Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, what the investigation into the Pegasus project reveals is extremely disturbing. We are facing a massive surveillance campaign led by several national intelligence services: at least 50 000 users have been monitored, including journalists, human rights activists, political opponents, even the heads of many governments. The functioning of our democratic systems, freedom of the press, freedom of opinion of activists are under attack. It's not a new danger. We have also been reporting serious abuses of this instrument to the Commission for several years, but nothing has been done so far. We cannot trust the assurances of NSO, the manufacturer of the spyware, which claims to examine its clients on the basis of their respect for human rights, given that many of their clients such as Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, show huge gaps in this field. Not only: EU Member States too, I am thinking in particular of Hungary, must explain what use they have made of this instrument.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the very poor state of political relations between the European Union and Russia is a glaring fact that we cannot deny and with which we must obviously come to terms, facing the consequences with the necessary clarity. The Union, its democratic processes and those of its Member States have long been under attack with more or less obvious attempts at interference by foreign powers: Russia is one of these, perhaps the most explicit, and has also found in Europe political accomplices willing to support it, accomplices who also sit in this House. We are rightly becoming aware of this, but we must also put in place all the necessary instruments to defend our values and our democracy. Now we must do more, we must decisively strengthen the relationship with that Russian civil society which, amidst a thousand difficulties, is trying today to build spaces for alternatives and democracy, promotes free information and civil rights, and fights against all discrimination. It, this part of Russia, must be our ally.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the situation in Saudi Arabia in terms of respect for human rights is dramatic. The recent execution of Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish is confirmation of what has been happening in the country for some time, just think of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the tragic humanitarian and political situation in Yemen, the detention of human rights defenders, activists, including Raif Badawi. Contrary to what the propaganda machine claims, human rights activists and Saudi citizens remain under constant threat every day. That is why we call on all representatives of the European Union to follow the example of President Biden, that is, not to regard Prince Mohammad bin Salman in any way as a legitimate interlocutor. And we ask this of all European politicians in any country. Let's end the dangerous relationship with Prince Mohammad bin Salman. It tramples on our values.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in global value chains, which all too often bring with them unbearable imbalances, exploitation, lack of rights, Bangladesh is certainly a key country, a country where many European brands carry out a large part of their production process. What happens in that country and its hopes for progress therefore concern us deeply, we must also feel them as our responsibility. It is absolutely crucial that it vigorously pursues a path to build a system of labour rights where they are lacking, to combat child labour and ensure full employability of trade unions, to strengthen controls in factories, to address the issue of wages, which are often absolutely unacceptable. Eight years after the Rana Plaza tragedy that cost, as has been mentioned, the lives of 1 134 people, no step back must be taken compared to the Bangladesh Accord, which guaranteed over two million workers a first advance in factory safety. This can only be possible by keeping concrete and binding commitments and if we perceive the question of the fate of workers as an issue that concerns us.

(IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the establishment of a global EU human rights sanctions regime is a significant step forward and an indispensable tool for making the European battles for human rights in the world strong, credible and effective, not limiting them to statements of principle, which are often overlooked little. In order not to waste a great opportunity, this tool must be used consistently, through the definition of criteria that reduce the discretion and arbitrariness of its application. We cannot be uncompromising about human rights every other day. In this context, we must know that it is a mistake to review that of allowing the instrument to be applied by unanimity in the Council rather than, as would have been rational, by qualified majority voting. And we must also tell ourselves something else, however, that we are consistent on human rights if we always are, even within European borders. The hallucinatory choices against the LGBT community of Poland and Hungary are, for example, the total denial of the principles that we all exalt together on this occasion.

Madam President, High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, our European democracy is a very precious asset to be defended in every way, including from the dangers that come from outside. In recent years we know that there have been numerous attempts by foreign actors, state and non-state, to condition European democratic processes with the aim of weakening our project and the values on which it is based. As President Glucksmann said, there are many tools that are put in place against us, from more or less direct forms of financing to parties and foundations, cyber-attacks, to organized disinformation campaigns, perhaps through the distorted use of platforms. These attempts always have two things in common: They tend to favour sovereignism and nationalism and have minorities and the most vulnerable, migrants, women and the LGBT community as their preferred targets. For several months now, in the INGE Special Committee, we have been dealing with all this and we intend to go all the way even unmasking those accomplices, also present among Europe's far-right forces, who hypocritically wave national flags but take orders from Moscow, or I am thinking of those forces that – I refer, for example, to the Salvini League – have entertained ambiguous relations and all of them have yet to be clarified with the Russian summits. Obviously, the risk of at least potential external interference is unfortunately very large, and it does not concern only Russia or China, there are undemocratic regimes or systems that maintain relations with various European politicians - I am thinking, for example, of Saudi Arabia - who seek a continuous and dangerous political exchange. The European Union – this is the meaning of our work – needs to put in place a strong strategy to defend its democracy and it needs to do so immediately.