What Sandro spoke about.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, yes, the wound is still open. In my country, which lives in times of peace like all other European countries, eleven journalists have been killed: Nine from the Mafia and two from terrorism. I am a member of the Democratic Party and we have a big problem, for example, in our country, which are the municipal councils – politics – which have relations with the mafia and corruption: think that in my region, Naples and Campania, there are 21 municipal councils dissolved for mafia infiltration: Ten of the centre-left and four were mayors of the Democratic Party. Then, I saw the clash between the People's Party and the Socialist colleagues in Malta; Here we have to say simple, clear things: We are all against the mafia, corruption and organised crime. There is a point for Daphne Caruana Galizia: He needs the truth, to know the whole truth. And until he knows the whole truth that part of Malta, there will be no pacification and to have pacification we must make peace.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, as an Italian delegation from the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, we have called for a debate on the protection of journalists reporting on the war in Ukraine. The decision of the Russian government to issue arrest warrants against two Italian journalists, Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini, is very serious: Informing is never a crime. The two, accused of illegal crossing of the border and unauthorized shooting, risk up to five years in prison. These allegations violate the Geneva Convention, undermining freedom of the press and transparency. This is not an isolated case: Other foreign journalists are in the same situation. This is a clear attempt at intimidation that we strongly condemn. When Russian intelligence enters the field, vigilance is required. Russia has stepped up its crackdown on independent journalism, calling European and international media "secret agents." Europe must make itself heard, expressing solidarity with journalists targeted by Putin, but also with concrete actions: We must demand the revocation of arrest warrants for these journalists. Those who speak to you are one of the 22 threatened journalists that Italy protects. I would like to conclude by appealing to all 27 Member States of the European Union: Protect your journalists when they are threatened! Democracy needs free information and when a journalist dies for his work, not only in theaters of war but also in so-called "peace" countries, democratic, as in Europe, it is a piece of democracy that dies.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there is one element that unites all the criminal organisations in the world: Making money illegally. In Italy, the mafias have a long history and their specificity is that they intertwine with part of the political, economic and financial power. The question we must ask ourselves, however, concerns Europe: Are we doing enough to fight organized crime? I have a feeling we're lagging behind them: We make a law and they already know how to get around it. Illicit money has no borders, it is transferred and laundered in tax havens within the Union, in countries such as Malta, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Here, tax tolerance has created a fertile ground where legal and illegal activities coexist undisturbed, facilitating money laundering and corruption. If their purpose is to make money illegally, we must act accordingly to take this wealth away from them. Giovanni Falcone taught us that following money is the key to finding the mafia. They are not afraid of prison, they are afraid of losing money, and by recovering that money we can really fight organized crime. To do this, however, we need to equip ourselves with the right tools. Strong cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units, tax authorities and investigation agencies is needed, with the support of Europol, Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In addition, the time has come for the European Parliament to set up a special committee against organised crime, capable of dealing with rapid developments in criminal methods. We can't afford to be left behind. The security of citizens and the economic viability of the Union depend on this common commitment.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in 60 seconds I will tell you that it is time to act and take decisions. The first one: We must ensure that Israel lives in security, and to do so we must immediately recognise the Palestinian state, as Spain, Ireland and Norway have already done. Only in this way will we put the Hamas terrorists out of the game, because we will give hope and a perspective of the future to the Palestinian people. We must stop the death spiral and support Israeli civil society and political opposition, demanding the resignation of Netanyahu, responsible for crimes against humanity, an irresponsible extremist. The barbarism of 7 October, the terrorist attack by Hamas, which we strongly condemn, does not justify a collective revenge that condemns the Palestinian civilian population to live in what Amnesty International declared in 2020 the most uninhabitable country on earth. Peace now, shalom, salaamPeace, now.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is with emotion that I take the floor to remember the massacre in Via D'Amelio. It is a wound that is still open, because we do not yet know the whole truth. We know that the massacre was the biggest state misdirection in Republican history. We know that the mafia is strong because it relates to part of politics, economics and finance. The years '92 and '93 were terrible for Italy; President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi even feared a coup d'état. That murderous mafia has been defeated by the State, but we have not yet won the battle. Today the Mafia has gone beyond national borders, it is a problem that concerns Europe. Dear colleagues, we cannot afford to be indifferent; We owe it to our children and to the children of our children, we owe it to our heroes of civil society and politics, to those who lost their lives to fight the mafia. Today we are all Paolo Borsellino, Agostino Catalano, Emanuela Loi, Vincenzo Li Muli, Walter Eddie Cosina, Claudio Traina.