Speeches

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, skyrocketing electricity and gas bills, unsustainable gasoline prices, rising cost of living, declining raw materials, drastically falling purchasing power of wages: These are the real problems that our citizens face every day and that need to be solved as soon as possible. We all have a duty to concretely help millions of Italian and European families, crushed by inflation and an unprecedented economic, energy and social crisis. We need quick fixes and real money before the situation escalates into explosive social conflicts in the fall. Instead, in this dramatic context, we are appalled by the crazy proposals of the Italian and European left. In Italy, at this time of devastating crisis, the left has as a priority on the political agenda to liberalize cannabis and give citizenship to immigrants. Stop wasting time on this nonsense. Enough of the chatter. Just chase the ghosts of a left that lives on the moon, detached from reality. We have a duty to solve the real problems of our citizens and we must do so now, before it is too late.

Yes, I assure you that I will also defend Italy's interests with transnational lists. I wonder, instead, if a colleague of yours, a colleague of mine Gozi, who was undersecretary of the Renzi government, undersecretary of the Gentiloni government and therefore had access to very particular papers and who then passed to the court of Macron, being a consultant and now a parliamentarian, can say the same thing, to defend the interests of the Italians or the French? I'd like to understand. I'm asking your opinion.

It was two Italian citizens who asked me for the blue card I knew and who had the party card in their pockets. So, since that was not the place, I will confront them at another time. I listened to another Italian citizen, on the other hand, who spoke within the European Democracy Group, who made it clear that we discussed transnational lists, an uncomfortable point that we do not agree with. This town is Chiara Alicandro, and yet you haven't heard her.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, to revolutionise this Europe, which today is a bureaucratic monster and a political dwarf, in order to build a new Europe that is more modern, safer, more democratic and capable of solving citizens' problems: This was the great challenge for which the Conference on the Future of Europe was born, a challenge that had to be met with courage and foresight and which was blatantly missed. The Conference was yet another wasted opportunity, the usual EU propaganda exercise involving very few citizens. Just quote a fact: only 52 000 citizens out of 450 million Europeans signed up to the Conference’s digital platform. These numbers demonstrate all the enormous distance that exists between the citizens and the buildings of Brussels, which once again have stood up to defend a model of Europe that does not work. The glaring example of the failure and errors of the Conference are the famous transnational lists that the citizens have not asked for and that the usual politicians have imposed as a dogma. Transnational lists that are not even mentioned in the motion approved by the Italian Parliament and against which Italian and European citizens have spoken publicly and in the working group on European democracy. Citizens do not need transnational lists that serve only to secure the seat of some politician. The world is on fire. We are experiencing a devastating economic crisis. Millions of households and businesses don't know how to pay their bills. Come back with your feet on the ground, come to terms with reality. Come back and listen to the people who are asking to change this Europe from top to bottom. Citizens are crying out for change, because they do not need more Europe, but a different, new, courageous Europe that knows how to build a future of work, development, well-being, freedom and democracy for our peoples. (The speaker accepted a blue card)

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, recovering food sovereignty and energy independence in order to be free from the blackmail of Putin's Russia and all hostile countries. These are the two great challenges that the war in Ukraine requires us to face with absolute urgency. Challenges to which Europe arrives unprepared, after years of wrong policies dictated by false ecologists of the Italian and European left. Our farmers must be helped to do their job, which is to produce food and food for everyone. This is exactly the opposite of what Europe has done in recent years. Brussels massacred our farmers, filled them with constraints and bureaucracy. He accused them of being the main culprits of pollution. In recent years, Europe has culpably sacrificed our agri-food products on the altar of savage globalisation. Europe must make a big mea culpa for the mistakes made and must change policies quickly. We need to fundamentally change the Farm to Fork strategy and the CAP, and we need real money to help our farmers, crushed by high bills and rising commodity prices. Dear European bureaucrats, just chase ghosts. Enough with your attacks against Made in Italy. Enough of your craziness like synthetic meat or milkless cheese. The dramatic war in Ukraine shows that there is no more time to waste. We all have a duty to defend our agriculture and to regain our food sovereignty as soon as possible.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the war in Ukraine is a dramatic madness. Putin's Russian military aggression against Ukraine must be condemned absolutely and stopped as soon as possible, using the weapons of diplomacy to restore peace. We are facing a dirty war, which is causing death and destruction among civilians, and which risks upsetting the whole world. The war in Ukraine affects us all closely, because it is an attack on our values and on the whole free West. Putin's nuclear threat is a threat to world security, to the security of each and every one of us, before which nothing can be pretended. We all have a duty to defend our freedom and our democracy by all means. This must be our mission in the face of global threats from dictatorships and regimes such as communist China, Iran and Islamic pasdaran or Putin's Russia. To overcome these challenges, we must be united and strongly relaunch the alliance with the United States of America; It is time to strengthen the Atlantic Alliance, it is time to build a strong alliance with Israel, it is time to create a special relationship with Britain and the Anglosphere countries, which are key allies for common security and defence policies. Europe must play a great role in these political games. mea culpa because of the ambiguities, double-crossings and mistakes made in recent years. Dear colleagues, the war in Ukraine puts us at a crossroads in history: on the one hand the world of freedom and Western democracy, on the other hand the world of dictatorship, oppression and violence. We are on the side of the Ukrainian people, so that good wins over evil, so that peace stops the bombs and so that freedom triumphs over dictatorship.

