Speeches

Madam President, I would like to thank President von der Leyen for putting competitiveness back at the heart of Europe’s agenda. This will make our economy stronger and it will allow us to safeguard higher social standards in Europe. Thank you very much for putting farmers back on the European agenda. Farmers had to manage high uncertainty since the Russian invasion. They need all our support and we have to make sure that grain from Ukraine gets to where it is needed in northern Africa and the Middle East, and doesn’t flood the markets in central and eastern Europe and doesn’t become a risk for farmers in EU Member States. Thank you for also supporting the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen area will make the whole Schengen area stronger, will make Europe as a whole safer. Two points from my side. Firstly, whenever people are in need of support in Europe, support is coming. We have shown this in the pandemic and in times of war. One of our main tools to provide support is the budget. You have put forward a proposal for the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework because it is getting to its limits. It has to do more than it was anticipated. Let’s work together to get this done before the end of the year, to provide stable finances for the next years, to be able to do more for defence, for military mobility, for people who are coming to Europe and who need support for tackling illegal migration, because whatever is illegal has to be tackled of course. My second and last point, we can only live in safety and stability within the borders of the European Union if we are surrounded by countries which are safe and stable. So let us start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. That does not mean that the countries will join now; it just means that we make them stronger and fitter for accession, which is good for those countries and good for the European Union. There is a wide majority in Parliament for this.

Mr President, thank you very much and I know exactly what I want to share with colleagues this morning. The title of our debate is, of course, ‘Developments in the war against Ukraine in and in the Russian Federation’. 500 days since the beginning of the war, we are seeing that the Russian Federation is a threat for the security of all of us in Europe. And now, it’s time to invest in the security of our Member States. And security will not come by itself. We have to invest; we have to support our Member States. We have to spend and we have to do more wherever possible at European level. And we also have to learn from the mistakes of the past. In the past, we always said we shouldn’t provoke the Russian Federation, but now we saw Russia attacked Ukraine in an unprovoked manner. And what provokes Russia is weakness, not strength. The stronger we are, the better it is for our relations with Russia. And this is also the conclusion since 2014 – had we supported Ukraine more and faster, maybe the invasion could have been prevented. So what we have to do now is support Ukraine immediately with all its needs. Secondly, of course, work on the NATO perspective. And the signs from the Vilnius NATO summit are encouraging. And we saw the political will that as soon as this is possible, Ukraine should become a Member State of NATO. I believe this will strengthen NATO and this will be the best guarantee for the security of Ukraine in the long term. In order to do what we need to do on security, on defence, to be stronger, to better defend ourselves, we need resources and we also need the right amount of money, including at European level. In 2020, we have decided a seven-year multiannual financial framework without knowing that Ukraine would be invaded, without knowing how much we will have to do for millions of Ukrainian people here in Europe, to provide shelter security, without knowing that inflation will be so high, that energy prices will be so high. Europe has helped a lot – including through the budget – Ukraine, Moldova, the neighbourhood, but also people here within Member States. But what we need now is an actualisation, a revision of this seven-year multiannual financial framework. This was not meant for the unexpected developments that we saw with Ukraine. So we need an actualisation so that we have money in reserve to respond to unexpected developments in Europe and to support Ukraine in a sustainable, predictable manner until 2027 and beyond that, for as much as is needed.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we all want to help Ukraine. Ukraine has been attacked illegitimately, unfairly, illegally by the Russian Federation, and we all want to help Ukraine. But we must help Ukraine in such a way that we do not affect farmers in Member States of the European Union and, Commissioner, for a year now we have known that we have a surplus of cereals in Ukraine, too many cereals, and we know that these cereals are needed in other countries outside the European Union. In your position as Commissioner for Agriculture you had to make sure that the transit of cereals, where there are too many cereals, where they are needed, is organised properly. These cereals have flooded the markets of the Member States of the European Union, they affect local producers, they affect local farmers and that is why, Commissioner, you must put in place and make this mechanism work exactly as we thought it would last year. Its commissioning has been delayed and this is your direct obligation as Commissioner for Agriculture. In two or three months the harvest will come this year already and it must be clear: grain can leave Ukraine, Member States in the European Union are just transit zones and go where they are needed. It is your obligation to defend farmers in all Member States of the European Union. It is your obligation to defend farmers in a crisis situation, but we need to prepare for such situations in order to avoid going back into times of crisis in the future. That's why the mechanism we've decided on has to work. It is a European solution for farmers in all European countries.

