Speeches

At European level, effective solutions and a common response on the management of migration flows are still lacking. The European Union has allocated a total of €16 billion to be spent over the next seven years in the key areas of border management and migration. It is appreciable that the 2021-2027 Asylum and Migration Fund provides a fixed amount for the allocation of funding to national programmes, to which is added an amount allocated on the basis of a distribution key that will reflect the needs and pressures faced by the various Member States for asylum, legal migration, integration and the fight against irregular migration, including return. In addition, the Fund will be able to provide better responses, in terms of flexibility and speed, through a thematic instrument that will provide funding for certain actions, including emergency assistance and support to Member States contributing to solidarity and responsibility efforts. It is precisely these last two elements that are lacking, those that the EU and the frontline states most need so that genuinely common European asylum and migration policies can be implemented in practice.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the horror of the massacre of civilians in Gaza does not spare those who help a population suffering all kinds of deprivation or who document the ongoing tragedy: Around 200 aid workers have been killed and 100 journalists killed, while well over 30,000 Palestinian civilians have died. The European Parliament condemned the disproportionate response of the Israeli army after the 7 October attacks. But little did it serve. The Union must then move from words to deeds if it is to be a credible actor as a builder of peace and guardian of international humanitarian law. We need targeted sanctions, we need the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as called for by the UN rapporteur on Palestine. But we also need an immediate stop to the export of any kind of European weapon or ammunition, which should never be provided to those who are staining themselves with war crimes. The Union's future role in the world and in its relations with its neighbours will depend on our ability to act now without waiting for further slaughter.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in a European Union where one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence, 75% have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace and where one in two women has been the victim of gender-based cyberviolence, it is clear that effective action is urgently needed. The proposal for a directive on combating violence against women should have been a European bulwark against this scourge, but the amendments decided by the Council have made the text less ambitious. An opportunity for a paradigm shift has been missed and that is why we cannot vote in favour of this text. Rules to criminalise rape as a sexual act without consent are removed. Sexual harassment in the world of work is eliminated. There is also a general prison sentence, general criminal penalties, but not minimum prison sentences. Therefore, there is still a lack of full sharing of the values and principles enunciated by the Istanbul Convention to offer protection to women's rights where they are most under attack. We women will not give up and we will continue to work so that Europe can truly be a beacon of progress, without compromising on women's safety and freedom.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in 2020, President von der Leyen declared that she would abolish the Dublin system. You, Vice-President Schinas and you, Commissioner Johansson, declared that solidarity would become mandatory. Well, after almost ten years, if we look at the first proposal presented in 2015 by the European Commission for the reform of the Asylum Package, after almost ten years of work and negotiations, we find ourselves voting today on a Pact that continues to provide for the principle of responsibility for the country of first entry. It still does not provide for mandatory solidarity, because how can we talk about mandatory if there are no sanctions? Introduces the mandatory border procedure and the procedure of screening, which allow detention that will not spare even minors, which will introduce a fictio iuris of dubious legitimacy and which will not spare violations of fundamental rights. We cannot support this Pact because we are European, because we want a European response and because this Pact does not comply with Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, European legislation on animal welfare requires urgent revision for the purposes it is intended to achieve and to meet citizens' expectations. More than 1.5 million signatures have supported the ‘Enough animals in cages’ and ‘Enough fur in Europe’ initiatives to tackle cruel and unsustainable production and farming practices; This demonstrates the ethical responsibility to prevent pain, suffering and mistreatment of animals. Agri-food production involving certain species must also use systems that ensure a high level of well-being, as required by the environmental, food safety and public health objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy. The Commission has unavoidable commitments to update the relevant regulatory framework; must provide support and financing instruments to European companies that respect animal welfare, protecting them from imports that may lead to unfair competition. The Commission does not disregard the promised legislative proposals. A better world for animals is possible and beneficial for all.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in 2021 Alexei Navalny courageously chose to return to Russia after suffering an attempted poisoning. He knew it would be risky, but he did it to manifest the principles he believed in: freedom and justice. These are the principles that coincide with our own values. Navalny's human and political condition, which ended in a Siberian prison, and his fight against the corruption of one of the most repressive regimes in the world have shaken the consciences of world public opinion. This Parliament will do everything in its power to honour its example of courage and its role as a political opponent of an autocratic regime. Those who are behind bars for political reasons, men, women and many oppressed young people who today in Russia would like a change must receive a strong message of solidarity and support to resist. May Europe bring hope and peace where there is fear, death and oppression today.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the International Court of Justice has asked Israel to respect the Genocide Convention and to guarantee humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. This is an urgent reminder of our conscience and international responsibility. If the Netanyahu government were to turn its back on this appeal, we would face new innocent victims and forced displacement. A drama that would add to the lack of food, water, drugs, medical care, milk. Infants begin to give dates wrapped in gauze instead of milk. