What Alessandra spoke about.

20

May

2026

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Repression and execution of protesters, dissidents, political prisoners and religious minorities in Iran

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there are many things we could say about the current tragic situation in Iran. The 80-day blackout has left 92 million people without the Internet and without the ability to communicate, inflation has reached unsustainable levels, there are 40 million people below the poverty line, and attacks conducted outside any rule of international law continue to kill innocent civilians. But there is an urgent topic: political prisoners, who continue to suffer violence and sexual abuse in prisons, who are denied access to their families and lawyers or medical treatment. The situation is urgent, in particular, for those who have been sentenced to death. Iran has the highest death penalty rate in the world and is using the ongoing war as a cover to further accelerate executions. The European Union cannot look the other way. We need to broaden the scope of European sanctions by targeting the authorities responsible for the January massacres and the subsequent wave of executions. We need to open legal asylum channels for persecuted Iranians and refrain from any forced repatriation. It is necessary to promote dialogue, making sure that the Iranian population, including all its minorities, is the protagonist.

20

May

2026

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Rights, support and protection of victims of crime (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this week the European Parliament is taking an important step. The Directive on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime puts people at the centre: children who have experienced the horror of abuse, victims of human trafficking, women and men bearing the brunt of online hatred and violence; people who, in addition to trauma, face the silence and indifference of society and the institutions that should instead protect them. Women are among the most affected: There are victims of domestic violence, online hatred, stalking, rape. They, in particular, often find themselves suffering a second injustice when, trying to denounce, they are left alone or even blamed. For this reason, we welcome the significant progress made in the directive: milestones such as enhancing psychological support, supporting infrastructure such as anti-violence centres and protecting victims' privacy are just some of the key steps. We also celebrate another milestone: For the first time, access to sexual and reproductive health, including safe and legal abortion, is recognised as part of assistance to victims of crime. Europe is only credible when it protects the most vulnerable, leaving no one behind. With this vote, we send a clear message: In Europe, no victim can feel alone.

20

May

2026

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Advancing towards a care society: addressing the gender care gap (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, think of the families around you. Who takes care of the children? Who cares for the elderly? In the face of a disability, who takes on the main care tasks? I'm sure you all have a woman in mind. Yes, because women are disproportionately responsible for these tasks. 56% of women with children under 12 spend at least five hours a day caring for them, compared with 26% of men. This often leads women to give up their jobs and salaries, which is synonymous with independence. It also increases gender gaps in employment, pay, pensions and career progression. More than 7 million women are excluded from the European labour market to assist family members, relatives and children. And then there are women for whom care is paid work, but paid too little, for whom it is necessary to improve working conditions also through fair wages. We want reforms and investments to reduce the gender care gap, focusing on work-life balance, working conditions and the availability and accessibility of formal care services.

18

May

2026

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European solidarity: key to securing medicine access in a shifting geopolitical era (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, once again the price of sovereignism risks being paid by citizens, in this case putting their health at risk. Trump's tariffs block international collaboration in terms of drug research and development, and prevent the production of medicines that are fundamental to the health of all of us. The bill should be presented to the sovereignists of this House, who were running around in MAGA caps and who have for years extolled Trump's great gifts. After the disasters to international trade, the war in Iran, the energy crisis and the threats to international stability, I think voters will present the bill in the next elections. In a world that runs and competes, "sovereignty" is an old and outdated recipe even in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. We need more Europe, a federal and united Europe, which is able to protect its citizens from the authoritarian arrogance of Trump, Putin and company.

25

Mar

2026

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Implementation of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and risks to the security of supply of medicines (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in this debate on complex issues, it is important to start from the awareness that the choices we make have serious consequences, first and foremost for the citizens. The objective of this directive, namely to improve the safety and health of European waters, is not an objective to be treated lightly. I regret that on such an important and delicate issue the People's Party has decided to join, once again, the far-right parties. I am sorry because it is a dangerous drift, not only for this specific measure, but for Europe in general. We have seen the good work we can do if the pro-European groups negotiate in good faith, for example with the pharmaceutical package that has just been finally approved. I hope that the People's Party will be aware of this as soon as possible. As socialists, we are willing to negotiate in order to adjust technical aspects of this legislation, verify data and numbers on the basis of scientific evidence. We have always believed that European medicines should be accessible to all and at fair prices. If there are aspects to consider, let's discuss them. Every decision that the Socialist Group has taken in the past and that it will take in the future is always oriented towards the defence of the public good, in the interests of patients and citizens. For this reason, we defend the structure and objectives of this legislation; and as socialists, therefore, we will not be willing to renounce the "polluter pays" principle. We will not be willing to break a law that aims at clean and safe water, just as we will not be willing to pass the cost of pollution on to citizens. I appeal to the People's Party and to all the majority groups that support the Commission: let us work together for a reasonable compromise, without getting carried away by populism. We adjust the norm, if necessary and if supported by independent data and research, but we do not destroy valuable work done to protect the environment and the health of citizens.