(IT) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Croatian Prošek is a fraud against our Prosecco, made in Italy and consumers all over the world, which risks destroying the European system of PDO and PGI brands. Today, for the first time, the plenary of the European Parliament deals with the Prosecco/Prošek war, which has become a landmark case across Europe. The European Commission has been outrageous: in September 2021, it started the process for the recognition of Prošek and, since then, has closed in a shameful silence, despite the fact that three months have passed since the official position presented by Italy. Equally scandalous is the fact that today, speaking officially on behalf of the European Commission, there is not the Commissioner for Agriculture, but another Commissioner. What do you have to hide? Why does the Commissioner for Agriculture not have the courage to come to Parliament and say clearly what he wants to do about the Prošek case? What game are you playing? It is worth recalling that, as early as 2013, Croatia had attempted to obtain recognition of Prošek, which was rejected by the then Commissioner Cioloş. I quote Cioloş's words in reply to my question: "The commercial use of the term Prošek may create legal problems, as the Croatian name could conflict with the protection of the Italian PDO Prosecco. The Croatian authorities are aware of this legal issue. What has changed over the past nine years to justify this resounding turnaround by the Commission? Today, as then, Croatian Prošek is clearly in conflict with the PDO Prosecco, which protects the quality of our wine and the work of 8 000 Italian producers. Recognising the name Prošek would be a very serious violation of European regulations, which protect PDO and PGI products from any attempt to evoke, imitate and distort the name, even when the name is translated. The system of protected designations of origin and geographical indications is the cornerstone of the European Union's agri-food policy. If Europe does not want to defend Prosecco, which is the most famous and best-selling Italian wine in the world, what will happen to the other European Italian PDO and PGI products? Europe must strengthen the tools that defend our products, not undermine the system of PDOs and PGIs, using the Trojan horse of Prošek. Dear European Commission, the time for chatter is over. Europe must say no to Prošek's request for recognition. The only real Prosecco and the Italian one, produced in Veneto and Friuli, recognized and protected by the DOC and DOCG denominations. Europe is playing face-to-face on this game. We will not give up an inch, and we are ready to barricades to defend our Prosecco and all the Made in Italy.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, live Christmas and live Christian traditions. A Europe that wants to ban the word "Christmas" and the Christian names of "Joseph" and "Mary" is not and will never be our Europe. Because Europe is either Christian or it is not Europe. This is the great teaching of Schuman and Pope John Paul II, the Holy Pope, who defeated the empire of evil embodied by Soviet Communism. We must be proud of our identity and values, and Europe should proudly claim its Judeo-Christian roots. Instead, we are witnessing the continuous follies of a Europe that wants to deny itself and erase its history with the ridiculous excuse of not discriminating against some Islamic immigrant. Dear European bureaucrats, enough of these delusions, enough of your ideological fanaticism. What would Europe be without the symbols of Christianity? Without the churches, the bell towers, the works of art? Europe is Christian, not Muslim. Europe is not Eurabia. Those who enter our home, those who arrive in our countries must adapt and must respect our traditions, our history, our rules. Immigrants need to integrate, not the other way around. Italians are the most supportive people in the world, but nothing and no one will ever erase our identity and our Christian roots. Merry Christmas to all of you and your families.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, defending Made in Italy, defending our farmers, defending the products of our land, because a country without agriculture is a country that has no future: These are the values that inspired us to implement the new common agricultural policy, which will mark the future of Italian and European agriculture. The CAP is one of the very few European programmes that has worked in recent years and that has brought real money to our companies and our territories. Well what you did, but you could do much more. Much more could be done to avoid the cut of 6 billion to Italian farmers. Much more could be done to cut red tape, which weighs heavily on our farmers on a daily basis. Much more could and can be done to avoid putting the burden of the new measures on farmers' shoulders. green wanted by the European Commission. Europe must understand that environmental sustainability cannot exist unless the economic sustainability of farms is first protected. Too often Europe forgets that the first defenders of the environment are precisely our farmers, who must be guaranteed income support to avoid the closure of farms and the abandonment of fields. Much more could be done to defend PDO and PGI products, especially after Europe's first scandalous green light to prošek Croatian, which competes unfairly with Italian prosecco and endangers products of protected origin from all over Europe. The new CAP also presents us with new challenges, such as the designation of meat, which affects millions of farmers and consumers. Meat without meat does not exist, fake meat is blasphemy, synthetic meat made in a laboratory, in which there is not a single millimeter of meat, can not be called meat. Our farmers and consumers must be protected, not scammed, to please the interests of multinationals. Dear European bureaucrats, it is time to end the game of slaughter against Italian agriculture. Enough with the follies of Nutri-Score, enough with wine without alcohol, enough with insects, worms and grasshoppers that you want to bring on the tables of Italians! We Italians will not give up an inch in the battle to defend the products of our land, which represent a unique heritage in the world made of identity, culture, traditions that we inherited from our grandparents and our fathers. Long live Italian agriculture, long live Made in Italy!

