Speeches

Madam President, dear Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this regulation contains dangerous things. There is talk of repatriating people to third countries that, very generally, must respect rights, but without any specific requirement, such as being signatories to international human rights conventions. What will happen to people when they are in the third country? No one knows. Moreover, there is no obligation of transparency to make these agreements with third countries public. Why? Again: Those found on European soil without valid documents can be detained for up to two years – before they were 18 months. The data, incidentally, tell us that the longer the detention period, the less likely repatriation becomes. But that's another matter. For families with unaccompanied minor children, detention would be the last option, but it really shouldn't be an option. Does the European Union really think that it can put children who have not committed any crime in cages for two years? There are many unacceptable things in this proposal that we will monitor and work on. Dear Commissioner, we often hear that the European approach must be firm and fair and so far we have seen the firm side very well: But we also want to see the right part.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, over the last 30 years, governments have invested enormous resources in militarising borders, trying to stop migratory flows and irregular immigration. Did it work? No. Why? Because all the data tells us that closing borders is not the solution, it is part of the problem. Because every time you close a legal route, illegal ones open up and traffickers gain power. We need to break this vicious circle. How? Opening more secure and legal access channels. It's the only way. In the meantime, however, we must fight criminals and exploiters. Isn't that right? That's right. Do you know what just happened in Italy? A Libyan criminal, wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, involved in human trafficking, was quietly in Italy, at the stadium, watching the game. He was arrested, but the government did not hand him over to The Hague: He was sent back to Libya. The Italian government had promised to fight smugglers across the globe. Unfortunately, at the moment the only thing it fights are human rights, international law and even the Criminal Court.

I just wanted to ask Mr Mantovani if he knows that he has just carried out a defamation, because there have been several requests to bring to judgment non-governmental organisations that carry out rescue operations at sea. In the Mediterranean there has never even been a trial, all archived because the fact does not exist: Non-governmental organisations are not sea taxis, they are not in league with smugglers. What you have said is defamation on the part of non-governmental organisations and Mr Rackete, I hope he is aware of this.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in the midst of the very serious political crisis that is sweeping the country following the contested elections, there is the Venezuelan people, who are clamoring for respect, peace and social justice. A people that has been facing for years a deep socio-economic crisis that has seriously jeopardized the provision of public services and respect for civil rights. A crisis that has also prompted five million people to emigrate. To support the Venezuelan population, today there are also many European citizens in the country, and today I would like to recall one of these European citizens who are in the country to lend a hand: one of my compatriots, Alberto Trentini, an Italian collaborator who was arrested two months ago. Nothing has been known about him since then. There are no charges against him. Just silence, a very long silence that leaves his family in anguish. That is why we call on all institutions, from Venezuela to Europe, to work together for the release as soon as possible of this innocent man, a friend of the Venezuelan people, who was only there to do his job, that is to help those in need. Alberto, we're waiting for you at home.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, women's rights and real gender equality are essential to achieving many of the goals we have – both at European and UN level – such as those on peace, climate change and economic prosperity. The data tells us: Gender equality would bring between 6 and 11 million new jobs by 2050, with an increase in gross domestic product per capita of up to 10%. Equality would benefit not only women, but society as a whole. On the contrary, we know that the lack of economic independence keeps women in a vicious circle of poverty, isolation and inequality, where it is impossible to exercise their fundamental rights. We must therefore work on training, on education for financial autonomy and on access and permanence in the world of work. We must put in place all possible instruments to reduce women's pay inequality and economic dependence. A woman without economic autonomy is not a free woman! So, I'd like to close by paraphrasing Desmond Tutu: we are no longer interested in picking up the crumbs that fall from the table of someone else who considers himself our master; We want the full menu of rights. And we want it now!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, last week in Italy the Minister for Transport, Matteo Salvini, tried once again to end the duration of a strike. This is not the first time: He had tried to shorten strikes in May 2023, then in November, then again in May 2024, in view of the Formula 1 weekend in Monza, because according to the minister, obviously, we cannot do without Formula 1, but we can do without the rights of workers. The problem, of course, is not just him: In Italy there is a systematic attack on the right to strike and demonstration. A liberticide bill is under discussion in the Italian Senate that directly attacks those who promote street demonstrations, providing punishments worthy of the darkest times in our country; A bill that punishes even nonviolent passive resistance. To all the governments that punish the protest we would like to say: if one day you have the misfortune not to make it to the end of the month or to work in conditions as exhausting as many – too many! – European citizens, you will finally understand why the rights of association, strike and demonstration are protected by the Nice Charter and the constitutions of all the Member States. And because it is right that it should be so!

