What Paolo spoke about.

20

May

2026

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Reviewing the ETS system to support European competitiveness (topical debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, of course, reading in the same ETS line - therefore, a tax - and competitiveness does so much as a short circuit, it does so much as a paradox. However, on 15 July the revision will come and this Parliament will be able to decide which side to stand on: whether to be on the side of the productive sectors or whether to continue to advance the idea of a Europe that is self-flagging like no other player on a global level. Eurozone production – industrial production – peak, energy costs two or three times more than in the US or Asia and what is the answer? Instead of reflecting on the ETS, the ETS is even doubled: maritime, transport, heating. So, the paradox seems obvious. With ETS2 on the way, the cost will end up on businesses and Europeans, but this Parliament will have a choice from 15 July, and I hope it does well, before the factories are closed.

29

Apr

2026

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Danger of normalising relations with Russia, including its participation in major cultural and sports events (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, sport, music, art and culture have always been vehicles, instruments of dialogue between peoples. However, Commissioner - I tell you this as a representative of the Veneto Region in the European Parliament - I consider your words serious, because this is a phase in which we need to open, not close. You have, in part, betrayed the Olympic spirit, because there is a sacred moment in which weapons must stop and peoples at war must dialogue with each other. I think it remains a disturbing side that I see in this title: The danger of normalizing. But normalization is preparatory to ensuring that dialogue between peoples resumes, that the terrible conflicts are concluded. It is a conflict, this, in which we all know who is the aggressor and who is the aggressor, we clear the field of misunderstandings. However, reading this title, I believe that this Europe always needs an enemy to make sense of itself.

29

Apr

2026

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Topical debate requested by a political group (PfE) (Rule 169) - Commission interference in democratic process and elections (topical debate)

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the umpteenth episode of the "festival of hypocrisy" airs, where everyone has forgotten the hours that this Plenary has dedicated, denouncing how bad things were in Hungary, but this obviously considered that it was not a violation. Have you forgotten all the money that was given to the complacent press? Have you forgotten those governments that you took by the neck simply because they were not friends of Brussels? But in this debate there is great news: The Hungarian people have finally earned your respect. But remember that respect for peoples must always be due and not only when people vote for what you want. It is unfortunate in this debate to have the confirmation - but this is nothing new - of a People's Party that has now been reduced to the crutch of left-wing groups. But from this debate, gloomy tints emerge for the future. Next year we vote in Italy, next year we vote in France: I think that democracy from today's debate has so much to fear.

25

Mar

2026

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Energy security, independence and supply in the geopolitical context - ensuring market stability and affordable energy for industry and citizens (debate)

No, we don't have to. Thanks for the question. We must not accept blackmail, we must think of Europe, of European consumers, of European industry. And we must also have the lucidity to reason not in ideological terms, because we will get out of this state of dependence if we have the ability to reason on an energy mix that is flexible, where renewables increase and maybe even see the reduced bureaucratic burden. But above all, the issue of nuclear, the issue of gas and the issue of expanding the energy mix and having plans B and alternatives I think it is a solution that we cannot ignore for the future.

25

Mar

2026

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Energy security, independence and supply in the geopolitical context - ensuring market stability and affordable energy for industry and citizens (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is nice to take note of how those who led us to the crash now explain how to get out of it. I have a question to ask you: do we really think that in terms of security of energy supply we are better than in 2022? The answer seems obvious to me, but once again we have not been heard. You have thought of getting out of a dependence, that of Russian gas, but at the same time you have put us into a long series of other dependencies: from the Chinese technologies and raw materials necessary for the Green Deal to the imports of liquefied gas from Qatar. And then, since we are all good at analyzing problems, we also start talking about solutions. Think, for example, of the suspension of the ETS, a luxury that our industry can no longer afford. We suspend it and then in five years we'll talk about it again.

11

Mar

2026

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EUCO and situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

10

Mar

2026

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Presentation of the Energy Package (debate)

11

Feb

2026

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Urgent actions to revive EU competitiveness, deepen the EU Single Market and reduce the cost of living - from the Draghi report to reality (debate)

Look, colleague, it seems to me that I have answered very clearly, but I am reformulating it without any problem. I have cited the example of research just to cite an example that is part of my daily life in this Parliament. I come from the North-East of Italy, which has developed its production model enjoying the benefits of the single market. Then I know that there may be prejudice in this House, because people think that whoever is sitting in a part of this House is an ugly, nasty ogre. But, I repeat, here you have to have the ability and lucidity to understand how to churn out the best situations. Then, I repeat, I do not set myself on fire and I do not attack myself on an ideological level if something is done at the community level or at the state level. I hope I've been clear, otherwise I'll buy you a coffee.

