Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, what are the first human rights actually denied around the world? Pope Leo XIV explains it very well. The first is the right to life, trampled on by the wars we see every day and in the suppression of nascent life. Religious freedom, often denied above all to Christians, is the most discriminated category in the world. Freedom of expression, sacrificed on the altar of a new Orwellian neolingual. These are the first rights to be protected at all costs. Leaving aside instead the ideological constructions that unfortunately are present in this report and that have been repeated by someone in this House. Here, then, ideological constructions empty real human rights of meaning and in this way what could have been an instrument of justice instead represents yet another missed opportunity.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, artificial intelligence without bioethical stakes is creating a new front of abuse: fake images, fake videos but real faces, with innocent people and increasingly minors at the center. With a few clicks you can generate sexual material or even child pornography, but the violence is real and the consequences are even more so. Material that circulates and escapes control, feeds the nets of lurers and culturally normalizes abuse and exploitation. Technology, in particular artificial intelligence, can be a positive tool only when it is guided by man and institutions, but not only, it is not enough, only when it is inspired by shared values and limits also on the ethical, not only legal, level. So, let's take a step back: What is the cultural model that we want to defend and pass on? If the answer is a society without moral limits, as someone in here would like, then AI becomes uncontrollable. Instead, the only way is to inspire ourselves and inspire our laws with the deepest and most deeply rooted Christian culture.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is from this often deaf and disoriented Chamber that I would like to thank His Holiness Pope Leo 14th, because with a beautiful speech addressed to politics and diplomacy he has brought back the light, brought clarity and outlined the path that this European Union should also follow if it wants to save our Europe. He spoke of the danger to our freedom of expression, of the danger of the culture of death and reminded us that we must always support life and the family. He said that we are called to defend the most fragile, even when they are still in the womb. And he denounced that danger to religious freedom, not only around the world, but also here, in Europe. And that is why I believe that we should align ourselves with these priorities and we should ask His Holiness to be able to come here, to the European Parliament. It is never known that his words of light, his words full of faith and hope can awaken some conscience and chart a path that Europe seems to have lost.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, here we are, once again, when it comes to the rule of law, use this argument to attack Hungary and all those who do not align themselves with your unique thinking. You use it as a political club to try to silence all those who do not think like you, using the excuse of public funds. And this is also what the Commission does, denying funds, for example, to the Federation of European Catholic Family Associations or asking for money back from the World Youth Alliance, not because it has used the money in a negative way, but simply because it defends man and woman, because it defends the dignity of the conceived and fights to defend life always, what should be the true values, but that you no longer accept. Behold, yours is discrimination, you are intolerant and we have discovered you. That is why we really call for transparency and fairness, because you cannot talk about the rule of law, if you trample on the dignity of nations, subsidiarity and the European tradition. If we want credibility, we need equal rules for everyone, because we stand for freedom and pluralism, but you obviously do not.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, our cities cannot be held hostage by crime, gangs and drug dealing. There are those who think they can destroy entire communities without consequences and, as in France, even hit and kill those who have the courage to oppose. It is time to say enough – firmness and an iron fist against those who sow fear and degradation to return parks, streets and neighbourhoods to families, children and the elderly. To protect young people, lives and the future, we must act without hesitation: means giving more tools and more powers to law enforcement, strengthening controls, hitting the trafficking networks at the root and ensuring certainty of punishment; It means controlling borders and preventing criminals from finding easy ground, working decisively and with clear rules. Freedom and safe public spaces, in fact, are a priority and for this reason we cannot let the violent rule. We, in fact, choose the state, the law and security. We want safe cities and we want them free from death dealers. And to young people we want to remind them every day: Drugs only bring pain, death and destruction.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we discover with immense surprise - so to speak - that Europe has handed over its industrial sovereignty to China. We make an astonished face, as if it were not the result of years spent following the follies of Greta Thunberg, years in which the EU imposed how to produce, which cars to buy, how to live, making decisions that tied us hands and feet to someone else. Meanwhile, in China they invested and secured control of the strategic supply chains, which we gave them. We are dependent on their raw materials because our citizens have been forced to use technologies without ensuring, before, that we have control and sustainability at the supply chain level. A strategic masterpiece, in short! Demand the transition, but without the necessary resources and becoming dependent because of an ideological Commission and convinced that regulations are enough to change the world. And today we have to kneel down to get what we need. If Europe really wants to be autonomous, it must stop being a teacher and start thinking in a forward-looking way. The world is not waiting for our debates: We'll change our ways or we'll end up in a dead end!