Debate contributions by Lara MAGONI

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the protection of minors online is a responsibility that we cannot postpone: In Italy alone, online crimes against children increased by 99% in the first six months of 2024. Ensuring the safe use of platforms means determining who can access them through effective age verification mechanisms, while leaving this competence to the Member States, while respecting their cultural and social specificities. But technology is not enough, security also passes through knowledge. Today, only 46% of parents feel truly prepared to protect their children online: digital literacy, simple tools and parental control intuitive. An informed adult can make a difference. Finally, we cannot ignore the exploitation of minors in the commercial content of influencer, and sometimes of the same parents. Using them to gain visibility or profit is unacceptable and exposes them to avoidable pressures and risks. Protecting children online means safeguarding their future and we have a responsibility to protect them.

I believe that motherhood for a woman is a right, but above all a gift. I am 56 years old, I have been a widow for twelve years and I have not been able to have children due to illness. So, what she says I find it out of place, in the sense that every woman, if she chooses to become a mother, is a mother, and if she has problems to become a mother and needs assistance, she must be supported to ensure this path.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this report is presented as a document on gender equality, but in reality it ignores the real needs of women and mothers. Behind the language of rights lies the classic European ideological agenda, which replaces concrete solutions with abstract slogans, forgetting those who work every day, raise their children and face the challenges of life. The numbers speak for themselves: Abortion is mentioned 33 times, sexual and reproductive health 25, LGBTQ people 21, emigrants 10, while the words "mother" and "children" barely appear. Is this really Europe's priority? No. We need to ensure decent work, security, birth support and concrete services for families. To meet today's challenges, motherhood must be recognised as a right. No woman should give up becoming a mother. Women do not have to choose between career and motherhood, but be supported in both paths with concrete tools to reconcile work, family and personal life. Let us stop and put the concept of traditional life and family back at the heart of European policies.

(IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive is a fundamental instrument for protecting European cultural diversity and ensuring fair competition in a media sector increasingly dominated by large companies. player foreigners. Without this protection, we risk losing control over our cultural policies and seeing European productions marginalised. The data speak for itself: in 2023, 69% of cinema admissions in Europe concerned US films, while 85% of time spent on video platforms is concentrated on a few US giants. This predominance represents a concrete challenge to our ability to sustain a truly European and pluralistic audiovisual market. Defending the directive does not mean closing ourselves off to the world but preserving our cultural identity in a global context. At the same time, we must avoid escalation useless and maintain an open dialogue with our transatlantic partners. Protecting European culture is a responsibility that concerns us all and requires decision, balance and foresight.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Micallef, the European Union has limited competence in sport and, precisely for this reason, every time we discuss it, we need an extraordinary commitment. The opportunities to underline its value are few, but valuable, and I want to acknowledge to all political groups the sensitivity shown on a strategic issue. The European sports model is based on values that anticipate competitions: participation, inclusion, respect, fair play and solidarity. It is not just a race towards victory, but a path of personal and social growth. In this document I wanted to focus on the irreplaceable role of volunteers, the need for greater rights for pregnant and postpartum athletes, real accessibility for people with disabilities and a concrete strengthening of funds for the sport component of Erasmus. That said, there are two nodes that we can't ignore: The control of athletes' salaries risks becoming a discriminatory measure, unparalleled in other areas, and the environmental adaptation of events and infrastructure, however important, could turn into an ideological battle, distracting us from the concrete priorities of sport. Sport is much more than a show, it is health, social redemption, growth. Let's defend it with passion, concreteness and with the determination it deserves. Long live the sport!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow we shall be voting in plenary on the mid-term reform of cohesion policy, which Vice-President Fitto strongly advocated, and to which I sincerely applaud the attention given to the issue of thehousing and for the ability to update cohesion policy to current challenges. The housing crisis is now a very serious phenomenon: almost 9% of households in Europe spend 40% of their income on housing and around 14 million households live in overcrowded conditions. It is clear that we can no longer consider it a marginal emergency, it is a social priority. Insert thehousing One of the objectives of cohesion is to offer concrete tools to disadvantaged territories, young people and families who too often have to give up building a future. But European funds will also need to go hand in hand with private capital to build decent and accessible housing and create new jobs; Only in this way can Europe really affect people's lives, instead of getting lost in ideological policies such as those of the home. green.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there are silences that cry out: Those of millions of children trapped in images that never fade, replicated endlessly. It's not just a crime right away, it's a life-long sentence. The directive we are debating is a necessary step because we live in a world where digital technologies, if not governed, become ruthless instruments of abuse. Today the threat has the face of artificial intelligence, the voice of an avatar, the deceptive form of a deep fake. This content will be recognized as child pornography. Whoever creates them, spreads them or possesses them will be punished. I wholeheartedly welcome the abolition of the statute of limitations. Too many victims speak only as adults. Justice must also be late, because pain has no end and neither their rights. Digital platforms, in line with the DSA, will play a key role. Those who allow dissemination are co-responsible. Protecting children must be our priority. Every hesitation is a betrayal, every silence a pass for evil.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, last April, in La Hulpe, the declaration on the future of the European Pillar of Social Rights was signed, with the explicit aim of creating social and economic progress, ensuring equal opportunities for all and quality jobs, and reducing poverty and inequalities. It is curious to see how these issues, which must be central to the EU agenda, a year later have been completely overshadowed by the results of the crazy ideological policies. The data speak for themselves: in the sector automotive Some 56 000 jobs are estimated to have been lost in Europe and car production in Italy has fallen by 23% in six years. At the same time, the gap between income and housing costs is becoming increasingly clear: Between 2010 and 2022, the average EU income grew by less than half compared to house rental prices, without taking into account the costs that European citizens will have to bear once the Houses Directive enters into force. green. The disastrous consequences of European policies are amplified for people with disabilities, who are the first victims of the economic and social crises that the EU had set out to solve. Last but not least, the figures for young people are pitiless: As of March 2025, the unemployment rate stands at 18.7%. We cannot therefore allow these trends to continue without concrete action or for the actions taken by the EU to be dictated by an exclusively ideological vision, which penalises our citizens.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are debating women's rights and I would like to focus on the episodes of unprecedented gravity that took place last weekend in Italy, where, including in my Bergamo, the dummies of the President of the Council, Giorgia Meloni, the first female prime minister in the history of the Italian Republic, were set on fire. This act cannot be justified: It is an episode of very serious violence, which transcends satire and becomes a very dangerous instrument of incitement to hatred towards women. They try to attack a woman who, instead of being a target of violence, should be seen as an example of how strength, merit and ambition can allow anyone to achieve their dreams. Giorgia Meloni represents millions of Italian women who believe in their potential, in their independence, in the right to aspire to great goals without being stopped by discrimination and prejudice. And all this happens in the most deafening silence of the left and the institutions. Would it be with this violence and intolerance towards Giorgia Meloni that the left intends to defend women's rights?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the DSA was born with the ambition of safeguarding democracy from the dangers of the digital world: disinformation, hate speech and online manipulative campaigns. However, the promises of this law are clashing with the difficulties of its application on the ground. Freedom of expression risks being sacrificed in the name of increasingly invasive regulation, while a diametrically opposite approach is looming in the United States. We cannot address the problem of disinformation as a purely technical issue: It is a political and cultural issue. We need to invest in digital literacy, making citizens aware of the dynamics online, without resorting to an excess of rules that would end up undermining the democratic values we would like to protect. The real risk is that the Commission will act too slowly, allowing disinformation to shape public debate before the authorities can intervene. The DSA must remain a tool to empower, not to control, as the left would like to do, clouded by the non-existent fascist danger throughout Europe. The real answer lies in balancing technology with our democratic values.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we can do more, we must do more. People with disabilities face invisible and concrete barriers that exclude them from employment opportunities: Architectural barriers, prejudices, stereotypes and the lack of adequate support are just some of the elements that limit the access of disabled people to the world of work. Work is one of the experiences that gives value and dignity to the life of every person; It is not only a means to earn a living, but also an opportunity to grow, to feel part of a community and to develop skills. People with disabilities, like everyone else, have dreams, ambitions and talents that deserve to be recognized and valued. We can no longer afford to leave anyone behind, every person has the right to feel part of a society that recognizes the value of diversity. The future we want to build is a future in which every person, regardless of their condition, has access to the same opportunities, in which there is no discrimination, in which everyone's abilities are valued and in which work is a right for all. Let's fight together for this!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, proper information and an impartial, plural and transparent media system are fundamental pillars of European democracy and culture. One of the most pressing problems facing the European Union is disinformation and fake news online, which constitute a growing threat to the democratic life of our country. It is essential for the European Union to develop an incisive and targeted strategy, able to guarantee citizens free access to true information, fighting everything that wants to distract from the reality of things. An equally serious risk must be recognised: to turn the fight against disinformation into a pretext to silence dissent or target political opponents. Often the measures taken to combat the fake news end up limiting public debate, censoring opinions that do not conform to the dominant thinking, as happens in Italy and in several Member States. This attitude not only undermines the pluralism we want and need to defend, but risks further eroding citizens' trust. Our challenge is to strike the right balance between the fight against disinformation and respect for human rights.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, violence against women is a tragic reality, which knows no borders, which takes place at home, on the streets and in the workplace. It is a social and cultural scourge that does not allow us to remain silent and turn away but urges us to reflect and act with every possible action, so that respect for women and the fight against violence become a guiding principle of our society. Behind every number there is a face, a story, a broken life: These are women, mothers, daughters, people with dreams and projects abruptly interrupted by violent individuals. I would like to express a prayer for the victims of femicide, without forgetting the women who, in silence, suffer genital mutilation and psychological violence. At the same time we must face reality and, as our Prime Minister Meloni recalled today, sexual violence is carried out with a greater incidence by immigrants, most of whom have entered Italy irregularly. We need to act, we need hard and concrete penalties. Only together can we succeed in building a society in which every woman can live with respect and security.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, humanly speaking, I would like to express my total indignation and shame at what the Uyghur people in China have been suffering for too many years. More than one million Uyghurs are locked up in real concentration camps, where they are subjected to torture and forced labour. They suffer a constant violation of human rights through strong birth control and religious persecution. China is carrying out a real genocide, which has as its ultimate goal the extinction, not only cultural, of the Uyghur people. This morning, in plenary, Hungarian President Orbán, democratically elected by his own citizens, was the victim of instrumental attacks by a political part of this Parliament, which calls him a fascist. The same Europe that sells off entire sectors of our economy to a communist regime, which constantly tramples on the human rights of people who do not align themselves with single thinking. And all this is done in total silence, a silence no longer sustainable, made of pain and suffering of human beings who die in indifference.