Government of Italy

Policy topics Government of Italy is active on

What Government of Italy has said (80)

• 2026-07-14 “Thank you, and I will speak in Italian. Thank you for the presentation of your program. I wish our Irish colleagues all the best, and you can certainly rely on support from Italy. We very much welcome the focus that you were putting on the EU's strategic agenda 2024 to 2029, particularly when it comes to negotiating the MFF. And here, in fact, I would like to echo what the Latvian minister said about the position of the friends of the friends group. We feel that a modernized budget does not necessarily have to mean a reduced budget or a smaller budget. On competitiveness, we share the central position you do for this. We are committing committed to the 1 year of 1 market roadmap. And we also think that it's essential to have a central view for, simplification, which we need to see a real reduction in the burden on our companies without compromising European standards. And in parallel with all that, it's going to be essential to complete the single market, guaranteeing investment and reinforcing the competitiveness of European industry. On enlargement, Italy supports a credible enlargement policy, which merit based and on based on equal treatment of all candidates. We're talking here about a strategic investment for security, stability, and prosperity of our continent. And finally, we welcome the presidency's idea of planning the summit with The UK as quickly as possible. That will allow us to very much have a highest level of political exchanges with The UK and allow us to continue our shared work on our shared priorities. We wish you all the best.”
  Size of EU budget
• 2026-07-13 “Thank you. Chair. Portugal supports Italy, taking into account the importance of the production policy of European farmers and defends a budget that is up to our. The standards set out by our objectives And we also wish to fight against the impacts that have negative effects on production. As to the Visegrad Group. We realize that this has effects on agriculture, and we would call for a mechanism that would protect us from adverse weather conditions and climate effects, and that we would otherwise not be able to resolve the European Investment Bank and a national banks, as well as the financial institutions and national budgets, should be able to find a solution here for any for unpredictable situations, in order to give more stability to our farmers. Thank you.”
  Agricultural funding
• 2026-07-13 “Thank you chair. Together with other Member states, we wish to attract your attention to the Commission's work programme for 2027. Following the presentation of initial guidelines, which show significant reduction in the resources that would be made available. Although the document presented by the Commission is still being prepared and may certainly undergo further changes during the adoption process. We are of the opinion that it is important from now to align the various policies with the strategic objectives that the union has set for itself in recent years. I refer in particular to the strengthening of the resilience of the agri food sector, diversifying destination markets, improving access for smaller organizations and holdings, and achieving greater geographical balance in member state participation. The projected level of resources that doesn't appear consistent with these ambitions. For these reasons. Italy calls upon the Commission to give further consideration to the financial allocations allocated to 2027 and provided for taking due account of the need to preserve the effectiveness, effectiveness and ambitions of the union's promotion policy. Thank you.”
  Agricultural funding
• 2026-07-13 “Thank you chair. I thank the other delegations who expressed support for our point, and I would like to take the floor again for a comment. With respect to the observation from the Hungarian delegation, increasingly frequent adverse weather events, the spread of various animal diseases and the diverse geopolitical crisis of recent years highlight the clear need for adequate risk management tools, covering both prevention and rapid, effective ex-post responses. For this reason, we consider it essential to extend the scope of the unity safety net to include these issues as well. I therefore take this opportunity alongside my fellow ministers to draw the Council's attention to this extremely important matter and to champion this request during discussions on the future EU budget regarding the bioeconomy. This is certainly a sector that has great development potential, one in which we are particularly interested and where we are already doing a lot of work. Strengthening cooperation at European level would certainly be desirable in light of our competitiveness and food security objectives. Thank you.”
  Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
• 2026-06-29 “Marina's colleagues. Roxana on the fair mobility package. What we see and ask for is a step forward. Better quality to strengthen the capacity of member states to avoid fraud so that we can have a fair mobility and protect social rights. And to do this, we have to go beyond the the slow procedures, the administrative burdens. We have to work to have an integrated system that's based on advanced digitalisation, on common standards. For this reason, it's essential to strengthen the data exchange. We have the CES pass, which is an instrument that has to be at the heart of a rapid data exchange. It has to be proactive and permit real time controls and efficient controls without increasing administrative burden. Now, my objective in Italy, which I hope will be shared in Europe, is to have an electronic file on workers in order to promote mobility and to reduce the administrative burdens for citizens and administrations. We also need to strengthen controls, strengthening the European Labour Authority. We need common inspections. We need common risk assessments. We have to fight against social dumping. Then we also need to strengthen activation measures with minimum standards for active research. And we need to have efficient measures to support income and they have to be cross border. We need to move towards return to work. And on the modernisation of rules, I would like to conclude on certain priorities. We have to simplify the applicable legislation, especially for teleworking and for active workers. We need more transparency on posting, even using digital instruments like E declaration, and we have to reduce the burden for citizens and companies so they don't have to send the same information various times to the same authority. Thank you.”
  EU regulation of cross-border and posted workers
• 2026-06-29 “Yes. Thank you chair. We welcome this first anti poverty strategy. It's a key instrument to go back to the values of the EU which is the Europe of citizens. And we thank you for all your efforts. Now this is an effort to have a more competitive Europe. But to do that we need to work on social Europe. We need to offer opportunities. We need to continue with the fight, the fight against poverty. We need to strengthen labour initiatives because this helps us overcome exclusion. But it can't be the only one. We always need to consider the complexity and the multidimensionality of the causes of poverty. That's why we need to offer support and assistance in various areas in order to guarantee access to education, to health, to housing, to goods and services, but also to culture and leisure. Strengthen her, strengthen its policies with an approach that is person centered, with a lifelong approach, so that people can overcome all the difficulties they encounter, especially those who are vulnerable and who risk social exclusion. We have been working on developing minimum incomes and inclusion pathways. These are fundamental, just as it's crucial to ensure that support reaches those in need, ensuring that there's an adequate coverage. We also need to Facilitate the take up of public benefits and services. We would also like to underline the importance of boosting social innovation and of basing social policies on empirical data, and on an analysis of social and economic return. It's essential to boost cross-cutting governments, and we need to cooperate with civil society organisations based on social dialogue. Thank you.”
  Minimum income harmonisation at EU level
• 2026-06-29 “Yes. Thank you chair. The Italian government has adopted a housing plan which aims at increasing the supply of housing in order to meet demand, especially for the weaker categories. Looking at young people, young couples, separated people and university students, as well as the elderly. We also need to increase the housing supply. So the plan has measures for the restructuring of 60,000 social housing, public housing and the restructuring of 2,000,000m² of land, we also need to consider the new vulnerable sectors because they include people who were outside the category before, such as middle income families. That's why the plan has flexible housing models such as cohousing, senior housing and intergenerational housing. We are especially looking at the urban suburbs. We're also looking at the role of investments by mobilizing public and private resources, by involving institutional investors that are interested in long term returns and that are interested in the social impact. As for students with the resilience plans, we have added 60,000 places. There are an increasing number of public and private partnerships to recover those public buildings that haven't been used over years. This is an innovative model that we're working on for families with a low income, with a divorced parents or solo parents, in order for them to be able to buy public housing. The idea is to guarantee access to housing without any debts. We're doing this by offering guarantees in order to have resources for other projects. The house housing has to be a basic good, as well as something that helps guarantee job mobility and territorial development.”
  EU policy on urban development
• 2026-06-29 “Yes. Thank you. Chair. Italy welcomes the European strategy to eradicate poverty, and we are also in agreement with the approach. Poverty has many dimensions and we need integrated support systems. We need quality services, income support, social inclusion and access to work. And that's why Italy has changed its instruments as revised them in order to accompany people along the path. We have given attention to the young especially. We need to invest on the young and their families, because this is one of the best ways to stop an intergenerational inheritance of poverty. So we need services that integrate people through multidisciplinary services. Then there's work activation quality jobs, because that is how you prevent poverty. That is how you overcome poverty. That's why we have measures for income support, and we have active policies for reintegration, requalification for retraining and for accompanying people. The information system helps the integration of service, social services and employment agencies. We have introduced administrative simplification and targeted measures. We need to use our databases in a more effective way in order to reach our beneficiaries. The Italian experience shows us how much the third sector. The service sector is important also to find the vulnerable people to accompany them. We need three elements to be effective. We need to strengthen and integrate the various services. We need to integrate them in quality jobs by developing skills, and then we need to map the The vulnerabilities and the access to social services. Thank you.”
  Child poverty policy
• 2026-06-29 “Marina thank you madam. Dear colleagues, dear Roxana, one of the essential principles of the European social model is that of guaranteeing the dignity of work, health and safety in the workplace. And yet there are still too many workers who die or who have serious accidents at work. Now to remember the importance of this principle Italy with Belgium and Hungary with the support of Germany, Romania and Malta. As for the creation of a Remembrance Day for the victims of accidents at work, and we do this and we thank you for your support, because there's also the same request from the European Parliament with their resolution on the 21st of May, which was voted with a strong majority, have indicated the 8th of August as a date for this. Remember, that is the date which reminds everyone of the Marcinelle tragedy. It's part of our collective memory. Workers from many of our states died in that event. They were working to reconstruct Europe. Marcinelle chose a Europe of peoples and workers. It was emerging in those years which were the same years of European integration, and it took place in Belgium. The creation of a European day would not duplicate but complete this Europe. International day of the I o. This international day reminds everyone of work protection, but the 8th of August would be a day which celebrates our. A key which reminds everyone how much Europe has done so that Europe is linked to safety and dignity, with the goal of having zero deaths on the workplace in 2026. On the 70th anniversary of that tragedy, the creation of this work day. The microphone has been turned off. It's to remind everyone that this is part of our heritage, and that the protection of workers and their dignity and safety is one of our pillars, and that's why we hope this initiative will be supported by all Member States and the Commission in order to create this Remembrance Day. Thank you.”