11

Feb

2026

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Urgent actions to revive EU competitiveness, deepen the EU Single Market and reduce the cost of living - from the Draghi report to reality (debate)

Thank you colleague for the question. Look, I advise you to have a coffee maybe with some colleagues who are part of the ITRE committee, where for example one of the areas in which we legislate is that of research. The League has been claiming for years that in the field of research we have produced excellence, we have produced results. So, here we have to overcome the classic cloth because people, entrepreneurs, everyone asks us for results. Then, if a brilliant solution comes from Parliament, the Commission or the Council, we are all happier. There is the principle of subsidiarity, we did not invent it, it is enshrined in the Treaties. Here, to get out of the crisis you need to do things, you need to do well, then no matter who does it. Thanks for the question.

11

Feb

2026

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Urgent actions to revive EU competitiveness, deepen the EU Single Market and reduce the cost of living - from the Draghi report to reality (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, more than a year has passed since the Draghi report. For some it was the Bible, many others have read it, reread it, straletto, but evidently they did not understand it. And what changes? Change that we are in the crisis, we are in the crisis even more than before. On the other side of the world, both China and the United States are competing with us, but we must admit that they are not struggling that much, because now Europe has become the global champion in self-sabotage. Then entrepreneurs and workers can despair as much as they want, but that's the situation. I also remind many colleagues that, however, many of the measures that are being challenged today were not voted on their own, but someone raised their hand, someone pressed the button. So, this morning in the Chamber it is fashionable to criticise von der Leyen, even rightly so, but I repeat that these measures have perpetrators and have culprits. Then it is cloying, there is little point in debating whether things should be done at the level of states or at the level of the European Commission, someone talks about the United States of Europe, but here it does not matter who does things, here it counts to do the right things, which is not happening. And then you wonder if the cost of living explodes. Now suspicion becomes inevitable, corroborated by this debate: in Brussels it seems that it is not interested in reviving the European economy, rather here it seems that we are here, you are here, only to administer its decline.

10

Feb

2026

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Spain’s large-scale regularisation policy and its impact on the Schengen Area and EU migration policy (debate)

21

Jan

2026

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Restoring control of migration: returns, visa policy and third-country cooperation (topical debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for the friends of the EPP to realise that there is a problem with returns. It is also strange that this cry of alarm comes from Scandinavia. We have all heard the words of Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen, from the left, who talks about how problematic the management of immigrants is in her country. And so, after years of open doors where everyone entered, both the deserving and the undeserving - with few immigrants working and too many exploiting and plucking the welfare state built by the sacrifices of generations and generations of Europeans - now the alarm rings. After years of many subsidies and few duties, now let's see if you actually want to change something. Today we are talking about regaining control, but the numbers, the statistics of the Commission tell us that 4 out of 5, when they are expelled, they are not actually repatriated. But when we talk about repatriations, in fact, of safe countries of origin, we need a change of direction, because the broths that have been proposed to us so far do not represent the solutions. Let my colleagues on the left do it for a reason. Because the European voters have been clear in drawing up the composition of this Parliament. There is a clear centre-right majority and if the friends of the EPP decide to implement a serious and rigorous immigration policy, we are there. If they decide to continue acting as crutches for left-wing groups, we obviously don't speak the same language.

21

Jan

2026

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European Council meeting (joint debate)

Allow me, but the question is a trivial moment since we have been talking about it for weeks. The position of the League has been known for years. Then governments – at least democratic governments, so maybe not the ones you particularly like – are governed by coalitions. In coalitions there are parties with different sensitivities and the League has always expressed itself so clearly. In fact, yesterday we were at the side of the farmers. I don't know if you were there, but we spoke very clearly.

21

Jan

2026

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European Council meeting (joint debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I listened carefully to Mrs von der Leyen's speech on the subject of Mercosur in particular, and I was amazed when she spoke of farmers being listened to. The question is: But then, if they have been so listened to, why have they been demonstrating for two days? Why are they losing hours of work? Why did they spend the night outside this Parliament below zero? This is not a free trade agreement, this is legalized unfair competition. We are talking about one of the sectors most under pressure from competition, from the legislation approved by this Parliament as well. I realize that we cannot satisfy all sectors. But at the same time I wonder: But why should agriculture always be slaughtered anyway? Then, Mr Costa, you referred to the EUR 90 billion loan for Ukraine. I, allow me, would like to call you back to a greater dose of realism, because if we think of recovering this money without an international legal basis, freezing Russian assets, forgetting that there are also European assets frozen in Moscow and without thinking about retaliation, then I think we sin of naivety. Excuse me, but thank goodness that you are not the bank manager because I would not feel very serene if I were your accountant.

