Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this is certainly not the reform we wanted and, above all, this is not the appropriate response to those seeking protection in Europe. A reform that does not correct the inequities of the past, but that, on the contrary, masks solidarity with policies of prevention and repression, in a desperate attempt to defend the European "fortress". If adopted, this reform will legalize the denial of rights in Europe, make the arbitrary use of detention normal, even for minors, facilitate pushbacks in so-called safe countries, make search and rescue at sea more difficult and hit the work of many NGOs that will have to defend themselves against the accusation of instrumentalization. I want to say it clearly: this Pact is not and does not provide the solution and only risks exacerbating conflicts by outsourcing European borders. Mr President, I have worked a lifetime to guarantee the rights of those seeking protection in Europe. I do not intend to give it up, and no one in this House should. You can negotiate about anything but humanity.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, madness seems to have taken over the right: madness and inhumanity. This idea of building floating centres in international waters to examine asylum applications and prevent migrants from arriving in Europe is something that makes me shiver. Do you listen when you speak? Do you realize what you are proposing? It's almost like a race of inhumanity. In England, conservative Sunak has converted a floating prison to house asylum seekers and looks to Rwanda. Italy goes ahead for a CPR in Albania. From Pontida some militants of the League also proposed to cede Lampedusa to Africa, making it a great hot-spot. Now this idea of floating centers where to detain migrants to verify their asylum applications... Is there a plan on which all right-wingers in Europe agree to circumvent the ban on naval blockades and pushbacks with artificial centers or islands in the middle of the sea, as Israel proposes for the Palestinians? You see, as I recall, there was only one experiment of this kind in the past: The Isle of Roses, have you ever heard of it? It was built by the Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa in 1968, the year of the youth revolutions. That island – which lasted 55 days – was born as a place of freedom. Today, however, here you propose to create "artificial Alcatraz", checkpoints in the middle of the sea. I repeat: I have the creeps of horror. I say: Shame on you! Even the premise of this question makes me horrified. He speaks of "the Lampedusa emergency", without saying that the emergency arises from the failure of the Italian government to transfer the people who arrived. It is recalled that the Tunisian terrorist of the recent attack in Brussels entered Europe through Lampedusa, but it is omitted that this happened 15 years ago. This interpellation is the result of a toxic and racist narrative, which risks poisoning Europe: If we want to take action against terrorism, then focus on the risk of radicalisation within our cities and ask ourselves about the policies of reception and integration, rather than apply to reconstructions of hatred, which do nothing but fuel other hatred. "Irregular migrants" are defined as follows: They are simply people. Even in the most difficult times - I am referring to 2011 and last year - the Lampedusa people, my people, have not had reactions of rejection and condemnation for these people. Lampedusa is a natural island, not an artificial one, and recognizes the value of humanity, as anyone who believes in the values of Europe should do. It is disgraceful that you exploit my island, because you are not even worthy to name it, with insane and inhuman proposals.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the protection of our seas and the environment is something that is particularly close to my heart. It is not just a task, it is a mission that involves all of us and that we must guarantee to future generations. By doing this, however, we cannot forget the fishermen, the true guardians of the sea, the first to defend the biodiversity on which their and our source of livelihood is based. As a fisherman I know how hard the life of the sea is and how much strength and tenacity it takes to do an ever less coveted job. With this resolution, we have worked together to ensure that fisheries are increasingly sustainable in the near future, without forgetting the collateral challenges to good management of fisheries policy. I am referring to climate change and ongoing ecological disasters, not least the one in Galicia; The images of microplastics infesting seas and beaches have deeply shaken me. These are the alarm bells that we can no longer ignore. We call on the Commission to pursue the path of balance outlined in the common fisheries policy. Environmental components must go hand in hand with social and economic ones. A more responsible management of fisheries is crucial for the future of our sea. We also recognize that each place has its own specificity and uniqueness. We need to work together, listening to everyone, relying on the best scientific advice and considering every possible impact. As we continue on the path of a just transition, President, we must also work internationally to combat illegal and unfair fishing by third countries, especially in the Mediterranean. Working together to set stricter global standards are key steps to protect our seas and fishermen, otherwise our continued efforts would be in vain. Let us therefore continue on the path of a just transition that leaves no one behind.