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the rented womb is a form of violence and slavery: It transforms life into a commodity, motherhood into a contract, and the woman's body into an instrument. And on the left, even today, this seems to be of no interest at all. Behind it is always the usual injustice: The one who has money buys, the one who needs sells, and selfishness to the detriment of women and children triumphs. And let's be clear: There is no altruistic surrogate: there is a market of over 22 billion that fills the pockets of unscrupulous clinics and associations; There are children, torn from the womb. Italy, thanks to the Meloni government, had the courage to make the surrogate universal crime and now Minister Roccella has proposed to the UN an international coalition against the rented womb. And I hope that this appeal will also be taken up in a transversal way, because a child can never belong to the selfishness of those who want to fulfill their whim. And it is also so, ladies and gentlemen, that women defend themselves: with deeds, not with proclamations, beautiful words and then applause for aberrant practices, which want them enslaved and exploited.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is enough to treat Africa as a field of competition between powers! Others are already doing it and very quickly. Instead, we must begin to consider it as a strategic ally and not just a problem to be managed. Africa is not just a continent of needs: We need to work together to share growth, security and stability. It has 1.4 billion inhabitants, which by 2050 will become almost 2.5: average age 19 and an estimated GDP growth potential of between 4 and 5% per annum. The EU still remains the largest trading partner and investor, but our share is shrinking every year. In 2000, we accounted for 36% of African trade. Today we are below 25%. We have in fact delivered our market share to others, such as China. So, either we come back as protagonists or we will be forced to be irrelevant. We therefore follow the path of the Mattei plan and do not repeat the mistakes of the past. We need cooperation that generates value for both continents, true, based on investments, infrastructure, energy, training and not on aid dropped from above or, worse, managed by opaque multinationals. It is also necessary to prevent illegal immigration at its root and therefore not charity but strategy, not assistance but alliance and, at the same time, not invasion but cooperation. According to the Commission’s data, every €1 billion invested in productive cooperation – such as the one Italy is putting in place with the Mattei plan – can generate up to 60,000 new jobs and 1.8 points of GDP. These are numbers, not slogans, and they must become the basis of our method. Consistency is needed: We cannot talk about cooperation and then impose models or conditionalities that do not respect the sovereignty of our interlocutors. And let me say it clearly: Africa will not wait for Europe! Either we will be protagonists or we will find ourselves spectators of the changing world. Italy has noticed this urgency: Now is the time to follow us.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, agriculture is the economic and social heart of Europe. Men and women who every day, with sacrifice, guarantee food and future to our communities. And let's be clear: Without farmers, there is no Europe. We need to ensure less bureaucracy, fair prices, income protection, origin labelling, support for animal husbandry. And on this you begin to take the right direction. In future agreements, we also demand reciprocity. Those who sell in Europe, in fact, must respect the same standards that apply to us, because we cannot accept unfair competition. Our supply chain is also the safest, most sustainable and most transparent. All over Europe, farmers are the first custodians of the land and they are a garrison of sovereignty and freedom and for this they ask for respect. On the other hand, we ask the Commission: Is this the direction you want to take or is it that of the 20% cuts and the lack of listening? Will the primary and irreplaceable role of farmers be recognised? And to a part of the left we say: Enough of the ideological attacks on wine, meat and our good, just and sustainable Mediterranean diet.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are aware of the importance of the rule of law and respect for our fundamental values, but only when it is not used as a political club to target governments that are indigestible to the left and to single-mindedness. This happened first with Poland, then with Hungary, sometimes even with my Italy, because often those who do not align with the single thought are criticized. We, on the other hand, want a Europe of free peoples, which can be self-determined; We want a Europe in which peoples and governments are free to defend traditional and normal values without being blackmailed. Because we really want a Europe in which governments are elected by the people, unlike a left that often fills its mouth with democracy but does not respect it at all.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, immigrationism and globalist ideology are a disaster for Europe and for the whole world. The desire to eliminate nations, identities and differences represents a destructive dystopia: It is in theory and is unfortunately proving itself in practice. For too many years unscrupulous speculators, such as Soros, and human traffickers have enriched themselves regardless of who dies at sea, regardless of social clashes, disorder and loss of roots. This vision damages the peoples who suffer from immigration, but also the people who move and the countries of departure themselves. Italy, in fact, is doing so much despite the unworthy attempts to boycott the left and a certain part of the judiciary. And we must and will do even more with regard to returns, opposition to illegal immigration and bilateral agreements. Europe follows us, because, if we want to preserve who we are, we must guarantee everyone - as Pope Benedict XVI said - the right not to emigrate, the right to live in peace in their own land.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, while the great powers are challenging each other for domination of the globe, often regardless of human lives, the red blood of innocent Christians is flowing unceasingly. Violence, abuse, murders against priests, women, children and the elderly have now become a sad normality, from Syria to Lebanon, from the West Bank to battered Africa, Christians have seen hatred and massacres against them grow day after day. It is no coincidence that Christians represent the most persecuted category in the world. For the children of Christ, martyrdom for the faith has become daily. The last example is the massacre at the church of St. Elijah of Damascus, perpetrated in that Syria that has not yet passed ten years of civil war, where those who marked the houses of Christians rule in order to be able to identify and kill them scientifically. What do we need to see before we act? It seems that Christians are not interested, and Europe is concerned with everyone but Christians. Do we have to endure this suffering for so long? Do we have to wait any longer before Europe acts? Let us act, or the Christians will disappear one at a time, also because of us.