Euro deputy since 10 years, the first elected Vice president of the European Parliament is an Italian. He comes from a beautiful and forgotten Southern Region, Basilicata, where unemployment and emigration, especially among the youth, are still extremely high. For this reason Gianni Pittella is instead very active, in contrast with the stereotype of the lazy and slothful attitude of the Italians. Apart from his charge at the Euro Parliament, he is also in the national Direction of the Italian Democratic Party and is President of the Italian Delegation of the PSE group. He admires president Obama and thinks that in Europe we should learn from this example. "Americans have raised their heads and fight seriously for their country. This kind of consciousness is what is needed in Europe, especially in my country".
When you discuss with him about Italy he sometimes even blushes, as far it goes his desire to see his country lived by people who are respectful and conscious of the concept of common goods. He thinks that in front of the financial catastrophe that has spread out globally "One should not forget to build solid bases to avoid that this can happen again, especially when the interests that have caused this crisis are still playing a huge role. This crisis has happened because a speculative finance was left free to act with no borders" he says. "We must challenge ourselves to reactivate public and private consumes and build a strong welfare for the weakest part of the society. Is this the main challenge that the European Union has to deal with at the moment". Hon. Pittella thinks that to control the financial markets it has to be created a new regulation for the derivates, organisms that can guarantee a straight public surveillance on the solidity of the banks and inflexible punishment to those who defraud the investors. "We can learn a good lesson from the new American administration. President Obama has focused his attention on the renewable energies to re-launch the economy in his country. This is the global new frontier to start to solve the climate change and to create a strong and healthy new economy. Europe could make the same, and it is not a case that already an Italian firm is involved in the American project. We, in Europe, have the know how to let this happen but we are is still missing a strong public 'hand' that can start the process". In other words to solve the global crisis Hon. Pittella is seeking a way for a world governance and restart a multilateralism campaign. "President Obama has canceled the Bush doctrine of being self-sufficient and not caring of the rest of the globe. The economic growth of countries like China, India and Brazil imposes instead a large mediation that cannot be solved only with a "cold war" vision. In this scenery Europe does not have yet an unitary voice. We should look at the actual American example to reinforce the European Union, so that countries like Italy, that somebody with some reasons would like to kick out the G8, could have still a role in the world governance".