19
May
2026
Watch
EU governance under pressure – institutional responses to global challenges (debate)
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe must stop giving the impression that it is only strong in documents and weak in reality. As the United States and China decide, invest and protect their citizens, we continue to get lost in bureaucracy, constraints and slowness. Meanwhile, European families are faced with increasingly heavier bills, companies in difficulty and salaries that are worth less and less. We are in favour of a stronger European defence, because today's world is unstable and security matters, but we cannot accept that Europe finds money and flexibility only for weapons, while to help families and businesses on energy it always answers no. Because, without accessible energy, there is no job, there is no industry and there is no future. The Meloni government is saying something simple and concrete: The sooner European citizens come, the sooner families come, the sooner the right to live and work with dignity comes. Europe must have the courage to return to the side of its people, because if citizens start to feel alone, abandoned and listened to only when they have to make sacrifices, then the problem is not the Europeans, the problem is this Europe.