What Valentina spoke about.

8 Oct

2026

IT Speech

UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, these days, as we know, thousands of students are taking to the streets across Europe to defend their future. But let's try to imagine what would happen if the elderly went on strike. If they crossed their arms, who would keep our families standing? Who would take care of our children while we go to work? And who would help millions of families mak…

17 Sep

2026

IT Speech

An EU health workforce crisis plan: sustainability of healthcare systems and employment and working conditions in the healthcare sector (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, there can be no such thing as a strong public health system if those who keep it on their feet experience a nightmare every day. We are talking about doctors, nurses and OSS, crushed by exhausting shifts, forced to operate in dilapidated departments, without adequate machinery, left alone to manage the exhaustion and exasperated anger of family mem…

15 Sep

2026

IT Speech

Devastating heatwaves, wildfires and droughts in Europe: lessons from summer 2026 (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in some regions of Europe the situation is dramatic, as you have all said: the elderly, the fragile subjects, many children, had to spend the summer locked up in the house because you could not stay outdoors. Once the heatwaves lasted a week at most; Today they last continuously for three months and put people's health, agriculture and our own lives at risk. …

21 May

2026

IT Speech

The Union’s preparedness for and response to health emergencies: the case of the MV Hondius and the hantavirus warning (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, viruses do not have passports, they do not ask for permission to enter our borders and, above all, they do not wait for Europe to be ready to deal with them. We learned this the hard way during the pandemic, and the recent hantavirus alert reminds us that global health threats do not belong to the past, they are, unfortunately, the present. The activation of the…

18 May

2026

IT Speech

European solidarity: key to securing medicine access in a shifting geopolitical era (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, solidarity is not a slogan. It's only real when every person can heal themselves without barriers. Unfortunately, this is not yet guaranteed for everyone in Europe today. We saw this during the pandemic, where access to essential medicines was limited. People with rare diseases know this well: For them, life-saving medicines are not always available or have pric…

28 Apr

2026

IT Speech

Interim report on the proposal for the multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034 (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the small hospitals that close, the bills skyrocketing, the companies that lay off, the wars on our borders: With the multi-annual budget, we have the possibility to tackle all these problems only once. But the European Parliament's answer cannot be that of someone who wants to put out a fire with a glass of water: Own resources are needed, starting with a tax o…

12 Mar

2026

IT Speech

Prevention and treatment of obesity (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, 4 March was the International Day against Obesity. It is currently estimated that 60% of the European population is overweight or obese. Today, one in four European children lives overweight. However, we must say it clearly: Obesity is not an individual fault, nor a lack of will. It is a complex pathology, often linked to eating disorders that …

9 Feb

2026

IT Speech

World Cancer Day (debate)

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19 Jan

2026

IT Speech

Framework for strengthening the availability and security of supply of critical medicinal products as well as the availability of, and accessibility of, medicinal products of common interest (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are discussing the supply of critical medicines in the European Union. We can no longer afford a Europe that discovers its fragility only when medicines are lacking. The pandemic, geopolitical crises have taught us how risky it is to depend on the outside for essential goods such as medicines; Today, up to 80% of active ingredients come from third co…

18 Dec

2025

IT Speech

Dramatic global rise in violent attacks against humanitarian workers and journalists (debate)

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20 Oct

2025

IT Speech

The decision to impose a fine on Google: defending press and media freedom in the EU (debate)

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(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Google has relapsed and is systematically eroding not only the visibility but also the revenues of European media. Small local TVs, provincial newspapers but also national ones, suffer from its ruthless competition. And it is now clear to everyone that when a single platform controls the entire online advertising chain, it is no longer innovation: It is a m…

9 Oct

2025

IT Speech

World Mental Health Day - addressing the socio-economic factors (debate)

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(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today I bring to the Chamber the story of Anna, who, after giving birth to her second child, was trapped in the web of a long postpartum depression. And then there is Giuseppe, 15, who no longer wants to go to school because his classmates bully him and label him as too effeminate. There is Antonella, who at work is mocked for her physical appearance and su…

11 Sep

2025

IT Speech

European strategy for addressing Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are not just discussing a disease, we are discussing what it means to live in an ageing Europe which, too often, leaves the most vulnerable alone. Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia are not just statistics: They are faces, they are stories, they are a mother who no longer recognizes her daughter, a father who gets lost in the neighborhood where he …