10

Mar

2026

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EU enlargement strategy (debate)

9

Mar

2026

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Gender pay and pension gap in the EU: state of play, challenges and the way forward, and developing guidelines for the better evaluation and fairer remuneration of work in female-dominated sectors (debate)

12

Feb

2026

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Recommendation to the Council on EU priorities for the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (debate)

9

Feb

2026

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World Cancer Day (debate)

19

Jan

2026

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Framework for strengthening the availability and security of supply of critical medicinal products as well as the availability of, and accessibility of, medicinal products of common interest (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, approving this measure on critical medicines would be a great example of how the European Union can, when it wants to, change the lives of its citizens for the better. We cannot afford to run the risk of not being autonomous and ready to deal efficiently with crises and shocks that may occur in the future. With this piece of legislation we combine the needs of patients and the public good with a stimulus and support to the European pharmaceutical sector that will make it even more competitive on a global scale. As socialists and democrats, we want public money to be spent in the interest of the community, including by ensuring the participation of patients and healthcare professionals in the process of approving and selecting spending priorities. I hope that the clumsy attempts to sink this measure by the right, with spurious amendments that have nothing to do with this issue, will be rejected by the responsible forces of this Parliament, in order to have rapid approval of a measure whose main purpose is to make Europe stronger and European citizens more protected.

16

Dec

2025

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European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My voice, my choice: for safe and accessible abortion’ (debate)

16

Dec

2025

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Presentation of the EU Cardiovascular Health Plan (debate)

25

Nov

2025

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Escalation of the war and the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan (continuation of debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the testimonies from Sudan about mass killings, attacks on humanitarian workers, looting and kidnappings are chilling. We are talking about a forgotten war. As no one watched, one of the worst humanitarian crises has grown, forcing civilians to feed on leaves and contaminated water. Children are malnourished; women and girls are victims of rape; Men are subject to mass executions. But there is something in the background of this conflict: Since the beginning of the war, gold smuggling has quadrupled, it is sold on the global market but more than 90% ends up in the United Arab Emirates. Not surprisingly, despite official denials by the country, investigations have identified the United Arab Emirates as an external facilitator of RSF. The European Union needs to take more decisive action: We need to increase humanitarian assistance, but we demand the protection of civilians and an independent investigation into massacres and abuses. Not only: Europe should implement strict gold traceability measures and use all available diplomatic levers to demand cooperation from the third countries involved.

12

Nov

2025

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Gender Equality Strategy 2025 (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the regression of women's rights in Europe is obvious. Femicides are the only crime that continues to increase in numbers. The perpetrators of violence are increasingly young. Some women are forced to listen to the beating of the fetus before terminating a pregnancy. Segregation at work is glaring, the web is full of misogyny and new tools fuel the frontier of digital sexism. You can't deny all this. This Parliament, at least in part, is working to define useful strategies and actions to combat gender-based violence in all its forms, but the reality is that we must start from the beginning, from education. Depriving our young people of an affective, age-appropriate and science-based sex education is a very serious mistake that we will continue to pay for on the skin of our girls. Educate to respect one's own body and that of others. Educate to Consensus. Educating to accept a no. Educating to protect one's health. This is the way forward to finally act in a concrete way.

21

Oct

2025

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Polarisation and increased repression in Serbia, one year after the Novi Sad tragedy (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, promotion of violence, arbitrary arrests, anti-European and pro-Russian propaganda, control of media and hate speech, threats of death and violence, illegal surveillance, unjustified dismissals: So, in the last year, the Serbian government has responded to the protests that have filled the streets throughout the country following the collapse of a roof at the Novi Sad station. Behind this disaster there seem to be events of corruption, of piloted contracts, events on which the protesters ask to shed light and to verify their responsibilities. The response from the Serbian authorities to the protesters is not worthy of a candidate country to join the European Union, let alone a rule of law. The dangerous polarization created in the country risks normalizing violence and weakening democratic institutions. We need a change of pace. Serbia's commitment to the European path cannot be made in words alone: Concrete progress is needed, in particular on the rule of law, the fight against corruption, the independence of the media and the judiciary, a free electoral system and alignment with European foreign policy.

