Ruggero RAZZA

Policy topics Ruggero RAZZA is active on

What Ruggero RAZZA has said (17)

• 2026-06-16 “(11:05:34 – 11:06:56): Thank you very much, president, colleagues, vice president. Today, I think, ought to be looked at as a positive day because the forging of an agreement with The United States is at the interest of the world and at the interest of the West, of course. So I don't think that we can turn this particular debate in another direction without certain reflections. Certain people are uncertain about the consequences for Europe with this particular agreement. Europe is with the West, and it has to work together in order to work more effectively with our partners on the other side of the Atlantic. The European Union, with its member states, is a fundamental partner partner of the Atlantic alliance. And we are to understand that we have common objectives, But the Middle East crisis indicates something of great urgency that on the South, well, there's a lot that has been done, as concerns the East with the crisis in Ukraine and the situation developing there. But the southern front, the middle of the Mediterranean, we have a very, major issue that has to be dealt with, and Europe has to be a protagonist on this particular front as well. Thank you.”
  EU-US relations
• 2025-02-05 “E-000542/2025 E-000717/2025 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Séjourné on behalf of the European Commission Based on the elements available, it is unclear whether Directive 2014/24/EU 1 or Directive 2014/23/EU 2 would apply to the legal relationships stemming from the accreditation system laid down in the law referred to in the Honourable Member’s question. Even if the Directives were not applicable, any national measure which, albeit applicable without discrimination on grounds of nationality, is liable to hinder or render less attractive the exercise by EU nationals of the freedom of establishment guaranteed by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union would still be prohibited under Article 49 of that Treaty. The Commission recalls that according to the principle of free administration of public authorities, Member States authorities may choose to perform their public interest tasks with their own resources, or in cooperation with other authorities or to confer them upon economic operators. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/24/oj/eng 2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/23/oj/eng”
  Public and private sectors role in healthcare services
• 2024-11-22 “E-002636/2024 Answer given by Mr Tzitzikostas on behalf of the European Commission 1. EU rules provide for open markets in maritime 1 and air services 2 aiming to reduce prices for consumers through competition between operators. Where the market fails to provide adequate connections, EU rules provide the possibility for Member States to set up public service obligations to ensure sufficient connectivity, including for islands. It is for Member States to define specific operational conditions and ensure they are met. Operators must in principle ensure ticket prices offered to the public are non-discriminatory 3 and that passenger rights are respected in line with EU Passenger Rights Regulations 4 . Furthermore, for air services, airlines and ticket intermediaries must always display the final ticket price including all applicable taxes, charges and surcharges, and the price of optional supplements. It is for the Member States to enforce these rules. 2. The Commission supports island regions in their transition to sustainable economies. Trans-European transport network policy aims to develop high-quality, interconnected transport infrastructure across the EU, including links to islands and in support of the wider concept of ‘European Maritime Space’ 5 . 3. Cohesion policy investments are already focusing on passenger and freight transport capacity to improve Italy’s transport infrastructure and reduce divergence with EU partners and within Italy. They are concentrated largely in less developed and island regions, aiming at enhancing accessibility, territorial cohesion and transport sustainability. 1 Regulation 3577/92 covers services within the Member States and Regulation 4055/86 services between the Member States. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A31992R3577 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A31986R4055 2 Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2008/1008/oj/eng 3 Article 23(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 and Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010. 4 In particular Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 for waterborne transport https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32010R1177&from=NL and Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 for air transport https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32004R0261 5 https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/infrastructure-and-investment/trans-european-transportnetwork-ten-t/european-maritime-space_en”
  Road transport environmental policy
• 2024-08-08 “E-001501/2024 Answer given by Mr Lenarčič on behalf of the European Commission While primary responsibility for civil protection and for providing national disastermanagement systems with sufficient capabilities lies with Member States, the Commission has a supporting competence in this area. Given the growing concern of wildfires in Europe and to better support Member States, the EU has taken steps to improve preparedness and to bolster firefighting capacities. Since 2023, the Union Civil Protection Mechanism 1 (UCPM) has doubled its rescEU transitional fleet of firefighting aircraft during the summer season. In 2024, the transitional fleet is composed of a total of 28 assets, available for deployment if there is a request for assistance. This comes in addition to the capacities available in the European Civil Protection Pool 2 as well as to the teams pre-positioned in 2024 in four Member States 3 for a total of almost 600 firefighters. For the long term, as part of the rescEU permanent fleet, the Commission has invested significant financial resources for the acquisition of 12 new medium amphibious planes. The planes will be hosted by six Member States and are expected to arrive gradually as of 2027. In addition, UCPM grants are currently supporting five wildfire prevention projects of EUR 2.8 million 4 , which help enhance national capabilities for wildfire resilience. The deployment procedures, agreed with the Member States, are foreseen in Article 12(6) of Decision no 1313/2013/EU 5 and relevant implementing rules 6 . While there are no comparable European alternatives available on the market at the moment, the Commission is in contact with relevant stakeholders to continue enhancing firefighting capacities in a Team Europe approach. 