Mr President, dear colleagues, we have just decided together the new common agricultural policy, which is under implementation since the beginning of this year, and this is why I say now that the priority needs to be to implement what we have decided together. Do not add additional costs, additional burdens to the farmers. Farmers have already needed to adapt a lot. They have already made sacrifices. What they need now is predictability, not new burdens and not unpredictability. My group, the EPP, is committed to the Green Deal, to the transition to the green economy, but we want this to be done with farmers, not against the farmers. We have to create a framework in the rural areas which attracts farmers, young farmers, female farmers, not a framework which rejects farmers. Farmers are essential to our society. They ensure high quality food products here in Europe, they ensure food security. So we have to listen to them. We have to treat them with respect. The war in Ukraine, dear colleagues, we have to recognise, changed a lot in terms of market situations, in terms of price volatility, in terms of risks to food security, and we have to take this into account in any decision that we are making. This is why, on nature restoration, on pesticides, the new reality has to be taken into account. Herbert Dorfmann has said, on behalf of our group, everything that had to be said. May I add, on behalf of the EPP Group, that there should be no additional measures, no proposal for the reform of the common agricultural policy right now. Let us implement what we decided. One last word, Commissioner McGuinness, we appreciate your presence today here, your efforts, but the Commissioner on Agriculture belongs in a debate on agriculture in the European Parliament. Commissioner Wojciechowski is absent. He is weak. He is not defending farmers. Please convey to him that we expect him to listen to farmers and to listen to the European Parliament.

Madam President, dear colleagues, I would like to say a few words on the discharge of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is part of the discharge of 2021. And it is for the first time that this happens, because in 2021, the largest package of economic support that we ever created at European Union level, entered into force. And because it is so large, you have to make sure that money is well spent, that the money really reaches the beneficiaries that it is intended for and that the expected results are being achieved. The Recovery and Resilience Facility is a new element in terms of set-up, in terms of functioning, in terms of financing, and it’s performance-based and money is being paid based on the achievement of milestones and targets. This is why it is so important that adequate control mechanisms are being put in place. It was following the pressure of the European Parliament that the Commission has finally put forward a methodology to evaluate milestones and targets and to make partial payments. And this is important because the one single payment that we saw in the year 2021, the European Court of Auditors has told us that one milestone and target for the one single payment made in 2021 for Spain, one milestone and target was not sufficiently met. And let me say very clearly, based on the current methodology, the Spanish Government should not have received that payment in full. It is good that we have this methodology now. I also welcome the recommendations of the report asking the Commission to further develop this methodology, and I call on the Commission to apply a strict approach and particularly equal standards to all Member States. And, last point from my side, Madam President, the biggest 100 beneficiaries in each Member State have to be published, but we are calling for Parliament to be given access to all lists of beneficiaries from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Madam President, Welcome to the European Parliament, Chancellor, where a very large majority of pro-European colleagues are working together on solutions for the citizens of Europe. But in order to find the right solutions, we need to make the right diagnoses. February 24, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has changed a lot for us Europeans. It's not just about Ukraine, it's about our European way of life. What is being attacked here are European values: Freedom, democracy, the rule of law. That is why it is so important that, first of all, as the European Union, we stick together, act together, help Ukraine quickly and on a broad scale. If we had supported Ukraine even more before 2022, this attack could have been prevented. The attack was planned because we ourselves were not more active. Therefore, strong and rapid support for Ukraine. Secondly: Russia has been preparing for this attack for a long time. This attack has not been provoked by Ukraine in any way, as Russia claims. Therefore, please actively combat Russian propaganda. Thirdly: We have to question our old theses. The notion of not provoking Russia has proved irrelevant. Not offering Ukraine a NATO perspective would be wrong. We should not be afraid of a weak Russian Federation, but of a strong Russian Federation. Ukraine's victory is in Europe's fundamental interest. Ukraine's victory is the fastest way to peace in Europe. And finally, because we are a rules-based Union, two more requests. Firstly: 2% of gross national income for defence, as we have agreed in each NATO member state. And secondly: Active support for the Schengen accession of the two countries that already meet all the conditions: Bulgaria and my home country Romania. This is important for citizens and important for Europe.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the debate that we are having today is a very fundamental debate for the European Union. It is not a technical debate. Debates about fiscal rules and about public budgets in Europe are debates about and decisions about people’s money. Our obligation is to manage people’s money with great care, to make sure that the next generations have more opportunities than the previous generations. This is why we need to get the objective of this fundamental debate right. The objective is not to make more depth in Europe. The objective is to allow our economies to grow, to generate jobs and to generate wealth while we keep debt low in Europe. Because we have all seen that too high levels of debt are a risk. They are a vulnerability for our economies, particularly in times of crisis. This is why we as EPP Group say very clearly our economies need to grow faster than our debt grows, and in order to allow our economies to grow, reforms are important, competitiveness is important. And yes, while we recognise that different countries are in different situations and they have different paths towards debt sustainability, the overall objective needs to be for a debt to be low because only with low debt we can help in times of crisis. We could at the beginning of COVID create the largest package of economic support because still we had space of manoeuvre in Europe and we need to we need to manage this with great care. We as EPP Group ask for clear rules, predictability, no exemptions, agreements between the Commission and Member States and these be respected.

