Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this is 2024, the 21st century. The European elections are just around the corner, yet in my country, Italy, almost 5 million people, 10% of those entitled to vote, are at risk of not being able to vote. It is an injustice that particularly affects young people aged 18 to 35, young people who, by choice or necessity, live outside their municipality of residence, in Italy or abroad, for study or work. Trampling on the spirit of the Treaties, the Charter of Nice and, again, the European Electoral Act, Italy is still the only major European country to have not introduced any postal voting mechanism, neither by delegation nor, let alone, online. I am a child of the Erasmus generation. I was studying in France in 2008, when, for the same exact reason, I unfortunately had to lose my only election. Sixteen years later, nothing has changed. Just so many promises. Today, in this House, I bring the voice of these millions of girls and boys who can no longer wait, who must not be deprived once again of their right to choose their representatives, and perhaps even of the joy of the first vote. I will put an urgent question to the European Commission asking it to act as a matter of urgency, reminding the Italian Government of its responsibilities. The minimum is to immediately introduce a full reimbursement of travel expenses. I will fight in this House and Action will fight in every institution until they are finally granted the right to have rights.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, nine months of fratricidal struggle have made Sudan the country with the highest number of internal refugees in the world, causing a terrifying food crisis and 7.5 million refugees. Our Union certainly needs to increase humanitarian support, but that is not enough, because the problem is actually another one: We must ensure that international organisations, which are now virtually all forced to evacuate their personnel, can return to ensure that any humanitarian aid is delivered safely on the ground. It is therefore necessary to find a mediation between the parties to the conflict, also threatening very heavy sanctions against those who are staining themselves with war crimes and against humanity, but placing respect for international humanitarian law as a first and indispensable condition. Yesterday, unfortunately, the possibility that the African Union could be an honest broker faded. Now we must quickly find a credible alternative; We can and must act with all our diplomatic tools and political weight to play the leading role. I ask, however, that this negotiating table with the regional partners be swift and that this barbarism be stopped quickly, without choosing the classic model of "throw money at the problem", because this will not be enough to solve the problem, nor to wash our consciences. Time is running too fast, we can't afford to lose more.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, for 25 years now, the Beijing authorities have started a real persecution against Falun Gong followers, but also against the Uyghurs, the Rohingya, the Kashmiris and the Tibetans. There are real witch hunts against minorities and ethnic groups of medieval mold, but perpetrated with the help of increasingly oppressive futuristic technologies that seem to come out of the famous novel 1984 by George Orwell. A terrifying commission, which led to the disappearance of tens of thousands of people. In the face of these crimes there should be no other possibility than a firm, clear and unequivocal condemnation. We should all call for an international investigation into the criminal trade in organs and very harsh sanctions against the officials and authorities responsible. And instead, in our Europe and also in Italy, there are those who persist in defending their failed choice to join the Silk Road, but also to keep away from any kind of criticism of the work of Beijing. This silence does not surprise me. The king, however, is naked and, in the face of these atrocities, either we defend our values and human rights without if and without but, or we choose the path of complicity, because silence, in fact, is an complicity and this Parliament, I ask this again this evening, silent must never be! Always at the side of those who fight for freedom and for the right to exist.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the reform of the Stability Pact is perhaps one of the most important missions of this parliamentary term but, unlike what has been done with NextGenerationEU, we risk in this case a somewhat 'gattopardesca' solution: We wanted everything to change but, in the end, unfortunately everything remains too similar to what it was before. Why? Because the agreement that has been reached has upset the fundamental objectives that, first and foremost, the European Commission had set itself, and that we all wanted and defended: streamlining of the regulatory framework, flexibility, increased applicability by governments. Until a year ago there was talk of lessons learned from the post-crisis stagnation of sovereign debt and, lastly, from the pandemic that we have unfortunately experienced, but we may have sung victory too soon. Let me be clear: No one denies the need to reduce excessive debt, but it is necessary to do so in a coherent, pragmatic and sensible way, without hanging ourselves tightly to the numbers, focusing more on the goals we have set ourselves. Being able to invest to make us competitive in global markets is essential, but with these rules, let me say, it will be very difficult, not to say perhaps impossible. Without a strategic sovereignty fund, which is still a mirage to come, without a common federal budget and given the huge differences in fiscal space and spending possibilities, we risk eroding the economic and social stability of our Union. It is disappointing to see that the Italian government, instead of defending intelligently and harshly and making alliances, has screwed itself into an absurd and incomprehensible controversy between Meloni and Conte over the ESM, instead of putting all its weight on the strategic objective that was precisely that of the reform of the Stability Pact. I say, however, to those who today celebrate this covenant as a great victory: Be very careful! Do not think about bringing back the enemy's scalp for the short-term electoral consensus of the next elections, because the future of integration is at stake, with the objectives of ecological and digital transition. It is the growth of our Union that you are bringing to your knees today. Do we want this to be the end of the beginning, or rather the beginning of the end? It will be up to our courage to decide but certainly, today, the message we receive is not what we would have liked to see.