1 https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/eu-civil-protection-mechanism_en 2 https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/civil-protection/european-civil-protection-pool_en 3 Greece, France, Portugal and Spain. 4 https://civil-protection-knowledge-network.europa.eu/projects/ewed, https://civil-protection-knowledgenetwork.europa.eu/projects/wuitips, https://civil-protection-knowledge-network.europa.eu/projects/fireprime, https://civil-protection-knowledge-network.europa.eu/projects/b-fireprep, https://civil-protection-knowledgenetwork.europa.eu/projects/feasibility-study-forest-fire-protection 5 Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism, OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 924–947 as amended by Decision No 2019/420/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 13 March 2019, OJ L77, 20.3.2019, p. 1-14: https://eurlex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2013/1313/oj#document1 6 Commission Implementing Decision 2019/1310 of 31 July 2019 laying down rules on the operation of the European Civil Protection Pool and rescEU, OJ L 204, 2.8.2019, p. 94–99.”
  Climate efforts
• 2024-07-24 “P-001419/2024 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission 1. The Commission does not formally declare the state of droughts of any region. This falls within the competence of the Member States depending on their national criteria. Furthermore, a ’long-term drought’ status has no EU level official definition. The Commission supports Member States in detecting and monitoring the evolutions of droughts through the European Drought Observatory 1 as well as through the EU working group on water scarcity and drought 2 . 2. Any possibilities of deploying nature-based solutions and regional engagement against water scarcity should be explored to increase resilience against frequent extreme weather events like droughts, such as through the EU Missions ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ and ‘Adaptation to Climate Change’ 3 . Sicilian partners are actively engaged in the Mission Ocean and Waters with more than 10 Sicilian cities and local authorities as well as a coalition of mayors having endorsed the Mission Charter. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 4 provides for a range of instruments to support relevant activities in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. In case of occurring unforeseeable circumstances, the rules of a number of EU funds provide for the concept of force majeure and exceptional circumstances 5 . The EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) 6 can only be activated at the request of an affected eligible State. The EUSF may cover a part of the costs for emergency and recovery operations incurred by public authorities. This means, for example, the recovery of essential infrastructure, provision of temporary accommodation to the population, cleaningup operations and protection of the cultural heritage. Member States have also the possibility to grant State aid in accordance with EU State aid rules. Specifically, aid to make good the damage caused by an adverse climatic event such as a severe drought could be granted by the Member State to the affected farmers. Under the conditions specified in Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2472, this State aid would be exempted from notification because it would be compatible with the internal market 7 . 1 https://drought.emergency.copernicus.eu/ 2 https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/9ab5926d-bed4-4322-9aa7-9964bbe8312d/library/26651f83-ccab-4ed2b8cb-831ff340df47?p=1&n=10&sort=modified_DESC 3 The EU Missions ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’ and ‘Adaptation to Climate Change’ include relevant actions (for example through area-based ‘lighthouses’ in the Mediterranean area, including Sicily, https://research-andinnovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/mediterranean-lighthouse-gains-momentummission-ocean-and-waters-event-palermo-2023-05-31_en). The Missions however do not include provisions aimed at tackling acute responses to disasters. 4 https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy_en 5 For example, cf. Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116. The Commission also clarified that force majeure may excuse an operator from certain legal consequences which would normally result from non-compliance with an obligation. The application of force majeure is the responsibility of Member States (Communication from the Commission to the Council on force majeure, COM/2024/225 final). 6 Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the European Union Solidarity Fund as amended, OJ L 311, 14.11.2002, p. 3. 7 Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2472 of 14 December 2022 declaring certain categories of aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas compatible with the internal market in application of Articles”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Thank you. Madam president, I welcome Commissioner Serafin. Today's debate is taking place at an important moment, because the evaluation of the Multiannual financial framework proposed by the Commission, following on from the Parliament's vote, meant that the Parliament requested more support for agricultural policies, more support for cohesion policies and more support for competitiveness. That's very clear, Commissioner Serafin. If we are asking to intervene when it comes to spending, we also have to intervene when it comes to income. And today this tax or levy would be a big benefit to us. And I don't know why you did did away with some ideas such as taxes on big companies. You said that was incompatible with the competitiveness. Well, I'm interested to see how the Commission will evaluate these two new ideas for own resources put forward by the Parliament while keeping high levels of investment.Thank you.”