Mr President, dear colleagues, what we are doing now is to propose a transparent, an objective and a predictable mechanism for the funding of the European Union for the future. Always in the future, people should know and enterprises should know how the budget of the European Union is formed, where the resources, where the revenues are coming from. This should be clear many years in advance so that we also have predictability for the final beneficiaries. This is what the European Parliament supports with a large majority – the creation of European own resources – and this is also what my political group, the EPP Group, supports. These are the benefits. The two co-rapporteurs, José Manuel Fernandes and Valérie Hayer, are putting forward now a basket of own resources, which I believe deserves our support. It deserves our support because it is the beginning of the process. We should now reflect on an objective basis what basket of own resources we should implement so that we can provide stable revenues for the budget of the European Union without burden, for citizens, without burden for enterprises. This is what we have agreed interinstitutionally – the European Commission, European Commission, Council and Parliament – to do to look for a basket of own resources in the upcoming years, because immediately after the beginning of COVID we have created NextGenerationEU, which is the largest package of economic support ever created, and people and enterprises are seeing the benefits. But this has to be paid back, and the repayment of NextGenerationEU should not become a risk for farmers, for researchers, for other beneficiaries of EU farmers. This needs to be our objective, and this report is a good basis.

Madam President, thank you, Prime Minister Bettel, and many thanks to the people of Luxembourg for being excellent hosts to the European Parliament and to many institutions of the European Union for more than 70 years. The people of Luxembourg have always been at the forefront of European integration and at the forefront of defending European values. Let us stick together in defending Europe against extremism, against euroscepticism, against division and against exclusion. Let us fight together for European values, for our democracy, for our institutions, for the values of the free world. And let me say that defending our European way of life requires efforts, and sometimes it also requires costs. Safety, security and defence is something important to my political family, to the European People’s Party, and we have to work on this together. This is why my plea to you, Prime Minister: battle that Luxembourg increases also its commitment to safety, security and to defence spending, as we have all agreed in NATO to allocate 2% of our GDP to defence. The people of Ukraine are fighting for a European way of life. We should also defend our security here in Europe and at our borders.

Mr President, through the guidelines on the budget of the European Union for 2024, the European Parliament gives a clear message. We give a message of development, of support. The guidelines put forward by the Parliament’s general rapporteur, Janusz Lewandowski, will allow us to support small and medium-sized enterprises, to invest into research, into innovation, to give a perspective to enterprises and to citizens in Europe. They will help us to modernise our economies, to make them more modern and more competitive and to succeed in the transition to a green economy. They also lay emphasis on youth, and it is clear that young people are a priority for Europe and they are a priority for the budget. I would like to congratulate our general rapporteur, Janusz Lewandowski, for the clear guidelines that he has put forward, and I would like to thank the shadow rapporteurs of other political groups for working together with him in a very constructive manner. This is a first step in the budgetary procedure, and we are looking forward to working with the European Commission on the basis of the draft budget that the European Commission will put forward to give a clear signal that we are developing Europe. In addition to this, we have to continue supporting Ukraine. Ever since the beginning of the war, for the whole duration of 2022 and also 2023, we have financially made great efforts and were able to support Ukraine. This was right. We will do this also for the year 2024, and we will also stand by the side of farmers and any other categories of enterprises or people in the European Union that have to adapt to the new reality in Ukraine.