Mr President, Madam High Representative, ladies and gentlemen, we do not yet know what will happen in Syria after the fall of the bloody Assad, but we already know the extent of the crisis that was underway. A devastated country that needs to be rebuilt. 16 million people – two thirds of whom are children – in need of humanitarian assistance. A mosaic of ethnic and religious minorities demanding autonomy and respect, like the Kurds who, after helping us fight the Islamic State, now risk becoming the new cross-target of Turkey and radical formations. Since the beginning of the civil war, half of the Syrian population has been uprooted from their homes, with 7 million internally displaced persons and 6 million refugees or asylum seekers abroad. All in Europe? Definitely not. Three-quarters of the refugees are in countries bordering Syria, 3 million in Turkey alone. In recent months half a million Syrians have been forced to return from Lebanon fleeing the bombs, a crisis in the crisis. In Europe, according to the European Union Agency for Asylum, as of September this year, there were no more than 180,000 asylum applications from Syrians. Now, we don't know what will happen but some European countries have already decided what to do: Italy, Germany, Norway and Sweden suspend the assessment of asylum applications, Austria already thinks about returns. On the other hand, the suspension of the right to asylum seems to be a popular trend in the European capitals, starting with Warsaw, which is preparing to assume the presidency of the Council, and with the not too hidden endorsement of the European Commission, according to what was written in the last, worrying communication that clears the use of "measures that may involve serious interference with fundamental rights". We don't know how the situation in Syria will evolve, but we do know this: Today, as in the past, it is time to protect the Syrian people, not to drive them out or leave them alone.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, thinking about combating youth crime with security methods is a failed approach. Just look at what's happening in my country: since the Italian government, approving the Caivano decree, decided to use an iron fist against minors, the Italian juvenile penal institutions have become overcrowded and this obviously to the detriment of training and reintegration activities. When those girls and boys are released from juvenile prison, they will return to their ghettoized neighborhoods abandoned by the institutions, where, if we do not offer them real alternatives, they risk returning to the orbit of crime. The prevention of juvenile crime is done by giving tools and opportunities to boys and girls raised in vulnerability, not by throwing them in jail to keep them away from our sight. Securitarianism abandons the weakest, stamps them as scum, leads us to think that children, unaccompanied foreign minors, are dangerous criminals rather than the first victims. But it is an approach that does not solve the problem, on the contrary. Let Europe not follow the destructive example of the Italian government: There are other, more just and more effective avenues to pursue.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, in recent weeks there has been a lot of talk about the centres in Albania inaugurated by the Meloni government, as something that Europe could look at with interest, as a model for our future actions. Last week, the first 16 asylum-seeking migrants were taken to the centre. Here are the results: two were minors, two were vulnerable, should never have been brought to Albania and were brought back to Italy. The other 14 were not from safe countries according to the judges. Therefore, the accelerated border procedure could not be applied: They should not have been brought to Albania either. All this, incidentally, cost much more, for each individual person, than it would have cost if the procedures had been carried out directly in Italy. The centre in Albania, therefore, is a logistical nightmare, a legal disaster, because it does not respect international conventions and EU legislation itself. It is a serious threat to human rights and is also a rather significant economic damage. Can the center in Albania be a model? Yes, a model of how things should not be done. Europe is on the side of law and people's rights.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Vice-President, today we are talking about the Union's external borders. I would like to talk about that liquid frontier which is the Mediterranean Sea. At least 30,000 people have died in the Mediterranean in the last decade. Do you know how many? They are all employees of the European Parliament, plus all our partners, plus all our children. There's a lot of them. But these deaths are not fatalities, they are the result of our political choices, because when we close safe and legal access channels, we leave people abandoned in the hands of human traffickers on illegal routes. They have drowned, but we should drown in shame, I think, because many Member States think that the solution to all this is to outsource borders, to push them a little further. What does that mean? It means paying someone else to do the dirty work for us. Close your eyes to death, rape and human rights violations. Human rights violations committed at the borders we outsource are all documented. What do we earn? Somebody gets votes, and maybe we'll keep some criminals away. What are we missing? We lose the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people, but we also lose ourselves, all the values that should distinguish Europe, because Europe is either based on justice and respect for human rights or it is not Europe.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there have been two coups in Sudan over the last five years. The clash between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitaries of the rapid support forces has now become a bloody conflict that does not spare the defenseless civilian population. This is also confirmed by the latest report of the mission established by the UN Human Rights Council. Both sides are responsible for war crimes and gross human rights violations. That is why we must support the work of the International Criminal Court with a view to desirable arrest warrants for those responsible for these atrocities. I very much appreciated the recent statement by the High Representative condemning the escalation in Al-Fāshir, the Darfur area theoretically subject to the international arms embargo, but in practice flooded with weapons, which many organizations trace back to companies registered in China, Russia, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates. In view of the forthcoming summit of cooperation between the Union and the Gulf States, I hope that the Union will forcefully ask them to respect the embargo, failing which trade relations and sanctions for those who violate it will be suspended. Finally, according to the World Food Programme, more than 20 million people are suffering from hunger and acute malnutrition, especially children. I believe these are the priorities for the international community. Cease fire and open doors to humanitarian aid.