The speech of the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Paolo Gentiloni, at the Rimini Meeting opened with a memory of David Sassoli.
"I am pleased that the debate was opened by the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola - she said - because it gives me the opportunity to remember a great Italian, his predecessor David Sassoli".
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We live in the time of uncertainty and the rediscovery of our fragility
. Europe is born from the refusal of war. But that refusal is never definitive. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said that the evil spirits have not been banished forever from ' Europe.
It is up to us to avoid the return of evil spirits "
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The European Commissioner said.
"The sense of Europe is to be an antidote to this situation of uncertainty and fragility. Not just the fence of the rules, but Europe as the place of a new humanism, as Pope Francis said", added Gentiloni.
In this sense, according to the European Commissioner "Social Europe is taking steps forward, think of the Sure program on layoffs, or the proposal on the minimum wage".
And "we must defend the ecological transition but at the same time protect the weakest groups affected by the increases".
Gentiloni: we need a leading Europe, to review the principle of unanimity
As regards the current difficult global context in which we are inserted, according to Gentiloni "we need a Europe that is not a spectator but a protagonist. There is no other like the European Union that can champion the values of peace, freedom and social economy ".
To this end, the European Commissioner points out, we need an international presence, "we must also exercise this role outside our borders. We need a common European foreign policy, going beyond the principle of unanimity", he added.
"The EU needs a common foreign policy
not to compete with Russia but to turn to the Mediterranean and Africa,
so as not to leave free space in Africa to state capitalism such as China.
Pnrr: "Fundamental Italian plan, national plans are implemented, it can be corrected but no starting over"
"The success of the Recovery Fund largely depends on the success of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The national plans must be implemented, and we must do it now, by speeding up.
These plans must not be rethought.
If there is something targeted and limited to correct the doors to Brussels are open, but they are not to start over, Gentiloni said at the Rimini Meeting. "The rough sea must be faced now, and it must also be done in high-debt countries like ours, through plans by Recovery.
"As a European economy we are going through rather troubled waters, with inflation at unprecedented levels, unprecedented energy costs - said Gentiloni -.
But we still have the chance to bet on the fact that a certain level of growth can be defended
and a a certain level of employment that is currently quite high can be preserved. What does this bet depend on, this optimism that I believe we must preserve at all costs? - asked the EU Commissioner -. From the fact that, in addition to the initiative of the various countries,
there is this great common European investment and reform program ".
"Countries with high debt must continue with their investment policies"
, continued Gentiloni in his reasoning.
"We need economic stability. Today the long period of control over the Greek economy ends. At the beginning the response had unbearable and inconceivable social costs but today the period of the financial crisis is closed. We must not go back to that situation: we need of a balanced and stable system in which there is no world record for the surplus of some economies on the one hand and condemned countries on the other, "he concludes.
"Of course, we need prudence in budgetary policies, but we have a plan that includes 40 billion a year of investment and development, linked to reforms, other than austerity. It is a race against time and we cannot afford setbacks. "added Gentiloni.
Gentiloni: We cannot be reluctant Europeans, it is a road that leads back to nationalisms
We cannot be reluctant Europeans, says Gentiloni, because this path leads to the return of nationalisms.
"We have been accustomed by our presidents of the Republic, from Ciampi to Mattarella, to a healthy love of country. Elements of patriotism that we must claim. But if this patrottism is not a shared European vision and becomes a pretext to return to the illusion of a little ancient world we would be in a very wrong way ".
Regarding the energy crisis, we need to take temporary and targeted measures.
"We cannot contradict the climate transition by taking permanent measures that facilitate the survival of fossil fuels" which we must seek by making them less convenient "but at the same time we must help those who are most in need".
We must defend the climate transition but also the weakest and most vulnerable groups who are today affected by this terrible increase in energy prices ", he adds.
Energy crisis: European countries appeal to thrift, Putin will use much more energy weapon
"I think it is very important that all political authorities in all European countries appeal as much as possible to sparing energy consumption. So far so good, in the sense that we have good storage levels, we can look to winter without excessive pessimism".
This was stated by the European commissioner for economic affairs, Paolo Gentiloni, on the sidelines of his speech at the Rimini Meeting, recalling the European agreement for the 15% cut in consumption. "But he added recalling the European agreement for the 15% cut. % of consumption - there is no doubt that Putin can use the energy weapon more than he has done so far and therefore thrift, energy saving, as well as government support policies for the most vulnerable families, are fundamental " .