Mr President, High Representative, Executive Vice-President, four points from my side on China. Firstly: reduce dependencies on China. We saw with regard to the Russian Federation and dependency on an undemocratic, autocratic regime can be a vulnerability to the European Union. It is a significant risk to the European Union, particularly in times of crisis. We should learn from this. We should invest in research, innovation, use our single market, modernise our digital single market, make sure that our companies become even more competitive on the global scale so that we are as less dependent on China as possible. First point. Second point: economically, China is a significant partner to us. We are a significant partner to it. We are the largest export market for Chinese products, so we should work and insist on reciprocity, improve access to the Chinese market for European companies, make sure that conditions for European companies in China are being improved and unfair practices are being terminated. Thirdly, values are important to us. We should not compromise on values. A selfie with the Communist Chinese leader should not be a goal for the European Union or for any politician coming from the European Union when visiting China. China will not respect us if we are weak. Our objective needs to be to improve our position towards China and speak up on human rights, also when it is difficult. And fourthly: the relationship with the United States and other allies. We need to give a clear message. The alliances that we are members of, the alliances of the free world, are important to the European Union. So are our allies. We are sticking together. The objective of China is to have the upper hand in relation to the European Union. We have to avoid this.

Madam President, President Michel, thank you for keeping Ukraine high on the agenda of the European Council. Let me be clear: the best and quickest way for peace in Europe and in Ukraine, and for safeguarding peace on our continent, is providing immediate and consistent military support to Ukraine. This helps Ukraine and it protects also Europe. We should not be afraid of Russia’s defeat. We should be afraid of Russia’s victory. The stronger Russia becomes, the more dangerous it is for us, for our way of life. The weaker Russia is after the war, the less it will be able to challenge the rule of law, democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, democratic institutions and European institutions. This is what we stand for, and these are the actual targets of the Russian Federation. We can better protect these if Russia is defeated; a strong Russia is a danger for us, not a weak Russia. President Michel, thank you also for travelling to Moldova yesterday and for supporting the Republic of Moldova. And I believe that it is correct that the European Council has asked the Commission to put forward a new support package for Moldova ahead of the next European Council. For us, the EPP Group, into that package belong two elements. Strengthening the European security hub in the Republic of Moldova that we are helping create together, because the security challenges for our neighbourhood and for us are the same; through that security hub, we can better tackle those challenges. And secondly, trade. The more we help Moldova, Ukraine, to develop economically, the closer they will be to the European Union, the easier, the smoother the integration process. So security and trade are essential in relations with Ukraine and with Moldova.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in order to be able to live safely and securely within the borders of the European Union, it is essential to be surrounded in our immediate neighbourhood by states that are safe and stable. The Republic of Moldova is a neighbour of the European Union and the Republic of Moldova is a neighbour of Ukraine. That is why a pro-European Moldovan Republic is good for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, but it is also important for the European Union, and for Ukraine. We know in the meantime that the citizens of the Republic of Moldova want European integration, we know that the current authorities in Chisinau, president, government, parliamentary majority, want European integration, we also know who does not want this: The Russian Federation and the oligarchs who have been accustomed to controlling the business environment, the political scene and the media in the Republic of Moldova in recent years. So, what do we have to do? We must continue to help the Republic of Moldova. First of all, we must help the Republic of Moldova financially so that the authorities can help the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and the enterprises of the Republic of Moldova to get through this period. We must tell the Republic of Moldova, after the implementation of the nine reforms we have requested, what follows? And I say: as soon as these nine reforms are implemented, we need to start negotiations on accession to the European Union later this year, we need to liberalize trade with the Republic of Moldova, so that the Republic of Moldova can, like Ukraine, export as much as possible to us, can develop economically and even before accession becomes possible, because accession is a process that will take several years, we need to integrate the Republic of Moldova into the European internal market. This will benefit people. Everything we do for Ukraine we must do for the Republic of Moldova in the next period.