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this House has been working on the legislative proposals contained in the Pact for three years. We have played the role of co-legislator correctly, we have dismissed texts resulting from compromises between different political groups and now, on the way home, I hear the Commission and the Council talking about firefighters, architects, ten-point documents, agreements with autocratic countries and repatriations. What have we worked for so far? It is clear that the Council is still trapped in stalemate and blackmail, also thanks to the absurd demands of countries, including Italy, and the search for a compromise seems to be the result of bilateral agreements to the detriment of what is the global vision of the phenomenon of migration. A reform that adds nothing to the current situation, that does not correct the inequities of the system and, above all, that masks solidarity with inhumane return policies, will hardly find the support of my political group. One thing is for sure: We will not accept any compromise on the downside. And stop mentioning Lampedusa to support your populist and inhumane policies, indeed, learned from Lampedusans, who know how to do true integration and true solidarity.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, ten years have passed since that terrible night. I still hear the cries of the survivors and the cries of those who had lost loved ones during the crossing and I still see the long and endless row of sacks of corpses lying on the Favaloro pier: 368. I was there, I welcomed those bodies and also examined them, one by one. Many and I too believed that in the face of so much despair we could turn the page and finally begin to consider migration as a structural phenomenon to be managed and not as an emergency to be countered. Instead, from that October 3rd we are separated by ten years of indifference, ten years of habituation, ten years of postponements and, above all, ten years of massacres at sea. As we continue to talk about frontiers to defend, as if we had to stop enemies or we were at war, women, men and children continue to die. But beware, along with these people also die the founding values of the European Union, born to defend human rights and the rule of law. We need to change our pace and choose which side we're on. It's our responsibility.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the tenth anniversary of the terrible Lampedusa shipwreck will be remembered in the Chamber tomorrow with a statement by the President. The commemoration and the minutes of silence are certainly significant. However, I believe that it is important to accompany this moment with statements from all the political groups. On behalf of my group, I therefore ask that there be a willingness to make this moment not only celebratory, but also an opportunity to express our positions ten years after this terrible tragedy that has marked our consciences and that has seen 368 deaths.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, their names were Fatti Dosso and Marie, a young mother and her little girl who died of hardship, without water or food, embraced in the desert between Libya and Tunisia. They came from Côte d'Ivoire and they were 30 years old, she and you are the little girl. And in that desert they arrived after President Kais Saied opened the "black hunt", as it has been called, which forced hundreds of sub-Saharan people to leave the camps and houses in which they lived to flee into the desert or attempt the crossing of the Mediterranean. This is the visual representation of the EU-Tunisia agreement. Behold, the inhumanity replicated to the umpteenth power; the legitimacy of institutional racism, the complicity of the European Union in brutal policies, in total violation of the rules and principles that, at least on paper, bind the Union itself. The EUR 105 million under this new agreement is a wound to the European identity as a union of countries guaranteeing respect for human rights and the rule of law. Pretending not to see does not absolve us but makes us co-responsible for this humanitarian tragedy.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let us make one thing clear: There are no missing people at sea. Whoever is not rescued in the immediacy of the shipwreck is destined to die. The numbers provided by international organizations that speak of missing persons are numbers of people who have died and whose bodies are returned from time to time by the sea. And, dear Alessandra, I have received many of those corpses and I am not ashamed to be leftist, because I have been assisting those people for thirty years, and I am not ashamed at all! This resolution – let us now talk about the resolution, because we need to talk about it – wants to prevent these numbers from growing further; wants to avoid other massacres such as Lampedusa, Cutro, Pylos; He wants to avoid more gunfire from the Libyan Coast Guard on those trying to save lives. This resolution calls on the European Union to protect people's lives, without delegating them to third countries that do not respect human rights and without criminalising NGOs or those who save them. In a word, it asks Europe to be itself in order to avoid being shipwrecked, because that is what it is all about. This resolution puts each of us in front of our responsibilities: Whoever votes against or abstains will answer to his conscience and whoever judges these deaths tomorrow.