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I fully agree that the Budapest demonstration taught us a great lesson: Someone's freedom is in danger, someone's ideas are discriminated against, some people are negatively labeled by those who want to impose their ideology. That's true. In Budapest, political representatives gathered from all over Europe asking to close the mouths of those who do not think like them. They participated freely – without being arrested by the villain Orbán – trying to meddle in internal affairs, in a demonstration in which blasphemous symbols, messages of hatred and discrimination against Christians and against public decency were displayed. Someone wants a law that limits freedom of speech and expression to those who simply want to testify to their faith and natural law, and promote the family founded on the union between a man and a woman. You're right, you're right: Europe needs to learn the lesson. As usual, like your communist ancestors you defended yesterday, those who want to eliminate freedom are on the left.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, once again in this Parliament we are trying to invade the sovereignty of the nation states. He attacks Hungary, which simply wants to protect its children and its future from ideology. gender, hypersexualisation, excesses and deceptions that risk undermining the free and innocent growth of children. But why don't we think about the real violations of freedom? For example, on June 4 in Brussels, two pro-life activists were arrested for peacefully exposing signs that read: Children are not born in the wrong body. No violence, no provocation, no obscene acts in a public place, unlike what sometimes happens in other demonstrations so dear to the left. These people simply asserted a trivial truth. What does the European Parliament do about this? Deafening silence. Anyone who demonstrates the reality of the facts is censored. Those who believe in those theories, which Pope Francis called the "most dangerous ideological colonizations of our time", are favored, financed and promoted. Behold, let us be indignant for this. Enough with the ideological attacks on a member country like Hungary, just because it does not align with the unique rainbow thinking of certain grey bureaucrats.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, scandalising, violating and raping the smallest and most innocent is one of the worst crimes that can only be imagined. We must be outraged and disgusted by child abuse, and we must firmly do justice at all costs. Predators exploit new technologies, hide in the shadows and leave indelible wounds in the lives of children. Stricter penalties, more effective instruments are fundamental, but it is not enough. We have to prevent this. We must create a society in which the words of those who claim that pedophilia is just another sexual orientation are no longer accepted. We must realize that the hypersexualization of children and young people, the free access to pornography, which increasingly becomes an addiction and a pathology, the propagation of the ideology of enjoyment at all costs and ideology gender They don't help us fight this scourge, they propagate it. Children must be left alone in their purity and innocence. And it is our primary task to be on the side of the children, at all costs.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, reciprocity: Europe and its farmers need reciprocity. We can no longer tolerate the import of food and genetically modified organisms banned in Europe, products that damage our biodiversity, risk endangering our health, disregarding the precautionary principle and, above all, bringing unfair competition. The same rules that apply to our entrepreneurs must also apply to those who want to import from us. Respect: Europe also needs respect for institutions and the will of the people. If the democratically elected Parliament votes on objections every month and the Commission continues to ignore these indications, we cannot be surprised if people lose trust in the European institutions. It is therefore time to change course, ensuring reciprocity and showing the respect due to this House.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we must aim for truly resilient water management, balancing environmental sustainability, food security and the competitiveness of the agricultural sector. In fact, extreme weather events, drought and inefficiency of networks, with losses in some areas exceeding 70%, are putting many sectors in crisis. That is why we must give courageous and timely answers, recognizing the positive role of agriculture in integrated water cycle management. Investments are needed in more efficient, invaded infrastructure, in storage basins with pumping systems and in new agricultural practices with low water impact such as TEAs. Water, moreover, in agriculture can not be considered only as a consumption but as a strategic resource that generates value. Finally, we cannot entrust the management of water exclusively to the market, given the negative experience of the wrong gas choices. We must manage water as a public good to ensure food sovereignty, water security and social justice for our communities, our farmers and our citizens.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, driven from their homes, marched for hundreds of kilometres and finally murdered on the side of the road; Men, women and children have been raped, beaten and massacred by their tormentors for ethnic and religious hatred. We remember today the tragic Armenian genocide of 110 years ago, when 1.5 million people were massacred by the Ottoman army. The Armenian genocide was, as Pope Francis said, the first great persecution of the twentieth century, carried out precisely in one of the cradles of Christianity to the detriment of the first Christian nation. It is right to remember this martyrdom, but it is not enough. Memory, in fact, is honored with action and today we must act to continue to be at the side of our Armenian brothers and to protect all Christians in general. Too many, in fact, continue to die, today as then, simply for their faith. May the memory of the Armenian martyrs give courage to a Europe that must defend with pride and a sense of responsibility those who today continue to be persecuted.