Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in France an eleven-year-old girl was abused by an adult man; Justice hesitates to recognize rape because there is no evidence of coercion. In Spain five men repeatedly raped a woman and by two degrees of judgment there was no rape because there was no explicit resistance. In Italy, the Court of Cassation has annulled a rape sentence because jeans that are too tight cannot be removed without the cooperation of the woman. Well, then I say to my colleagues who have said that there is a need for dissent: These are the people who do not see justice, because you do not want to give it to them! Because when we talk about dissent, we are not considering all the situations in which that dissent cannot be given. And so if you put dissent at the heart of the legislation – as you are doing in Italy – you are taking justice away from women, you are taking justice away from victims. You're telling all these thousands of raped people that they don't deserve our protection. Europe's competence is to protect its people in all Member States in the same way: Because only yes means yes!

Clearly we could take a much stronger geopolitical stance if we were not completely dependent on fossil fuels. Europe's role as a peacemaker, as a defender of international law, is not possible if all our energy comes from authoritarian regimes and is dependent on Putin, Trump, Iran and the Arab states and several authoritarian regimes. Europe's autonomy also means building peace, energy autonomy, defending international law and allowing us to have an international standing in order to build peace and defend international law.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, our continent has neither gas nor oil. And this is not ideology, it is geology. Energy prices are skyrocketing because compulsory import is subject to all external shocks and prices are rising. And what is the right-wing solution? We buy more gas and oil and stop the transition. Do you know why we continue to use fossils as the only solution? Because while people turn off heaters, industries turn off blast furnaces and workers lose their jobs, Descalzi, Eni's CEO, tells us that with high crude prices and high fats there will be extraordinary dividends. So they get rich and Europe dies. And we don't even dream of taxing those nonprofits. But do we want to understand that transition is the only way to autonomy, to the freedom of Europe? We have to do very simple things: efficiency of our homes, efficiency of production processes, electrification and electricity grids, district heating, storage and many, many renewables. Because, spoilers, unlike fossils, we have plenty of sun and wind.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Iran, Venezuela, Ukraine, but also Afghanistan, Iraq, what do they have in common? Oil and gas. These are the fossil fuel supply routes. We can never build peace if we depend on the fossils that drive wars, and as long as our energy system depends on importing gas and oil, our bills will be affected by global crises and market instability. In ten days the price of electricity in Italy has increased by more than 60%: So bills triple, double, and the cost of living, with them. The cost of energy can only be reduced with more renewables, more energy efficiency, isolated homes and allowing citizens to produce and share energy through energy communities. So prices fall and the economic, social and environmental benefits remain in the community. With more renewable energy than the citizen, we could finally also oppose the imperialist cravings of Putin and Trump who are trying to grab every fossil resource on the planet. But, all this, we had to have already done. In Italy, for example, we had to have five gigawatts of energy communities by 2030 and we are still at 50 megawatts. This package, Commissioner, should tell us that we no longer have time today.

