What Stefania spoke about.

Once again, this Parliament is wasting its time discussing the rule of law and democracy in some Member States, forgetting how democracy is applied within it, where there is an illiberal and undemocratic health cordon aimed at silencing entire political groups. We cannot accept lessons of democracy from a certain ideological left that champions human rights but denies the possibility of participat

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the issue of medical devices in Europe is very important and very topical. In recent years we are seeing a shortage of these devices: companies in the sector have very, very high production costs and need cutting-edge technologies. For this reason, unfortunately, they are discouraged from producing these life-saving devices, even with regard to chi

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, when we talk about the health of workers in the workplace, we are touching on issues that do not have a political colour. I was rapporteur for the fourth revision of the directive we are debating today. In the fourth revision, we managed to include reprotoxic substances in the directive. We had a very good result. The directive was adopted by a

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased: Today we are dealing with a subject that is very dear to me, which was born thanks to my motion for a resolution. Finally, in fact, we can discuss the working conditions of all firefighters in Europe, a very important category, always ready to intervene to our aid. Category that unfortunately operates very often in difficult c

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I come from the Lombardy region, which has been the most affected, not only in Italy but also in Europe, by COVID, and from a province, Brescia, which has been brought to its knees by this virus. 190 000 people died in Italy and more than 2 million in Europe. Unfortunately, when the pandemic broke out, no European country was ready to tackle such a phenomen

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I am particularly concerned about violence against women. In recent years, I personally have been active in a series of initiatives to try to help women who denounce their perpetrator, their aggressor. Unfortunately, the figures in Europe on violence against women are alarming to say the least. It is estimated that one in three women has experie

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, when we talk about care and carers, the numbers are very clear: There are 6 million professional carers across the European Union and 50 million "informal" carers, who are not recognised by an employment contract. Nearly 80 percent are women who, in addition to providing care, also have to work. Unfortunately, there are still huge disparities betwe

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have listened very carefully to your speeches. I believe that this report was a due act towards all European citizens who over the years have contracted cancer in the workplace. I thank the Council, I thank the Commission, I thank all my colleagues. I sincerely thank the former President for the work we have done together. Thank you Lucia! Today together we ha

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, finally after more than a year of work, I am honoured to be here today to present the fourth revision of Directive 2004/37/EC on the protection of workers from carcinogens and mutagens. It has been a long and sometimes complicated work, but I have acted with dedication and commitment in making the amendments to the directive for which I am the rapp

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Madam Commissioner, the fight against cancer is a battle that must see us united beyond our political differences. For my personal history, being a member of the BECA committee has been a great honour indeed. This, however, must only be the starting point to fight cancer with determination. However, one thing is the attention given to prevention, treatment, e

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in 2020, the European Parliament received more than 1 500 petitions, a number which is significantly higher than in previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to this increase: 209 petitions related to hospitalisations were examined by the Committee. This is certainly a sign that there is concern on the part of European citizens about public

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are an estimated 90 000 asbestos-related deaths in Europe every year, which is still too high when we consider that asbestos was banned in Europe in 2005. In fact, there are still many old buildings that contain this carcinogenic and harmful to health. It is therefore our commitment to ensure that the removal and treatment of this material ta

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, petitions have always been an instrument for all European citizens to participate in Community policy. In fact, petitions are a useful means for people with disabilities to make proposals for their rights. Through petitions, many disabled people have recently contacted us, reminding us of the problems they face every day, such as difficulties in em

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there are over 10 000 platform workers, the so-called riders, in Italy. There is talk of a turnover of 900 million euros. There are more than 100 000 of them in Europe, and it is an ever-expanding and easy-to-access job for everyone. However, people engaged in this type of work, most of the time are very young guys, they have to work very long n

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the ageing of society is one of the most difficult challenges facing Europe in the near future. Europe's population is slowly decreasing and it is estimated that by 2070 it will account for only 4% of the world's population. Demographic changes and fewer births are leading to the depopulation of entire areas, especially rural and mountainous areas. On the one