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we have already missed too many opportunities to strengthen our role in conflict prevention and resolution. Now it's time to run for cover! The first action to be taken, in my opinion, is the establishment of the European Civil Peace Corps, an initiative already approved by this House as far back as 1999 on the initiative of our late colleague Alexander Langer. Being able to count on this body, which will have to be composed of experts in the prevention and resolution of conflicts belonging to the institutional and non-institutional world, would certainly make our crisis management more credible, more coherent, more effective and more flexible. I would like to thank all my colleagues in the AFET Committee for supporting my amendments to the Zovko report, in which we called for the establishment of the European Civil Peace Corps to be relaunched without further hesitation. A first step has been taken, but it probably won't be enough. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I ask for your support to complete, by the end of this parliamentary term, the process that I have already begun with the AFET Bureau to adopt this resolution precisely on this issue before the end of the mandate. We act together towards our common goal; Let us all work together for change; We are making our Union more and more a protagonist – an actor, therefore, not a piece or, even worse, a chessboard within the international balance. We can build peace with seriousness if we want to equip ourselves to do so!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, while we are debating in this House in Gaza, a tragedy of 23,000 deaths is taking place: Palestinian civilians, women, the elderly, children. How would you define having to operate on children to be amputated without anesthesia, if not a crime against humanity? Gaza today is a hell where there are no rights, where there is no right even to hope. Our 125 million humanitarian assistance is a miserable drop in a sea of suffering. Yes, Hamas terrorism must be fought without quarter, as well as settler violence and any form of collective punishment, which is a crime. What we are doing is not enough, it cannot be enough to wash our consciences! We must work tirelessly for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas must release all hostages in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip. Only then can we build a credible negotiating table that excludes the first enemies of the Israeli people – Hamas – and have two new leaderships, on the one hand and on the other, finally legitimised to address the root causes of decades of violence and bloodshed, to finally achieve a Palestinian state that can live in peace with the Israeli state. The cost of non-action would be dramatic and unacceptable not only for the humanitarian tragedy, but for the possible regional explosion: Lebanon, Yemen, the Red Sea, perhaps the entire Middle East... (the President took the floor from the speaker)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, for two years now, the history and values of the Union have been calling us, as Europeans, to an inalienable moral imperative: defend the Ukrainian people from Putin's barbarism. Yet as this conflict rages, a creeping threat creeps into our ever-growing and devious cities: Russian propaganda, with Italy the soft underbelly of Europe. Every day the Russians storm Ukraine with 10,000 artillery shots, a huge disproportion five times greater than that of the defenders. Whoever says that Kiev has too many weapons, lies shamelessly; Without our help there would be no peace, only capitulation. Criticising the EU is all too convenient. If some illustrious former prime minister considers himself the holder of alternative approaches and solutions, he has the duty to officially propose them. I want to say this clearly, unambiguously: Dear Giuseppe Conte, if you have a real plan for peace, get it out! Hypocritical calls to pacifism are not enough, you must offer yourself as a UN mediator. I do not have this presumption, I will make my humble contribution by continuing to be on the right side of history for as long as it takes. There is no true peace without justice and freedom: Ukraine is free, democratic and European. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, after the pilot projects, the short-term instruments and the more complex but inadequately funded instruments, we have now come to the real test of our ambitions for the creation of a Europe of defence. We set high levels of ambition but prepare to support them adequately at all stages of this journey. It will be essential to bring back the various initiatives launched previously under EDIP, ensuring the necessary financial resources for the various programmes to be truly effective, starting with the European Defence Fund. If we really want to strengthen our industrial capacities, we must ensure predictability and continuity of funding, not leave it tied to short-term and short-term spot initiatives. Similarly, it will be essential to provide for common procurement mechanisms for products developed under the European Defence Fund, thus decoupling us from the logic of marginal incentives and supporting the entire production cycle of defence equipment. The content we will give and the funds we will allocate to EDIP They will tell us who and what we want to become. The future is in our hands, but we must act wisely. This is not the time for ambiguities and hesitations: We say yes to a strong and fair defence Europe and we prepare to support it properly, so that our ambition is fully proportional to our strengths.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, despite the great progress made on the subject of international trade agreements, our Union is still at great risk of fragmentation. We cannot allow the Member States to proceed in a scattered manner. I am thinking, for example, of my country, Italy, which in 2019 signed a highly contested memorandum of understanding with Beijing, which was presented at the time as a great success, despite the many calls from our Union and many human rights defenders to avoid dangerous flight ahead. As a matter of fact, this agreement, fortunately not renewed, has only aggravated the Italian trade balance, creating a liability to Beijing of 41 billion euros and putting hundreds of strategic companies with irrecoverable know-how at very serious risk. It would really take a bath of humility on the part of those who had signed this agreement, denoting very little geopolitical foresight, but even his excuses would not be enough. The time has come for those political figures who present themselves as saviors of the Fatherland, but then flirt with the leaders of authoritarian countries, to make a decision: Either they're with us or they're with them. There can be no room for ambiguity, otherwise our citizens will pay the price for the wrong choices. This is the real self-goal... (The President took the floor from the speaker)

