Addressing the University of Messina, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said the European Parliament is ready to further strengthen its cooperation with all stakeholders to ensure that the mafia never again finds refuge in any corner of our continent.
His Excellency Giovanni Accolla, Archbishop of Messina, National Anti-Mafia and Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor, Giovanni Melillo, President of the Court of Appeal, Luigi Lombardo, Prefect, Cosima Di Stani, Mayor, Federico Basile, Distinguished Rector, Giovanna Spatari, Hon. Antoci, dear Giuseppe, Civil and military authorities, Distinguished guests, Dear friends, I have always felt a special connection with Sicily. Its geographical and cultural proximity to my country has made this land an integral part of my own history. And I do not know Sicily for the shadows cast by fear, but for the light of its value and the pride of its people. And even more so for its extraordinary ability to rise again, to resist victimhood, to withstand the weight of violence. Sicily embodies the most authentic spirit of our Union. Your history tells us this. A crossroads of cultures and exchanges, sharing between peoples and traditions that has helped to forge European identity. I am here as the President of the European Parliament- Your Parliament - but I am also a daughter of the Mediterranean. One of the few Europeans who can claim to come from the south of Messina. I was born in Malta, and the links between my country and Messina have always been strong and special. When Messina was devastated by the earthquake of 1908, that killed tens of thousands, Malta joined in sending urgent aid, doctors, pharmacists , volunteers. We helped re-build. Of course, this happened before the birth of the European Union but that was already the solidarity in action that formed the basis of our Union. Even the smallest island chipped in to help. That’s what Europe is all about. Allow me to express my special thanks to my colleague, Mr Antoci, for inviting me to speak at such an important meeting in this prestigious setting. The European Parliament is also represented today by its Secretary-General, Alessandro Chiocchetti, who has just spoken. We are here to send a strong and clear message: the fight against organised crime is an absolute priority for us. We will continue to firmly defend the dignity of those who have sacrificed their lives in the name of justice and the rule of law: judges, law enforcement officers, journalists and activists. Brave men and women. Among them, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Rocco Chinnici, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Cesare Terranova, a student at this university. Nor can we forget the escort officers, who courageously lost their lives. In Malta, corruption killed the journalist and my friend Daphne Caruana Galizia. In Slovakia, Jan Kuicak. And the list of losses goes on. Heroes killed because they defended the truth. Today's world owes muchto their sacrifices. I ask you to remember them with a strong round of applause.
In our House of European Democracy, which is also your home, we understand better than anyone else that the fight against these criminal networks can only be won through cross-border cooperation. Because when the whole of Europe is threatened, the whole of Europe must join forces to defend itself.
The establishment in 2012 of the Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering marked a turning point in the European Parliament's commitment. This work paved the way for decisive initiatives, including, in 2017, the creation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office: a fundamental step towards stronger and more cohesive judicial cooperation, capable of strengthening enforcement measures and protecting common financial interests more effectively. In recent years, the European Public Prosecutor's Office has taken on an increasingly central role, ensuring that funds allocated to National Recovery and Resilience Plans do not end up in the hands of criminal organisations, but are invested in growth, innovation and the future of citizens. Because what the mafia takes from the community must be returned to the community. It is in this same spirit that the European Parliament has strongly supported the Directive on asset recovery and confiscation: a historic piece of legislation, inspired by the Italian model, which strengthens our common tools for targeting illicit assets and returning them to society. Initiatives such as these teach us how much harmonisation represents added value when it comes to crimes that cross national borders. Organised crime thrives on the loopholes created by unaligned legislation. It insinuates itself into different legal systems, exploits inconsistencies and evades controls. We must and can do more. And European agencies — Europol, Eurojust, CEPOL — are at the forefront. And alongside them, our common databases: the Schengen Information System for tracking wanted persons and assets to be seized, the European Criminal Records Information System for sharing criminal records, and the Visa Information System for visa data. They enable us to react more quickly, coordinate better and strike harder at mafia networks. Similarly, we must strengthen our efforts to neutralise what allows criminal networks to persist in Europe. I am thinking, for example, of money laundering. Eliminating money laundering mechanisms is tantamount to cutting off the root of their strength and their capacity for international expansion. In this spirit, the European Parliament has adopted a package of laws that strengthens the Union's fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, sending a clear message: the single market can no longer be a refuge for dirty money. Unfortunately, corruption continues to be one of the main means used by criminal organisations to infiltrate institutions. Fighting corruption means fighting the poison that corrodes citizens' trust and undermines the foundations of our society. We are working with Member States to quickly approve the Anti-Corruption Directive. This will be a decisive step towards strengthening transparency, protecting our democracies and undermining those who do not want our citizens to live in a fairer and safer Europe. Last April, we also launched the ProtectEU strategy, which introduces new tools to target transnational criminal networks. This is a decisive step towards ensuring that the security, justice and protection of citizens remain at the heart of the European agenda. As today's discussion shows, Europe continues to face enormous challenges. Organised crime is adapting rapidly to the changes of our time, and it is therefore essential that we too are able to respond with the same speed. We are facing an epochal transformation: we must be able to manage the technological revolution that is reshaping our society, so that innovations such as artificial intelligence remain at the service of democracy and do not become weapons in the hands of criminals. The threats are real and manifold: from cryptocurrencies used for money laundering, to fraud and abuse against minors, to deepfakes and digital manipulation exploited for illicit trafficking. We were the first in the world to regulate the crypto-asset markets and to pass historic legislation on artificial intelligence. We must maintain this momentum, prevent and guide change. Friends, we have already come a long way together. The successes of Italy – and Sicily in particular – in the fight against organised crime are not just a national achievement: they are a compass that guides the whole of Europe, a point of reference for those who believe in justice and freedom. Today, it is up to each of us to decide what legacy we want to leave to future generations. The European Parliament is ready to further strengthen its cooperation with all stakeholders to ensure that the mafia never again finds refuge in any corner of our continent. Thank you. You can read the President's speech in Italian here.