Speeches

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I say this without any kind of controversy: What is a fundamental human right? Because it seems that we have forgotten what this concept means and so I believe that all together we should really remember what a fundamental right is. Because Pope Leo XIV said it well recently: It's not partisan or self-referential claims, it's not LGBT issues. gender or abortion, but freedom of expression, freedom of religion, the right to live in peace in one's own land, the freedom of children not to be bought and sold. But above all, the defence of the right to life is the essential foundation of every other human right. This is what Pope Leo XIV says. So let's all focus together on guaranteeing this right to everyone and let's get out of this short circuit that we have entered and that seems to have no way out.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, why? I have often wondered in recent weeks why this deafening silence of the European Union regarding the Epstein files: a scandal that combines rape, murder, cannibalism, pedophilia, Satanism. A global scandal involving dozens of elite figures, if you can call it that, Western. Epstein committed the worst atrocities with his accomplices and then blackmailed them by name and on behalf, perhaps, of some secret service. Why does this have to do with Europe? This is because the people have a right to know if anyone, even here in Europe, was one of those filthy executioners and whether he made decisions blackmailed by Epstein. The European Union must demand the truth, because all this cannot be normalised. Someone would like to cover up every single crime and protect those who have embraced evil. But we can't let them, we can't make them triumph.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, violence and coercion must always be condemned, and indeed they are already crimes in all our legal systems. The problem with the initiative we are discussing today, however, is another. If we read the text well, in fact, we understand that it is not limited to abuses, but goes beyond, far beyond. We talk about all the practices, all of them, that can influence a person, even mentioning family, friends and religion. A father and a mother, therefore, I legitimately wonder, will no longer be able to advise their child? Will they no longer be able to tell him to respect his biological identity? Or should a priest be afraid to deal with certain issues in the light of the catechism and the Catholic Church? With the excuse, therefore, of some specific cases – which, I repeat, we clearly condemn – it seems that we want to shut up all those who do not think like the LGBT vulgate. Stop the mouth of those who want to express their thoughts or their legitimate religious principles, thus compromising freedom of expression. And then, as at other times, it seems to us that this is a strategy of someone who wants to deconstruct certain ideologies and impose them on our world, through the imposition of an ideology that wants to exploit specific cases of violence, which we always condemn, to impose a partial vision. And we're not on that.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, protecting children from violence, abuse and pedophilia must be a top priority for us. We must punish without hesitation the monsters who abuse their purity and innocence, those who spread child pornography and defile our society. We must preserve the population and protect people from this disgusting material that, unfortunately, can circulate more and more easily via the web. At the same time, however, we must avoid that some powerful, in bad faith, use all this as a hypocritical excuse to blame most of the good people and to establish a society of control. But dismantling these organizations and those individuals who carry out these infamous crimes remains absolutely the primary objective. Therefore, we start by neutralizing those organizations of which we have evidence and clues. We also investigate at European level what results in the Epstein files, to find out if, even here, a criminal organization of that type had put its rotten and diabolical roots. We must do this now for the sake of truth and justice.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, what are the first human rights actually denied around the world? Pope Leo XIV explains it very well. The first is the right to life, trampled on by the wars we see every day and in the suppression of nascent life. Religious freedom, often denied above all to Christians, is the most discriminated category in the world. Freedom of expression, sacrificed on the altar of a new Orwellian neolingual. These are the first rights to be protected at all costs. Leaving aside instead the ideological constructions that unfortunately are present in this report and that have been repeated by someone in this House. Here, then, ideological constructions empty real human rights of meaning and in this way what could have been an instrument of justice instead represents yet another missed opportunity.