Speeches

Mr President, the flooding that has hit Sicily in the past weeks apparently will be a common phenomenon in the future. We have been talking about the rise of one or one and a half degrees on the planet for years, and I think was not enough to convince the people about the real issue of climate change. But now, with a temperature higher than the seasonal average, a more evident phenomenon is waking up the conscience. The fury of the wind is more even than some degrees more for a human being. That’s why we must act and take a decision now to avoid the first Mediterranean hurricane, which will be also the last. I am very close to my island. I hope the Solidarity Fund will be activated. La Sicilia si rialzerà e dobbiamo aiutarla, perché è una perla della nostra Europa!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Farm to Fork strategy is not only useful, but necessary to make European agriculture increasingly quality and sustainable. Shorten the supply chain, enhance local products, recognize and protect excellence. But it is not enough, if we do not create rules so that the market and large retailers finally favor small and medium-sized producers, who are precisely those who cultivate excellence while protecting the environment. It is not enough, if we continue to have commercial agreements with those who do not respect the rules that we impose on our producers and therefore makes us an unfair competition that we incredibly endorse and that undermines the work done on sustainability and quality. We therefore call for instruments in the EC proposal to prevent the blackmailing of extreme reductions in quality, organic and protected products, as well as the intention to stop self-harm in agreements with markets outside Europe. We need a more robust and integrated internal market that enhances PGI products. Well the summary in this INI, but I expect more, even starting from the labelling, which can not be misleading for the consumer, so the fraudulent and unscientific system of Nutri-Score at traffic lights must be eliminated once and for all.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the UN Food Systems Summit on 23 September is a historic opportunity to lead the recovery from the pandemic and achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Food systems, production, distribution and consumption are key to achieving the SDGs and therefore need to be made healthier, more sustainable and fairer. The EU has made the SDGs a guiding principle of its policies, but the eradication of hunger by 2030 is currently a chimera and the pandemic has highlighted the fragility of systems and exacerbated inequalities. The EU must therefore take the lead on zero hunger and impose a rapid transition to sustainable agri-food systems, such as the Farm to Fork, and this question goes in the right direction, but Europe must also stimulate partner countries and their local farmers, fishermen and producers to switch to sustainable practices, favouring only agreements that reward animal welfare, stopping pesticides, respecting human rights and combating antibiotic resistance. We therefore call for these objectives, both ambitious and necessary, to be pursued in order to have a better future.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Fisheries Fund must go to the operators to whom it was originally addressed, but if we go to grant the funds also for boats that reach 24 meters, we help those who need them less. Small navies have been protecting the sea for centuries because they live its natural rhythms preserving its life. In areas where fishing is disappearing, why do young people who own only 33% of the vessel also have access? Instead, the aid must be targeted precisely at those companies or navies that encourage genuine participation and 100 % generational renewal. We have always thought that, precisely as a common policy, fisheries must be very attentive to the real conditions of the sector to ensure the conservation of the resource, aid to the small and generational renewal, not therefore help the domination of large industries that have no care for the physiological needs of a very sensitive environment such as the marine one. By not limiting the great exploiters you risk killing the sea and the sailors. Europe, on the other hand, must change course without delay and support small navies by avoiding subsidies to those who see only a business in the sea, a mine to be exploited, to be plucked up to exhaustion.