Mr President, President von der Leyen, High Representative, one year after the start of the war, we have to say clearly thank you to the people of Ukraine. The fight of the people of Ukraine is heroic. It is an inspiration to all of us. It is an inspiration to the free world. And we have the duty to say thank you. Our second duty is as long as the people of Ukraine are fighting we have to help them. We have to support them with all we can. Soon, fast. Because between the time we make a decision and the moment support gets on the ground, time passes. So we need to accelerate the speed of our decisions. The choice is not between war and peace. War is a terrible thing. None of us like war. We all want peace. But the choice is between fighting or surrendering. And as long as the people of Ukraine are fighting, it is our duty to stand by their side. And it is also our duty to tell to the people of Europe that Russia is failing. Russia is losing militarily, economically, politically and morally. Russia is talking about an imperialistic past which is long gone. We are building together a future for the people of Ukraine, for the people of Europe, and we are building it together. That’s the difference.

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues. The accusation in the room, made by prosecutors, is that a small number of individuals have created a so-called non-governmental organisation and have used this so-called NGO to influence democratic processes in the European Parliament. The accusation is also that money has flown, and this is grave. I believe that we, as Members of the European Parliament have, the obligation to protect European democracy, to understand exactly how this was possible and to make sure that this will not happen in the future. NGOs are a very important part of our democracy, of our societies. Very often, NGOs give voice to those who need support. Very often, NGOs fight for democracy, for freedom of speech, for human rights. The many honest and strong and good NGOs are, of course, to be distinguished from the small number of NGOs who have tried in an illegitimate and unlawful way to influence the opinion of the European Parliament. As we have rules here in Parliament, for Members of Parliament and for everyone entering, we should have rules for NGOs as well. These rules should allow us to identify wrongdoings, to prevent wrongdoings, and to make sure that never again in the future a process which happened recently will happen again. It should allow us to make sure that such a case remains an exceptional case, and it should allow us to make sure that in the future Members and NGOs can work well together in a predictable environment, but based on the rules. Particularly in the case of NGOs which obtain financial support from the European Union and participate in the EU public debate, I need to say we need transparency. We need to know who is behind these NGOs and how they obtain their financing. This is important for the credibility of NGOs, for the credibility of our European Parliament.

Madam President, dear colleagues, thank you very much for this positive debate. We have shown tonight that the European Parliament is united in applying REPowerEU. EUR 20 billion in fresh money coming from the European Union to the people of Europe so that people can easier face the difficulties that we all encounter nowadays: high energy bills; energy security. The problems of the past, the problems of the last year should not be the problems of the future. We are going to spend these European funds well, to make sure that we reduce our dependency on Russian energy, to make sure that we become more energy efficient, to make sure that we connect ourselves better so that we can use primarily the energy that we have here in the European Union. Never again, in the future, should we become dependent on one country, one source of energy, one route of transport, particularly when this implies regimes, countries that we cannot trust. Thank you very much, colleagues, for the fruitful cooperation. I’m looking forward to the vote which will take place this week. We are confident that a big majority will give a strong message from the European Parliament to the people of Europe. I would like to thank also the European Commission and also the Czech Council Presidency for having worked with us. Money is coming to the people of Europe; they will feel it soon. What will be important is for us to also spend these amounts well. REPowerEU, like the Recovery and Resilience Facility, is a plan for investments, but it is also a plan for reform. We will help those in need, but we should also make sure that we use this opportunity to modernise our economies, our public systems, to make them stronger, more resilient, more digital, to put them in a better position to help the citizens and to face crises in the future. Thank you for all your support, we’re looking forward to the implementation of this plan.

