Europe will not find its salvation in regulations from Brussels, but in its ability to recognise what it truly is. Our roots are Christian: this is not a slogan, but the result of two thousand years of shared history and culture, an inheritance that has been described as the very foundation of European identity.

A continent that rejects its own origins risks disappearing, replaced by those who defend their own roots with determination and without shame. I think of Islam, which brings with it a culture that is more deeply rooted and stronger than our own current culture. We see it every day in Europe: neighbourhoods where Italian is barely heard anymore, markets where the number of veiled women is growing, while the left continues to speak of “cultural enrichment”. What we are witnessing instead is the replacement of symbols, traditions and identities in exchange for a form of multiculturalism whose limitations have already been exposed in France,Belgium and the United Kingdom.

The fight against Islamisation is not a fight against a faith, but a fight for the survival of our values. We do not want makeshift mosques in garages and warehouses; we do not want minarets in our cities; we do not want school trips organised to listen to imams; we do not want schools to close for Ramadan while nativity scenes are removed at Christmas. It is political correctness that asks our culture to make itself smaller so as not to “offend” those who arrive, while expecting us to adapt at all times, without ever questioning anything, in a kind of reverse integration.

Political Islam can no longer be ignored. We have publicly denounced how networks linked to the Muslim Brotherhood seek to intimidate those who ask uncomfortable questions, through targeted complaints against those who oppose them, and we call for that organisation to be recognised for what it is: a threat to our democracy and constitutional order.

Then there is the shame of European institutional campaigns, where the veil has been used as a symbol of freedom in official EU communications, going so far as to state that “freedom is in the hijab”: in Brussels, many confuse submission with emancipation. It is the same political correctness that is incapable of openly defending the cross, the nativity scene and Europe’s Christian roots.

For this reason, we must continue the fight against uncontrolled immigration: secure borders, effective repatriation for those who commit crimes, and the courage to put remigration back on the table for those who are unwilling to integrate. Europe was born Christian and cannot die Islamic for the sake of electoral calculations.

Finally, there is an immigration business, involving opaque cooperatives and NGOs, which sustains itself through the continued presence of migrants rather than their genuine integration: those who profit from this system should be prosecuted, not funded.

We are not asking for anything revolutionary: we are asking for the right to remain who we are, without being ashamed of our roots.

Silvia Sardone — Member of the European Parliament (Italy)