  EU rules on hazardous working conditions
• 2026-06-26 “30:40 - 12:31:17): Thank you very much, president. Italy fully supports the electrification as a pillar of the energy transition, but we feel that decarbonization cannot just be built on 1 technological trajectory in a in stable geopolitical situation. The electrification that needs to also build in be built with other sustainable fuels so that we can reach our climate goals and strengthen energy supply in the European Union. Thank you.”
  Energy (green transition)
• 2026-06-26 “27:47 - 11:30:15): you. Thank you, chair. Thank you, commissioner. And thank you in particular for the efforts made thus far and your attempts to ensure that we reach a balanced compromise tax. Italy thinks that development of energy infrastructure is imperative if we want to pursue the energy transition and achieve the environmental objectives which we have set ourselves. Since the outset, we've thought that there should be a bottom up approach to infrastructure planning. Now in a spirit of compromise, we propose some amendments aimed to establishing a balanced, solution and better involving member states, the stakeholder member states. Now we appreciate the improvements made to the compromised text involving the 10 e group bringing in the implementing act, saying it's compulsory that there'd be sensitivity analysis carried out, looking at consistency with national energy and climate plans and also updating the central scenario. We have this, analysis every 2 years. There have been very fruitful technical level discussions and then this led to a good compromise solution ultimately. There are still some issues which are sensitive, which have to be resolved. I wanted to draw your attention to these article 19, for example, on congestion, sorry, on congestion for electricity programs in the EU. Does focus on progress which has been made, but we think it's essential that we maintain the role of the national authorities in decisions taken regarding the use of these resources in line with the binding legislative framework and the specific electricity systems. And then when it comes to the new category on security and resilience, there, we think that this new category should be included also in the definition of projects of mutual interest. There, in this new category, we should have all types of infrastructure. So to conclude, we support what's been done thus far, and we trust that the commission and the Irish presidency will enable us to ensure a, agreement which everyone can support in the trialogue. Thank you.”
  EU energy infrastructure integration
• 2026-06-26 “51:13 - 11:52:29): you. The non paper deals with an issue which has become more and more topical and relevant in the light of the phase out of Russian gas and the energy crisis in The Middle East. We can't neglect the impact on prices and security of supply, which could, and we saw this, during, the crisis get worse in the short to medium term. We need to diversify our, gas and oil supplies in Italy. We need new contracts, and we need to quickly renegotiate existing contracts. And import companies in Italy have, on various occasions, told us about the serious difficulties they're having to sticking to the time frame for cutting methane emissions under the legislation. Now there's a risk of them having to pay significant penalties, and that would have a major impact on prices for consumers, businesses, and have an impact on security supply for Italy as well. We're in an unstable period. There are problems we have to deal with them in order of priority. Currently, security of supply is predominant. That's why we think, taking into account the pressing security needs, we can support the Czech Republic and Slovakia document. Thank you.”
  Natural gas
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much. Thank you very much to the Cyprus presidency. Thank you for all the work that you've done these months. Having said that, the CO2 regulation amendment is one of the major pending issues. Electric vehicles are going to play a key role in this journey, and we support that. But we cannot build an entire automotive future in Europe on one technology. And it's almost as if this would be the only thing that would be in line with our climate goals. We would like to highlight something that is already in European law considering. Title 11. Looking at what's going to happen after 2035 and registration of sustainable fuel vehicles, the road that we're looking at is having a new category of sustainable fuel vehicles. Looking at the regulatory aims in terms of zero emissions, we're not asking to step back. We'd like to have an additional step to reach our climate goals. I'm saying this very frankly. This is a question that has to do with geopolitical instability and strategic choices. Having a European strategy focused on one technology is going to put us at risk in the future where the control in the industry has to do with various critical sectors. Some data from my country, and I'm just going to tell you why we feel this path is important in 20 2026, the outside of Europe non produced in EU vehicles have about 11% market share in Italy with a higher growth ahead. Now this data tells us something very clearly we need to diversify. Europe has infrastructure to have distribution of LNG. We need to link into sustainable fuels as well to guarantee our energy security and national security, as well as economic security. Let me conclude by saying that we'd like to introduce this new category not to water down our ambitions, but to add to them and to add new political instruments to reach them. Thank you.”
  Road transport environmental policy
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you chair. Italy two is worried. We have the entry into force of the regulation. Just a few weeks. On packaging and packaging waste. But there are still too many issues pending. I think there are environmental objectives which can be supported, but there's not enough on implementation yet. We need basic acts. That's creating confusion. The lack of them for businesses, SMEs in particular, and all economic operators. And there's a real risk of fragmentation of the internal market with rules applied differently in different member states. And there's also a risk of an increase of costs without any real environmental benefits. So what we need is more clarity, less complexity, and a clear schedule for implementing acts, focusing first on sensitive issues such as re-use, labelling, EPR systems and management of critical substances. Italy, therefore, would like a pragmatic approach clear applicable rules which apply the same for everyone to ensure that we can Uh, achieve our environmental objectives without compromising competitiveness or the productive sector. Thank you.”
  Sustainable packaging
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you. Chair. Italy has made significant progress when it comes to water efficiency. We're working to ensure a 10% increase in efficiency by 2030, with a clear approach improving efficiency before increasing availability of resources. We've invested in non-conventional sources such as reusing waste water desalinization, and we've combated water pollution, including by PASS. And we're also looking at reducing losses. We're investing in digital innovations smart meters, sensors, AI and digital twins. Now the main problem is still though availability and interoperability of data. Now the European Water Digitalization plan should ensure that data can be shared, that we have common standards, and we need to step up the integration of monitoring systems to prevent risks. In economic terms, we need blended funding to attract private investment as well. The future will depend on clear rules and the ability to attract funding. Without that, technological progress may unfortunately remain incomplete. Thank you.”
  EU policy on water management
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much, chairman. Italy has excellent performance in the uptake of the programme and we have more. It's one of the more effective instruments to combat, uh, climate impacts with specific instruments to help us with climate change in line with the MFF. Well, we wouldn't want the life to be part of more general programmes. And so we need to look at the operative efficacy, and we feel that it could risk having a lesser impact on the ground. And so we feel that life should be an independent program with a dedicated governance and necessary resources. This is the only way that we can guarantee the impact and the continuity in order to prevent climate disasters in Europe.”
  EU policy on infrastructure for preventing climate-related disasters (floods, droughts, extreme weather etc.)
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much on the reach regulation. It's not realistic to think about an overhaul of the regulation right now. I think we should use the instruments that we have now. Well, for example Comitology, this can be used to simplify and modernize the rules where possible. Um e commerce is creating a serious competition problems and security problems because they are non-compliant products entering without the necessary controls. Platforms should take clear responsibility for. If you facilitate the sales, you need to make sure that you're compliant. We need to have more effective customs, but we also need to have simplification and digitalisation. Working with national authorities and the European and the Echa. Now we need to guarantee that the products respect the same health and environmental requirements that have to be met by European companies. And we should, of course, look at defence derogations. We need to protect the environment through specific actions in the area of PFAs. For Italy for 2025 to 2027 has um set forth a €2.5 million for the research in this area looking involving the technical and scientific bodies. Um, the aim is clear. We need to protect health and the environment, but we need to guarantee the level playing field for European companies. Without this balance the system will not function. Thank you.”
  Liability for online marketplaces
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much, chairman. We'd like to thank the delegations for putting a fast fashion as an AOB. This is something that is creating pressure on the environment and the internal market. We have a clear line. We want to defend our national textile industry, which is very much composed of SMEs. We'd like to have a level playing field and we'd like to combat ultra low cost fashion. We need to make sure that we have a polluter pay system, and we need to link into reuse, recycle and repair. We need to strengthen the public market instruments in Italy, the Environment. Um, minimum requirements are compulsory and we need to put quality and sustainability and compliance over low prices. Ecodesign and digitalisation should allow us to have transparency. Transparency, transparency and um doing away with waste and unfair competition. Thank you.”
  Sustainable fashion
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much, chairman. The loss of biodiversity is a major environmental challenge, but it's also a very specific economic issue. These ecosystem services uh, pollination, water and so forth really support the competitiveness of our economies. And we need to support our companies in this challenge. We need to have long term investments and guarantee sustainability conditions of both social and economic. For this reason, we need to act in terms of incentives. We need to gradually, um, steer financial flows to have um capital come to sustainable production. We need to guarantee the balance, protect the environment and also foster the economy at the same time. And this is a national regional scientific company, local and regional authority issue. They are all stakeholders in this journey. Thank you.”
  Green Taxonomy
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much. President, in the Future Circular Economy Act, we need to strengthen legal clarity on the EU level. We need to work towards an alignment of the requirements for primary and secondary products to guarantee better harmonisation and to promote circularity also in public procurement. We should develop a shared data banks and we should have a more uniform use of information. Another key point is measuring the contribution of the circular economy to decarbonisation. We should work on legislation based on the methodology of the life cycle assessment of waste. In order to have circular practices, we need to recognize the environmental criteria in public procurement. We need to continue to invest in innovation, digitalization, simplifying authorization for recycling plants, training simplification, accountability of the well, the extended producer responsibility are essential to help us with this transition. Thank you.”
