Europe must move from words to action
Today’s State of the Union address comes at a defining moment for Europe. The European Union is facing an increasingly hostile geopolitical environment, economic uncertainty, climate change, technological disruption and growing pressure on democracy. Yet this is also a moment of opportunity. For Young Democrats for Europe, the central message of today’s speech is clear: Europe must have the capacity to act — and Europeans must remain in control of their own future.

We welcome the strong emphasis on European independence and strategic sovereignty. From energy and critical raw materials to defence, technology and economic security, Europe cannot afford dangerous dependencies. A stronger European capacity to act is not about turning away from the world. It is about having the power to choose our partners, defend our interests and protect our values. We particularly welcome the commitment to continued support for Ukraine, stronger European defence cooperation and a more coordinated approach to security. Pooling capabilities, reducing unnecessary duplication and making European defence spending more effective is essential. Europe must be able to defend itself while standing firmly with those fighting for freedom. We also welcome the proposal to deepen relations with Canada, including opening the door to a possible first-ever associate membership. In an increasingly uncertain world, building stronger partnerships between democracies is an investment in our common resilience.

A Europe that delivers for everyday life
Europe’s strategic strength will ultimately be judged by whether it improves people’s everyday lives. We therefore welcome the focus on completing the Single Market, reducing unnecessary administrative burdens, strengthening European energy independence and supporting European companies to grow. A competitive Europe must also be a Europe where young people can find opportunities to build their future. The housing crisis deserves particular attention. We welcome the first European Housing Act and, above all, the recognition that the right to stay matters: young Europeans should not be forced to leave their communities simply because they cannot afford to live there. The same applies to care, regional development and social rights. These are not secondary issues. They are part of what makes European freedom meaningful.

Climate and AI: Europe must lead, but responsibly
We welcome the emphasis on both climate mitigation and adaptation. Europe is already experiencing the consequences of a changing climate, and young Europeans will live with its consequences for decades to come. The proposed climate resilience measures, including stronger heatwave preparedness, urban adaptation and action on wildfires, should now translate into concrete protection for citizens and communities. On artificial intelligence, Europe must remain in the race while protecting human agency. We welcome investment in European computing capacity, startups and AI applications that can improve healthcare, productivity and public services. AI should empower people, not replace their agency. Europe’s competitive advantage can be precisely this combination of innovation, trust and fundamental rights.

From protecting young people to empowering young people
We welcome the proposed EU Kids Act and the ambition to create a safer digital environment for minors. The principle that platforms should bear greater responsibility for proving that their services are safe is an important step. But protecting young people cannot be the whole youth agenda. Young Europeans also need skills, jobs, affordable housing, mobility and opportunities to participate in shaping Europe today. We will therefore follow closely how the new initiatives translate into concrete opportunities for our generation. Young people should not only be protected from the future. We should be empowered to build it.

Europe needs political courage too
We also believe that the speech leaves some important questions unanswered. Europe cannot build strategic sovereignty while remaining unable to act decisively when unanimity allows individual governments to block common foreign policy decisions. The EU needs a serious debate on overcoming vetoes and strengthening its capacity to act internationally.
On Gaza and the Middle East, we welcome the commitment to humanitarian assistance and support for the Palestinian population. But humanitarian support cannot be the endpoint. Europe must translate its words into political action, including a credible diplomatic strategy capable of contributing to a lasting two-state solution and regional peace.
And on the rule of law and democratic resilience, Europe must remain consistent. The defence of European values cannot depend on political convenience.

Europe’s next chapter must belong to its citizens
We welcome the proposal for a new Congress of Europe to help develop a new European vision and reconnect the European project with the imagination of a new generation. But if this is to succeed, young people must not simply be invited to listen. Young Europeans must be protagonists — today, not tomorrow. Our generation is already creating businesses, researching new technologies, defending democracy, volunteering, studying across borders and shaping European society. We should have a seat at the table when Europe decides what comes next. The State of the Union has outlined an ambitious direction. We welcome much of it. But Europe now needs to make the decisive transition from words to action, from announcements to implementation, and from directives to tangible results. The future of Europe is not predetermined. It is in the hands of Europeans — and our generation is ready to take responsibility for it.


Matteo Brizzi – Spokesperson Young Democrats for Europe (YDE)

Europe is losing its own people.

Every year, thousands of Europe’s brightest researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators and highly skilled young professionals leave their regions or leave Europe altogether in search of better opportunities. From Southern and Eastern Europe to North America and Asia, the brain drain continues to weaken our economies, deepen territorial inequalities and undermine our long-term competitiveness.

At the same time, Europe is falling behind in the global race for talent. While countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia actively compete for the world’s best minds, the European Union still struggles to attract and retain highly skilled workers and international graduates.

This is one of Europe’s greatest strategic vulnerabilities.

If we are serious about Europe’s future, our priority should be to keep talent in Europe and attract new talent from around the world.

