have been distributed. If there are no comments, the Minutes shall be deemed to have been approved.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the skills gap risks holding back our development and penalising Europe's competitiveness, and gender competitiveness in particular, continues to penalise women's potential, especially in strategic sectors such as technology. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, closing this gap in STEM sectors could lead to the creation of an additional 1,200,000 jobs. On the occasion of the European Year of Skills, in Italy the Meloni government introduced, with Law 187 of 2023, the National STEM Week, with the aim of raising awareness and stimulating the interest of boys, and especially girls, towards these disciplines. It is a good practice and therefore can inspire the work of other member countries. In Europe, on the other hand, the European Commission has promoted the Pact for Skills, an initiative that we consider important, which calls on public and private organisations to join forces and take concrete actions to improve – especially also retrain – people in Europe. But it is not enough: there is a need for a genuine skills union, in which access to key disciplines is fair and accessible for all, and training for the retraining of less attractive sectors. We must ensure that skills acquired in one country are easily recognised in all Member States, promoting mobility and job inclusion. Only in this way can we face the future with confidence and strengthen competitiveness in Europe.

The next item is the Commission statement on EU action against Russian shadow fleets to ensure full application of sanctions against Russia (2024/2885(RSP))

Before proceeding to the next point, I would like to announce that, pursuant to Rule 47(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, the Presidency has declared three proposals for Union acts admissible: one concerning the classification of the activity of military personnel, police officers, prison officers and private security guards as dangerous professions in the Union, referred to the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs; one on the need to amend Union legislation to protect households, businesses and the self-employed from rising fuel prices in Europe, referred to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, as the committee responsible, and to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, authorised to deliver an opinion; one on the need to reduce the cost of access to housing, referred to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, as the committee responsible, and to the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, which was authorised to deliver an opinion.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, businesses, large and small, workers, parliamentary trade unions throughout the political spectrum, Draghi and Letta are all calling for a decisive simplification of legislation and bureaucracy. The Commission has taken its first steps, but it is necessary to go beyond the treatment of symptoms and act on the causes. In Italy it is estimated that the annual cost of bureaucracy for companies is around 60 billion euros, equal to the average annual salary of almost 2 million workers and 3.3% of GDP. A shadow tax that distorts the allocation of resources and reduces the overall productivity of the economy. We need to reduce redundant rules by 25%, which is a realistic target to be included in the future Industrial Competitiveness Pact. The principle of "Once only" should become the norm, avoiding unnecessary duplication of data for businesses in administrative procedures. The internal market must function better, with more uniform procedures for doing business, investing, innovating and thus fostering growth. The future of Europe depends on our ability to work concretely, listening to those who work on the ground and must work miracles to find resources and be able to make investments.

The next item on the agenda is the Commission Statement on the Prevention of drug-related crimes, their effect on European citizens and the need for an effective European response [2024/2853(RSP)].

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the lack of decent, sustainable and affordable housing is increasingly worrying the citizens of the European Union and many families are facing excessive housing costs, which are the main expense at the expense of other essential needs. In addition, especially in Italy, there is the problem of illegal occupation of housing. There are currently around 30 000 squatted public-owned dwellings in Italy, in addition to another 20 000 squatted public or private houses, for a total of 50 000 properties. President von der Leyen herself included the housing emergency among the challenges to be addressed, proposing for the first time a European plan for affordable housing, doubling the investments in affordable housing planned under cohesion policy. At present, Regulation 1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down provisions applicable to the European Regional Development Fund does not support housing investments, unless they are linked to the promotion of energy efficiency or renewables. I therefore believe that the European Commission should review this approach, providing for greater flexibility in the financing of renovations or construction of new social housing.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, disinformation is an ancient phenomenon that affects everyone, regardless of political orientation. With the rise of information sources and online platforms, manipulating the truth has become easier, generating confusion and very risky behavior. European and national authorities must take a neutral approach to tackle the problem and protect freedom of expression, a fundamental pillar of our democracy. The use of artificial intelligence in news production leads to new risks and we must pay attention to the sources used. European legislation provides a solid basis for targeted actions and, together with the European Digital Media Observatory and the shield proposed by the President of the Commission, will allow us to better monitor the digital environment, reducing the impact of disinformation and limiting foreign interference. However, we must support publishing and the entire publishing chain with new resources and rules, also to take into account all the technological transformations that have occurred and properly protect journalism and copyright.

The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on "The reintroduction of internal border controls in a number of Member States and its consequences for the Schengen area" (2024/2819(RSP)).