  Circular economy
• 2026-06-22 “Dear Commissioner, chair, colleagues, I'd like to thank the Commission for presenting this communication, which touches on crucial issues that are of direct interest to our sector. The text shows that there has been a gradual improvement in fish stocks. However, once again, further efforts are required. We have been seeing extremely restrictive management plans for many years now in the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic, which have brought our sector to its knees. And it's now clear that stock depletion cannot be solely attributed to fishing activities. The communication mentions socio economic analyses, but these are not reflected in the proposed management measures. We welcomed a compensation mechanism for our fishers in the western Mediterranean. However, we firmly believe that continuing to think only in terms of reducing fishing effort is no longer sustainable, and it can no longer be accepted that decisions are based solely on the best available scientific advice. We urgently need a gear change. The matter of the balance between fleet capacity and fishing opportunities is extremely sensitive. Italy has an ongoing plan to dismantle its fleet, and that has had a major impact on us in terms of its scope. Clearly, the energy transition, which we've been behind for many years, is no longer sustainable nor feasible for the sector, as it's pushing our companies towards scrapping their vessels and shutting up shop. **Italy Another key point concerns compliance with the rules set by regional fisheries management organisations. We are in favour of having common rules, but it's crucial that we focus our efforts on ensuring compliance by all, and I'm talking particularly here about non EU countries. We know now that these rules are often breached and we should tolerate this no longer. Urgent immediate action is needed. Coming now to the landing obligation. Italy is doing its utmost to implement this including related controls. We reiterate that this is a complex measure and that it isn't achieving the effects sought. However, we will continue our efforts to implement it effectively. Allow me to conclude with a comment on socio economic performance which is expected to drop. Although this is mainly due to the excessive cost of fuels. We believe that's not the only cause and we are seeing signs of recovery. The fishing industry is being pushed to its limit. If our policies continue along the lines of recent years, despite the strong message that member states gave during the meeting in December 2025. There is a real risk that we run our companies into the ground. We cannot let that happen. Therefore, we wish to continue discussing these issues and identifying alternative, urgent and tangible solutions for the survival of our sector. Thank you.”
  Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you chair. On this issue raised by Belgium, the principle of greater proportionality of measures and better allocation of resources is one that we can support broadly. However, Efsa's recent scientific opinion on this point suggests that there is limited scope to reduce surveillance and to still maintain current health guarantees. Therefore, we must identify the minimum level of active surveillance that is compatible with upholding the health status and international credibility of the European Union. Thank you.”
  Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
• 2026-06-22 “Italy welcomes the provisional agreement between the Council and the European Parliament on the reform of the PRM legislation. It's an important result that allows us to respond more effectively to the challenges of climate change and to protect biodiversity, as well as the need to ensure the competitiveness of European agricultural companies. Striking a balance between the need for innovation, administrative simplification and upholding high quality standards for PRM is particularly positive. Italy also attaches great importance to strengthening the consistency between the PRM legislation and the European phytosanitary framework, which is vital to ensure quality, phytosanitary safety and traceability throughout the supply chain. Italy will continue to closely follow the next phases of the legislative process, so that the final text sets down the right balance between sustainability, innovation, protecting biodiversity and a competitive European seed and nursery sector. Coming now to the Animal Transport Regulation, it's essential for Italy that in the process of adopting the new EU regulatory framework. Account is taken of the differing situations and consequent needs of livestock supply chains and Member States through provisions that ensure fair access to the single market, sustainable burdens and the continuity of economic activities and preventing unfair competition. The provisions must ensure equal treatment and uniform standards between European and third country operators in commercial movements. So although I understand the work that needs to be done to achieve these objectives, which I hope will be shared goals in a fair compromise, I reiterate that we must work on aspects of the proposal that might affect the competitiveness of the Italian and EU livestock sector, without compromising protection of animals during transport. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• 2026-06-22 “Chair. Colleagues, I just would like to say briefly thank to thank Germany for bringing this important issue on AOB. We welcome increased digitalisation of fisheries control system. But we do have the same concerns that have just been mentioned. It's important that the process of defining delegated acts On on these matters is carefully assessed and that we avoid as much as possible additional bureaucratic burdens on operators and authorities. We stand ready to work together to identify viable shared solutions on this. Thank you.”
  Digital and precision farming
• 2026-06-22 “Dear Commissioner, dear president, dear colleagues, welcome to the new colleagues who are joining us for the very first time today. I'd like to thank the Cyprus presidency for the job. Well, for a job well done. And for all the efforts that have been made over the last semester for the very hard work and hard efforts that were put into the CFP, and also for trying to accommodate as many of the needs of the member states as possible. This text has definitely improved. It has restored the work of the CFP, which is central to the union support, which seem to have been lost in the initial document. But it is also underlined the importance of the sector and of aquaculture. Last but not least, the text has included in the proposal investments for fleets. However, Italy maintains that even though this text is an excellent basis and a starting point, it is not yet as mature as it should be. And indeed, we believe that we need to continue to work on the open ended issues. We need to bring about those changes on the legislative and regulatory framework so that it improves. We also look at the general the partial general approach, which is something that was already discussed last week. We firmly believe that there is room for improvement. We are happy to work together, starting with the latest text, the updated text, so that we can find solutions. But we do, of course, hope that the resources will be enough so that we can meet challenges that will come to us. Thank you very much.”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
• 2026-06-22 “Commissioner. Chair, I'd like to thank the presidency for putting this topic on the agenda. As stated at the informal meeting in Nicosia for Europe and the Mediterranean, the time has come for fisheries regulation that is more simple, smarter and fairer. We believe the priority should be to ensure full consistency between the environmental, economic and social objectives of the CFP, CFP, ensuring that these dimensions are considered together rather than separately. We certainly need to strengthen the approach based on sound scientific evidence, which must be as recent as possible. But it is also essential to take due account of the socio economic indicators that allow us to assess the outcomes of decisions on communities, employment and the competitiveness of the sector. Unfortunately, this has not been the case and today our seafarers are facing an unprecedented crisis. We believe that all pillars of the CFP must urgently be taken into account to achieve this holistic approach that is so sought after. The current patent imbalance merely causes conflicts. Attention must be paid to strengthening the economic resilience of the sector by ramping up investment opportunities, supporting fleet modernisation through energy transition and generation renewal, ensuring adequate economic resources for this purpose. Another important pending issue is regulatory simplification.”
  Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-22 “This must start by reducing the administrative burden and making management and control tools more effective. I must also draw your attention to the lack of a level playing field in our waters today. And I'm talking here to activities carried out by third countries, which are supposed to comply with the rules set by our regional fisheries organisations, but do not. And this is compounding the crisis in the European fishing sector. Therefore, the CFP should strengthen its external dimension, ensuring a level playing field, and it must evolve to respond more effectively to the profound transformations affecting the sector. Limiting the dependence on imports as much as possible. Further, it's essential to take action by strengthening the flexibility of multiannual plans. These instruments should allow for more careful, flexible management and not merely consider fisheries as the cause of the fish resource crisis. In addition, midterm evaluations of the multiannual plans must be part and parcel of any assessments of how effective measures are and the impact they have on the sector. So we need to continue discussing this issue, and we hope that the points made also by other stakeholders will also be factored in to ensure a decent future for the European fisheries sector. Thank you.”
  Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-22 “So in 2017 the Mid Fish Forever declaration set ambitious goals and asking of countries to make a major effort to ensure sound scientific bases and strict compliance with common standards. In the last few years, we have seen that there have been. We have faced exceptionally complex and challenging times, a global pandemic, unprecedented geopolitical instability and a severe energy crisis which have put strain on our fleets and on our fishers. A lot has been done. However, Italy has honoured its commitments, applying management measures that have even had a very heavy impact on our production fabric. We have an example in the Adriatic area. We therefore call that call for a change of pace in the next declaration. Scientific data must be integrated with climate change impact and socio economic assessments. Now, another issue that is dear to us is compliance with common rules. And we believe that if these are not applied by all stakeholders in the basin, then the efforts to safeguard stocks will go in vain, will be in vain. So if we start with these fixed points with the new fish forever declaration. These points will have to be taken into account. And we reiterate that Italy is ready to work together with you. Thank you very much.”
  Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-16 “And an effort has been made when it comes to resources for fisheries, despite the fact that there's still at half the level of what they were in the previous MFF. Now the cascade mechanism does create the possibility for direct access to European resources. If there is a natural disaster or a crisis, and there are methods through which people can avail themselves of those resources. However, there are at least two. Critical points, which I think we have to make and which we can't underestimate. We don't think traditional policies are safeguarded here enough. The cap or cohesion policy. Both of these are being shrunk, even if you look at current prices. And I would say, for example, at current prices, when it comes to the cohesion policy, Italy would have fewer resources to the tune of 11 or 12% less. And then there's the fact that funds for internal security and border security have been Introduced that you have the climate target as well. 43%. The change. Now, when it comes to the rule of law, we're talking about that afterwards. But perhaps at this point I could just draw people's attention to do no significant harm. That principle that should not compromise our ability to compete, to be competitive. So that's the first point. And I would also say Italy is against any mechanism which would lead to different treatment of different member states. Thank you.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• 2026-06-16 “Thank you Marilena. I speak Italian. We'd like to thank the presidency for its work. And we listened carefully. To what was said by the Commissioner. But we do think that in this box there is one objective which perhaps should be amended. There can be parallel convergence in politics, but not really when you're talking about budgets. Now a budget cut of 2%. Okay. But we also want to say clearly that for Italy. If you look at this budget proposal, there are quite a lot of things that could be criticized. Italy is the third largest net contributor in the EU. And reducing allocations to Italy, even at current prices. I think that's something which we're clearly seeing here. Now, we've heard it said a number of occasions, and it's right that we need a more modern budget, which is up to the task to enable us to face the challenges which we do face and which every day we are having to face. However, it's also true that. Modernising the budget can't really be married with maintaining the rebates. Now some people are asking for more cuts in heading one. We would say in response to that, the following. We should look at how things are going. For the heading one funds here compared to the previous M, F and then the other headings as well. In other headings we've seen three figure increases. Now there are some points we're satisfied with. There are some places where some requests we made have been taken into account. For example, the possibility for member states to use up to two thirds of medium term flexibility for the cap.”
  Size of EU budget
• 2026-06-16 “We're in favour of that. We're happy because the role here of member states in the governance of the fund has been strengthened. Technological neutrality has been recognized as one of the basic criteria for the Clean Transition window. Smes now have a much more robust framework to protect them, and the invest EU instruments been improved as well. And when it comes to that instrument, I would remind you that we had a position paper supported by other member states on that. We think that there is still room for further improvement. I would refer in particular to the rate which is there. We think it's still too high. It should be lower, should be 40%. And then when it comes to global Europe. More involvement of the council and governance of the instrument is important. And the Global Europe Committee should be able to meet in specific formats to ensure more transparency and better political awareness of the possibilities for using the instruments. I would also say that we will annex. A statement as well, and we'd like that to be added to the minutes of the meeting. Thank you. So we'll send a statement to be added to the minutes of the meeting.”