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, letting children die under bombs is as inhuman as letting them die of starvation and starvation. In conflict zones, they are the innocent victims of the delirium of men. It is only that in some parts of the world, such as Sudan, wars are consumed in total indifference and complete political and media disinterest. There are very few channels of information that bring back the horrors of this war and even less the initiatives taken to try to put an end to it. Let us draw attention to this battered country, which the West has dominated and exploited in the past. We must certainly condemn the violence and call on all parties to immediately stop the conflict, but above all we must open humanitarian channels immediately to allow those in danger to receive help and assistance. Our commitment can make a difference. We must act together to end the suffering in Sudan. No child should die from conflict, no one.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, my father was a fisherman, I myself was a fisherman. I know how hard and tiring this work is and how many sacrifices in the course of life the men and women who are at sea make. Commissioner, the Commission's actions must be designed not only for fishermen, but also with fishermen, from Lithuania to Lampedusa. We need sustainable rules from every point of view, environmental, of course!, but also economic and social. We cannot blame fishermen, the causes of the destruction of the seas are to be found elsewhere. The action plan cannot ignore all this, indiscriminately affecting thousands of families and a very important sector for our economy. I support the fishermen's protest going on these days all over Europe. They will continue to fight to preserve their families, especially in peripheral areas, such as my land, already heavily penalized and affected by the crisis. We fight the true causes of the evil of the seas. Do you know, Commissioner? The reduction of fish stocks and the alteration of marine environments take place even where there is no fishing activity. Entire coral reefs are dying, yet there is no fishing in those reefs. So let's think, let's do the right things.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this debate is surreal. But what do you want to outsource? Stop inventing legally and humanitarianally impracticable solutions and clearly admit that you, these people, do not want them. That these people die at sea, that they are locked up in the camps, that they are sent back to the places from which they flee for you is indifferent, the only thing that interests you is not to have them here and then take care of them or, even worse, not to have to risk "ethnic replacement". Shame on you. Your inhumanity disgusts me. Madam President, not only do I not use the full minute at my disposal, but I am also leaving this House, because I do not want and do not need to listen to what they have yet to say.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, after 30 years of deaths at sea, do we still need to reiterate that human lives must be saved? Instead of mourning the dead, let's save these people. How? Certainly not by rejecting them, let alone preventing them from arriving in Europe. If we want to discuss solidarity, we are talking about a European Mare Nostrum, a search and rescue system at sea that is not only on the shoulders of the countries of first entry, but shared by all the member countries. Colleagues of the right, I speak with you, we are serious, do you really think that we are experiencing an emergency phase or are you looking for pretexts to water down the main guarantees of the asylum system? Your initiatives are bad for Italy and also for Europe and your demagogy turns into a problem what is actually an opportunity for the people who arrive and a wealth for the countries that welcome them. Walls, fences, CPR and the criminalisation of NGOs are nothing more than a scapegoat for prehistoric policies, as President Mattarella and, I would add, also inhumane.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the images of the corpses on Cutro beach and those floating off Libya do not give me peace. My mind went back to ten years ago, when in Lampedusa I was among the first to rescue those 500 people and to inspect 368 corpses. What has happened and continues to happen over time is the manifesto of a Europe that cannot manage migration. It's a shame! It's outrageous! We can no longer tolerate policies and bureaucratic rebounds on people's lives. A European search and rescue mission is also needed to restore humanity to politics. I would like for a moment all of you to imagine those children returned from the sea as your children, your grandchildren, our children, our grandchildren. So what about it? So let's start working together: Parliament, Council, Commission with the knowledge that everything can be negotiated: but not fundamental values, not life.