17

Dec

2025

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EU/Jordan Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation: terms and conditions for the participation of Jordan in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) (A10-0228/2025 - Paolo Borchia) (vote)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, PRIMA is a Euro-Mediterranean partnership on water management, agricultural systems and food supply chains, sectors closely linked to the socio-economic stability of the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. It has a budget of EUR 700 million, co-financed jointly by the Union and the participating countries. Since 2018 PRIMA has produced over 270 projects aimed at obtaining technologies for water saving, the improvement of agricultural practices and governance tools applicable at local level. Independent evaluations, colleagues, confirm its effectiveness. In conclusion, Jordan, the country for which we vote to extend the programme, will contribute €4.5 million for the three-year period 2025-2027. So, no welfare, but a shared financial commitment. In a particular regional context, Jordan has proven to be a reliable partner and the continuation of this cooperation is in the Union's strategic interest.

16

Dec

2025

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Presentation of the automotive package (debate)

16

Dec

2025

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Phasing out Russian natural gas imports and improving monitoring of potential energy dependencies (debate)

27

Nov

2025

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Outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference - Belém (COP30) (debate)

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the first metaphor that comes to mind to sum up this COP is that of a high jumper – a normal athlete, perhaps a mediocre one – who wakes up one morning and thinks of setting a new world record. I think this may be the first summary of the COP: A COP that, once again, saw yet another escape from the crucial issues, because a useless declaration of principle was pursued when instead we had to deal with honesty about the numbers. Let me explain and give you an example: on fossil fuels for 40 years, their consumption has stalled at 80% – it takes only five minutes to World Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency to be aware of this. And here, based on these numbers, the metaphor of the top jumper returns. This is a COP that is coming to an end - I say this also to you, Commissioner - denoting its limits, limits also of working method because we have seen a lethal mix between bureaucracy and diplomacy. I believe that, when we do not honestly compare the numbers, these are the results because the years pass, but final declarations of principle then, unfortunately, only crumbs remain.

25

Nov

2025

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Effective use of the EU trade and industrial policy to tackle China’s export restrictions (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe can no longer be the playground where everyone comes to do business without respecting the rules, where the interests of the producing countries are regularly sacrificed on the altar of the interests of the importing countries. We are not charitable fishing for Chinese overcapacity generated with state subsidies; We are a union of sovereign states with workers, businesses and an industrial history to defend. The effectiveness of our trade policy is not measured by the number of treaties that are signed, and the rhetoric of the fair play, when the opponent plays with made-up dice, it has now reached the end of the line. So, if we want to get out of humiliating addiction, the only path we need is that of courage: reciprocity, strict controls and massive investments in our supply chains. For decades, Commissioner, the mantra that has been repeated in Brussels has been one: opening without conditions. We were under the illusion that trade could develop as a peaceful round table and so Brussels, piece by piece, gave up whole slices of our production – steel, electronics and, now, with inertia, we are giving up the future of the battery and mobility sector. Either we finally decide to armor strategic assets, or today's debate will be yet another chat about the abyss on which we are sliding.

13

Nov

2025

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 23 October 2025 (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I do not understand why President von der Leyen did not stay here. I think that an hour of his time could have dedicated it to us, also because there are many questions to ask today. I heard from the President herself that, since the ETS was introduced, GDP would increase by 27%. Well, if we had been in Italy I would have had the impression of being on the set of the well-known show "Scherzi a parte", because von der Leyen would have had to say "despite the ETS", not "since when". In summary, I think that we must take a bath of humility, an exercise in realism, and come to the conclusion that the transition must be rethought, it must not be accelerated, also because in this House many think in this way, many have promised it in the election campaign, but then it is preached well but it scratches badly. Mr von der Leyen, if you had stayed in the Chamber, I would have also pointed out to you that you spoke of decarbonisation and competitiveness, but by continuing in this direction you are either decarbonised or you are competitive.