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has already taken appropriate action against workers accused of taking part in the October 7 attacks. If it fails to deliver the humanitarian assistance it has provided for 75 years, the catastrophe will be total. The European Union must make every effort, including by putting the instrument of sanctions on the table, to promote a permanent ceasefire. It is only through dialogue and mutual respect that a future of security and peace for Israel and Palestine can be built. The ultimate goal must be the recognition of two sovereign and democratic states.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, global responses are needed to tackle challenges such as women's poverty, a phenomenon that manifests itself disproportionately compared to men's poverty. Women receive lower salaries and pensions, take more responsibility for caring for family members, and suffer more from precariousness, unemployment and social insecurity. This unequal treatment is rooted in systemic, structural and cultural inequalities and discrimination, which are exacerbated in vulnerable situations resulting from violence, wars, migration flows and economic crises. Therefore, strengthening the gender dimension and applying the principles of gender budgeting in all policies, including in the external relations of the European Union, are essential tools for affirming women's rights and promoting their empowerment at European and global level. Ensuring equal opportunities in education, the labour market, political and economic decision-making, as well as access to sexual health and rights, including safe and legal abortion care, are essential objectives for a freer, more inclusive society with equal rights.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, do the Commission and the Council really believe that, by continuing to send more and more weapons to Ukraine, Russia will sooner or later stop? The two years since the Russian invasion show the opposite: Ukraine is now in a grip of dependence on external aid to support its spending and arm its army. Sending arms to Ukraine to support it, legitimately, in its self-defense has now led this country into the dead end of a war of attrition, which causes death, destruction and displacement. Using more weapons does not, unfortunately, facilitate peace processes but only makes the war industry accumulate huge extra profits. Now is the time to change strategy. We must support the Ukrainian people with a peace project; we must step up diplomatic efforts for military de-escalation; We need to start a process of negotiating a solution to the conflict. Peace in Ukraine is not a gift to Putin, but a fundamental right for Ukrainians.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the next European Council will be decisive in shaping the Europe of the future and never before have positions been so different and distant. We have Orbán's blackmail and vetoes against European unity; the return of austerity against a development and solidarity pact; linear budget cuts against investments that companies need for the green transition; new arms shipments for the wars against peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. The Five Star Movement clearly knows which side it is on. Mandatory deficit and debt cuts would mortgage the future of the next generations, condemning them to a wave of cuts and irreversible decline. We will not stand by and tell the citizens the truth if the next European Council turns into a stage of lies and propaganda, as unfortunately happened in the past and as the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did in the past. Europe was not born to stand against, but for the citizens.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the brutal killing of Giulia Cecchettin has profoundly shaken consciences in Italy about how serious the sequence of femicides is still. Giulia was denied her right to live, her future. And it is not the only one, because in Italy, in my country, more than 100 women have been victims since the beginning of the year, of which more than 80 have been killed in the family or in any case affective. Here, and yet, in the face of this situation, there are still several parties, including the government forces of our country, which reveal all their inadequacy on the issue of women's civil rights. Lega and Fratelli d'Italia here in the European Parliament have not even supported the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. When we talk about violence against women, we are talking about a crime that remains one of the most serious violations of human rights and the most widespread and unpunished. It would be a very serious mistake to think that this is an unavoidable phenomenon: on the contrary, we must combat gender-based violence at a preventive level; We need to implement fundamental prevention policies and strategies. Every legislative, social and cultural action for the affirmation and protection of women's rights contributes to the battle of civilization for a safer and more equal future.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to put an end to the suffering inflicted on animals kept in cages, whether wild or domestic, with the aim of making money on fur production. More than 1.5 million European citizens have voiced this call, supporting the "Fur Free Europe" initiative with their signature. This kind of breeding is in stark contrast to the fundamental principles of animal welfare. It is unethical, unsafe, unsustainable and can be dangerous to public health and harmful to native biodiversity. The toxic chemicals used by the fur industry rank it among the top five most polluting. 20 Member States have already recognised the urgency to act and introduced legislative measures to limit these production practices. And so, together with what has already been requested by European citizens, we call on the European Commission to present immediately a legislative proposal that will put an end to a market that generates only unnecessary cruelty to satisfy human vanity. Let's say enough of the animal fur in Europe.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, three years after its presentation and eight years after the first proposals for reform, the new European Pact for Migration and Asylum has not yet come into being. And it is the Mediterranean countries like Italy that pay the heaviest price for European divisions, vetoes and delays. We remember it once again: Lampedusa is a land of Italian and European borders, but it is also a land of hope for many migrants fleeing war, persecution and misery, and it is not by paying dictators with European funds that we solve the problem, indeed we aggravate it. What is lacking today are the rules, the European right of asylum is lacking. We need a third way, the way of common sense, that of solidarity and legal and safe ways of accessing the European Union. In Italy we are tired of continuing to count the deaths at sea, over 26 000 in the last ten years. We urgently need a fair sharing of responsibilities. Then Europe proves, in fact, that it is stronger than extremism and nationalism.