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, artificial intelligence without bioethical stakes is creating a new front of abuse: fake images, fake videos but real faces, with innocent people and increasingly minors at the center. With a few clicks you can generate sexual material or even child pornography, but the violence is real and the consequences are even more so. Material that circulates and escapes control, feeds the nets of lurers and culturally normalizes abuse and exploitation. Technology, in particular artificial intelligence, can be a positive tool only when it is guided by man and institutions, but not only, it is not enough, only when it is inspired by shared values and limits also on the ethical, not only legal, level. So, let's take a step back: What is the cultural model that we want to defend and pass on? If the answer is a society without moral limits, as someone in here would like, then AI becomes uncontrollable. Instead, the only way is to inspire ourselves and inspire our laws with the deepest and most deeply rooted Christian culture.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is from this often deaf and disoriented Chamber that I would like to thank His Holiness Pope Leo 14th, because with a beautiful speech addressed to politics and diplomacy he has brought back the light, brought clarity and outlined the path that this European Union should also follow if it wants to save our Europe. He spoke of the danger to our freedom of expression, of the danger of the culture of death and reminded us that we must always support life and the family. He said that we are called to defend the most fragile, even when they are still in the womb. And he denounced that danger to religious freedom, not only around the world, but also here, in Europe. And that is why I believe that we should align ourselves with these priorities and we should ask His Holiness to be able to come here, to the European Parliament. It is never known that his words of light, his words full of faith and hope can awaken some conscience and chart a path that Europe seems to have lost.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, 300 children have been kidnapped in Nigeria and no, this is not an isolated case. We know that every day massacres, murders and kidnappings affect Christians in Nigeria and around the world. And, in particular, Boko Haram in Nigeria uses the abduction tool to enslave women, children and men and to earn money. And the European Union does almost nothing from this point of view, we are almost helpless in the face of these massacres and persecutions. That's why we have to do something and not leave them alone. I believe that, in Nigeria and throughout the world, Europe should condition its trade cooperation agreements, its investments, not on the affirmation of progressive ideology, but should affirm them, instead, and should condition them on the defense of Christian minorities. This is what we must do and, in addition to this, we must finally appoint a delegate against Christianophobia and for freedom of worship. We must do this so as not to leave our Christian brothers and sisters alone once again.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, here we are, once again, when it comes to the rule of law, use this argument to attack Hungary and all those who do not align themselves with your unique thinking. You use it as a political club to try to silence all those who do not think like you, using the excuse of public funds. And this is also what the Commission does, denying funds, for example, to the Federation of European Catholic Family Associations or asking for money back from the World Youth Alliance, not because it has used the money in a negative way, but simply because it defends man and woman, because it defends the dignity of the conceived and fights to defend life always, what should be the true values, but that you no longer accept. Behold, yours is discrimination, you are intolerant and we have discovered you. That is why we really call for transparency and fairness, because you cannot talk about the rule of law, if you trample on the dignity of nations, subsidiarity and the European tradition. If we want credibility, we need equal rules for everyone, because we stand for freedom and pluralism, but you obviously do not.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, lumpy skin disease is an animal disease classified as group A, and this means that we are talking about a high-priority disease, which requires immediate prevention and control measures at European level. But effectiveness is not measured on paper: It is measured in the stables. I am on the side of farmers, not of regulations written 1,000 kilometres from the countryside. In the face of an outbreak in France, Europe, in fact, cannot respond only with bans, demolitions and bureaucracy, while those who work are left alone. It is not acceptable for healthy, productive Italian or European farms that respect the rules to pay, so only families and territories are destroyed. We hope - and we are convinced - that with Commissioner Várhelyi we can have a serious and technically correct approach, which can strengthen the role of European stocks and health prevention. That is why I have put a question to the Commission, in order to try together to prevent these health crises, to have more appropriate responses to our territories and to guarantee rapid instruments and compensation. We do not give up: Defending farmers together means defending our food, our future and our freedom.