Mr President, Mr High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, as we debate here today, the tragic death toll in the Gaza Strip has now reached almost 18 000, including more than 5 000 children. He who has escaped death no longer has a home, no water, no food, and no medicine. All that remains of Gaza is a desert of ruins, pain and devastation. Punishing Hamas criminal terrorists is legitimate, dutiful and understandable; inflicting collective punishment on an entire people is unacceptable. We must raise our voices with strength and courage. I call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as well as for the unconditional release of all hostages. But all this pain, all this suffering and all this atrocity will be even more absurd, insane and unjustifiable without obtaining a political solution based on the true and lasting principle of two states, supported and guaranteed by the international community also through a mission of peace. peacekeeping the UN, where we, as the European Union, the Arab and Muslim states, will have to play our part. So far we have been a bit marginal but in front of us there is one of the hardest pages in history; It is our duty not to look the other way and be the voice of those who have no voice, the right of those who have no rights, the hope of those who no longer have hope. History will judge us: It is up to us to decide how he will judge us and what this judgment will be.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, while today we are debating the content of the package for the defence of democracy, I would like to make an appeal to the Commission and to each of you: We must guard against all risks, and often the most dangerous risks are not those that come from the outside, but those that come from the inside. With the European elections approaching, fighting against propaganda and beaked populisms that seek only an easy but ephemeral electoral consensus is for our democracy, for our Europe, a matter of survival. Consensus that goes so much to the kilo, indeed, so much to the click. Those ambiguous national political leaders who continue to mystify reality by winking at the leaders of authoritarian countries, winking at Putin and Xi Jinping, crumble the defenses of our democracy every day for their own sake. This is even more true when these same political figures silence the voices within their own parties that try to remain consistent, to defend human rights always and in any case and without giving discounts to anyone, as I have humbly tried to do in recent years. It would be nice to imagine them changing their approach, but it is now clear that this is foreign to their will. Putting one's electoral interest and personal ambition in front of those of one's own country and our Union is a cowardly choice, the most cowardly one that can be made, because it will be our citizens and those who fight, suffer and die every day for democracy in every part of our planet who will pay the price. Let's not leave them alone, let's never do it!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Giulia should have graduated in engineering on 16 November. But that day to receive that recognition for which she had studied so much and had committed so much, she could not present herself, an innocent victim of a blind, senseless violence, which brutally beat her in the body and annihilated her soul, to the point of taking her life. According to 2023 data from UN Women, around 736 million women like Giulia have been subjected to physical and sexual violence, or both, at least once in their lives. Exorbitant data to which are also added those related to the LGBTI+ community. Not even six months ago, the European Union acceded to the Istanbul Convention, despite the fact that many states, including Hungary, are not yet party to it. On 25 November we will celebrate this International Day for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence: But any celebration will be useless and empty until we are united in the same direction. The Council's attempt to water down the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which is now in trilogue, is, bluntly, unacceptable and shameful. Clear and stringent legislation must be put in place, both at European and national level, based on prevention, education and support for structures working to protect victims of violence. But above all we must defeat this shameful culture of possession - and I say this as a man, I say this as a man in this House! Hello Julia, rest in peace and apologize again for not having done enough.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the passing of the law on the promotion of chastity and hijab is another attempt by the regime to completely dismantle the freedom of choice of Iranian women. It is essential that our Union speak out publicly, firmly, in no uncertain terms, against a law that has nothing to do with the traditions and culture of a people as rich in history as the Iranian people. In less than a month we will present the Sakharov Prize to the memory of Mahsa Amini and to the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. It is an important gesture, a gesture that demonstrates our closeness to Iranian women in their daily battle. But it is not enough because a simple handover ceremony is not enough if we then leave alone the thousands of activists who make up this movement. Nasrin Sotoudeh has already paid the price for her courage. It is necessary to establish immediately a Task Force It is a European Union that supports the daily activities of the thousands of human rights defenders around the world and it is a moral duty to give full support, support and protection to those who have distinguished themselves by virtue of being awarded the Sakharov Prize. Individual sanctions are needed against those responsible for the regime. We still need, of course, support measures against the persecution that the Iranian diaspora suffers every day in Europe. Either we choose to be on their side, or even this award will be debased until it becomes a plaque emptied of all meaning.

Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, 30 years have passed since we set out our criteria for accession. And after an initial impetus that brought us to the current 27 members, we started recording an enlargement fatigue that need to be left apart. The Russian criminal war against Ukraine, as well the other war crimes committed in our neighbourhood, most notably by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, are making enlargement a first-class priority. But empty promises are no longer enough: we must push not only for Western Balkans, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, but also for a concrete action plan for the access of Armenia. And the first step will be to grant Yerevan the candidate status as soon as the official request is made. National political leaders must leave apart the short-sighted will to maximise internal consensus by obstructing the enlargement process, they must embrace a truly strategic vision and move further in the accession process for our future members before they will lose hope, starting from the most aligned to our foreign policy. Widening and deepening are two rails of the same track. Our European project will never be completed until all the European countries that share our democratic values are part of the family. Let us move towards this direction now.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in recent months the dramatic situation in Hong Kong has come too far from the spotlight, overtaken by the equally, and perhaps even more, dramatic news coming to us from other parts of the world, I am thinking of Ukraine, I am thinking of Palestine. Yet we have a moral duty to pay attention to a country that has seen the arrest of more than 200 pro-democracy activists, which has seen the progressive dismantling of democratic institutions and the entire civil rights system that was once its pride. The people of Hong Kong continue their battle and we must stand with them against the repressive brutality of the Chinese Communist Party. We must suspend all extradition treaties that some Member States still have with China. We must harshly sanction this annexationist policy that violates Beijing's international commitments, which increasingly shows the traits of a dictatorship incompatible with our principles and values. I make a clear appeal to all those European political leaders, and especially in Italy, who still wink at Beijing today, who still shamelessly defend failed and hypocritical memoranda. We do not barter our principles and values on the altar of a business as usual from which we have only much to lose and little or nothing to gain. Otherwise nothing will remain of our being Europeans, democrats and defenders of individual freedoms. Your silence is complicit. Today we are all citizens of Hong Kong.

Madam President, Commissioner, thank you for being here today for discussing a very urgent matter, such as the capacity to provide Ukraine with the ammunition it needs to defend itself. I believe it is paramount that we keep up with our promises, also in light of the fact that other countries, such as North Korea, have already supported the replenishment of the Russian stockpiles consistently. At the same time, the possibility to achieve our goal came under question, as we have only provided 30% of the pledges. While it is true that our production capacity has increased by around 30% in the latest month, there is still a gap to close. Some analysts pointed out that one of the main problems is linked to the difficulties encountered by defence industries in accessing credit from European banks, since their products have been declared unsustainable by the European taxonomy. While, on the one hand, we are equipping ourselves with complementary funds for the scale-up of defence-related production, with EDIRPA and ASAP, on the other, we are somehow obstructing the production cycle of these products. How can we combine the need for more sustainable economic and production models with the one of reinforcing our defence capabilities?