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, defending ‘Made in Italy’ and millions of Italian farmers and breeders: This is our mission. This is why we say out loud that the "Farm to Fork" risks becoming a dangerous attack on Italian agriculture. Europe must stop bombing "Made in Italy" with sabotage actions such as Nutri-Score, synthetic meat made in a laboratory, a scandalous green light for Croatian Prošek that competes unfairly with Italian Prosecco. Italian agriculture is the greenest in Europe. Italy is the first country in terms of number of organic farms. Italian farmers are the first defenders of the environment and, despite these primates, Europe wants to impose new absurd rules on our farmers. No, dear European bureaucrats, you are completely off track because you do not understand that environmental sustainability cannot exist unless the economic sustainability of farms is first protected. The environmental fanaticism will lead to the closure of thousands of companies with the very dangerous consequence of abandoning the fields. We will not allow Brussels to massacre Italian agriculture, because a country without agriculture is a country without a future.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, defending our freedom, our democracy and the Western world at all costs: This must be our mission in the face of the global threats that come to us every day from dictatorships and regimes such as communist China or Islamic pasdaran Iran. To overcome these challenges, today more than ever it is necessary to strongly relaunch the alliance and relations between Europe and the United States of America, which will always be a beacon of freedom for the whole world. It is time to reform and strengthen the US-led Atlantic alliance. It is time to build a strong and lasting alliance with Israel. It is time to create a special relationship with post-Brexit Britain and all the Anglosphere countries, which are key allies for common security and defence. Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom have done very well to sign a military pact against the Chinese danger and the Brussels wigs have done very badly, they have shouted scandal. Europe must recite a great mea culpa for its culpable fugitive. How can Americans, British and Australians trust such an ambiguous and double-crossed Europe? A Europe that makes bloody trade agreements with communist China, that is hesitant with the communist dictatorships of Cuba and Venezuela, that proves cowardly with the fundamentalists of Iran. Dear European bureaucrats, the time has come to decide which side to stand on, either this way or that way, there are no more half-measures or third ways. On the one hand there is the free world of Western democracies, on the other the world of violence embodied by communist and Islamist dictatorships. We in the League have no doubt: We are and will always be on the side of our American allies and the Atlantic alliance, ready to fight for freedom to win over dictatorship and for good to triumph over evil.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, on illegal immigration, Europe has shockingly left Italy. 21,000 illegal immigrants landed in Italy in the last six months. 800 dead in the Mediterranean. Scary numbers, but the Commission and the European Council have decided to leave Italy completely alone. The most scandalous thing is that Brussels, instead of helping our country, decided to donate billions of euros to Turkey of the Islamic dictator Erdoğan. Dear Brussels bureaucrats, enough of this hypocrisy. Stop treating Italians like idiots. In a year and a half, only 2.2% of the migrants who landed in our country were relocated. If you want to turn Italy into the refugee camp of Europe, say it clearly, other than European solidarity. The Italian government must act quickly and must proceed with border control, the closure of ports, the expulsion of illegal immigrants. Because, if we wait for the help of Europe, which will not be there, in the coming months Italy will be overwhelmed by an invasion of illegal immigrants.