Instead of spending political capital and taxpayers’ money on legally uncertain and operationally questionable offshore detention schemes, the European Union should strengthen initiatives such as Choose Europe, invest massively in quality jobs, affordable housing, education, research and innovation, and build a genuine strategy to attract talents from the United States, South Korea, Japan and other partner countries.

Europe needs an effective, orderly and credible migration policy. It needs efficient return procedures and a functioning asylum system. But Young Democrats for Europe firmly opposes the creation of so-called “return hubs” outside the European Union.

These centres risk creating legal loopholes and accountability gaps, raise serious concerns regarding the protection of fundamental rights and are particularly unsafe for vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied minors.

Moreover, there is little evidence that such schemes actually work.

The Italian facilities in Albania have already shown the limits of this approach: legal challenges, operational difficulties, very limited results and enormous costs for taxpayers. Europe deserves policies that are effective and evidence-based, not expensive political theatre designed to produce headlines.

Security and humanity are not contradictory.

Europe can protect its borders while upholding human dignity, the rule of law and its international obligations. The answer to citizens’ legitimate concerns about migration cannot be the normalisation of legal grey zones or the outsourcing of responsibilities to third countries.

We are proud of the Members of the European Parliament from the European Democratic Party (EDP) and Renew Europe, including our Secretary General Sandro Gozi, who voted against these provisions and defended a Europe that remains both secure and faithful to its values.

Yesterday, some celebrated this vote by chanting:

“Send them back.”

Our answer is different.

Send back the politics of fear. Send back the illusion that Europe can outsource its responsibilities. Send back the idea that our values are a weakness rather than our greatest strength.

And above all, let us stop sending our own talents away.

The Europe we believe in does not deport its problems abroad while exporting its brightest minds. It invests in people, creates opportunities, attracts talent and protects fundamental rights.

This is the Europe that Young Democrats for Europe will continue to fight for in every country, every election and every institution.

And if something must be sent back, it should be the far-right ideas that seek to divide our societies and diminish our Union. We will work, with pro-European, humanistic and pragmatic policies, to send them back where they belong: back in the polls and out of the centre of European decision-making.

*Because Europe’s future will not be built on fear.

It will be built on talent, dignity and hope.*

A nome dei Giovani del Partito Democratico Europeo, e in qualità di Vicepresidente e Portavoce, desidero rivolgere a Pina Picierno il nostro più caloroso benvenuto e le nostre più sincere congratulazioni per il suo ingresso nella famiglia democratica europea.
Per noi non si tratta semplicemente di una nuova adesione politica. È il ritorno a casa di una delle voci più autorevoli, coraggiose e autenticamente europeiste del nostro tempo.
Le parole con cui la Vicepresidente del Parlamento europeo ha spiegato la sua scelta raccontano perfettamente la sfida che il riformismo è chiamato ad affrontare oggi:
“Il riformismo non nasce per custodire una comunità. Nasce per misurarsi con la realtà, soprattutto quando la realtà si presenta in forme nuove, scomode e persino inquietanti.”
È una sfida che sentiamo profondamente nostra.
Viviamo un’epoca in cui il progetto europeo è chiamato a dimostrare tutta la sua forza. La guerra è tornata nel nostro continente. Le autocrazie mettono in discussione la libertà, la democrazia e lo stato di diritto. L’intelligenza artificiale e le grandi trasformazioni tecnologiche stanno cambiando il lavoro, l’economia e il modo stesso in cui le nostre società si organizzano.
Di fronte a tutto questo, il riformismo europeo non può limitarsi a difendere ciò che esiste. Deve avere il coraggio di immaginare ciò che ancora non esiste.
Per noi giovani europei, il sogno di Ventotene non è un capitolo del passato. È una responsabilità del presente. Oggi quel sogno non vive soltanto nei palazzi di Bruxelles, Strasburgo o Lussemburgo. Vive anche a Kyiv.
Vive nelle donne e negli uomini ucraini che ogni giorno combattono e resistono per la libertà, per la democrazia e per quei valori europei che troppo spesso diamo per scontati. Vive in chi continua a credere che l’Europa non sia soltanto un mercato o un’istituzione, ma una comunità di destino fondata sulla pace, sulla libertà e sulla dignità della persona.
Come Giovani European Democrats crediamo in un’Europa che sia una vera casa comune per tutti i suoi cittadini. Un’Europa che offra alle nuove generazioni opportunità fondate sul merito, sull’inclusione e sulla mobilità sociale. Un’Europa che investa nella conoscenza, nell’innovazione, nella ricerca e nella produttività. Un’Europa capace di guidare la transizione ecologica trasformandola in crescita, competitività e sviluppo, non in declino o paura del futuro.
Siamo orgogliosi che Pina Picierno abbia scelto di portare il proprio impegno nella famiglia politica più europeista del Parlamento europeo. Una comunità che ha fatto del federalismo, dell’integrazione europea, della difesa dell’Ucraina, dello stato di diritto e della democrazia liberale le proprie battaglie fondative.
In queste ore desideriamo inoltre esprimere a Pina la nostra più sincera solidarietà per gli attacchi personali e politici che ha subito. La sua difesa della comunità ebraica europea e del diritto di Israele a esistere in sicurezza non è mai stata incompatibile con una critica ferma e rigorosa alle scelte dell’attuale governo israeliano. Al contrario, rappresenta l’espressione più autentica di quei valori democratici che rifiutano ogni estremismo e ogni forma di odio.
Allo stesso modo, condividiamo il suo appello affinché l’Europa sia protagonista di un’azione politica e diplomatica più forte per la tutela della popolazione civile palestinese e per la costruzione di una pace giusta e duratura nella regione.