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, climate change is an existential challenge that threatens our present and the future of generations to come. The recent tragic calamities that have struck my country in Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Marche speak for themselves: They show that early action against hydrogeological instability could not only have prevented billions of euros in damage to households and businesses, but also prevented the tragic loss of life that is perhaps the most unforgivable factor. With this COP28 we enter a critical phase, given that we will also have the long-awaited first examination of the progress of the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement. We, as the European Union, are moving: Let us lead by example by moving forward, pursuing these goals set out in the Green Deal as true pioneers. All our industrial conversion efforts, paid for by businesses and citizens – let us be clear, however – must be reciprocated by all the other major players in the world. Credibility for our citizens is at stake. If we don't build alliances, we'll all be defeated. That is why I hope that our governments will make their voices heard loud and clear: Time is the only capital we can no longer afford to lose. Let's act now or it'll be too late.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the leitmotif of massive disinformation campaigns against us is always the same and is based on the combination of two main elements: the attempt to present our Union as a disinterested and unreliable partner in the eyes of our interlocutors, and the glorification of the work of third-party actors behind the scenes of the countryside. We see these actions daily in various areas of the world, from Africa to the Middle East, with the risk that they will increase sharply, in the light of the dramatic events that are taking place in Palestine, thus increasing the risk of terrorist attacks on European soil. This trend needs to stop and we need to do it now. We must fully implement the Action plan 2018 and 2020. We need to strengthen our strategic communications to give the world and partners a real vision of our global commitment. Disinformation doesn't just come from the outside, though. It is abhorrent that there are still European politicians today who continue to mystify reality, especially in relation to the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine. Politics should also play a pedagogical role towards public opinion, not chase ephemeral electoral gains at the expense of moral integrity. History will judge and differentiate those who have always been on the side of legality and international justice from those who have moved for electoral and personal gain.

Madam President, High Representative Borrell, ladies and gentlemen, for too many years we have passively accepted the label given to us by the former US Secretary of State Kissinger, namely that of an economic giant, but of a political dwarf. Since the time of this famous quote much has improved, but not enough. This is also demonstrated by what happened – our irrelevance – in the tragedy of Nagorno-Karabakh. The increasingly complex and unstable international scenario with which we are confronted has been our geopolitical awakening, High Representative Borrell is right about this. We therefore need a strong and united Europe, capable of giving those common answers that will allow us to navigate these stormy waters, not a club of vaguely coordinated states in scattered order. To achieve this goal we must definitively overcome hypocrisy and the opportunistic search for electoral consensus in the immediate future. We need a long-term strategic vision and - I say this clearly - the adoption of qualified majority voting on foreign policy issues is imperative, an adequate common budget is also essential for defence investments and critical technologies, and it is essential to maintain a human rights agenda. Taking these steps is a strategic imperative, because this is the real challenge of our generation of Europeans.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the heartbreaking images of Hamas's terrorist and bloody barbarism on innocent civilians will remain forever in our eyes. Israel has the full, indisputable right to defend itself, but Israel also has the imperative duty, as a democratic state, to equally fully respect international law. To defeat Hamas terrorists, there is no need to carpet-bomb the Gaza Strip. To allow the evacuation of civilians, it is not enough to send leaflets to the population. In order to respect international law, it is not possible to punish indiscriminately the entire Palestinian people, who are victims, hostages and, in spite of themselves, shields of Hamas cutthroats. Who pays the highest price for this war? As always, the innocent. More than a third of Gaza's 3,000 deaths are children, innocent children, just like the Israeli children brutally murdered by Hamas. Children, only children, not those criminal jihadists who should be the only target of any response operation. Europe cannot stand idly by while a humanitarian catastrophe with few precedents in history is looming. Let us make sure that the Rafah Crossing is reopened. Let us make every effort to ensure that humanitarian aid can return to Gaza immediately. Let us make every effort to bring about a complete evacuation of civilians. Let us act now with all our determination. Gaza cannot become a worse hell than it has been to this day.