📌 Dall’emergenza pandemia si esce solo con misure economiche solidali prese a livello europeo per risolvere anche la crisi climatica ed ambientale e le diseguaglianze sociali.

👉 Per vedere la conferenza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRDOmqaTXE&feature=youtu.be

✍️ Qui sotto il mio intervento in inglese.

In Italy we see that the corona virus epidemic is having a different impact on people since it exacerbates existing social and economic weaknesses. The capacity to tackle for instance the so-called social isolation/distance depends on people’s  starting material situation: home comfort, access to food and medical care, age, existing health condition. Old and disabled people and poor families, or people who have now lost their job and income face  – of course – more problems. Thanks to thousands of volunteers solidarity initiatives are still ongoing in Italy. Besides both the national and the regional governments are engaged to help the most vulnerable subjects.   This reality should inspire us to be more ambitious and try to definitively solve this inequalities, such as job insecurity.

We must also raise the question of the role of air pollution as a co-agent of the diffusion of the epidemic.

Referring to the post epidemic recover Europa Verde – which I represent as member of Emilia-Romagna Regional Council – is deeply convinced that we can’t miss the opportunity to address the recover measures in favor of a deep green/ecological transition and radical change: public investments are going to be crucial to promote the recovery, therefore we must allocate them to tackle the climate change challenge, which has now disappeared from the political agenda due to the tragic epidemic, although climate crisis has not been solved yet. Therefore we are committed to address public investments to boost sustainable mobility infrastructures, green and circular economy, organic agriculture, energy transition in every field. These must be the pillars for the recovery.

Coming to the last question, in Italy the confidence in Europe is dropping down very fast because of lack of solidarity and political position against Eurobond such as in Holland, Germany and Austria. These positions favor the Italian right-wing anti-Europe parties. Referring to the democracy, under the pressure of the epidemic the Italian and the regional governments have acted and are acting by means of decreets instead of laws which could be seen as a wound to democracy. On the contrary, the Italian government has gained support in the opinion polls.

The true point is that no single Member State can win alone the battle against the epidemic and the economic recovery. If the European market and community collapse, also the States who think today to be strong enough to do it alone will face problems. If Europe does not find a common supportive basis to act united, populism and right-wing extremism will win in Europe. We need another Mario Draghi who decided to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. 

The greens in Europe must stand for a supportive approach. 

As suggested by my colleague Ville Niinistö (Finland), solidarity between the European MemberSstates means today good and sound economy. In the post-covid phase the future of Europe is at stake. If Europe collapses,  there is the risk of getting under  China’s and Russia’s geopolitical influence and power.

No member states will save itself alone.