22

Oct

2025

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Allegations of espionage by the Hungarian government within the EU institutions (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there is no mistrust in you - we would miss it - but let me slightly doubt the good faith of this debate, because the alleged events that happened eight years ago, strangely, coincidentally, emerge a few months after the elections in Hungary. But, ladies and gentlemen, if we are going to engage this House every time journalistic rumours come up - look - we are done working! We are serious, because it usually works that, first you try an accusation, you reconstruct how things went, you draw conclusions and then, possibly, there is a debate in the Chamber. On the other hand, we must realise that a European government which has been overturned by a people, the Hungarian people, is under constant attack by this Parliament. Do we have to tell the truth? Take the agendas of the last plenary sessions and let's see how many times and what Hungary has been talked about. Now, it is right that there should be inquiries, it is right that there should be in-depth investigations of the case. Let's see if, digging, some "James Bond" or some "Mata Hari" in Hungarian sauce will come out. But as long as we dig, let us try to engage this House with serious arguments that exist and not with assumptions.

22

Oct

2025

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23 October 2025 (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Von der Leyen, if you had stayed in the Chamber, I would have told you that tomorrow evening, like all my colleagues, I would have returned to my territory to meet farmers, students, mayors, the real country, and those who will ask how the plenary session went. A context where purchasing power is becoming increasingly worrying, where students want to flee abroad for more decent salaries, where mayors are increasingly struggling to guarantee services for their citizens: But what can I tell this cross-section of society? That the President of the European Commission came to the House and welcomed the fact that the market for wind turbines is increasing by 10%? That the Global South, which is struggling to eat, requires clean energy? This House and this Commission are complicit in a Europe that does not know how to respond: From the obsession with armaments, to the anxiety for decarbonization at all costs, to a brainy and stubborn approach that has never been questioned, which above all has never wanted to listen to those who think differently. This is the reality, this is what is happening. It is an approach that destroys those who produce: -32% for the automotive market in Italy. We will never be your accomplices!

7

Oct

2025

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Time to complete a fully integrated Single Market: Europe’s key to growth and future prosperity (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, I am an expression of the small business of north-eastern Italy, that is to say one of the contexts that has historically been best able to exploit the potential of the single market. However, I was struck, but not surprised, by the fact that you attributed responsibility to the Member States for the obstacles to the single market. I believe, however, that the focus should be placed on another theme: bureaucracy, hyper-regulation, overregulation. We have 60% of the barriers in the services market that are the same as they were 20 years ago. We have the relationship between Europe and the United States, between unicorn start-ups, i.e. those companies with a value of more than one billion that are not listed on the stock exchange, which is one to six: One in Europe, six in the United States. This implies that the companies of the future, unfortunately, are not born in Europe, and therefore it is obvious that it cannot be the fault of the States alone. I believe that the single market is not completed by more bureaucracy, but by putting all businesses on an equal footing, without tax havens, avoiding the brainy choices that damage our businesses and above all constitute the worst hidden internal tariffs.

10

Sep

2025

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State of the Union (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, President von der Leyen is not offended, but it was 75 minutes of agony: So much theory mixed with hypocrisy, because those who created the problems are now explaining how to solve them. I have heard many contradictions, because it speaks of electric cars and respect for the roadmap of the green deal Just as his Chancellor Merz, the same party, calls for more flexibility on time. It talks to us about the media resilience programme, but at the same time cuts the funds for agriculture; is superficial on Mercosur and above all speaks a lot, too!, of weapons. You turn to a pro-European majority because inventing enemies, especially when you are weak, is always convenient, but this weakness, remember, is reflected in the divisions of the fragile and colorful majority that unconvincedly supports it.

9

Jul

2025

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26 June 2025 (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, if the future of the Union is what we heard this morning, we need to worry. And there is so much to worry about, because we had a President of the European Council who spoke only of weapons - and I miss the times when the European left was pacifist - and a lady, von der Leyen, who has now left us, who talks about how it would be nice to pay less bills and have less bureaucracy, when it was the European Union, the European Commission, that created those same problems that now explains how to solve them. There is a line that unites everything: It starts with the pandemic, then comes the climate emergency and now the feared invasion of Russia across Europe. When peoples are frightened, when emergencies are generated, then it is the peoples themselves who are perhaps more likely to bend their heads. And that seems to be your goal. In conclusion, Mr Costa: A Europe that finds money and flexibility for arms is a Europe that betrays its origins and betrays its principles, because it forgets pensions and salaries, it forgets the Europe that suffers in the name of the Europe of arms.