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the humanitarian consequences of Putin's brutality go far beyond the already unspeakable crimes that have been committed throughout Ukraine. At least 20 000 children are forcibly deported to Russia, while there are well over 6 million refugees in our Europe who have fled in the hope of leaving violence behind. Unfortunately, for many of them, the nightmare is not over yet. What the University of Birmingham's "Not a single safe place" research has reported is terrible and can only shake our consciences. In the testimonies of women fleeing the conflict, episodes of atrocious sexual violence were reported, first by Russian troops, accused of having indiscriminately abused, without any mercy, four-year-old children as well as seventy-year-olds, then by individuals who pretend to be volunteers, taking advantage of the reception system to carry out their revolting abuses. We cannot and must not tolerate it. The 1.5 million euros already earmarked is not enough. More is needed to truly support Ukrainian women. It takes much more to give them the care and psychological support they need. Much more is needed to give concrete follow-up to the integrated support mechanism, set up by the service of foreign policy instruments and again, to guarantee a relentless fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of these unacceptable crimes. Europe must be a safe place for Ukrainian brothers and sisters fleeing the conflict, not another theatre of horror and barbarism. It is our duty to guarantee it.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President Šefčovič, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago this Parliament expressed its full support for the European Citizens' Initiative 'End the Cage Age', which collected 1.4 million certified signatures. The Commission undertook to present by the end of this year a legislative proposal to ban the use of cages for a number of farmed animals. This is not happening. European citizens have clearly called for a change of course and we must listen to them. We must aim for farming methods that are respectful of animals and truly sustainable, as the "Farm to Fork" strategy wants. It is not enough to talk only about the transport of animals, we must have the courage to deal with the issue of intensive livestock farming. We risk missing a very important, unrepeatable opportunity to make a difference both in the lives of animals and in that of our Europe. I therefore call on the Commission to respect its commitment to European citizens and to finally present the legislative proposal to phase out the use of cages in livestock farming in Europe. We say clearly that we respect the voice of those who have no voice, that of our animal friends.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank the rapporteurs for their excellent work. With our yes, tomorrow we will once again confirm our determination to support the Ukrainian people. I am returning today from a very important mission in Kiev of the European Movement for Non-Violent Action to promote the European Civil Peace Corps. I saw with my own eyes the devastation of these months and the unspeakable horrors of Buča and I spoke to the local people, who continue to resist with courage and determination. Totally supporting the Ukrainian people, both in their sacrosanct battle for freedom and in the difficult post-conflict reconstruction, is a moral imperative for us, but we must also have the coherence to clear the field of all forms of ambiguity and double standards. I find it abhorrent that important European politicians still hypocritically mix reality and refuse to unequivocally condemn the perpetrator of the atrocities committed: Vladimir Putin's regime. We cannot allow this sordid search for cheap consensus to pollute public debate and undermine our commitment. There can be no reconciliation without truth and without the fight against impunity. With this instrument, we reaffirm legality, democracy and the rule of law. Ukraine will never be the brutalized periphery of Russian imperialist ambitions, but the beating heart of European integration. Yes to a just peace. Slava Ukraini!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, as we have done with the GDPR and as we are doing with the AI Act, it is imperative to create global standards also in capital markets, and tomorrow's vote is exactly in this direction. This regulation is one more piece of the puzzle to improve credibility and, most importantly, the allocation of money. In doing so, we respond to the needs of those investors and businesses who really want to contribute to the biggest transition in our history. I want to thank the rapporteur and friend Paul Tang for the excellent work, also because he has traced the way through which it is well understood that the growth of this market will be exponential. Strengthening it, in fact, as a green finance market, will also reduce the risk premium and the cost of financing. But that is not enough. If we really want to achieve the green targets, which I remember being legally binding and not free of charge, we must at the same time have a common EU budget that is permanently financed by common bonds on which privately raised green capital can leverage. I am thinking, for example, of the establishment of virtuous partnerships, also public-private. But this must be done now, we cannot wait and chase endlessly the irreversible effects of an announced crisis. It would be absolutely unforgivable.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, how many times in recent years have I and have we repeated that the migration challenge is structural and not cyclical, in which no State can offer effective answers. Meanwhile, ten long years later, landings in Lampedusa have increased dramatically: There are over 130 000 at this time, at the end of September, three times as many as in 2021. The island is collapsing and in recent years, for what it has done in terms of unity and hospitality, it would have really deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Propaganda slogans melted like snow in the sun. The solution cannot and must not be to outsource the management of our borders to authoritarian regimes. It didn't work with Turkey and it won't work with Tunisia. There can be no hypocritical third way in the face of brutal human rights violations, I say clearly: Either we fight them with all our strength, always and in any case, or by accepting them we become accomplices. That's why I say: enough ambiguity, enough tacticism and enough artificial opposition, yes to the European right of asylum, yes to the legal avenues of access to solidarity, yes to a common rescue mechanism, yes to a new paradigm of EU-African Union cooperation. The Mediterranean cannot be the graveyard of our values and principles, it must be a bridge of civilization.