Giorgia Meloni: "No one will convince me that the surrender of someone defending their freedom can be called 'peace'"

"Russia has launched a new autumn campaign against Ukraine. Unable to advance on the front, Moscow has started hitting the civilian population harder and harder: power plants, residential buildings, hospitals, even buses carrying people to work, like that horrific massacre in Kramatorsk."

"This is a strategy in which Russia wants to subjugate Ukraine through terror, cold, and darkness simply because it could not subjugate it on the battlefield."

"The facts contradict Kremlin propaganda and those who bring it here: at the beginning of the year, Russia captured very little territory, and in September, it lost much of what it had captured."

"This halt [of Russia] did not fall from the sky: it was achieved thanks to the courage of Ukraine and the support of the West, including Italy."

"This halt is the only effective tool to bring Russia to the negotiating table. I respect and understand the heated debate on this issue even in this chamber, because no one here wants war. We all want peace. The difference is how we want to achieve it."

"As I see it, supporting Ukraine is not an alternative to peace, it is what makes peace possible."

"Because if the aggressor seeks the surrender of his opponent, why should he negotiate?"

"Surrender is not peace. It is conquest."

"If Ukraine stops defending itself tomorrow, as many suggest, we will not have peace. We will be discussing the occupation of a European nation and the return of Soviet imperialism."

"Personally, I do not miss those times. I do not miss Russian tanks crushing the uprisings in Prague and Budapest. I do not miss the Berlin Wall."

"And no one will convince me that the surrender of someone defending their freedom can be called 'peace'."

"The peace we want and are working towards, even at the cost of concessions, is a just peace, because only a just peace can last. Only a just peace can ensure calm for Europe and our interests."

"Therefore, the government's position remains unchanged: support for Ukraine with particular attention to the civilian population, pressure on Moscow, and Euro-Atlantic unity remain the pillars of our actions."

"In this context, we must pay attention to Donald Trump's diesel deal with Russia."

"This is a choice that I consider very risky."

"Naturally, we all share the need to contain fuel prices, which are a heavy burden on Italian families as well."

"But we must understand that the rise in prices is primarily due to the war in Iran, not Ukraine."

"Legitimizing Moscow, whose bombs continue to fall on Ukrainian cities, new revenue to finance the war, weakening sanctions – these are all elements that we cannot ignore and that contradict what Western states, including the US, have done to force Putin to the negotiating table."

"An energy truce is another matter, which Italy supports, and we are grateful to President Zelenskyy for Ukraine's immediate readiness for it. Now we await Russia to stop attacking Ukrainian energy grids."

"Ultimately, at such a difficult moment, when so many variables are getting out of control, there is at least one thing that depends on us:"

"we must ensure that Europe does not stand by and watch, because the conditions of peace affect our continent and our security," Giorgia Meloni stated.

Her speech was repeatedly interrupted by applause.

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