  EU industrial funding (mechanism level: EU-pooled vs nationally-financed)
• 2026-06-16 “And when it comes to the legislative framework, there's now a more balanced, coordinated approach Based on aspects of certainty of law, proportionality. And again, you have appropriate and sufficient involvement of member states. Now, there are definitely some areas where improvements have been made compared to the original proposal. Which Italy supported. We supported the proposal throughout the negotiations. I would just like to say, though, that we are unhappy when it comes to the guarantees. We think they are insufficient when it comes to the cohesion policy. They don't preserve its nature sufficiently. Regarding cohesion policy. I would just recall the fact that the document which the Friends of Cohesion signed, provided for that policy, having appropriate Sufficient funding guaranteed for all categories of regions. Now, that's not the case at the moment. And also, we can clearly see that the amendment to article 22 of the regulation has not been taken into account. That provided for resources for less developed regions being exclusively destined for cohesion policy measures. Italy hopes, therefore, that in the upcoming legislative process, these concerns will be taken into account. Additionally, I did want to say that when it comes to the regulation introducing bringing in the ECF.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• 2026-06-16 “Thank you. Now you speak in Italian. Italy would like to thank the Cyprus presidency once again for the intensive work it's done. We are in favor of partial general approach here for the regulations. Italy, in particular, welcomes the fact that various provisions to do with the Cap have been transferred from the regulation on plans to the various sectoral pieces of legislation. Now we recognise that there's now more visibility for the C, a, P and fisheries policy. We have to look at allocated resources though as well. There have been improvements made when it comes to the governance of plans and flexibility regarding the institutional setup in member States. Now progress has been made when it comes to ensuring certifications. We can definitely see that. And we also agree with the fact that cofinancing rates, specific ones have been brought in for the home funds. Italy is also in favor of the compromise reached on conditionality related to the rule of law and fundamental rights. And then I would just clarify. And we've already we've always said this, that equality before the law is the basis for the rule of law. If you want the rule of law to work, the instruments which are available need to have a legal basis, which is solid and which appropriately involves member states.”
  Agricultural funding
• “Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for having put this on today's agenda. The directive on soil health is very important. And thank you, Commissioner, for [00:22:00] your presentation. This is a delicate matter. You can't just leave something like this to the environmental sector. Given how important farm sector operators have in this field and also how important they are in playing a role to not only provide food but improve and look after soil. Farmers are the most concerned when it comes to soil quality. Therefore, they are the most useful environmental [00:22:30] actors when it comes to that. And in strategic documents, quite clearly already been the case that the Cap has always put these aspects into such discussion. And we would have appreciate if the Commission had given more highlighted importance to the cap in their own proposals. Now, on what you asked us, Chairman, will we be in favour of the common monitoring framework for this? However, we don't understand why the [00:23:00] monitoring systems that already exist in members aren't taken into account given existing cap requirements. If every new changes bring in new monitoring systems, it means more and more costs, more red tape for business, for administration. [00:23:18] And we just adding layer upon layer of complication. So my proposal would be that monitoring is all very well, but there shouldn't be increased [00:23:30] burdens on businesses with strategic plans to reduce administrative burdens and ensure synergy. We need to have the right approach there. Secondly, there are good experiences in the past of things that have already worked in this area and they should be put into the strategic plans and kept there and built upon. Farmers can only benefit from this directive if they're able to tell consumers that what they're producing, what consumers [00:24:00] get, come from healthy soils. And that can be done if existing data banks are used to ensure that it's easier to bring in a certification system. If we putatively choose to do that in a way that doesn't require new monitoring models before that's possible. I agree with a lot of the points that have been raised by Poland and indeed by other member states who have asked for more room for manoeuvre, given the particular [00:24:30] state's particular needs. We've been doing a pretty good job protecting our soils for quite some time now. Thank you.”
  Soil protection policy
• “Gracia, thank you very much. Marc. Thank you. French delegation for raising something which seeks to make sure that Europe can continue to choose how it produces and what it is going to eat. Thanks [00:03:00] to our agricultural world, the current international situation requires us to pay specific attention to the economic situations and security of food supply. And for that reason, and in order to obtain the environmental and climate change objectives, these have to be taken into consideration at the same time as making sure that our farms can remain competitive. The derogation of the GC does exactly what it does, what is required in the cyclical situation. We therefore very much support your [00:03:30] proposal. The spirit of your idea is following all the principles that we have subscribed to. You need to be followed, but we need to remain pragmatic so that we can take into account the cyclical situation that history has placed us in front of. So not only do we support the derogation GHC eight, in the spirit of what Marc was saying, we would also call upon you to look at GC seven, which is something [00:04:00] that we have been asking for as necessary in recent months in the light of the climate challenges that we've seen officers faced with more recently. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you. Chair. Thank you, France, for including this proposal as an AOB. We share your concerns when it comes to the certifications that are set to expire. We need to assess some measures to ensure that MDS and IVD MDS can continue to be supplied. We're particularly concerned about the complexity and the time frame of the assessment and certification system, and the delay in implementing the EU demand database. [00:18:30] The new roadmap states that it will come fully into force only from 2029. There's also a failure of the nose to take part and provide files for the certification of IVD MDS, particularly those under category D. We believe it's very important at European level to work on two fronts. Firstly, to consistently monitor the situation with regard to the competent authorities in the Member States, and secondly, to take the commitment to consider the possibility of [00:19:00] acting in a timely manner when emergency situations may arise in future. We could also consider legislative solutions such as the following. Gradually implementing the European database EU demand in two phases rather than in a single one as is currently outlined, and also extending the time frame for issuing on the market these IVD MDS as under the directive, so that additional regulation for the notified organization [00:19:30] is not required. Thank you.”
  Medical devices
• “32:20 – 16:33:17): thank you, chair. It's the also thanks. France, we welcome the International Space Summit that's taking place in Paris. We support the initiative and believe it can effectively contribute to reinforcing the European dimension in space cooperation. I'd like to link this up to the upcoming launch of COPUS via Italy, the 06/10/2026. Our presidency will be looking at 3 priorities, widening membership capacity building, especially for the global South and the promotion of Unispace 4 in 2027. This is an important opportunity to reinforce multilateral governance of space and the principle of Pacific use of outer space. We, count on the participation of all member states, including Austria. We'd like to thank you for the contribution that you have announced. Thank you very much.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Basements of rural areas in the European Union. We need to make sure that farmers have puts at the center of all policies, which are intended to promote the long term development of these regions. We need to have adequate funding from the Cap to produce a productive activities of rural areas, recognizing also that there is a need to keep the whole farm area in production, we should not underestimate the role of the Cap in combating the [00:00:30] aging rural population. We need to carry out a complete assessment of the impact of legislation in the Green Deal, and how it impacts on EU agriculture, to make sure that this is in line with the priority objectives of strategic autonomy, food security and food sovereignty within the European Union. It is also important to stress how in many agricultural areas close to urban agglomerations, farmers have to face extra difficulties caused by [00:01:00] large predators, particularly wolves, which have become spread in an uncontrolled manner. More and more wolves are attacking our livestock, and that is why the protection status of this animal needs to be reassessed to guarantee an action which is in line with the population development of wild wolves. This shows the central role of farmers both as guardians of the territory but also as bio regulators. In other words, regulators of biodiversity. [00:01:30] Wild animals need to be protected when they are at a risk of extinction, but they need also to be correctly managed when they are overpopulated. So therefore, we say that we need to look at the problem of the presence of wild animals by adjusting the legal framework for the status of wolves in the light of objective scientific data. This is something that policies need to use in order to take the right decisions. Thank you. [00:02:00]”
  Large Carnivores
• “Thank you. I do understand it's late in the day, but we want to try and prevent a problem which could reach major dimensions, like in the automotive sector. With regard to the extension of the ETS to the maritime sector, we risk losing competitiveness as European ports to non-European ports, particularly those in North Africa, without reducing emissions. 90% of the goods entering and exiting Europe travel by sea. Ports represent critical infrastructure on which our strategic autonomy is based. With regard to the nine countries which may become a majority because it's not just a mediterranean issue, it affects the whole continent of Europe. The corrective measures need to be adopted to the directive to avoid. The problem exploding and having to deal with it a few years down the line. And this is an issue of sovereignty for our continent. Thank you.”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Thank you. Chair. Italy would like to draw the council's and the Commission's attention to the current crisis that the dairy sector is facing, which is characterised by structural imbalance between a constantly growing supply and a demand that is unable to absorb any surplus, resulting in the consequent decline in the farm gate price of raw milk, which we've been witnessing in recent months. We therefore require an immediate response at EU level with by preparing an extraordinary plan for milk, based primarily on the activation on the implementation of European Programme to Finance Voluntary Production reductions, which provides financial compensation to farmers who decide to limit their production. We also believe in order to stabilize prices, to stop private storage in the cheese butter, sorry to aid private storage in the cheese, butter and milk sectors, as the Hungarian colleagues have said. At the same time, European Commission must provide extraordinary support to the most vulnerable farmers, including debt relief measures such as moratoria. Furthermore, regarding the European Fund for aid to the Most Deprived, this needs to have a real impact on the market, and to do so we must include most widely distributed cheeses at local level. Finally, I would like to emphasise the importance of investing in extraordinary campaigns for dairy products, highlighting the nutritional content and sustainability of European products and stimulating domestic consumption with a DOP and IGP labels, which would highlight the importance of our products on international markets. Thank you.”