Mr Vivaldini, you speak of ideology: He says we don't have to make ideological choices. And yet, it seems to me that the price of gas has increased by 50% in the last ten days. Our dependence on fossil fuels is making life completely impossible for us and increasing our bills. Yet it was precisely the Italian government, whose Premier is from his party, that decided that Italy, instead of investing in renewables, had to become the first country in the world.hub European gas, condemning us to the dependence on gas that is making our bills impossible. And in fact, it is precisely Italy, which has the highest cost of energy in Europe. Isn't that ideology? Isn't this being ideological and not wanting to do things for citizens?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this report is an insult to the citizens of Europe, emptied of all ambition, a gift to builders and speculators thanks to the usual tricks of the right. Instead of reversing course, it promotes the same measures that led to the housing crisis: ignores the structural causes of the crisis, such as financial speculation, lack of social housing, tourism, short-term rentals, the countless empty houses; It legitimizes the privatization of the social without conditions and a savage deregulation, without any recognition of the human right to housing. In short, instead of proposing solutions, ask for money to consume land and build houses for the rich, to enrich the very rich and for those who really need: Nothing. All this while today a full-time worker can not afford even a room: She was evicted and expelled from her city, sacrificed on the altar of profit along with her family. It is to these people that we want to give answers, not to the pockets of those who use the house to become billionaires. That is why we will vote firmly against it, but we will continue to fight in the neighborhoods and squares with those who defend the right to live every day.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, unity and consistency are the only way to defend European sovereignty and autonomy. Enough of the double standards in international law, subalternity to the United States. We agreed to tariffs, to buy American gas, to increase military spending. Trump asks, Europe answers. Meanwhile, he winks at Putin and backs himself in imperialist aims, in defiance of international law and multilateralism. If we are united, democratic and defend a rules-based system, we are annoying. So they threaten us and set us against each other. But the attacks are also internal, from the extreme right of the Orbans and Salvinis who protect Putin and praise Trump, to those who refuse to sanction Netanyahu and his genocide, to all those colleagues who still say that the US is our greatest ally. We must give a serious answer, that is, energy and industrial autonomy, accelerating the transition. A common foreign policy that defends international law, but always, not to alternate peoples. A common defence and not the rearmament of 27 states, digital autonomy and fair taxation. A federal Europe with leadership that meets its responsibilities.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Borchia, you are talking about Mercosur when Mercosur came to the Council thanks to Italy's vote. Mr Borchia, is the Lega not the government of Italy that voted for Mercosur and allowed Mercosur to pass by harming farmers? How do you come here to criticise Parliament, an eventual vote of Parliament, when it is your government, where your party sits and your leader is the deputy prime minister who voted for this agreement and allowed it to pass? How can you now say that you defend the farmers?

Thank you, Mr Olivera. I would argue that it's not true that this has just become true because of the tariffs and the trade war that Donald Trump is imposing on us, first of all. Second, I think this is a scenario that is telling us that Europe needs to be more independent, more strategic, and needs to be able to have its own resources – that is what we're learning. And don't get me wrong – in my speech, I said that I don't want to stop a dependency to create another dependency. I want to stop a dependency to create autonomy, to have our own resources, to be more efficient, to be more green, to be more sustainable. We need to use less to produce the same. We don't need to buy more or buy from Trump. So yes, I just want to ...

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is undeniable: China is consolidating a dominant position on critical materials. Its industrial policy is strong and aggressive, underpinned by low prices, and has already eroded 10% of Europe's industrial capacity. But there is one element of Chinese politics that we should look at with interest: China has decided on a clear direction in terms of energy and industry. What about us? Europe goes back and forth in its decisions, to the sound of deregulation and uncertainty. Instead, we need to build a strong and cohesive European industrial policy, with serious and targeted economic levers and funding through coordinated and as fast as possible European decisions. We cannot think of stopping an addiction with another addiction and, therefore, we must have more efficient designs and the circular economy to reduce the critical materials needed. We need to diversify supplies, boost strategic production in Europe and invest in clean innovation and technologies. It is essential to relocate key productions in critical supply chains...

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, no sane entrepreneur should hire a woman of childbearing age; Feminists are modern witches. I am sure that a woman is only a woman if she has given birth: These are all current phrases of our politicians. And so hatred grows, anti-feminism normalizes and conquered rights are questioned every day. Today we define the European strategy for gender equality and we call on Parliament not to compromise with a reactionary and sexist right, because we want to be with those who suffer violence and struggle to be believed and protected, those who fight for the right to abortion, to contraception, to unstigmatizing and accessible reproductive health, those who work in the most feminized, less recognized, more underpaid sectors, those who care without protection or remuneration, those who believe that education is the best form of prevention. The strategy should focus on this: social justice, freedom, redistribution of power and value, equity. We need bold, binding, structural and funded policies. There is no longer time for declarations of intent.