Who should be in charge? In the meantime, we have to understand that we have taken it almost for granted that these people should come this way, and you provoked this situation. Because if these people come this way it is because someone has forced them to come this way and it is the conditions of hardship that we have all caused in Africa. We have colonized and enslaved and plundered them. Even today we go to Africa and we see all this discomfort. And then I say that Europe should be in charge, not the NGOs, but since Europe, thanks to you, has not been able to approve that decree, that resolution on the rescue at sea, and then, here we have to give someone the task of doing it.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I come from an island, Lampedusa, my island, which boasts the most beautiful sea in the world, a sea that has become a place of death and suffering. In addition to this, the right-wing government is criminalizing, through decree-laws, search and rescue activities at sea by NGOs, further worsening the situation. And let us not be fooled by the title of these measures: Urgent provisions for the management of migration flows – this is the title – conceal inadequate and dangerous measures, sometimes in full conflict with European and international law. Assisting those who risk drowning is a legal and moral obligation. Making use of this obligation is disgraceful. Criminalising NGOs means putting people's lives at risk. We need common answers. We need legal and safe access routes to Europe, not decrees that complicate rescue activities at sea on the skin of the desperate. We need reliable answers. We cannot remain indifferent to these tragedies. We have to stop this slaughter, we have to stop it and we don't even need theatres. (The speaker agreed to respond to a "blue card" speech)

Mr President, Commissioner, in my country, Italy, the campaign of criminalisation continues against NGOs engaged in rescue and rescue activities at sea, accused of acting as pull factors, accused of playing the game of smugglers, accused even when they seek shelter in a safe port. This instrumentalisation of the obligation to rescue at sea and, I stress, of the legal and moral obligation to provide assistance at sea is shameful and must end. Just as we must overcome the stalemate of solidarity on a voluntary basis, which does not work, we have seen it. Migration policy needs shared strategies and common responses, as we have done with Ukraine. We cannot be content with an action plan that focuses essentially on preventing migration at all costs. We need to open up regular channels of legal immigration, fighting the rhetoric of invasion. We need a reform of the asylum system that meets the needs of the countries of first entry. We need European responses that do not make us co-responsible for the continuing tragedies, not only in the Mediterranean, but also on all other migratory routes. We have heard someone say that Africa is a continent with more than a billion people, but that we have mistaken for a hypermarket where you can take everything for free and then we wonder why these people leave. We need to realize what we are doing and our responsibilities for what is being done in Africa.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission is well aware of the situation in Libya, not by hearsay, but because I have experienced first-hand the horrors of those who have arrived in Lampedusa. Of these people I have collected desperate stories, I have seen the signs of unprecedented violence. Bodies mutilated, skinned alive, even raped, I saw them with my own eyes, I touched them, I treated them, women, men, boys and girls annihilated, many of them lifeless. In Libya, people's lives, especially those of color, are worth less than zero. With this resolution, we call on the Council and the Commission to make concrete commitments to safeguard human rights, to guarantee search and rescue activities along the Central Mediterranean route. We demand to stop arbitrary detentions and safeguard the rights of migrants, let's talk about people. The Geneva Convention must be signed and ratified immediately. The Union is there if there are rights. Memorandums such as the one renewed by Italy have no reason to exist and consequently cannot be accepted. No impunity for those who do not respect human rights.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, for a few days now the voice of hatred against migrants has been enriched with new words: "selective landings" and "residual cargo". Not in reference to defective goods or damaged meat to be sent back to the sender but to define the shipwrecked, people who were forbidden to disembark in a safe port. Hateful words, which take on an even more serious meaning if pronounced by a minister of the Italian Republic. Words that incite hatred and discrimination, which help to consolidate structural and institutionalized racism. Europe is at a crossroads. If we want to take the path of values and equality, then we must condemn, without ifs and buts, all discriminatory behaviour and rooted also within the institutions and follow up on this resolution, and I thank Mrs Incir, who traces a track on which to proceed, a path made up of culture and politics, training and law, because races do not exist. There is only humankind.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the horrors of this war continue under the addicted eyes of many of us and with the approval of a large part of the international community. Bombings multiply, civilian casualties increase, those who can leave everything and flee, fueling flows to Europe, which this time welcomes, which activates a directive and shows solidarity, but which unfortunately fails to create a systemic reform of immigration and asylum policies. I would therefore like to ask the Commission: Will we be able, in the very near future, to enforce the rights of those citizens in many parts of Asia and Africa who depend on Russia and Ukraine for their food needs? Will we allow them to knock on our doors, as we did with the Ukrainian citizens, or will we consider them victims of instrumentalisation or, worse still, reject them as enemies, perhaps even with the complicity of some European agency?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, nine years have passed since that terrible night. Since then, the tears, the voices, the torment and the silence of the survivors have persecuted me, because I was there, in Lampedusa, to help the living and to count the dead. Today we pay tribute not only to the 368 people who lost their lives in front of my island that night, swallowed up by the sea in their desperate attempt to seek a life in Europe, but also to the other 22 000 people who have since had the same terrible end. This is an anniversary that concerns us all. We can only stop this massacre in one way: a radical change in immigration and reception policy. Let us do this together, in the name of the human being, and let 3 October become the European Day of All Victims of the Sea. Thank you, President, and thank you all.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I do not dwell on the long list of alleged violations. Those who preceded me have illustrated well the dramatic situation in which millions of Hungarian citizens are victims of the autocratic regime of Orbán, a regime that undermines the institutions in depth and inevitably ends up undermining the fundamental rights and freedoms of all European citizens. Yes, because these violations go beyond Hungarian borders: they affect other Member States and their mutual trust and undermine the very resilience of the Union. Four years ago, the European Parliament had the foresight to initiate the Article 7 procedure. Yet nothing has changed since then: Indeed, some trends have even worsened. How long do we have to wait for the Commission and the Council to make full use of the instruments available to defend our common values? The Commission's inaction and the Council's immobility are unjustified, we cannot tolerate further delays and, above all, we do not want to be complicit in the crumbling of the European Union's founding values. Because that's what this is about.