  Own EU resources
• “Thank you very much indeed, President and Commissioner. Ever since this Parliament started, we've been talking about fires and drought. And as a member from Italy, I have a number of questions for the commission. And in fact, I have already quizzed them on the choices that have been made, particularly when it comes to the procurement of Canada's. We have the impression that we are lagging way behind, and we also have the impression that the choices being made for A technology, maybe the only one available, but is nevertheless obsolete in the face of the growing dangers. And we need to invest in digital technologies, new forms of technologies to save our citizens. Now, we have already said that many of the fires are linked to structural factors, but the fact of the matter is, is that much of the devastation linked to the fact that they are discovered very late in the day, we don't manage to respond in a timely fashion. So that is why we need to factor that into our preparedness strategy and pay greater attention to European partnerships to try and surpass or surmount obsolete technologies.”
  Cybersecurity investments for critical infrastructure
• “Thank you, president and commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen, the hand to fire case, as you just said, should not lead to panic. That's the first important message which we have to direct to the population of Europe. Once again, there's clearly a a lasting memory and effect due to the previous pandemic, COVID 19. This is very important because of the impact which that pandemic left on our organizations. That pandemic caused enormous stress and burden for our health systems. We have to learn from that. We have to ensure that member states in the European Union continue to improve their ability to respond. This new emergency, which we've been told isn't actually an emergency, could be 1 of 1 of the initiatives which have been announced as necessary, but which haven't yet been rolled out. Well, that's true that in terms of research and, of course, in the European Commission, progress is being made, efforts are being made. There are 2 emerging challenges. First of all, the capacity of the European Union to act autonomously when it comes to the health industry. We know that the European Union produces electromedical health devices, but we're still being left behind by other countries. Another important question is health personnel. In upcoming weeks, the European parliament would also be voting on the report regarding the crisis hitting the health sector in Europe. Once again, this crisis affecting millions of professionals. So clearly, preparedness is important, But, and I'm winding up, this preparedness must focus on human resources and technological resources, which will be vital if we are to deal with future crises.”
  Public and private sectors role in healthcare services
• “And then there's a thumping that's worrying all of us. This is the point about the new own resources. And they're going to have to go through the approval procedure provided for under the treaty. So that means you're going to have to have unanimity amongst the member states, because these are new own resources. And that is also something that's very uncertain. Why is it uncertain? Well, it's uncertain because today you are presenting a proposal for an MFA which is worth almost 2 trillion. But then you have 400, a billion of new own resources in that now. Objectively speaking, on that point, beyond whatever negotiations might happen, we need to understand here is if this is something that is feasible, what are the objectives? And maybe we'd need to know if we're not perhaps moving further away from the Europe of citizens, because the message that's coming across today, now, we're only at the very start here of the process. But the message is that we're going to they're going to have to put in more. And. They're being more and more convinced that Europe is doing less than what it actually could have done. So it's for that reason that I hope that we will have more meetings, and the Parliament needs to be present in these debates, but it hasn't really been borne much in mind at this point today.”