21

Oct

2025

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Criminal intimidation against investigative journalists in the EU: the attempted attack on Sigfrido Ranucci (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, freedom of the press is a thermometer of democracy, it is a constitutional pillar. Where journalists feel threatened, intimidated or targeted, no citizen can fully enjoy their rights and freedoms. We see it in authoritarian countries, such as Putin's Russia; We saw it in the Gaza Strip, where more than 200 journalists were killed. in Serbia, where the lack of press freedom is an obstacle to integration into our Union. But what happens within the European Union? In Italy, freedom of the press seems to be tolerated: More than 250 journalists are under surveillance, 22 of whom are under escort. Roberto Saviano said well: When you turn a journalist into a public target, sooner or later someone will think they can hit off-screen as well. And it is often politics that ignites the fuse of this process, politics that, instead of responding to ideas or investigations, proceeds to build media campaigns to isolate and discredit those who dare to investigate power. I express all my solidarity with Sigfrido Ranucci, his loved ones and all the journalists who like him do not give up to tell uncomfortable facts. I call on all politicians to guarantee freedom of the press at all times: It is a cross-cutting battle for all of us.

20

Oct

2025

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Order of business

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, last September two Italian lawyers asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to open a formal investigation into the situation of the Kurdish activist, Pakhshan Azizi, who was arrested in Iran in 2023 and sentenced to death in 2024 for providing humanitarian aid to women and children fleeing Islamic State attacks. The UN said that in 2025, in just nine months, more than 1,000 people were executed in Iran: These are convictions perpetrated following unfair closed-door trials in the context of torture practices and forced confessions. The European Union will have to support the complaint submitted to the UN in support of Pakhshan Azizi and put pressure on him to respond as quickly as possible. Let us be the bearers of concrete and coordinated diplomatic action to stop the wave of executions taking place.

9

Oct

2025

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World Mental Health Day - addressing the socio-economic factors (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, mental health is one of the great evils of our time. It strikes in a transversal way, no one is exempt from it, but it is the weakest who suffer the heaviest consequences. In particular, it is the very young who manifest the most obvious signs of these diseases, which are often not detected promptly, determining even for families a burden that they cannot bear. Eating disorders increase, self-harm increases, anxiety, aggression and school dropout increase. Despite this, mental health care is not included in public health benefits and people are left alone. The consequences do not fall exclusively on those directly affected, but on society, which on the one hand loses human resources and on the other risks having problematic subjects abandoned to themselves. Greater efforts are needed, both in Europe and in the Member States, to include mental health as one of the priorities in a true European Health Union that we must complete.

7

Oct

2025

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Situation in Afghanistan: supporting women and communities affected by the recent earthquakes (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, the earthquake that struck north-east Afghanistan killed more than 2 000 people. Of these, there are certainly more women than men. Why? Because, because of the laws imposed by the Taliban, women cannot be touched by men. In fact, the rescuers, who were obviously all men, because we remember that women cannot work, let them die under the rubble simply because they could not touch them. In addition, women are denied health care, even emergency care that could save their lives. And this is because, always women, it is forbidden to work as doctors. What we are witnessing is an intolerable violation of every right, it is the denial of every freedom based exclusively on gender. This represents apartheid, gender apartheid, and we should all have the courage to recognize this crime within international law and within European legal civilization.

11

Sep

2025

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Summer of heatwaves in the EU: addressing the causes and providing adequate housing and health policies to address record-breaking temperatures (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the effects of climate change continue to affect European citizens; think about the effects on our territories, with increasingly frequent disasters, or the effects on health. Relapses are not the same for everyone: they affect the most fragile people more strongly, representing a further push towards inequalities and increasing social differences. Over the last few summers, many Europeans have experienced unprecedented heatwaves: In addition to urgently addressing the root causes of climate change, we as institutions must also take responsibility for mitigating the most tangible effects from the outset. Europe needs to take up the theme of social housing, the modernisation of the homes of the already most fragile people, urban planning that can help make our cities more livable and ready to respond to these difficult challenges. Cities suffer in a grip that pushes for an increasingly massive use of air conditioners, which in turn pollute and make our cities even warmer. Structural measures and adequate funds are needed to help our citizens improve their quality of life and to protect our environment.