I answer this question quickly. I think that those who come to our doors, who knock and who are not even allowed to apply for asylum are entitled. Then let's allow him to apply for asylum, which is forbidden. And I saw it with my own eyes because, dear colleague, I have been both on the borders with Belarus, I have been to Croatia and I come from Lampedusa, where I have been for thirty years to see everything that happens and I can assure you that often you do not even allow to make an asylum application to those people who are entitled to it, even if I, of course, am of the opinion that everyone is entitled to it, even those who come clandestinely. Why do they come clandestinely? Because we do not allow them to arrive through the regular channels, through what are the humanitarian corridors and we do anything but welcome them. We have also seen it in Belarus and Poland, which today, thank God, has opened its doors and we are grateful for it. But we also saw people rejected with hydrants: You mustn't forget that!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union is showing great solidarity at a time when an atrocious war is being fought a few kilometres from our borders. Countries traditionally hostile to reception have opened their doors to Ukrainian citizens but continue to keep them closed to the many Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians who are denied their right to asylum and reception. We are talking about people who are also fleeing a war. Aren't all wars the same? Are not all asylum seekers the same? They are people: women, men and children. I refuse to think that in our Union we can make distinctions of ethnicity, religion or culture and, on this basis, violate the obligation of non-refoulement. Let us remember that before a moral duty, that of welcoming refugees is an obligation of international law, provided for by international agreements, provided for by the Geneva Convention. That is why it is essential for the Commission to ensure that everyone is given the opportunity to apply for asylum in the European Union. (The speaker agreed to answer a "blue card" question)

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we were not ready for a new conflict on our doorstep, we were not prepared to face the consequences of brutal aggression, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including children, many children. We were not even prepared to welcome millions of people on the run. But this time, at least, the Union is showing unity and solidarity. Countries traditionally opposed to reception have now opened their doors. What I would like is for there to be no discrimination and for those doors to remain open for anyone seeking protection. This is the moment of a turning point, let's start from this unity that we have managed to create to finally reform our asylum system, to create a system that can withstand even present and future crises. Today, precisely those countries that until yesterday did not want to welcome ask for solidarity and it is right that they receive it, because the responsibilities must be shared. And I repeat Commissioner Johansson's words, which I reiterate: We are all, and I say all, white, black yellow, Christian and Muslim, we are all human beings, from whatever part of the world they come from.

Mr President, Mr Vice-President Schinas, ladies and gentlemen, I saw with my own eyes the desperation of these people trapped like animals on the border with Belarus, a few weeks ago, together with my colleagues Benifei and Majorino, we were there. Just as we have seen episodes of violence by the Polish authorities. I expected words of condemnation against Member States that reject, mistreat and deny the rights of these people. Instead, only words of unconditional support for these states that, in the face of the Belarusian threat, are deplorably using people as tools of their political game. The activation of Article 78.3 and measures that further harm defenceless people put access to international protection at risk and exacerbate our weaknesses and fear towards migrants and asylum seekers. Let the Commission take courage and truly assume the role of defender of the Treaties in favour of solidarity. Act in defense of the Charter of Rights that is constantly being trampled on today. Finally act in defense of people, dear President, people, not enemies. They are not enemies, they are people, enemies are others.