Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, eight women have been killed in Italy over the last week. The last one today, a few hours ago, in Vicenza. In Europe, we know, we count one victim every six hours and so I want to be very clear, colleagues, this is not and cannot be a women's problem, just because it is women who are the victims. This immense crime against humanity concerns the very definition of our civilization. Think about it, we do not have rights in common, because there are significant differences between the different countries; We do not share freedoms. The only thing that unites us, for the fact of being women, and I would say for the fault of being born women, is the fact of being the object of violence. This is a real social and political emergency that we must put at the top of our priorities and our action. Including violence among Eurocrimes, that is, among those very serious crimes over which we have and will have direct and binding competence, would help us to equip ourselves with a series of effective tools to finally take an important step towards equality and the fight against violence. So, ladies and gentlemen, I expect from this House - attention, not alibi - I expect from this House understanding and not excuses, like the ones we always hear, too often, not excuses, the usual ones, not to be on the side of women. I expect, ladies and gentlemen, a vote in favour, loud and clear to say that yes, this... (The President withdrew the floor from the speaker)