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is difficult not to see in the EU-Tunisia agreement the attempt to contain flows in exchange for financial aid and to outsource responsibility for migration. It risks fuelling dependence on a third country with completely inadequate human rights protections. It is clear to everyone that Tunisia cannot be considered safe because of episodes of racism, xenophobia, violence against sub-Saharan migrants, and the deterioration of democracy and the rule of law. It is painful that all this has also been celebrated as a success by the Italian Prime Minister, Meloni, while Italy faces twice as many landings with great difficulty as last year. Rather than then fighting for a fairer sharing of the European Union's responsibilities, it would be better to remain an ally of those who, by hindering compulsory relocations, aggravate the situation of the countries of first entry.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the proposals of the ING2 Special Committee are the starting point for the reform of the internal rules of the European Parliament in order to ensure greater transparency and integrity in its work, to ensure democratic scrutiny by citizens and to combat corruption. As a 5 Star Movement delegation, we wanted to contribute to this process by tabling several amendments; some of them call for the extension of the protection standards offered by the whistleblowers to those working in the European institutions and, in particular, to protect them from possible retaliation against them. Others aim to strengthen the Transparency Register, or to strengthen the sanctions of the Code of Conduct in case of infringement by also providing, in the most serious cases, for the loss of mandate-related benefits, such as pensions. Interventions to prevent and bring out conflicts of interest are also of fundamental importance. Interference and different forms of corruption remain a widespread phenomenon, which must be tackled in the most uncompromising way in order to safeguard the integrity of the democratic and decision-making process.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, recent crises, high-energy inflation and inevitable market speculation continue to concentrate enormous wealth in the hands of a privileged few. We need to address growing economic disparities and ensure a fairer distribution of resources if we want a different development model, based on sustainability, rights, justice and peace. Taxing non-profits and those who benefit most from wealth accumulation does not mean punishing success or disincentivising entrepreneurship. Fair taxation is essential to find resources to be used to strengthen welfare services, to promote quality education and health that is accessible to all, to achieve the green transition, to combat inequalities and poverty. The fight against tax evasion and tax havens and the creation of fair taxation are key points for those who have stratospheric profits to contribute proportionately to the common good. The European Union should be a beacon in promoting greater shared prosperity for all its citizens.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the threat of foreign interference, while increasing in national and European elections, is in fact manifested in many forms and continuously throughout the European Union. Disinformation and information manipulation on traditional and social media, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, smuggling of influence, corruption, covert funding involving political actors and officials are just some of the recurrent practices to influence democratic and electoral processes. The role of technologies in this field is increasingly strong, as evidenced by the advertising based on personal data and opaque algorithms on which the business model of online platforms is based, increasingly exploited to shape and polarize public opinion. And so, in addition to efforts to improve the transparency and integrity of our institutions, together with the expected measures of the Defense of Democracy package, it is essential to strengthen democracy from within and this is achieved by promoting a civic culture of democratic engagement and active citizen participation.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as the Five Star Movement, we have always promoted the objectives of the recent proposal for a directive on combating corruption. The European Union finally reacts with determination to combat one of the most unpunished and dangerous transnational phenomena for the integrity of democratic processes, the legal economy and social cohesion. We share the importance of preventing and creating transparency through anti-corruption measures, including those introducing rules on asset declaration, lobbying and revolving doors. We have long been waiting for the harmonisation of national legislation, the broadening of definitions and the list of punishable offences, stricter sanctions and ancillary penalties including removal from public offices, ineligibility and exclusion from access to public funding. Enough limitation periods to do justice and waiver of immunity and privileges will give more strength to law enforcement authorities; This framework will also make it easier to limit the action of organised crime and "white collar" groups. We are all called upon to do our part to ensure that this directive becomes an effective instrument at once.

(IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the attempt to reduce migratory pressure towards the European Union should never result in measures that prevent people from applying for international protection in a safe territory, thus exposing them to risks of arbitrary detention, violence and discrimination. This is especially the case when it comes to relocating asylum, controlling migration flows and borders, strategically evading international obligations and shifting responsibilities elsewhere. Today, the European Union aims to prevent irregular arrivals and increase returns by focusing its efforts on outsourcing practices and cooperation with third States, based on exchange logics regarding conditional funding and other instruments. For years, we have been trying to fill the gaps in our policies in ensuring orderly, safe and solidarity-based migration and fair sharing of responsibility. Our financial resources should also be used for different aspects of migration processes, such as their root causes, local development, legal avenues of access. We do not feed dependence on countries with inadequate human rights protections and from which we run the risk of being blackmailed.