  Direct payments to farmers (pillar 1)
• “For farmers. The green transition, if implemented correctly, will be an opportunity to diversify income, provide multifunctionality, and create new value chains based on the integrated re-use of farm waste byproducts and production waste destined to bioproducts, biomaterials, bio energy and bio fertilizers. Regarding this point, I would like to recall the importance of digestate to replace mineral fertilizers as part of the new green architecture. We believe that also partially organic holdings must be held to account and must comply with protection practices, as recalled in the Cap simplification package. I would finally like to make a general observation. In a global context that is characterized by instability. At the moment, the cap should play an even bigger role compared to the past in order to ensure food security. The current proposal, however, tends to marginalize the cap to a role that isn't its own. As we have stated in the Joint Declaration, together with another 16 member states, we therefore call for the Commission to make some steps back so that we can put agriculture at the centre of European policies. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “I'd like to thank the presidency and the Commission for the open discussion and the flexibility that has been demonstrated in coming up with a compromise text on this very important set of files, which we support. The objective is to reduce pollution in the seas, in line with the objectives of the Green Deal and to reduce accidents, and they also [00:10:00] promote convergence and alignment of our EU legislation with regard to international standards and procedures, such as that of the IMO, it's an important step forward to promote legislative coherence. And the maritime transport sector is a strategic sector for the European Union, as we will understand later this afternoon when the Mediterranean countries will be asking for focusing on new taxes and ETS, and which won't help [00:10:30] the environment but will diminish our competitiveness. And here, however, we have a difference of approach. We are very much in favour of what's being done. Only 1% of the maritime surface area is represented by the Mediterranean, but 20% of global maritime traffic goes through it. And the Mediterranean has recently become more of a hub than a transit ocean, with increasing trade and logistic activities by ports. So the [00:11:00] new provisions on fleet safety and environmental protection will promote the sector's competitiveness. We're doing our bit. The main intervention, the main actions taken by my government, have been focused on renewal of the fleet and development of port infrastructure to meet the challenges of climate change. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of euros, for example, being invested into electrification of our quays. And finally, [00:11:30] but not less important, we continue to support the program to develop the motorways of the sea, which represent the future of maritime intermodality and will promote reduction of. Polluting emissions. So we support the dossiers that have been referred to by the commissioner, because flexibility that is being showed here will promote competitiveness and be good for our environment, which is not the case for the ETS, which we will be talking about [00:12:00] later this afternoon, and where our position is to be very careful to make sure that we safeguard the interests of our maritime industry.”
  Decarbonisation of maritime transport
• “Thank you. Chair. Italy. Thanks, Commissioner Tzitzikostas and welcomes the action plan put forward by the Commission. It is, in fact an ambitious plan that comes at the right time. High speed rail must be the backbone of passenger transport in the future. Italy is in the front line to give shape and substance to this plan. By 2032, Italy will be investing €100 billion to bring high speed rail to areas that are not covered yet, particularly in the south of Italy and Sicily. The two rail tunnels under the Brennero and Frejus are have greatly advanced. We have been the first to open up to competitiveness among operators, and new operators will be coming in in 2026. Our sector is in growth and we are aware of the challenges ahead of us, and we count on the Commission's support to overcome them. Thank you.”
  Energy (green transition)
• “The original one. The EU has very high standards for the Cap and for the CFP, and as such they need separate, distinct funding instruments for fisheries, agriculture, aquaculture and to provide income support for fishers and farmers. It's known that, in fact, there's an income disparity between people working in the agriculture and fisheries sector compared to other sectors, and that has become exacerbated recently. We would therefore say it is vital that we need separate funding for the Cap based on the current two pillar structure, in line with the council conclusions of December 2024. Plus, we need to further strengthen our policies to ensure the strategic autonomy of the Union and respond effectively to such a complex situation that we're facing with wars, trade wars, climate change, economic uncertainty. We need a holistic approach here, not allowing member states to decide for themselves, although they should be involved. As such, we call upon the Commission to promote a balanced approach for CFP and Cap. And during discussions on the future MFF. This should be the case too, to ensure the good functioning of these two strategic pillars of the EU. This is not just a request that we're making, it's actually support for our Vision Commissioner and for a strengthening of the role of agriculture in line with the Rome Treaty, which was then politically consolidated subsequently. If we go back to a relation between member states only, there's not much point in having a union, and we will be discussing something which will actually then break down as a result of the choices we might be making. Thank you.”
  Agricultural funding
• “Thank you. In relation to this particular item, I will say that in order to achieve an agreement at 5.2 in relation to the reduction of plastic pollution. It's of fundamental importance that we take a realistic approach, which strikes a balance between compromises and standing firm on certain important issues. For us, given that there are divergences, we do believe that an agreement with a flexible structure is maybe the way forward that would allow countries to progressively take measures, depending on their capacity to do so, and what their national priorities might be. We would suggest that we should have a framework of flexible commitments, similar to what has been done under the Marpol convention or other international agreements, in particular when it comes to the more controversial technical points. We also think it is important that any future agreement has a subsidiary bodies and a mechanism for periodical revision so that we can have best use of scientific evidence, have progressive Implementation and be effective at the meantime when it comes to. Financial resources, it's of fundamental importance to avoid a proliferation of new financial firms. And we need to look at voluntary contributions from a broad range of donors, be they public or private. It's also a fundamental importance that countries with high levels of production take part, and that we move away from developing countries and developed countries. We don't think that that type of approach should be applied to plastic pollution.”
  EU position at multilateral environmental negotiations
• “Thank you, Maria. And thank you to Commissioner Khadi's for having explained very clearly what are the intentions that you would like to develop. I'd also like to thank our colleagues because in the earlier discussion, in my view, we've actually strengthened the need for a sustained and urgent negotiation on fishing in general, and particularly coastal and small scale fishing. And we shouldn't look at just emergencies, but we need to look at invasive species as well, and the need to have sufficient funds to be able to carry out these policies. This is essential so that we can deal with a situation which is becoming devastating at the European level when it comes to the crisis of fisheries. The other aspect is the need for simplification. Less bureaucracy will mean we'll be able to better achieve the objectives, and I hope that we will take this also into account when we're talking about bureaucracy at the European level.”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
• “Thank you, chair, commissioner. Italy sees strengthening the role of culture as a strategic lever for European competitiveness, social cohesion, and the international projection of the union as a priority. I'd like to underline 4 areas of intervention that we deem particularly relevant. Firstly, Italia considers it essential to consolidate support for cultural and creative industries as a keystone of future European policies. The culture and creative industries embody and promote the values of our democracies, pluralism, artistic freedom, and cultural diversity. They're strategic to convey Europe's image and soft power throughout the world. They enable economic growth, innovation, and employment, particularly for younger people. We must not squander the opportunity afforded by the upcoming work plan to galvanize and renew the EU and member state support for this industrial sector to overcome the challenges posed by AI and bring about an effective digital and ecological transition. Secondly, Italy believes that the mobility of artists and cultural professionals is key as a cornerstone of European cultural cooperation. Nationally, in Italy, we have exchange programs with several EU partners. Mobility should be encouraged further then to foster professional growth, circulation of works, and a stronger European cultural market. It's essential to step up European coordination in this context to address the administrative, fiscal, and social obstacles that persist, promoting integrated tools for support, training, protection of rights, or pursuant to European Charter for Artists. We believe a third priority is on the application of digital technologies, primarily AI to cultural heritage. This is 1 of the greatest and most complex challenges of our time. Technological innovation affords a strategic opportunity to enhance conservation, research, safety, and accessibility in cultural heritage. However, this must be fully compliant with the principles of authenticity, responsibility, and cultural diversity, copyright, and the dignity of creative people. Finally, we strongly support boosting cultural cooperation with the countries of the southern neighborhood and the Southern Shore Of The Mediterranean and Africa. These nations look to us to protect their cultural heritage and develop their own cultural and creative industries. The Italian government is committed to implementing the Mate plan for Africa, which includes an array of cooperation programs. Forging long term cultural partnerships is tantamount to investing in regional stability, mutual understanding, and sustainable development. In this complex geopolitical context, culture is vital for dialogue and peace. Thank you.”
  EU and national cultural identities
• “We need to relaunch the European automotive industry. We also need to act with regard to our primary industries and when it comes to steel and chemicals and other sectors as well, we need to have a substantial revision of the ETS mechanism for these purposes. For the moment, this is seen as a taxation on businesses, its duty being imposed on them. We need to cooperate. On the sebum, which is insufficient so far. It's a contradiction in terms that we have these measures. And on the one hand we open up an avenue towards financial speculation. And on the other hand, we're trying to encourage other continents to decarbonize. I think we should have a substantial organic revision of both the ETS and the Cbam in concert. And finally, on the chemicals industry, Italy is on the way towards green chemicals. We welcome the Chemicals Alliance, the fact that we are a member of the board, and we want to introduce the principle of European preference, which could be extended to other sectors in future as well. Europe's action needs to be progressive in strategic sectors, and this could be extended to many other sectors in future as well. Thank you.”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “Thank you president. The overall assessment of the compromise, Texas positive two. The proposal reflects the urgent need for action and controls to tackle and combat soil degradation in line with the main European strategies for a sustainable level of water, soil, and air pollution. The measures particularly relevant to set in place measures to control and curb soil degradation and in particular, contamination and land take. It increases the resilience of territories to climate change and the risk of catastrophic events. It introduces effective sustainable use practises for agricultural enhancement sustainability, as well as food security. It is important that we develop an effective and home base monitoring and evaluation system to have active policies to protect and recover from degradation. Now the text reshaped the way plans and speakers lost a microphone. Unfortunately, degradation and land take, we can share the objective of fostering technological development to innovate and stimulate research, implement and improve earth observation and measurement systems on the ground. This is in line with what Italy is already doing. We would like to flag up that we need supporting actions from the commission such as specific funding to support the efforts and to set up and maintain the monitoring system. Thank you.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• “Thank you. Chairman. Innovation in the genetic improvement of plants is a very important tool for supporting the transition of our agri food sector towards a model which is more sustainable and profitable, which will help us to face up to current challenges such as climate change. Now in line with what Spain [00:15:00] has said. And I thank them very much for their proposal, we feel that it is necessary and important to continue our work so that council can reach an agreement on this important proposal. In fact, we need to as quickly as possible, adopt the regulation which make it possible for us to make full use of the potential offered by NT, guaranteeing better competitiveness for our agri food systems, which is such a strategic sector for the European [00:15:30] Union. And because this at the same time will reduce our dependence on third countries. Thank you.”