9

Sep

2025

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Wave of violence and continuous use of force against protesters in Serbia (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, one thing is certain: There is no turning back in Serbia. The last ten months of protest and awareness by Serbian citizens, not just students, have marked a profound turning point in the history of the country, which cannot be ignored either by the Serbian leadership or by the European institutions. From here and from the demands of thousands of citizens who took to the streets it is necessary to start again, to build a new country. On the part of the European Union and this Parliament, it is not a question of supporting a Serbian candidate or party, it is a question of upholding European values. It is naive to think that the European Parliament can support a government that allows violent repression of demonstrations, dismisses civil servants because they participate in protests, gags the press, plays dirty with the electoral process: There is no place in the European Union for all this. We expect, instead, and I assure you we really hope, to welcome into our European family a different Serbia, a democratic and free Serbia.

8

Sep

2025

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Announcement by the President

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, not many days ago I received a phone call from a colleague who warned me that thousands of my photos had been published on a sexist and pornographic website, and fed to the most obscene comments up to the incitement to rape. I wasn't the only one: On that site were portrayed, without their knowledge, many women, politicians and not only. For at least 15 years, photos of this type were uploaded and, for at least ten years, complaints were made, yet the managers continued, undeterred, to feed this digital carnage. A few days earlier another Facebook group had been denounced, in which husbands and companions posted photos of their wives, always without their knowledge, and then exhibited them as slaughter meat in a sexist landfill and unrepeatable in content. This is the tip of an iceberg. Measures are needed to stop these new, insidious forms of gender-based violence, first and foremost by targeting the managers, who should be legally and commercially responsible. Sexual and affective education, then, in schools becomes more and more a priority to build a civilization of respect and, I add, of freedom. There can be no freedom where there is violence and abuse.

18

Jun

2025

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Rise in violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, almost ten million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in South Sudan, where cholera, hunger and the world's highest neonatal mortality rate are rampant. A country where rape is a common weapon of war. Unlike others, this is a totally forgotten conflict. South Sudan is on the precipice of a new total war. Political tensions led to violence, militias, bombardments between rebels and the army, ethnic profiling, arbitrary detentions, attacks on civilians and hospitals, such as that of Médecins Sans Frontières, detonated with a nine-month-old child inside. The population flees to fragile countries, thus exacerbating already existing crises. We must strongly call on the government to return to the 2018 peace treaty, release political prisoners, end hostilities and secure access for humanitarian aid. Let's not let the attention go down.

17

Jun

2025

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Combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (recast) (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in 2022, reports of online sexual exploitation of children increased by 30 times compared to 2010. Live streaming, dedicated channels, images are proliferating on the net deep fake and generated with artificial intelligence, allowing perpetrators to hide and escape criminal sanctions. The European Union must react strongly, starting with the broadening of the definition of child sexual abuse material, including artificially generated content and abuse manuals with certain severe penalties, which cannot be fooled. We need an approach that puts children at the centre with respectful investigations and adequate psychological support. To really protect them we also need close cooperation between states, agencies such as Europol and Eurojust and NGOs, because the network knows no borders and even our protection must not have them.

11

Mar

2025

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Roadmap for Women`s Rights (debate)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the Commission and Commissioner Minzatu for this road map on women's rights. I am happy to have found in the text references to crucial battles for the freedom of so many women. However, I ask that these are not just nice words spent on 8 March: concrete commitments need to be made through legislative and non-tangible measures. Gender-based violence remains a scourge: One in three women is a victim in Europe. How long will it take to agree on a definition of rape linked to lack of consent? How can we promote projects that teach our children respect for bodies and people? Then the crises we have faced, which we have not yet solved: I am thinking of COVID, the energy crisis, poverty, climate change. Women pay the highest price. Concrete measures are needed to alleviate its effects. Finally, the theme of health: We need to invest in programmes that finally highlight appropriate gender medicine. Health must be an accessible and quality right for all. We no longer want to continue to treat ourselves with diagnoses and medicines designed for a male body.