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, our cities cannot be held hostage by crime, gangs and drug dealing. There are those who think they can destroy entire communities without consequences and, as in France, even hit and kill those who have the courage to oppose. It is time to say enough – firmness and an iron fist against those who sow fear and degradation to return parks, streets and neighbourhoods to families, children and the elderly. To protect young people, lives and the future, we must act without hesitation: means giving more tools and more powers to law enforcement, strengthening controls, hitting the trafficking networks at the root and ensuring certainty of punishment; It means controlling borders and preventing criminals from finding easy ground, working decisively and with clear rules. Freedom and safe public spaces, in fact, are a priority and for this reason we cannot let the violent rule. We, in fact, choose the state, the law and security. We want safe cities and we want them free from death dealers. And to young people we want to remind them every day: Drugs only bring pain, death and destruction.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we discover with immense surprise - so to speak - that Europe has handed over its industrial sovereignty to China. We make an astonished face, as if it were not the result of years spent following the follies of Greta Thunberg, years in which the EU imposed how to produce, which cars to buy, how to live, making decisions that tied us hands and feet to someone else. Meanwhile, in China they invested and secured control of the strategic supply chains, which we gave them. We are dependent on their raw materials because our citizens have been forced to use technologies without ensuring, before, that we have control and sustainability at the supply chain level. A strategic masterpiece, in short! Demand the transition, but without the necessary resources and becoming dependent because of an ideological Commission and convinced that regulations are enough to change the world. And today we have to kneel down to get what we need. If Europe really wants to be autonomous, it must stop being a teacher and start thinking in a forward-looking way. The world is not waiting for our debates: We'll change our ways or we'll end up in a dead end!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the rented womb is a form of violence and slavery: It transforms life into a commodity, motherhood into a contract, and the woman's body into an instrument. And on the left, even today, this seems to be of no interest at all. Behind it is always the usual injustice: The one who has money buys, the one who needs sells, and selfishness to the detriment of women and children triumphs. And let's be clear: There is no altruistic surrogate: there is a market of over 22 billion that fills the pockets of unscrupulous clinics and associations; There are children, torn from the womb. Italy, thanks to the Meloni government, had the courage to make the surrogate universal crime and now Minister Roccella has proposed to the UN an international coalition against the rented womb. And I hope that this appeal will also be taken up in a transversal way, because a child can never belong to the selfishness of those who want to fulfill their whim. And it is also so, ladies and gentlemen, that women defend themselves: with deeds, not with proclamations, beautiful words and then applause for aberrant practices, which want them enslaved and exploited.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is enough to treat Africa as a field of competition between powers! Others are already doing it and very quickly. Instead, we must begin to consider it as a strategic ally and not just a problem to be managed. Africa is not just a continent of needs: We need to work together to share growth, security and stability. It has 1.4 billion inhabitants, which by 2050 will become almost 2.5: average age 19 and an estimated GDP growth potential of between 4 and 5% per annum. The EU still remains the largest trading partner and investor, but our share is shrinking every year. In 2000, we accounted for 36% of African trade. Today we are below 25%. We have in fact delivered our market share to others, such as China. So, either we come back as protagonists or we will be forced to be irrelevant. We therefore follow the path of the Mattei plan and do not repeat the mistakes of the past. We need cooperation that generates value for both continents, true, based on investments, infrastructure, energy, training and not on aid dropped from above or, worse, managed by opaque multinationals. It is also necessary to prevent illegal immigration at its root and therefore not charity but strategy, not assistance but alliance and, at the same time, not invasion but cooperation. According to the Commission’s data, every €1 billion invested in productive cooperation – such as the one Italy is putting in place with the Mattei plan – can generate up to 60,000 new jobs and 1.8 points of GDP. These are numbers, not slogans, and they must become the basis of our method. Consistency is needed: We cannot talk about cooperation and then impose models or conditionalities that do not respect the sovereignty of our interlocutors. And let me say it clearly: Africa will not wait for Europe! Either we will be protagonists or we will find ourselves spectators of the changing world. Italy has noticed this urgency: Now is the time to follow us.