There is one point that you are missing: The point is that we have always condemned Hamas, that we are demanding that Hamas – rightly – be disarmed and leave the Gaza Strip, that we absolutely must enforce Hamas’ responsibilities. The problem is that no one is talking about enforcing the responsibilities of a genocidal government that is continuing to occupy, that is perpetrating ethnic cleansing, and no one is trying to enforce its responsibilities and enforce international law for that government as well. So no, there can be no peace if there is a government that has done what it has done and no one is asking it to answer for its responsibilities. I'm sorry, that's the big difference.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, 'They destroyed what we had inside. They demolished my house, all my memories. They took away everything that helped me live. How can I be the same as before?" Ghazal, 14 years old. Imagine that you are a Palestinian child and everything you knew has been destroyed. Then they tell you that peace has come, that there is a plan. But the world around us remains the same, occupied: i checkpoint remain; the genocidal army is in your homes; aid is controlled by those who used it to starve you; Land is confiscated and gunfire and bombs continue to make noise. Since the ceasefire began, at least eight Palestinian children have been killed by Israel. Peace cannot exist without an end to the occupation and justice for the war crimes committed. Until the State of Palestine and the self-determination of its people are recognized; As long as economic and political relations with Netanyahu continue as if nothing had happened, the word "peace" remains only a cover for "oppression." Dear EU, we have been largely absent so far, but we still have a chance to work on justice and international law: Let's implement the announced sanctions, let's suspend the trade agreements until there is a real reparation! The coexistence of two peoples without responsibility cannot exist.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, today, 7 October, is the anniversary of a terrible and bloody attack, which I condemn without hesitation. So why don't you condemn the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of October? Why, after two years of Palestinian genocide and ethnic cleansing, are we still doing nothing to stop Israel? Because you refused to talk about the Flotilla if you do not care about the rights of the Europeans you represent, of your colleagues? So how can this House do anything for the Palestinian people? President von der Leyen said yesterday that Europe must remain united in order to stay alive. I tell you that Europe is dying in the silence and complicity of these institutions. But there is another Europe, alive in the millions of people who are in our streets, shouting "not in our name". A Europe that believes in justice, in law, in peace, that does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past and that really opposes genocide. We stand with that Europe, with the oppressed Palestinian people. Now is the time to put into practice the values that we say to defend, otherwise you remain in your hypocrisy, but we will be in those streets, on those boats, we will be with humanity, because there humanity lives, here humanity dies.

Madam President, me and another 400 people – including four Members of this Parliament – were kidnapped by Israel in international waters. This is a grave violation of international and maritime law. We were forcibly taken to Ashdod, illegally detained, checked and denied basic rights. Participants were brought to a high‑security prison, deprived of water, food, sleep and medication, in some cases physically attacked. Our only fault? Bringing humanitarian aid to a population in famine and doing what these institutions and many other governments are not doing: protecting the respect of international law and human dignity. Our only fault was humanity. We could not stand still while watching a live‑streamed genocide in Gaza and the Israel violations. What we experienced is just a glimpse of what Palestinians experience every day. While we are here discussing whether or not we should put sanctions, our colleagues Rima Hassan and Emma Fourreau are still not back. Another flotilla with the MEP, Melissa Camara, is now approaching Gaza. If Europe still wants to call itself a guarantor of democracy and human rights, we should strongly react to the violation and support the mission ...

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as we spend billions on weapons, we are losing to climate collapse: temperatures up to 50 degrees, droughts, floods, fires. Europe continues to count the dead: only in Milan, 500, especially the elderly and disadvantaged. Children at home with kindergartens closed; The laborers, the riders and the workers collapse under the sun. In Italy, in 2024, 50 000 hectares were burned and more than 9 billion were damaged due to drought. Is this the world we want, where those who have less die? No emergency, those end: It is a structural problem. We need to be prepared with investments in prevention and infrastructure, greener cities, laws that defend workers, renewable energy and fossil fuel releases. We are witnessing a failure with first and last names: Eni, Shell, Exxon, Meloni, Trump, Musk, Bezos and friends. It is named after the EPP, which today voted against the urgency of the climate law, handing it over to the far right and throttling all of our ambitions. Speculators of a massacre announced, what will you answer to your children, when they ask you why there is no more water? That you were busy defending the lobbies and buying weapons?