What Lucia spoke about.

Madam President, I see there Hilde Vautmans, with whom I have worked for almost a year on this. I think you say something very important: this vote tomorrow is going to say not only something about China but also something about us. The theme about China is 'What is the best approach?'. And this is what we'll see tomorrow in the vote. There are two ways: one is the confrontational approach that ca

Mr President, yesterday, Hamas announced that it had dissolved its own government and had agreed to give up its role into the hands of the Palestinian Authority. It's the beginning of a big change yet doubts and fear in this moment are bigger than satisfaction in the Middle East. The fear is that Hamas is going to apply the Hezbollah model: separation between administration and military wing. The

Madam President, is the war in Iran really about to be concluded? I'd like to share this question with you, because we don't have to fall into this trap. The agreement on the table is just a memorandum, two pages long, that agrees on a 60-day suspension. Just the right time for Trump – two months – to enter a voting campaign for mid‑term without having to deal with an unpopular war. The same 60 da

Mr President, this is the fifth time since 1978 that Israel intervenes in Lebanon. What is exactly the final scope of this continuous interest in controlling Lebanon? The explanation is to find in the text of the current negotiation between the two states. Israel has asked the government of Lebanon, as a condition, to disarm Hezbollah, while maintaining for itself the right to take all needed meas

Mr President, I think the latest thing about oil is the fact that OPEC has entered its first phase of crisis. Many of the countries producing oil in the Middle East are deciding to leave OPEC to have a policy that facilitates the major production of oil. The change of position, the decline of this once great institution, OPEC, has opened the lights on the fact that this war is changing completely

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I have never heard the word 'diplomacy' in my life - and I have had a long working life - as often as in recent weeks. Ursula von der Leyen herself said – I quote – that we must do everything possible to de-escalate and stop the conflict: But what is the proposal? How to do this de-escalation? How do you get it? We haven't been told. Let us also go back to di

Madam President, I'll try to be shorter than two minutes. I just noticed one thing: a long time ago, when we started this debate and things looked a little better, there was a very divisive mood in this plenary. Tonight, despite everything, Commissioner, I think we are getting there, to discuss the technicalities, the means, the money and the organisation. Thank you very much for being here, and t

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, months ago, when we began to talk about Europe's strategic autonomy, it seemed to many an exaggeration or even a sign of abandoning the diplomatic option. Today, several months after the discussion began, we find ourselves facing a new conflict in the Middle East, after the one in Ukraine, living proof that Europe is exposed to risk of attacks that now ar

Mr President, good evening, Commissioner. Good evening, fellow MEPs. I'm here just to say a few words to present the resolution that we will vote on tomorrow dedicated to the violation of human rights in Iran. This new resolution follows the important and comprehensive text on the brutal repression in Iran adopted by the European Parliament on 22 January. So, we have worked mainly to integrate the

Madam President, dear colleagues, today in Hong Kong, a long‑time publisher and pro-democracy activist, Jimmy Lai, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, at the age of 70. For an old man, this amounts to a death sentence. May I remind you that just last month, on 22 January, this plenary adopted a resolution on this important case. I believe it is essential to reiterate that the sentence consti

Mr President, dear colleagues, in recent months we have very often heard in this room many accusations about how slow and incapable of being strong and reactive the EU has been. Maybe we have been like this, but I think things are changing. On Iran, it seems to me that we have reacted swiftly. So this is the right moment for making our points: first, strong restrictive sanctions to isolate the reg

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the dossier we are discussing now highlights some key elements, I think. For the first time Europe is speaking, but is speaking not of rearmament but is starting from defence. Defence, I want to remember here, is a constitutional citizen right through almost all the countries in Europe. It is a genuine step forward, and we hope it will help pave the way for

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, EDIP was voted on in the relevant committees and widely discussed. I'm only here because I want to emphasize one thing for you: Parliament’s role in the process of building European defence. We must not hide the fact that the urgency procedure and the use of Article 122 by the Commission have profoundly limited the role of this Parliament in the governance of

Madam President, in 2025, Iran's inflation is up to 45 %. Youth unemployment is up to 20 %, while 30 % of the population is below the poverty threshold. Economic crisis due to the sanctions have reduced the regime consensus, and the defeat of Hezbollah by Israel has ruined Iran's major project of expansion towards the West. Iran is weaker than ever, and yet can still count on a solid alliance with

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is not at war at the moment, but the fact that there are European countries under threat and tensions requires a debate that can no longer be avoided. The war has changed and drones are the symbol of this change: the transition from the age of steel to that of the web, which poses new dangers with respect to which Europe is completely unprepared. We ne

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in the meantime, I will talk about why we need to defend the Palestinians at this time. The first reason is that they are a people harassed since 1948 and their suffering continues to reproduce tragedies. The second reason is that the war is not proving to be a solution for Israel either: After two years of applying all its military power in a small territory

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, together with Trump's proposal as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, we have finally also known what the project with which he presents himself with peace is. At a dinner at the White House he spoke about the Palestinians, saying that in their future there is a safe, but only voluntary, transfer. Netanyahu then made it clear what this transfer is for, bec

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, immediately after the ceasefire with Iran, China delivered to Iran itself a new supply of surface-to-air missiles, the famous SAMs, according to the Middle East Eye, news that has not been denied. Moreover, 90% of Iranian oil is destined for Beijing and is very important for the general prices of the world. All this to say that China is not the benign nation

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I will speak in Italian. You will forgive me if I speak not of tariffs but of Gaza. These two events actually respond to the same idea of politics: Trump's replacement of the public interest with the private interest. We all know that in six days President Trump will be in Jerusalem on his first international visit. And Bibi Netanyahu, his governme

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, while we are debating, rightly, our very important decision to prepare for the defence of Europe, Trump, Putin and Zelensky are, it seems to me, totally committed, and very active, to preparing the negotiating table. A table, from which I remember, we were expelled without even being warned, unless Minister Lubilius was. This is an incredible vulnus, it is the r

Mr President, Donald Trump presented himself as a pacifier and in a few weeks turned to be 'Mr Chaos'. But we Europeans should not be afraid of this. The truth is that the more that America withdraws into its nationalism, the more we can move into a space of influence greater than ever. In the Middle East, many influential countries are orphaned at the moment of any initiative: Lebanon, the Gulf c

Mr President, in these very hours in Gaza, dozens of people are hanging between hope and despair, both Israeli and Palestinian. It is our duty for us – all of us, beyond the ideology – as MEPs and as human beings, to help this short truce to become a real peace. Allow me to appeal to our High Representative: Ms Kallas, Europe on the issue of the Middle East has been passionate but distant. Our eff

Mr President, I'm just returning from the mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, so I think I can give, first, a little testimony. Some 3.4 million people went to vote on Sunday in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was a very competitive and very delicate vote for a country that is composed not of three peoples, but of three different ethnic ethnicities: the Serbs, the Croats and the Bosniaks. It was the Fri

Madam President, Israel has the right to defend itself, of course. However, defence cannot become – as Netanyahu said a few days ago – a project 'to change the face of the Middle East'. And yet this project is well ahead. Under the Netanyahu leadership, Gaza has been destroyed. The vast expanse of land, the property has been requisitioned in the West Bank, Lebanon has been invaded. This is not a p