Antonio TAJANI, EP President, attends the inaugural session of 15th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly for the Union of the Mediterranean (PA-UfM) in the European Parliament, in Strasbourg.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

Strasbourg

meeting

Parliamentary Assembly of Union for the Mediterranean (T)

15th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM): extracts from the inaugural session in the presence of Antonio TAJANI, EP President

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/19932315/I167684Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

Atmosphere shots before the 15th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the UfM starts (9 shots)

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Unfortunately, we live in a difficult era in which traditional points of reference are daily questioned. In which it is believed that isolating, distrusting its partners and looking for a unilateral path, we can keep the crisis and the discontent that are wiping out in many of our countries. Obviously this is not how we have to act. This Assembly of ours remains a privileged instrument of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I would therefore like to share with you the hope that our assembly and the entire Euro-Mediterranean cooperation process will be able to receive new blood and a new impulse that will enable it to become a protagonist in such an important and difficult area of ​​the world. And I would like our parliaments to be protagonists of this turning point.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Europe will lose thirty million inhabitants by the middle of the century. The birth rate of the main European countries has fallen to very low levels. Our societies become a world in which children are rare and the elderly are the majority. We must not demonize immigration but we must ensure that it is sustainable and well regulated.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, This is vita for peace, peace is at stake currently, that's the geopolitical reality. If we can become vectors for change and encourage dialogue and encourage parliament to parliament dialogue then we will be able to play an ever more significant role. As representatives of the people of our countries we are closer to the citizen's needs, we have this direct relationship with them. This Assembly is well placed to play a political role, not only in terms of terms of dialogue and sharing ideas but also on initiatives for growth development and peace across the Mediterranean area, and I would also say that an inter-Faith dialogue is also an element to this. Religions should also be a  vector for peace. Conclusion and applause