Madam President, the report of the International Council on Clean Transportation shows that nothing has changed since the 2015 Dieselgate scandal. In fact, 77% of the tests still reveal so-called suspicious emissions, a figure that could be explained by the possibility that millions of diesel cars in Europe use a defeat device. With the EMIS Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry, the lack of political will to act to protect air quality and public health emerged, despite the fact that the European Commission and the Member States had been aware for more than a decade of discrepancies between tests on nitrogen oxide emissions carried out in the laboratory and those measured on the road. The various strategies suggesting the use of defeat devices for light and heavy-duty vehicles, which were the subject of judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, were even described. Enough of this deception. The European institutions and the Member States must choose whether to continue to serve the interests of car lobbies or to safeguard the environment and the health of citizens.

Madam President, the journalistic investigation 'The Forever Pollution Project' revealed the appalling extent of contamination by PFAS substances, which are synthetically produced, are toxic and persistent substances that have a multitude of applications. We can find them in commonly used products, in the water we drink, in the clothes we wear, in the packaging of the food we eat, in the soil and in living beings. The health consequences are serious and can cause a wide range of diseases, with health costs estimated at between €52 and €84 billion per year in the European Union. Reducing exposure to ever-increasing concentrations of eternal pollutants is in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the 2020 Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. The proposed restriction of some 10 000 PFAS substances put forward by some Member States is therefore in the right direction in the search for viable safe and sustainable alternatives. That is why it is important for the Commission to take up this challenge and take action now to safeguard health and protect the environment.

Mr President, the 441 deaths since the beginning of the year in the Central Mediterranean and the 20,000 recorded since 2014 make this migratory route, the Mediterranean route, the deadliest in the world. The main ports of Europe are the Italian coasts, where more than 32 000 arrivals took place in 2023. The declaration of the state of emergency in Italy for migrants made it clear that the Meloni government, beyond the empty slogans on the naval blocks, has never had concrete solutions to alleviate the migratory pressure. Policies that hinder rather than facilitate relief cost lives. Pending legal and safe access to the European Union, an effective fight against the criminal networks of traffickers and an effective implementation of the European principles of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, Italy bears increasingly disproportionate burdens in the management of flows and in search and rescue operations. Those who call for walls at borders are therefore opposed to the necessary cooperation and a common European response to avoid further journeys of despair and death.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in the Mediterranean, more and more like a cemetery, the bodies of the shipwreck in Cutro, Italy, are still being recovered today. Since 2015, 26,000 people have died. Stricter penalties for smugglers and traffickers, even if just, are not enough on their own if the lack of legal and safe access to the European Union for those fleeing conflict and persecution has often lethal journeys as the only alternative. Be clear: Saving lives in distress at sea is a moral duty and a legal obligation for states. And it must also be so for the European Union, because search, rescue and reception cannot fall disproportionately only on coastal and first-entry countries. We need solidarity and responsibility from all European countries. And humanity is needed, the one that unfortunately the Italian government has not demonstrated, with an interior minister criticized for his statements without compassion and human sensitivity, and with a premier who, despite going to the site of the shipwreck, denied a greeting to the families of the victims. A government, let me tell you, inhumane.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the accession of the European Union to the Istanbul Convention is a necessary step towards effective legal and political measures to prevent and combat gender-based violence. We cannot remain hostage to those Member States that are questioning the Convention, delaying its ratification and implementation or expressing a willingness to withdraw. These countries show that they do not want to help women in the Union to enjoy the same level of protection against the various forms of violence and discrimination. They undermine joint efforts to improve the assistance of victims, to denounce and prosecute perpetrators, as well as to protect the enjoyment of women’s fundamental rights and freedoms, their full participation in social, political and labour life. On the basis of the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Council will then proceed to conclude rapidly the work on the ratification of the Convention. We make all conditions possible for women to live free from violence.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, may the European Council be an opportunity to reiterate that in Europe we do not need walls, barbed wire and funding to erect new physical barriers at external and internal borders. We need solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, as provided for in Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In order to alleviate the disproportionate burden on frontline states, which are under greater pressure, a mandatory solidarity mechanism based on relocations between all EU Member States cannot be dispensed with. Cooperation with countries of origin and transit and legal avenues to the European Union remain necessary to combat migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, protect lives and protect fundamental rights. In this context, return and reintegration agreements need to be strengthened and employment opportunities in third countries improved. Two years after the presentation of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and about seven years after the previous proposals to reform the Common European Asylum System, the European Union is not wasting any more time to give a new direction to the management of migration flows.