  New Genomic Techniques
• “Thank you Jim. Adverse climate events are happening more and more. Whether it's drought, whether it's floods. It's very bad for the primary sector, for the agriculture sector in general. And it hits the incomes of farmers and all stakeholders. We have to react quickly by efficient ways of dealing with our water resources. Soil resilience, protecting crops and dealing with the specific needs of any individual territory. By signing this letter and supporting Cyprus on this, we want to underscore the need for Europe to take a better water resource, irrigation, storage and other mitigating steps within the cap. It's important to pay a great deal of heed to all these.”
  EU policy on water management
• “Thank you very much, Mary. Now I speak Italian. I would like to thank Commissioner Serafin. We've met with him in on various occasions during this period. And I would have to say that this framework that has been presented today is one that is convincing, but only partially because we've explained. We have been told that there is a simplification, but we don't really see it. Especially with regard to the national and regional partnership plans. This seems very dubious to us and perhaps it runs counter to the goal. Um, we talked about two central issues, two topics which we would like to repeat, and we'd like to repeat this in very clear terms. The cap and more generally the agricultural policy. It's really not a question of resources. Is it a question of choices. And we keep thinking that the agricultural policies is one of the policies, one of the pillars of European policies. And if we think this way, then we would have to do some thinking as to the proposal that has been put on the table, we feel that it falls short, especially with regard to the message that it conveys at a moment in time where we have farmers that are already calling into question these impositions, we're running in the opposite direction. We're going in the opposite direction that the sector is asking us to do. And then in terms of cohesion policy, where we do recognize the efforts that have been made by the commission. Vice President feito, with regard to the. The commitments that to be made, um, and we've talked about it also in this forum, but we have to be very, very clear. Conditionality is going to become a negative element for cohesion policy. That's a risk because cohesion policy. And if we think about the purpose as enshrined in the treaty, the idea was to to transcend differences, a region to region.”
  Agricultural funding
• “Thank you. President. Thank you. Colleagues who joined me in signing this document. This document is aimed at supporting the vision of Commissioner Hansen, Commissioner Hadis and Vice President Feto coordinating responsibilities for fisheries and indeed, the whole European Commission, whose goal is to ensure that we manage to reinforce the role of Europe, ensuring that to do that, we need to take into account the fact, I believe that if we can unite around a single strategy, then it will be easier for us to plan and implement plans that strengthen the EU, and going down a different path would would weaken the EU. I would express a concern which Copa-cogeca shares, as does the majority of European farmers and fishers, that there's a risk that the idea we've heard about of having a single fund and a national plan to replace the current approach, where we have separate funds for the Cap and CFP, would actually weaken Europe in a strategic area and would lead to lack of efficiency and consistency between the policies and the risk of losing the flexibility that's necessary to actually meet the requirements of both sectors. The Cap is an essential Central to all of the EU has been since 1962 to guaranteeing competitiveness of the agricultural sector. The fact that it is common in dimension means it's protected the European market, single market, food security and sovereignty, rural areas and provided income support for farmers. Weakening the way in which it works by changing the way in which it's operated, and by handing back the design of plans to member states, together with the Commission, would weaken the way in which it worked. And the founding fathers of Europe felt this was the correct path.”
  Agricultural funding
• “Thank you very much, Chairman. Good morning, Commissioner. Good morning to all delegations. Italy is fully committed to the development of fixed and mobile new generation networks. As you can see from the strategies we have been developing since 2015 to promote supply and demand, We appreciate the work which has been done so that these negotiations can move forward quickly in order to ensure that [00:10:00] we have consistency with other rules in the same area, in particular the European Code for Electronic Communications. Secondly, we also need to draw on best practices at a national level. For example, the standard four month period for authorisations should not undermine the shorter time periods which some countries already have, such as Italy. Thirdly, we have to promote the reporting on [00:10:30] the current regulation without placing an excessive burden on member states. And then finally, we have to look at measures to reduce the administrative burden upon tower companies as crucial operators for the infrastructure in some member states, such as Italy. Thank you.”
  5G
• “Thank you. Chair. We thank the Romanian delegation for raising this important point. We would like to comment on this point, given the importance of the pig sector for Italy, where we are seeing a decline in carcass prices compared to the same period last year, we understand and we share the concerns highlighted by Romanian colleagues, as well as their reflections on the causes of this situation, which we believe requires that measures should be taken at European level, including economic losses due to the African swine fever. Thank you.”
  Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
• “So the fund for competitiveness is a first response, which is necessarily absolutely necessary to what has been the repeated appeal which was launched by the president, Draghi, and to which you referred earlier on, and Draghi in June of last year with the report to the European Parliament, he was saying that it would be necessary to have €500 billion per year in the next ten years to become competitive again. And in September of the previous year, there was a report that was submitted to the commission and it was €800 billion per year. And a few days ago, when he alarms were launched and denouncing the lack of action from Europe, I think he increased that figure to 1200 billion per year. And that means that the delays that we're currently accumulating in responding to our companies is creating, again, an issue. And therefore, we have to obtain some extra resources we can no longer expect. After all, I'd just like to remind you if, in fact, when Hannibal decided when he was in Rome, they were carrying on, discussing, they discussed and they discussed and discussed. And in the end, in fact, Sagunto was expelled. And we don't want in Brussels to carry on discussing, discussing, discussing whilst European companies are at the moment being. Removed. So in Europe, what we've got to do, we've got to very quickly think about all the kind of files that with regard with regard to saws.”
  "Buy European" provisions
• “Thank you very much for organizing this conference. It was very successful. I can agree with the conclusion reached. Biosecurity must be promoted and vaccination, [00:18:00] they are essential when it comes to prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases. And I would like to support the idea of being able to retain disease free status for certain diseases. Um, when we're talking about vaccinations based on marker vaccines, I would just like to say that we need to have a single strategy at an EU level for animal diseases, so that. These [00:18:30] strategies can. Be successful, but it mustn't be done by individual countries. And now, when it comes to African swine fever, there are some positions which are not entirely coherent in Europe when it comes to ungulates. Here. We need a deep population and at the same time, in the EU, there's been a great deal of resistance [00:19:00] to these mechanisms. Gisco”
  Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
• “Regarding the energy transition proposed by the presidency, I believe that regulatory reforms must go beyond the mere administrative simplification. The concept of energy transition should be an integral part of the reform of the CFP, but fleet renewal and the deployment of new infrastructure can't occur without dedicated funds. We have financial instruments available, but the resources of the new MFF are insufficient and will hardly ensure that the energy transition actually take place. We must ensure a level playing field for European fishers. This can be achieved only by identifying common internal standards through trade policy instruments and stricter import controls on the fishing of third countries. The high dependence on fossil fuels makes the fishing industry vulnerable to fluctuations in energy prices and renewable sources of energy, ensuring its supply. It is essential to create more attractive markets in order to encourage innovative business models and focusing on the EU in particular, Italy is willing to work together to achieve goals that must be shared by all in order to reach concrete objectives. And there is one item above all, which is the urgency of all of this.”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
• “Thank you very much. Now, in [00:16:00] order to achieve our objectives for a reduction in emissions for 2040, agriculture should be dealt with differently from other production sectors so that we do not interfere with our food sovereignty in the EU. Any strategies which we want to implement to contain emissions of polluting gases must take into account the specificities of the farming sector. It cannot be dealt with in the same way as other sectors of production, because if we don't do so, we would stimulate relocation outside of EU [00:16:30] for food production and this would undermine the food security of Europe. So we support this proposal for dealing with the agricultural sector separately from other production sectors when it comes to the commitments linked to emissions reductions. Thank you very much.”
  Climate efforts
• “Our farmers do make an indispensable contribution to preserving the environment when it comes to the fruit and vegetable sector. We need to simplify the environmental requirements. But I would like to thank the presidency for having suggested in the document that we should have a series of interventions to simplify the eco schemes, because in Italy we have found that this results in a great deal of a red tape, which further goes against the wish to simplify. Let me conclude by saying that our farmers need to have certainty. They need to have confidence in the Commission, the Parliament and in us in the Council. I think, therefore, it would be useful to clarify exactly what has happened over the past eight years in Europe. There have been a number of points which have been raised by the media in recent days, particularly as regards the way in which Commissioner Timmermans implemented those policies, which directly affect farming with possible conditioning conditions which have been raised in the press. And that is why we have to ensure that the Commission can do as much as possible to ensure that our farmers understand what has actually happened, because I think a great deal of them fail to understand the logic of what has Mr. Holland.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you, President. We understand the problems set out by our Romanian colleague and we are aware of the difficulties that farmers are facing because of the increase in production costs and the impact of adverse [00:16:00] climate events. For this reason, we support the proposal to introduce the necessary flexibility in the implementation of the strategic plans and that for 2024 we should also foresee derogations to gaiac seven and Gaiac eight. This would allow farmers to better plan their production and contribute to guaranteeing food security in the EU. Thank [00:16:30] you, sir.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you very much, president. And thank you very much to Commissioner Rosewall for the presentation. We fully appreciate the European strategy for the Academy Award presented by the Commission in November. It gives us the requirements for decarbonisation and strategic autonomy. What we can underscore, as Italy is the need to promote the sectors of excellence and also recycling, looking at minimum quotas for European content. And we hope that this aspect will be taken into consideration in the um, Industrial Acceleration Act that the Commission will present. We also need to protect ourselves against unfair competition. Uh, and we we are looking at the reduction of these types of plastics. Uh, and we need to move towards bio based products. So we need to move towards a new investments as stimulating financing and investment using European competitiveness funds. Thank you.”