  Own EU resources
• “Thank you very much, chairman. I'll be very brief as well. I wanted to thank Leucocephalus, my colleague, for the work that we did together on this, and I'd like to thank all of the shadow rapporteurs as well, who contributed to making this text better with their proposals and making it closer to a current snapshot of the situation in all member states of the European Union. I wanted to thank all of the colleagues. We have heard that there are over 800 amendments. This is a file where everyone wanted to give their own contribution because the topic does involve everyone's life. So obviously I wanted to thank all the technical staff from all the political groups, because the technical meetings were particularly intensive and productive as well. And thank you to the Secretariat of both committees as well. Today we're working on a draft, which. We really do expect. And there are high expectations for it to be approved.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. President. Thank you, Commissioner, for your presentation. Presentation for this cardiovascular health plan. It's an ambitious plan and we're recognizing the work that's been done. Also, when it comes to the time frame that's been established, because this was announced to come in before the end of this year and that promise has been kept. There are some important points. I can't cite them all because I don't have enough time, but I think we should say that this plan is very important because it's addressing prevention and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, something that's close to my heart, especially because screening when it comes to cardiovascular diseases, doesn't seem to exist in any member states of the European Union. And the Commission today is calling on all member states to establish in their own screening plans, cardiovascular diseases. And that's an important objective. It's an important objective looking at lifestyle issues, diet that needs to be observed, the tension that you have to have as a consumer when it comes to food production as well, and looking at food as a possibility to reduce risk. Now, this issue I don't think has really been pushed hard enough. We're not convinced that taxation as it's been set out in this plan is the instrument that can guarantee this outcome. And to conclude, I'd say that the best instrument would may be to remove from the stability pact these sort of health prevention funds that would allow investment.”
  EU measures on lifestyle-related behaviours (smoking, drinking, eating, etc.)
• “Thank you very much. A few days ago, in the newspapers across Europe, we could read about internal tariffs and the polemics there that Europe is imposing tariffs on itself and stopping its own competitiveness. I would also like to thank the representatives from the commission, because they've put black and white proof as to what an internal tariff is, and here I'm referring to ETS two where resources. Counter to everything that we've been told about the first year of our parliamentary term of office seem to be moving in a linear fashion with what was decided in the past. And the result of this has quite simply been to stop the development of competitiveness in the European Union. So it's difficult to see the efficiency of the ETS two in place. But there are also some rather alarming issues that we need to look at. The impact on Italy of €40 billion per year, if we're talking about the impact of this tax of 40 billion a year on Italy. That's what's being set out to compensate the 86 billion for 27 countries. What are you trying to compensate there? So I'd like to thank you for the discussion. But this discussion cannot finish because we need to flesh this out more. We need to look at the way this program is being implemented. I think the discussion with the commission will have to be carried out with the other political decision makers, because we cannot escape speaking with a clear voice about what's going on here and understanding what is being attempted. But we cannot just confirm this ridiculous decision that's going to impact taxpayers. Or are we looking at a fait accompli?”
  Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And thank you to Commissioner Dombrovskis and Vice President Fitto, who gave the introduction. I think that this dialogue is quite different to preceding ones. Because what's new in the Commission's communication of the 4th of June, which we should also read at the same time as the mid-term review of the cohesion policy, is telling us that anyone who thought that there were no active instruments in the Commission to make sure that all available funds are spent by member States, probably hoped that the programme would fail. I'd really like to congratulate Commissioner Dombrovskis on this communication, because I do think it's extremely important to have put side by side the ability to divide projects into stages. That, for whatever reason, can't be completed within the deadline and then could have their funding removed. And then it could be rerouted through the review of the cohesion policy, but especially the ability to use the review of the plan. For some of the measures that are, well, performing, I'm thinking, for example, of strengthening transport to invest EU projects and also the new elements of investing in banks and loan institutions to generate funds that are compatible with the goals of the RF. And the biggest cohesion policy projects. So the real question to the commissioner is. By setting up these funds within these loan institutions could manage to help the spending happen before 2026.”
  Conditions to access EU budget
• “Thank you, chair. And congratulations for your election this year. Group presents the candidacy of Mr. Emmanuel Franco as fourth vice chair of this subcommittees. Mr. Franco was a member of this subcommittee in the past mandate and is member of the committee too. Thank you.”
