Speeches

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, during the pandemic we have seen that our health systems are vulnerable: a disruption in supply chains is enough to leave thousands of patients without treatment. And the Waste Water Directive risks exacerbating this fragility. We are talking about additional costs that can reach up to 40 million euros per company per year, with potential increases in the prices of medicines that reach, according to government estimates, up to 875 %. We are talking about fundamental drugs for the treatment of widespread pathologies, from diabetes to tumors, today exposed to the concrete risk of deficiencies. We are talking about generic drugs that are at blocked prices and are the most affected. We are also talking about resources taken away from research, for example on rare diseases, where therapeutic alternatives are limited and any pressure on costs risks resulting in less innovation and less access to care for the most vulnerable patients. We want to protect the environment, but we do not want rules based on uncertain scientific models that result in a tax on medicines and cosmetic products essential for hygiene. The risk is real: less availability of drugs and more pressure on health systems. We need an emergency suspension of the Waste Water Directive and an immediate reassessment of the environmental, economic and social impact.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today we must face a difficult reality: For every tonne of emissions cut in the European Union in 2024, the world adds ten. This tells us one clear thing: Europe must lead, but it cannot be the only driver of the transition. We want collective commitment, solidarity, reciprocity, as the Commissioner has pointed out. COP30 must become a real lever of global coordination, because the climate challenge is common but the burden today is not. The economic consequences are already before our eyes: 600,000 jobs lost – numbers that tell not only of factories closing, but of families struggling, of territories dying out. We want an ambitious Europe, yes, but not an isolated Europe, a Europe that knows how to combine the environment, the economy and social justice, that uses diplomacy and innovation to involve the whole world, instead of bearing the burden of the transition on its own. Europe can and must lead change with realism, with balance, in the interest of its people, its factories, its farmers, its communities.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, science is one of the most powerful tools we have to improve the lives of our citizens. It is thanks to the studies, research, expertise and excellence of our continent that today we can count on innovative cancer therapies or vaccines that have defeated polio and the COVID-19 pandemic. Artificial intelligence is opening new frontiers: It boosts research, accelerates discoveries and makes our industries more competitive globally. Science is not abstract: It is concrete, it generates solutions, it creates the future. Yet technology transfer remains one of our biggest weaknesses in Europe. We have excellent researchers, but we do not always manage to turn research into social and economic value. Public investment in research in the European Union – a key investment that needs to be scaled up – amounts to 2.2% of GDP, while in the US it is close to 3.5%. Private investment is also still too low: Only 1.5 percent of GDP versus 2.2 percent in the United States. We need to act to fill these gaps. gap. It is necessary to facilitate the search for spin-offs and university start-ups, promote public-private partnerships, create a favorable ecosystem that attracts investments, accelerates technology transfer and therefore attracts the best researchers. The European Union must be a protagonist in affirming a free science that not only discovers but builds for the good of its citizens. And this also means strongly supporting its industrial and economic application: This is a challenge that we must overcome.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Schindler, Irena Sendler, Giorgio Perlasca are just some of the women and men who are recognised as just among nations, people who, through their heroic actions, have risked their lives to save human beings from the Nazi genocide of the Shoah. To these names are added the Nobel laureates Mandela for the fight against apartheid; Mohammadi for the battle for human rights in Iran; Mukwege for the fight against rape in Congo. Today, in fact, just is anyone, anywhere in the world, who has saved lives, fighting genocide and defending human dignity under totalitarian regimes. More than ten years ago this Parliament, with the support of all political groups, called for the establishment of a European Day of the Righteous; Despite the fact that 6 March is now recognised as a European Day of the Righteous by some institutions and Member States, and despite the creation of numerous gardens of the Righteous, the visibility of the anniversary remains limited. The European Union is a global symbol of the promotion of fundamental values and human rights, democracy and the fight against totalitarianism. The first step in combating oppressive regimes is to enhance Europe's cultural and historical memory. In a world where the language of hatred spreads with increasing ease, the stories of the Righteous remind us of the irreplaceable value of conscience and courage because a just society lays its foundations on the testimonies of fighting indifference and fear. For these reasons we strongly ask for the official recognition of the Day of the Righteous and the spread of the gardens of the Righteous in Europe, as elements to reflect on the courage of those who have defended human dignity and as an educational and promotional tool among future generations, of awareness and responsibility with respect to moral courage and resistance to oppression.