Citizens of the European Union, Ladies and Gentlemen Members of Parliament, dear friends, colleagues, representatives of the Institutions, of the Governments, women and men of this Administration.
You will all understand my emotion at this moment as I assume the Presidency of the European Parliament and have been chosen by you to represent the Institution that more than any other has a direct bond with citizens, that has the duty to represent and defend them. And to remember always that our freedom is the child of the justice we shall be able to achieve and of the solidarity we shall be able to build.
Allow me to thank President Antonio Tajani for the work carried out in this Parliament, for his great commitment and dedication to this Institution. I would also like to welcome the new colleagues, who make up 62% of this Chamber, a welcome back to returning Members, and to the women, who represent 40% of us all. A good result, but we want more.
At this moment, at the end of an intense electoral campaign, a legislative term begins that world events burden with great responsibility, because no one can be content with preserving the status quo. The election result tells us this; the very composition of this Assembly bears witness to it.
We are immersed in epochal transformations: youth unemployment, migration, climate change, the digital revolution, shifting global balances—to name but a few—which, to be governed, require new ideas and the courage to combine great wisdom with the utmost audacity.
We must recover the spirit of Ventotene and the pioneering drive of the Founding Fathers, who were able to set aside the hostilities of war, put an end to the ravages of nationalism, and give us a project capable of reconciling peace, democracy, rights, development and equality.
In recent months too many have bet on the decline of this project, fuelling divisions and conflicts that we believed were a sad memory of our history. Citizens have instead shown that they still believe in this extraordinary path—the only one capable of providing answers to the global challenges before us.
We must find the strength to relaunch our process of integration, changing our Union to make it capable of responding more forcefully to the needs of our citizens and of providing real answers to their concerns and to their increasingly widespread sense of disorientation.
The defence and promotion of our founding values of freedom, dignity and solidarity must be pursued every day, inside and outside the EU.
Dear colleagues, let us think more often of the world we have, of the freedoms we enjoy… And so let us say it ourselves—since others to the East or to the West, or to the South, find it hard to acknowledge it—that many things make us different—not better, simply different—and that we Europeans are proud of our diversity.
Let us repeat it so that it is clear to everyone that in Europe no government may kill; that the value of the human person and his or her dignity are the measure by which we judge our policies…
…that here no one can silence the opposition; that our governments and the European institutions that represent them are the fruit of democracy and of free elections…
…that no one can be condemned for his or her religious, political or philosophical beliefs; that here young women and men can travel, study and love without constraint…
…that no European may be humiliated or marginalised because of his or her sexual orientation; that within the European space, in different ways, social protection is part of our identity;
…that defending the life of anyone in danger is a duty established by our Treaties and by the international Conventions we have concluded.
Our social market economy model must be relaunched. Our economic rules must be able to reconcile growth, social protection and respect for the environment. We must equip ourselves with adequate tools to tackle poverty, give prospects to our young people, relaunch sustainable investment, and strengthen the convergence among our regions and territories.
The digital revolution is profoundly changing our lifestyles, our way of producing and consuming. We need rules that can reconcile technological progress, business development, and the protection of workers and individuals.
Climate change exposes us to enormous risks that are now evident to all. We need investment in clean technologies to respond to the millions of young people who have taken to the streets—and some have come into this very Chamber—to remind us that there is no other planet.
We must work for ever stronger gender equality and for an ever greater role for women at the top of politics, the economy and society.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is our calling card to a world that, in order to find rules, also needs us.
But none of this happened by chance. The European Union is not an accident of history.
I am the son of a man who, at 20, fought against other Europeans, and of a mother who, also in her twenties, left her home and found refuge with other families. I know this is also the story of many of your families… and I also know that if we pooled our stories and told them to one another over a glass of beer or wine, we would never say that we are the sons or grandsons of an accident of history.
We would say that our history is written in pain: in the blood of the young Britons slaughtered on the beaches of Normandy; in the desire for freedom of Sophie and Hans Scholl; in the thirst for justice of the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto; in the springs crushed by tanks in our countries of the East; in the longing for fraternity that we find whenever moral conscience compels us not to renounce our humanity and obedience cannot be considered a virtue.