Pina Picierno ha dimostrato in questi anni coraggio, indipendenza e coerenza. Valori che oggi sono più necessari che mai.
Per questo siamo felici di dirle: bentornata a casa.
Siamo pronti a lavorare insieme, nelle istituzioni europee come in Italia, per costruire un’Europa più forte, più giusta e più unita. Un’Europa che non abbia paura di difendere i propri valori e che continui a essere un faro di libertà nel mondo.
Il sogno europeo ha bisogno di donne e uomini che abbiano il coraggio di crederci. Pina Picierno è una di loro.
Vicepresidente e Portavoce dei Young Democrats for Europe Matteo Brizzi

On behalf of the Young Democrats for Europe, the youth organisation of the European Democratic Party, and in my capacity as Vice President, Spokesperson and Italian coordinator, I would like to extend our warmest welcome and heartfelt congratulations to Pina Picierno as she joins the European Democratic family.
For us, this is not simply a political affiliation. It is a homecoming.
A homecoming for one of the strongest, most courageous and most genuinely European voices of our generation.
The words with which the Vicepresident of the European Parliament explained her choice capture the challenge facing reformists today:
“Reformism was not born to preserve a community. It was born to confront reality, especially when reality appears in new, uncomfortable and even unsettling forms.”
This is our challenge too.
We are living through a defining moment for Europe. War has returned to our continent. Authoritarian regimes challenge freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Artificial intelligence and technological transformation are reshaping work, production and the very structure of our societies.
At times like these, reformism cannot simply defend what already exists. It must dare to imagine what does not yet exist.
For us, as young Europeans, the dream of Ventotene is not a memory. It is a mission.
Today, that dream lives not only in Brussels, Strasbourg or Luxembourg. It also lives in Kyiv.
It lives in the courage of the Ukrainian people who continue to fight for freedom, democracy and the European values that unite us. It lives in all those who believe that Europe is more than a market, more than institutions, more than treaties. Europe is a shared destiny built on peace, freedom and human dignity.
As Young European Democrats, we believe in a Europe that is a true common home for all its citizens. A Europe where young people can build their future through merit, inclusion and opportunity. A Europe that invests in knowledge, innovation, research and productivity. A Europe capable of turning the green transition into growth, competitiveness and prosperity.
We are proud that Pina Picierno has chosen to bring her commitment and leadership to the most pro-European political family in the European Parliament. A political family
that has consistently stood for European integration, federalism, support for Ukraine, the rule of law and the defence of liberal democracy.
We also want to express our full solidarity with Pina following the unacceptable personal and political attacks she has faced in recent days. Her support for the European Jewish community and for Israel’s right to exist and live in security has never meant uncritical support for the actions of the current Israeli government. On the contrary, it reflects a principled commitment to democratic values, human rights and peace.
Likewise, we share her call for Europe to take a stronger diplomatic and political role in protecting Palestinian civilians and advancing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
Throughout her political career, Pina Picierno has shown courage, independence and consistency. These are qualities Europe desperately needs today.
That is why we are proud to say: welcome home, Pina.
We look forward to working alongside her, both in Europe and in Italy, to build a stronger, fairer and more united Europe. An Europe that is not afraid to defend its values and its place in the world.
The European dream has always moved forward thanks to those who had the courage to believe in it.
Pina Picierno is one of them.
Matteo Brizzi Vice President and Spokesperson, Young European Democrats

Four years after Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, our message is clear: our solidarity has not weakened — it has grown stronger.

Ukrainian youth have sacrificed their studies, their careers, their safety and, for many, their lives to defend the very foundations of Europe: independence, freedom, democracy and the rule of law. They are not only fighting for their homeland. They are fighting for the future of Europe itself.

We must never allow fatigue to replace commitment. We must never allow distance to dilute responsibility.

Today, as Young Democrats for Europe, we send our unwavering support to:
• the young women and men defending their country on the frontlines,
• the students whose universities have been destroyed,
• and especially the children and young people unlawfully deported to Russia or to occupied territories.

Their courage is extraordinary. Their suffering is real. Their cause is just.

Ukraine’s youth are paying the price for Europe’s freedom.
We owe them more than words — we owe them steadfast support, action and remembrance.

We stand with you. Today. Tomorrow. For as long as it takes.”

— Young Democrats for Europe (YDE)