9 Sep

2025

IT Speech

Amending ERDF, Cohesion Fund and Just Transition Fund as regards specific measures to address strategic challenges in the context of the mid-term review (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the proposal for a regulation we are examining today is, in our view, a serious departure from the original mission of cohesion policy. A policy, we remember, born to reduce territorial gaps and support communities and citizens in difficulty now risks becoming an ATM for military spending and for the defense industry, because this is what will happen by includin…

9 Jul

2025

IT Speech

EU Preparedness Union in light of the upcoming wildfire and droughts season (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, climate crises make the fire seasons increasingly long, intense and devastating, and we must be ready. In Italy, over 60 000 hectares of land went up in smoke last year. And we cannot forget that behind these numbers there are human lives: in Ostuni, my city, Mario Rotiglio, an Arif operator, a friend, a year ago lost his life, crushed by a branch while tryin…

19 Jun

2025

IT Speech

Protecting bees: advancing the EU's New Deal for Pollinators (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, bees are not only valuable pollinators but also sentinels of environmental health. When they disappear, the entire ecosystem sounds a cry of alarm. Today that cry is very loud. In November 2023, this Parliament welcomed the new European Pact for Pollinators and today we need to follow up on that commitment. The main threats of pollinators are well known: inte…

16 Jun

2025

IT Speech

Strengthening rural areas in the EU through cohesion policy (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Fitto, first of all allow me to thank my colleague, Mr rapporteur Nesci, for the work done, and all the shadow rapporteurs with whom it was really a pleasure to work. Today we are discussing a measure that touches our communities, our territories. Rural areas are not peripheries to be assisted, they are an essential part of Europe. Yet they have …

5 May

2025

IT Speech

Ninth report on economic and social cohesion (debate)

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3 Apr

2025

IT Speech

Health care related tourism: protecting EU patients abroad (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, imagine you have to leave your city, your family, your country not for a trip, but to take care of yourself: Not by choice, but by necessity. This is the daily reality of thousands of European citizens. We are talking about health mobility, but the truth is that too often it is forced mobility. In Italy, particularly in the Mezzogiorno, many patients are forced …

2 Apr

2025

IT Speech

European Steel and Metals Action Plan (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are talking about the steel industry, the metallurgical industry, we are talking about steel and we cannot talk about Taranto. Taranto has been defined by the United Nations as a "zone of human sacrifice". It is not an exaggeration, it is the daily reality of an entire city, devastated by decades of industrial pollution: we are talking about children…

12 Feb

2025

IT Speech

US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and the suspension of US development and humanitarian aid (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, our days are now marked by the news coming from the United States, which is tearing apart years of work carried out to enable cooperation between peoples with a view to a future based on solidarity, the preservation of resources and mutual respect. Well, the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization are choices…

23 Jan

2025

IT Speech

Combating Desertification: 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is not necessary to look at the Sahara to understand desertification: The deserts are now behind the house. More and more often, surreal and at the same time dramatic images show transformed landscapes, rivers reduced to paths and lakes completely dried up. 40% of southern Italy's soil is already at risk, as are many Mediterranean countries. In this way, we a…

16 Dec

2024

IT Speech

Right to clean drinking water in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we are debating a fundamental right that is becoming increasingly precarious: the right to drinking water. Let me give you some local examples. In Basilicata 140 000 citizens now live with water rationing that exceeds 30 consecutive hours. The region's response? Use the water of the river Basento, which arrives brown and unhealthy in the faucets of fami…

16 Dec

2024

IT Speech

Regional Emergency Support: RESTORE (debate)

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Madam President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, the RESTORE package is certainly a step forward in Europe's ability to respond promptly to natural disasters. With this proposal, the affected regions will have immediately available resources to deal with the devastating consequences of unfortunately increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters; So we can say that the European Parli…

27 Nov

2024

IT Speech

Recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, every year in Europe around 700 000 people lose their lives to tobacco use, and for tens of thousands of them the cause is exposure to second-hand smoke: We are talking in most cases about children, the elderly, who do not choose to smoke, but are still exposed to the smoke of others. All of us here have a duty to protect our citizens and, if we think that many …