We are not an accident of history, but the sons and grandsons of those who managed to find the antidote to that nationalist degeneration which poisoned our history. If we are Europeans, it is also because we are in love with our countries. But nationalism that becomes ideology and idolatry breeds viruses that stoke instincts of superiority and produce destructive conflicts.
Colleagues, we need vision—and for this we need politics. We need European parties that are ever more capable of being the keystone of our democracy. But we must give them new tools. Those we have are insufficient. This legislature must strengthen the procedures that will make Parliament a protagonist of a fully-fledged European democracy.
But we are not starting from zero; we are not born from nothing. Europe is founded on its Institutions which, though imperfect and in need of reform, have guaranteed our freedoms and our independence. With our Institutions we will be able to respond to all those who are working to divide us. And so let us say in this Chamber, today, that Parliament will be the guarantor of the independence of European citizens. And that only they are entitled to write their own destiny: no one for them, no one in our place.
In this Chamber, alongside many friends and colleagues of great experience, there are also very many first-term Members. To them, a warm welcome. I have read many of their biographies and I am convinced that their presence is very positive for their skills and professionalism. Many are engaged in social activities or in the protection of people, and this is an area in which Europe must improve, because we have a duty to govern new phenomena.
On immigration there is too much buck‑passing among governments, and every time something happens we are unprepared and start again from scratch.
Members of the European Council, this Parliament believes that the time has come to discuss reform of the Dublin Regulation, which this Chamber, by an overwhelming majority, proposed in the last legislature. You owe it to European citizens, who are asking for greater solidarity among Member States; you owe it to the poor, out of that sense of humanity we do not want to lose and that has made us great in the eyes of the world.
Much is in your hands and, responsibly, you cannot continue to postpone decisions, feeding distrust in our communities, with citizens who, at every emergency, continue to ask: where is Europe? What is Europe doing? This will be a test we must pass to overcome much laziness and too many jealousies.
And again, Parliament, Council and Commission must feel the duty to respond with greater courage to the questions of our young people when they cry out that we must wake up, open our eyes and save the planet. I want to address them: consider this Parliament, which today begins its legislative activity, as your point of reference. Help us too to be bolder in facing the challenges of change.
I want to assure the Council and the rotating Presidencies of our fullest cooperation, and I say the same to the Commission and its President. The European Institutions need to rethink themselves and not be regarded as an obstacle to building a more united Europe.
Through the President of the European Council, I would also like to send a greeting, on behalf of this Chamber, to the Heads of State or Government. Twenty‑eight countries make the European Union great. And these are 28 States, from the largest to the smallest, that hold treasures unique in the world. Each comes from afar and possesses inimitable and unmistakable culture, language, art, landscape, poetry. They are our great heritage and all deserve respect. That is why when I visit them, on your behalf, I will never be distracted. And before their flags and their anthems I will stand at attention, also on behalf of those who, in this Chamber, do not show similar respect.
Let me finally address the British Members of Parliament, whatever they may think about Brexit. For us, imagining Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome far from London is painful.
Yes—know this—with all the respect we owe to the choices of British citizens, for us Europeans this is a political passage that must be carried forward with reasonableness, in dialogue and friendship, but always with respect for the rules and for our respective prerogatives.
I would like to greet the representatives of the States that have asked to join the European Union. Their path has begun by their free choice. Everyone understands how advantageous it is to be part of the Union. The accession procedures are continuing, and Parliament has repeatedly expressed satisfaction with the results achieved.
Finally, my best wishes to the entire administration and the staff of Parliament.
In the last legislature we set ourselves an objective: to make the European Parliament the House of European democracy.
For this we need reforms, greater transparency, innovation. Many results have been achieved—especially on the budget—but this legislature must give a stronger impetus. To do this, we need greater dialogue between Members and the administration, and I will make it my task to foster it.
Dear colleagues, Europe still has much to say if we—and you—know how to say it together. If we can place the reasons of political contest at the service of our citizens; if Parliament listens to their hopes and their fears and their needs. I am sure that all of you will be able to make the necessary contribution to a better Europe, which can be born with us— with you—if we put heart and ambition into it.
Thank you, and good work.