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, over the past year, Netanyahu's government has committed war crimes on a large scale, effectively causing a humanitarian catastrophe. To all my colleagues who say, 'Oh, but Hamas started,' I would like to say that it is not appropriate to talk so much about who started because there were 75 years of occupation before October 7. Then we are faced with a humanitarian catastrophe before which I would like to remind you that Europe has an instrument to protect the civilian population, which is Directive 55 of 2001 on the temporary protection of populations fleeing war. It was first applied in 2022 to protect the Ukrainian population fleeing wars. I believe that this Parliament should ask the Commission and the Council to apply it to all the people who are trying to escape, to the few who manage to escape from the Middle East as a result of this humanitarian disaster over the last year.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, dear Commissioner, the reintroduction of controls at the Union's internal borders regularly returns to public debate, used and flaunted by the government in office to give the impression of having everything under control or to pretend that citizens can be protected simply by closing borders. It should be a temporary and exceptional measure. However, in the last ten years it has become a practice that undermines trust and cooperation between Member States - and the Court of Justice has also ruled it illegal on a number of occasions - and obviously reduces the fundamental freedom of citizens to move within the Union. But has this practice yielded results? Do Europeans feel or are they more secure? I do not believe, because security is not only public order, it is the security of rights. Have a decent job, home, pensions, medical care when you're sick. This is the security and protection that we must give to the citizens of Europe. And it is certainly not achieved with more border controls, but with social justice policies. It is certainly not achieved by dividing Europe and the Member States, but only by uniting them even more under the banner of rights and solidarity.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, last June a 31-year-old farm worker died in an accident at work while working in the countryside of the Agro Pontino. An agricultural machine ripped off his arm and broke his legs. What did your employer do? He didn't call for help, he didn't take him to the hospital. He loaded it into a van, abandoned it in front of his house, with his severed arm in a vegetable basket. The farm which did all this had, I am sorry to say, received funds from the common agricultural policy. Was it a horrible crime? Yes, it is. Was it an isolated incident? No, it's a system. It is a production system, that of the agri-food chain, which is based on the exploitation of workers. It is a system that puts profit ahead of human rights – or in place of human rights. It is a system that is infiltrated at every level by organized crime, from production in the fields to transportation and marketing. Of course, organised crime is trying to get its hands on the funds of the common agricultural policy. Do we have laws to counter this? Yes, but in Italy we also have a law – the Bossi-Fini law – which in fact keeps hundreds of thousands of people, workers of foreign origin, in an irregular situation. It is a huge pool of labour available to organised crime and exploiters. Sometimes there has also been a suspicion that governments have not done enough to regularize people precisely to be able to use this huge mass of workers to exploit. What can we do from a European perspective? We must, I believe, be vigilant about the rules of the market and minimum wages, because it is not possible for profit to always be in front of rights. We must certainly be vigilant about the beneficiaries of the common agricultural policy, because every time someone gets their hands on these funds they are harming producers who do things right, as well as consumers, as well as killing workers. More generally, since we all recognize that crime knows no borders, I believe that the time has come, also taking up the requests of various Italian anti-mafia associations, for this institution to equip itself with a permanent anti-mafia commission, because only by working together, in a structured way, we can think of fighting organized crime in Europe.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I want to protect the Israeli population, like everyone else, I think, here and, in order to protect the Israeli population, we must stop Netanyahu's government. Because Netanyahu's government is not just slaughtering the Palestinian population: He is massacring his country's democracy and putting his country out of the democratic civil forum, out of the way that we, democratic states, want to be together. It's a priority. The Netanyahu government cannot be expected to continue to commit war crimes and go unpunished. It is truly exposing its population to decades of future hatred, other attacks, an escalation. Truly, not only for the Palestinian population, but also to protect the Israeli population: If we all care about Israel's life and democracy, we must stop the Netanyahu government.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, my first speech in plenary is on a subject that I care a lot about, because all my life I have been a humanitarian worker, working also in war zones and in areas affected by terrorism. For the last few years I have been working in rescue at sea. I find it frankly unacceptable that we continue to associate the entire population of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers so lightly with the issue of terrorism, because we know that this is not the case and it is a lack of respect even towards the victims of these atrocious attacks, I believe. It is also a hoax towards our constituents and for this reason I do not want to go into the merits of the migration phenomenon, but rather to think about the concrete tools to counter terrorism. Let us remove the exploitations from the table and instead look at the work of Europol, which shows us the path we must continue to follow: control over financial flows, anti-money laundering, ‘follow the money’, programmes to counter radicalisation, a special eye on prisons and stringent controls on online propaganda – propaganda that, let us remember, also feeds on our hate speech and racism, which are used by Islamist fundamentalism for recruitment. Terrorism is not defeated by raising walls, discrimination and racism, but it is defeated with the instruments of law, with more integration, more rights and more democracy.