  Recruitment policies in the EU
• “more than 80% of the active substances in pharmaceuticals. Now the figure is 30% because 80% of these active substances come from India and China in the case of some antibiotics. Our dependence on Asian supply chains is almost to the tune of 100%. So we have to tackle health, safety and European sovereignty issue. The ECR believes that the Critical Medicines Act was a very important objective and we contributed to achieving this goal. But I'm thinking about certain directives that have to be overhauled. And there's also, uh, we need to bring back the pharmaceutical industry to the EU. If we don't change the rules so that researchers and industry stays here, then it'll be very difficult to make sure that we are sovereign and that we work against Trump. Thanks.”
  Pharma companies manufacturing and production obligations
• “I speak in Italian. Thank you very much. Thank you very much to the Commissioner. Once again, I would like to re-emphasize just how important this proposal is, and I am delighted that we are able to tackle two objectives protecting patients, making sure that we have effective devices and that they can be brought to market in accordance with the rules as quickly as possible. And secondly, making sure that we do not place additional burdens on the pharmaceutical or medtech industry and make sure that we do not add to their challenges in the global environment. We must work towards greater simplification and also bringing down burdens on entrepreneurs, and also make sure that we can make savings. And I think that that is one of the added values of this proposal, because if we can save €3.3 billion per year, 2.4 billion of that will be savings. Um, on red tape then that I think in itself shows the merit of the Commission's proposal, and it would also be achieving other objectives, namely to boost the competitiveness of the European pharma industry. So, although, of course, we fully go along with everything that you have talked about in terms of cutting the administrative burden, there are a number of critical points that I would like to bring to your attention. One of those has to do with those products which already have an EC marking, and I'm referring to article four on medical devices and article three of the in vitro diagnostics regulation. So we are talking here about re-evaluating this certification. There has already been achieved. And obviously there would be a huge role for the EMA to play in all of this, but there is a risk of duplication. Our question is that if we are seeking greater simplification, then, of course. I mean, I can't say any more. I know that I've used up all my speaking time, but I know that the Commission will be willing to come back to us on this. And I know that you will be willing to talk to us as well as the rapporteur to improve, um this, um proposal in the interest of industry and as of the patient, you.”
  Medical devices
• “(11:47:38 – 11:51:29): Thank you to both speakers. I would like to tackle a few issues which concern the general situation because as, Mister Veriga has said, he is the rapporteur on civil protection and on the Medicines Act. And I would like, therefore, to talk on the regulations for civil protection, which I'm rapporteur for. There's been a very important mission to The United States during which we were able to have an exchange of opinion with two of the agencies which deal with the preparation strategy in The United States, BARDA and CDC, which concerns epidemiological assessment and global health and cooperation with other countries which are weaker. So I'd like to know, and I address this question mainly to Doctor Siciliano. On the pandemic in Italy, well, we were able to show a certain resilience, which seems to be stronger than what was the case for the European Union. I'm thinking of the stocking of material and the interface that we were able to have with the world of industry in terms of medical devices and pharmaceutical provision. But in particular, what we were very struck by was the investment made in such a strategic sector, which is medical manufacturing. Why do I say this? Well, because even today in Europe, we see that there are supplies of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals in third countries such as India. So my question is our industrial process is very slow in meeting the needs. So I wonder. We probably have a tendency to think that these are not so significant today. But if we're talking about, for example, ventilators, if we do have another pandemic, how will we reply to the crisis in terms of equipment? So do you believe that this critical situation that we saw during the pandemic has been tackled, has been overcome, or are there still some fears and reticence in terms of tackling the stock question and being ready for a new pandemic, which will very probably present itself in the future? So I'd like to recognize the great work done by the Italian Civil Protection Service and even their assistance in international context. And Doctor Siciliano has mentioned their intervention in the DRC as regards Ebola. They've done a lot of work. The Italian civil protection service was also very active in Gaza, and excellent work is being done also in Ukraine. And I would like to take this occasion to recognize your leadership in this very important health field. Thank you.”
  Government stockpiling of critical medicines