  EU policy towards plastics
• “Thank you Marcus. We fully share this objective of strengthening markets and capital market integration in Europe and avoiding fragmentation of supervision. And this is why we think it's better to have a pragmatic, gradual and proportionate approach. We think having a more targeted scope for direct supervision at European level would be more appropriate today, compared to a generalised provision in certain areas, a stronger role for asthma could bring clear added value, particularly where activity is truly cross-border. But in other cases we need to be more prudent, particularly where the. Potential crisis, where actors remain largely national. The criteria of significance should also be defined in a balanced way. We should look at cross-border activity and interconnectedness and the actual importance for the single market. Basically, we support stronger European supervision where there is clear added value. However, without losing proportionality and operational a realistic approach. So for governance, we also think that if we ask ESMA to do more, we need to strengthen its executive capacity. But this should take place at preserving a good institutional balance and the real involvement of national authorities. For us, we need to clarify in the legislative framework how this the relationship between the European and national levels would work. Will there be structured cooperation? We need structured cooperation, clear rules, and we need to avoid duplication. In this context, the Board of Supervisors could be. Or the Executive board. The creation of an executive board could be useful not as a way of providing a place for coordination, information sharing and preparing decision making in the most important cross border cases. For us, reducing costs and avoiding duplication is not a secondary aspect. It is an essential condition for this reform. Integration works if it if it simplifies. And there is this balance between European capacity and national competence, where that we want to work on with the presidency and all the member States. Thank you.”
  Financial regulation
• “Thank you very much. I'd like to thank the commission for the presentation and the assessment of the National Energy and Climate Plans. And I recall that we were among the first to submit them on time. We have, uh, do we are doing our best to achieve these goals, even in a context that poses difficulties to achieve some subtargets, I would like to look at the results of these assessments primarily primarily as an indication of how to set regulatory framework for the next decade. We need to leave a more flexibility for the member states on how to achieve the emission reduction target, and this needs to be set forth clearly. And of course, as we look at this, this is a path that will lead us to 2040 and 2050. And in this context, it's important to carefully evaluate the objectives to be defined and the ways in which to achieve them, especially those for the, uh, finding the necessary financial resources. Thank you very much.”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Thank you very much chairman. Thank [00:10:30] you Commissioner. Thank you. Portugal and the others who brought this to our notice and particularly Portugal. We completely support you. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has had a very heavy impact on aquaculture, on fishing and in general on the economy. Costs have gone up. The measures that were taken on in 2022 using 20 2250. The commission. The commission took measures that mitigated [00:11:00] some of the effects imposed upon us by Russia. But this is still going on, and these complex critical burdens still weigh upon our sectors. Therefore, the measures must continue at least until the 30th of December, 2024. I'd also like to thank the Netherlands for doing another point to our notice, which has to be how workers are treated in the processing and aquaculture and indeed fishing sector in some [00:11:30] countries, particularly the Chinese, including on their fishing vessels. We need to be firm, we need to be effective, we need to make sure that things that come into our market are high quality, including when it comes to the rights of workers. Quality is nutrition, but quality is also about how you look after people and quality rights for those operating in a sector. Thank you”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
• “Thank you, chair, and thank you to the executive vice president, Bekunin. Italy thanks the Cyprus presidency for leading negotiations on legislative instrument, which we consider crucial for the European Union because the text integrates, and we thank you for integrating the many points that Italy presented. We are thinking of the adequate attention that is given to the cultural and creative sectors, and we also appreciate the recognition of the importance of independent production and coproduction as well as the role of distribution in cinemas as well as the indication of priority support for this segment. At this stage, we also believe it's essential to quickly find an agreement on the distribution of financial resources among the various components of Agora EU. In our opinion, it is necessary in particular to ensure that the audiovisual sector and the cultural and creative industries as a whole are adequately supported. All of this is essential, we believe, to have a Europe that is stronger, more incisive, and closer to the cultural needs of European citizens. Thank you. If I stop”
  EU and national cultural identities
• “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and our thanks to Portugal. We enthusiastically agree with the proposal to regulate this at European level. Today we use drones assimilated to aircraft. And obviously there's a technological innovation going on which will support environmental sustainability in the use of plant health products. And also drones can reach difficult to cultivate areas in the EU. We need to focus on making this sort of thing easier, and to do this as soon as possible. In fact, urgently, it will permit our farmers to save money, to improve their health, to produce more and to maintain more extreme land parcels which would normally cost too much to cultivate.”
  Digital and precision farming
• “Thank you. Chairman. Well, first of all, we would like to thank the commission for this proposal for the revision of the Waste Directive. And we would like to thank the presidency for all the work done over the past few months. The sustainability of the textile sector was one of the topics dealt with by the Italian Presidency of the G7. The final communiqué of the G7 environment ministers does contain a commitment from the Alliance for Resource Efficiency to work on a voluntary agenda on textiles and the circular fashion by the end of this year, and involving institutions, businesses and stakeholders to take significant steps towards transforming this industry into something sustainable, ethical and circular on a global scale. We reiterate our conviction that extended producer responsibility is an effective tool in order to guarantee the proper end of life management of fashion products, and we would like to stress the importance of promoting the prevention and reuse of textile products. We need to invest in new technologies and recycling processes now in the context of extended producer responsibility, in order to reduce the environmental impact and lengthen life cycles. The environmental contribution should also be directed towards research and development, which will apply to ecodesign and the study of technologies for the selection and recycling of the textile components and fibres. We also appreciate the President's and Commission's efforts here in taking into account the key role played by the various social economy actors in the management of end of life textiles. We have to strike a balance between the necessary tracking of flows and the administrative burden this would entail. We also appreciate the focus on tackling the phenomenon of fast fashion on food waste, in order to move closer to the SDG of reducing food waste by 50%. We need to improve production patterns and also we need to change consumption patterns. The objective here, when it comes to reducing food waste, must be an instrument which we use in order to promote these changes we have. Therefore, from the very outset supported ambitious targets, but at the same time they have to be realistic. They have to be achievable. To this regard, we would repeat our concern about the proposed targets, especially with a view to the negotiations with the European Parliament. At any rate, we think it's essential to keep the primary sector outside the scope of application of these targets because it has specific characteristics which do not allow for an extension of the approach for transformation, distribution and final consumption. Thank you.”
  Ecodesign & durability
• “Thank you very much indeed. Now, in February of last of last year, Christopher Document was presented to the ministers with the objective of trying to connect the link which we should have between food and our society, putting the farmers in the center, in the center of the process. Now, within this document, which was supported by most delegations, we saw a number of our points which cropped up again in your introductory comments, as well as what you said when you were first appointed to your role as commissioner. Now, after two years, I think that we do now have sufficient points to give us pause for thought. The model, which was designed to give us agriculture, which would be more efficient, does have a number of substantive critical points which have to be resolved speedily, because in the meantime, the world of farming has undergone suffering which they can no longer tolerate against the existing legislative framework. They are no longer able to compete effectively with other economies. Given the current market economy, which has been designed for others rather than for us, we have to put them in a position where we can guarantee their competitiveness. We need to guarantee European sovereignty and security in 2024. We discussed all of the problems as regards the deviations between planned unit amounts and realised unit amounts, which requires quite an effort from the administration very often not to justify in cost terms.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you very much. We would like to thank the presidency for having put this item on the agenda for the Council. Thank you to Spain. And thank you to those who have supported this document. We know that extending the ETS to the maritime sector is something which comes up often. It's a very sensitive and important matter, and we have to make sure that we don't come in too late with any corrective measures. The distortion in competition amongst the major operators in international logistics is something which is becoming very clear. This could undermine investment and jobs and the supply chain. We have to make sure that the commission uses the instruments in the directive to avoid this. It might not even be enough. We need stricter measures. And the document here does talk about this risk of diversion of routes to countries outside the EU and a loss of competitiveness for us. Now we're talking about the effectiveness of the mechanisms in the ETS directive. We need to have a risk assessment. And for the monitoring mechanism. And we have to make sure that we have targeted measures which are ambitious and global in order to safeguard the competitiveness of our ports. I would like to conclude by saying that we if we have an ambitious but not very realistic targets such as the ETS, this could have an adverse impact and run counter to the objectives we have set ourselves. Thank you.”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• “In the current context, we think it's important for the specific program of Horizon Europe to have its own programming committee with a dedicated configuration for all the areas, including policy windows on partnerships. We think that there needs to be ambitious political reflection. We need more selective instruments that are easier and more target oriented. The impact of the next program will depend on its ability to better concentrate resources into instruments where there is a clear European added value. On widening, we think it's important to reinforce reinforce the capacity of all member States to fully contribute to EU excellence without lowering the level of ambitious. We need to invest in capacity in complementarity at national and regional level. Lastly, we would like to submit a very important point. We think it's not possible to reinforce European competitiveness by compressing free research space. Most of the more most important research is the work of something which is not predictable necessarily, which is why we need to support excellence guided research. We are very happy with the work that has been made by the presidency, but we need that believe that more political clarity is necessary before we can arrive at a fully shared text. Thank you.”