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, rare diseases affect 8% of the European population, 36 million people; around 7 000 different types of diseases, most of them chronic, disabling or life-threatening, affecting patients’ health and quality of life; up to 95% of these diseases do not have specific treatments and the available therapies have exorbitant costs. The Union has proposed initiatives that we need to develop: research with Horizon Europe; European Reference Networks, bringing together specialists and research centres across Europe to improve diagnosis and treatment; the European Platform for the Registration of Rare Diseases. But for such a great challenge, stronger answers are needed. These include public-private partnerships to enhance research, innovation and technology transfer; a regulatory framework conducive to investment is needed; there is now an urgent need for a comprehensive European strategy that overcomes the fragmentation that exists at the moment and genuinely gives all patients access to treatment, regardless of their country of origin.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, EUR 25 billion is the value of the steel products that Europe exports every year; competitiveness is now at risk, because our producers will be the only ones to bear the cost of carbon, while competitors from third countries will remain exempt. 100 million tonnes of steel capacity: This is the amount of European steel that will remain exposed to unfair competition if we allow international producers to circumvent the environmental regulations imposed on our companies. We must act urgently. The European Steel Action Plan is a first step in tackling the steel competitiveness crisis. The decarbonisation of the sector shifts from ferrous scrap: Europe must act to enhance its importance and limit its exports. We need to do much more on energy. During the last crisis, energy costs peaked at 80% of total production and, at the beginning of 2025, there was a further increase of 35%. We need to strengthen compensation mechanisms for energy-intensive industries and reform the energy market. It is in everyone's interest to decouple the price of gas from that of renewables, with tariffs that are more predictable and less exposed to speculation. Reduce costs and also promote new technologies, such as carbon capture and biomass. We must ensure that the steel industry, which is a key industry on our continent, continues to contribute to European growth.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the health of our industry is crucial to ensuring a strong Europe at global level. With 32 million direct workers and 65% of research activities, industry generates innovation and employment. But over the past 30 years, the share of industry in GDP has fallen by more than five points. Industries such as theautomotive, chemistry, steel and others. We are deindustrializing. In a highly competitive, uncertain world with uneven rules, we must propose solutions that are more conducive to industry, workers and citizens. The Clean Industrial Deal This is a sign of change, but we need to be more ambitious: lower energy costs, eliminate unfair competition, retrace our steps when decisions are wrong. We need to do more for growth and competitiveness to support our welfare, the best in the world.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a universal, inclusive and universally accessible higher education system, with university costs between 50 and 90 % lower than in Anglo-Saxon universities; two million researchers compared to 1.5 million in the US in 2022; international programmes and cultural mobility, such as Erasmus: this is the framework of European educational values that is struggling to translate into innovation. We need to work on retaining talent and investment. We spend about half of the Americans and a third of the Chinese; Last year, the United States attracted $300 billion in foreign investment, compared to $90 billion in the European Union. We need public-private partnerships and less bureaucracy. However, injecting more funding into the system is not the only solution: First of all, there is a need to change some of the fundamentals of the value chain from research to innovative products, such as technology transfer and the ability to attract more risk capital. These are the two interrelated items in which innovation in the European Union is significantly lower than in the United States, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. We look forward to the Commission's proposals to overcome investment fragmentation, invest in strategic sectors and support SMEs in innovation. We must also allow those who have an idea to get involved, with a common reform of bankruptcy law that guarantees the right to fail by allowing them to start again quickly; reduce costs but also introduce far-reaching reforms to make innovation the real catalyst for a more competitive Europe.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, world steel production is increasing by 500 million tonnes, but European production is decreasing by 6%. Low-cost steel from China and Indonesia puts at risk revenues of 130 billion euros and 300,000 jobs. Climate targets are also at risk: We have not reduced our emissions, we have relocated them. We therefore need urgent measures to reduce the cost of energy that weighs on this sector. We must suspend the ETS for this sector and promote effective anti-dumping measures against unfair competition. And we also need to use our resources: Steel is 100% recyclable and ferrous scrap is a strategic raw material for the circular economy and the competitiveness of our industry. Its availability must be increased and exports to countries with lower standards prohibited. Defending the steel sector means protecting our workers, our competitiveness and our competitiveness. welfare. We need an urgent plan.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank Mario Draghi for the in-depth report he has presented. In the last legislature, the European Union adopted around 13 000 pieces of legislation, often without a prior cost-benefit analysis. European manufacturing supports energy prices up to five times higher than in the United States. The growth gap with the US has increased from 15% to 30% and 30% of successful start-ups have left the Union. Before imposing, regulating, prohibiting or closing, a scientific assessment of the economic and social impact of legislation is essential. Common investments are key to ensuring the success of the green and technological transition. No to bans that penalize companies, especially medium and small ones, and reduce jobs to the benefit of foreign markets that do not share our values and our rules, creating ourselves areas of unfair competition. Only coordinated and decisive action will be able to meet these challenges in order to ensure the success of the European social model.