  Research priorities within the EU · EU research funding
• “Thank you very much Matthias. Thank you very much for having highlighted the importance of that. So once again, you very much for having afforded so much time to this topic. Let me start by giving you two pieces of information which are exemplary. In 2027, Confindustria, that is Italy's association which welcomes all of the industrial organizations, forecast that forty-seven percent of the necessary qualifications will not be covered. And why is that? Because the educational system does not train students to obtain these qualifications. In the last few weeks, I went to Campania, one of the regions in Italy that has the highest unemployment rates in Italy. I went to Caivano and some companies told me that they're looking for four hundred young people. They cannot find these four hundred young people because the educational system cannot train them and give them these qualifications. This is really a big issue and therefore I would like to submit three proposals to the Presidency. I believe it is important to exchange best practices across countries to learn about them, to be enriched by their national experiences. We then believe that we should invest European funds when it comes to bolstering VET programs. We also have to increase agreements between VET institutes across member states to develop partnerships which work. When it comes to the heading document, I would like to quote one item which is quite important: a business should be a place where we can train people. We have undertaken a structural reform which ensures that businesses and schools work hand in hand. We have built a supply chain where technological institutes, vocational training institutes, and companies are all integrated within this supply chain. The syllabus is defined by the school and by the company jointly. Teachers can also be active workers. Moreover, we have also bolstered and strengthened STEM topics. We have also rolled out soft skills modules and we have increased language proficiency classes. When it comes to how this sector isn't as attractive for female pupils, which is a problem related to the gender gap, what we have done is we have reformed the teaching of STEM by looking at what is underground. As my Polish colleague said, we have to ensure that STEM modules are made interesting and that means that we have to enact a cultural paradigm. We have to ensure that parents and society understand how STEM is not a manual profession or manual task but is a way into the future. We also have to ensure that these centers, these schools also double as research centers to be able to strengthen that. In conclusion, allow me to say that we should all be aware that the VET system is at the heart of an entire production system which is just as important as the universities and that is why we have to ensure that there is a paradigm shift within society and allow society to understand that by investing in VET we will be able to create well paid jobs for our young students and that will increase the competitiveness across the country. Thank you.”
  Focus of EU policy on education (shaping workers vs citizens)
• “And this means that you need to have a tailor made policies for regions. And this is not something that, uh, should be subsumed to general conditionality. And so. The multi-level governance issue is something that could be essential. And it has been in the past, and it's given the regions a role, and it should be the same as the role given to cities. We need to make sure that we have a territorial cohesion policy that is as complete as possible on competitiveness. Well, I fully agree. We do have a challenge ahead and there are companies that are facing challenges they need to do way they have to deal with um, uh, taxation and also, um, red tape. Uh, and we feel that the taxation, uh, suggested is really, um, sending a message which runs counter to what we aim to do. We if we look at this initiative. It looks like we're going in the opposite direction to the expectations, but also, um, the opposite direction of our, um, resolve. I know that it's been very difficult to to come up with this proposal. And Commissioner Saruman has done his utmost to present us a framework which is clear. Um, and so we're at the beginning of the debate, and I think it's very important to be clear amongst ourselves on these issues. And I would also add and conclude by sharing this thought, global Europe is something that leaves us a bit confused, at least in the way it's been proposed. We would rather have a framework which would be clearer. And we would also want to avoid watering down of the priorities as set forth. Thank you.”
  Cohesion and rural funding
• “Thank you. To the presidency and the Commission. I would like to underline that in Geneva, Italy has proven to be balanced and coherent, contributing to the European cohesion and pursuing priority objectives to protect health, the health care in general. We ensure the regulatory approach while protecting the interests of the Member States. We need to be committed to work on strategies on information on products with nicotine, in particular for new generation, mostly for teenagers and their health. The approach is one of being very cautious to be adequate to the regulation and then being very cautious on the market for the younger generation.”
  Regulation on New Oral Nicotine Products
• “Good morning. My thanks go to the presidency and the commissioner, as well as everyone else for this discussion, which is coming at such a difficult time for the European Union's future. Faced with military tensions at our border, economic turbulence, digital change, the effects of climate change, we're seeing we're faced with major risk, that is, that Europe becomes pessimistic and sees culture as being ephemeral, a luxury, something we should only look at once. We have regained economic stability and growth. But I would say the opposite is true. Culture is the compass whereby Europe can be aware of its important role in the world and a pathway for being more effective globally. First of all, investing in culture reinforces the sense of the common identity of European peoples and the civic conscience of our citizens. It's a shield for democratic liberalism. We need to have conditions to promote peace and dialogue for our partners, starting with the enlarged Mediterranean and Africa. Plus, culture is a tool of an economic sector fundamental for the EU. The creative sector is roughly 3.9% of the value added of the European Union, and it employs around 8 million people. It's a driver for socio economic growth and jobs, particularly for young people. As such, we should state strongly culture is an essential public good. It's vital to underpin the values of the EU. Italy obviously is convinced, a convinced supporter of president von der Leyen's initiative to give a more strategic focus to European programmes in support of cultural heritage through the compass of culture.”
  EU and national cultural identities
• “Thank you very much indeed, Madam Chair, for having organised a discussion on [00:19:30] this topic, which will also be covered by a set of conclusions that should be approved today. Particularly interesting, because it has to be seen against the background of strategic issues such as the decarbonisation of the economy, energy efficiency, climate change and the green transition, but also because it focuses on collective bargaining, which is so close to the heart of this council on the questions of collective bargaining. Dealing with the strategic issues which I have cited, can play a key role in helping us to achieve the Green Deal objectives and moving [00:20:00] towards a neutral and inclusive economy, which is in line with our climate goals. Firstly, collective bargaining can promote models which are more flexible to enable workers to have easier trips to work, which will of course have an impact on transport and pollution. And here smart working has opened the road. Furthermore, collective bargaining can also explore new frontiers between welfare and worker [00:20:30] well-being and the environment. For example, recognising the benefits of those workers who have a more responsible behaviour Ves and vis a vis the environment to explore less harmful ways of working from the environmental point of view. We started doing this in Italy to try to establish more flexible ways of working, which will also help us to outlaw ways of working which could be [00:21:00] harmful to worker health, for example, at the hottest periods of the year, or in any other adverse climate conditions, which could make it dangerous for workers to come to work. In concrete terms, this therefore means that collective bargaining will take account of these external factors in all decisions made on the workplace. On the second question, one first aspect should be to focus on networking and sharing of initiatives and experiences of which have been [00:21:30] initiated at member state level for a number of years now in Italy. We have introduced incentives to try to ensure that welfare is taken into account in all collective bargaining, and this could also apply to green collective bargaining. We could, for example, make greater use of European funds and programmes to provide incentives for national green collective bargaining to focus on all of these issues and under the auspices of the social pillar, particularly when it comes to working conditions. [00:22:00] As social protection, collective bargaining should represent a real part of the system, and that is why we should support and develop them further, thanks to the traditional instruments that the union has at its disposal.”
  Regulation of teleworking labour conditions
• “Thank you. Chairman. We support the proposals put forward by Romania, Slovakia and Finland. We too think the time has come to check bear populations. They are in a favourable conservation status. In order to update the UN annexes four and five of the Habitats Directive, we need [00:28:30] to ensure that we have a balanced co-existence between human beings, farms and large carnivores. We need to step up regional cooperation when it comes to the managing research and monitoring here, in order to come up with joint management strategies. Thank you very much.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• “This is a strategic commitment that's common to all member states, which need long term investment. And I've almost concluded I think it's vital, therefore, that we need an agreement between the EU and national governments, as we had with next generation EU, through resources such as this. We're modernising our infrastructure and ensuring that culture is more accessible through museums, cinemas, etc.. But that's not enough. If we think culture is a common, essential good for European citizens, if we want everyone to have access and benefit from it, then the best instrument of defending culture and our cultural heritage and freedom of expression of our democratic systems. Then the EU needs to be more ambitious. It needs to ensure that we have innovative funding instruments based, maybe not uncommon debt, but at least on an appropriate financial contribution. Military deterrence is a form of common protection, but culture is the only weapon that we have to ensure better chances of dialogue and peace. I think €100 spent on arms should mean, at the very least, we spend €2 on culture, so we won't hopefully use those arms. I think it's our duty, therefore, for us to have a strategic programme covering the whole of the European, European culture. That would be a strong message to the rest of the world and ourselves. Not only do we support our own culture, we do this for a better hope, for a better future of peace and stability.”
  EU and national cultural identities
• “Thank you. Chair. I share the words of Commissioner Tzitzikostas on the perplexities expressed on the text that started well but worsened along the road. I also wish well to the recently arrived colleagues, and I hope, however, that we don't repeat the mistakes we made three years ago in meetings such as this one where we were discussing an end to fuel. Vehicles and we. This brought to a dramatic mistake and the situation has now showed the mistakes we made. And I hope that we can backtrack and save internal combustion vehicles and keep biofuels are in a limited manner. I hope and Italy will be voting against this A document. We really hope that we will manage to reach an objective. We are dissatisfied with the amendments introduced during negotiations because of two points in particular, which have been raised by Commissioner Tzitzikostas. If the objective is that of facilitating the use of electric trucks, this cannot happen by asking transporters to give up on part of their profits, so doing away with part of their their goods. And this also is in line with the aviation and ETS systems. Environmental sustainability must always be accompanied by economic and social sustainability. We must therefore not repeat the mistakes we made in the past. At the same time as Italy has highlighted the risk of endangering one of, well, putting risks, burdening one player instead by favoring another. And I'm not mentioning names here regarding road safety. Luckily, the document does not introduce the obligation of what are known as super trucks. In Italy, we approved a new highway code and in just under a year has cut the number of deaths and accidents by 1000. So before we start talking about super trucks, then we should perhaps look at infrastructure. And we need to be extremely cautious.”
  2035 ICE phase-out: strict zero-emission target vs. flexibility for carmakers
• “Thank you. [00:11:00] Chairman. We'd like to thank the Spanish presidency with regard to the negotiating mandate on the breakfast directives, with a view to increasing market transparency and the quality of products, we're convinced of the importance of providing to citizens as much information as possible so that they can make informed choices, particularly when what is at stake is the quality of food and food products and food safety. So we'd like to wish the presidency, [00:11:30] the Belgian presidency, all the best for carrying on with this work and for the trilogues with the European Parliament, so that we'll be able to produce legislation that will be up to consumers expectations.”
  Food labelling harmonisation at EU level