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, we have all seen over the course of the last year, since the illegitimate and illegal invasion by Russian armed forces into Ukraine, we have all seen how important energy independence is. We have seen that dictatorships, that autocrat leaders are not hesitating to use energy as a tool or political weapon against the people of Ukraine and also against the citizens of the European Union. And now, with the vote that we are giving this week for REpowerEU, we show clearly that we have learned from the past. We are going to act together, united as the European Union, to reduce our energy dependency on Russia, to import no more gas, no more coal, and no more oil from Russia. All of this together, as soon as possible and forever. We should also learn from the mistakes of the past. Never again in the future should we depend on one single country which supplies energy to us, on one single route of transport or on one single energy source. We should we should diversify our energy consumption. We should import from countries that we can rely on, from countries that are stable, from countries that are democracies, from countries that are partners. And we should produce as much energy as possible within the European Union because we have enough wind, we have enough solar, we have enough water for hydro energy. These are the basic principles of REpowerEU, a new EUR 20 billion fund which the European Commission proposed last year and which the European Parliament has worked on. We have fundamentally improved and amended the proposal of the European Commission so that this fund now can enter into force in a way in which it helps the people, enterprises and regions of Europe, with EUR 20 billion in grants which will help us to improve our infrastructure, connect ourselves better, which means we can move energy from where we have it to where we need it, reduce our dependency on Russia and become more energy efficient. Because the more energy efficient we are, the less energy we need to consume in order to reach our objectives, and the less energy we consume, the smaller the bill for the citizens and for enterprises. We have set clear European rules, but we have also allowed for flexibility so that Member States can use the money where they need it. We as a European Parliament have managed to obtain, in the negotiations with the Commission and the Council, a 20% pre—financing. That means that all governments of Member States will receive a 20% pre—financing at the beginning of the implementation of the programme. Now, when the situation is difficult, Europe will come and support with 20% pre—financing. We as the European Parliament have also imposed that countries that have cross—border projects, which would benefit us all, shall be obliged to do them. Up to 30% of the money should go into cross—border projects – if, of course, countries have such cross—border projects – because we need to help each other. We have seen countries that wanted to reduce their energy dependency on Russia last year, but they could not do it so soon. So we are going to work together. We are going to be together to reduce our energy dependency, and we are going to implement this programme in a way which helps people on the ground, in the regions. We want transparency on EU funds and we want the involvement of local and regional authorities because mayors, local and regional leaders know best what the needs of the communities are. To conclude, I would like to thank my two co-rapporteurs, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial and Dragoş Pîslaru for an excellent cooperation, but also the rapporteurs of the other sectorial committees, because it was a joint effort: Peter Liese on behalf of the Environment Committee; Dan Nica on behalf of the Industry Research Committee; Peter Jahr from the Agriculture Committee and Pascal Arimont from the Regional Policy Committee. We all worked together to make sure that this money is well spent and reaches people in need very soon.

Madam President, dear colleagues, we have all seen this year that we can only live in safety and stability within the borders of the European Union if we are surrounded in our Eastern Neighbourhood by countries which are safe, stable, at peace. This is why I am telling to you today that the fight that the people of Ukraine are fighting is also our fight. This is why it is right to support Ukraine and it is also in the fundamental interest of the European Union to support Ukraine. We did a lot this year and I think we can be proud of what we did in terms of sanctions, in terms of financial support. The EUR 18 billion put forward by the European Commission will allow the Ukrainian state to function this year, to pay salaries, to pay pensions, to keep hospitals, to keep schools going. And Commissioner Hahn, thank you for your personal engagement also for making this possible. We did a lot, but more has to be done and we do not need excuses for what cannot be done but we need arguments and solutions on what can be done. More on sanctions, support financially as much as is needed, and make sure that even before EU accession becomes possible, we bring Ukraine closer to European projects. Integration into the single market will help Ukraine, will help ourselves and the principle: whatever we do for Ukraine we do for Moldova as well.

Madam President, President von der Leyen, President Michel, welcome back to the European Parliament. Indeed, almost a year ago, Russia started what is an unjustified and unprovoked war in Ukraine. We have seen during this time that Russia knows no limits in harming people. But we have also seen that Europe can help people more than Russia can harm people. We have also seen the fundamental difference between the European model and the Russian autocratic model. We are a model that puts the citizen at the centre of our action, we act for the citizens; Russia and all autocrats around the world act against the citizens. They use people just for the will of political leadership. While Russia talks about the past, we prepare for the future. We are ready to modernise our countries, to further develop, to provide jobs, to care for the people, also in the future. We know that Russia is losing militarily. We see that Russia is losing economically, politically, and they have already lost morally. This is why the European model is the model that people have to look to. And the Russian model and any autocratic tendencies around the world are worth turning our backs upon them. This year will still be a difficult year for all of us, but we are also seeing the strength and the resilience of Europe. We see that unemployment is low, that people have jobs. We see that production is stable. We see that consumption is stable. And we see that EU Member States are helping the most vulnerable people in the face of this crisis, with fiscal measures, with measures to overcome well this winter, this period. We also see that the European Union has done its part. Just one week before Christmas we have managed to get the European Parliament Council and Commission to successfully conclude the negotiations on REPowerEU. This will help improve our infrastructure, further reduce our dependency on Russia, and it will bring European money to help companies in need and to help people in need. Last year we have managed to reduce our dependency on Russian gas, on Russian energy. We have taken first measures to reduce prices of energy in Europe, and this year, with the measures announced by the President, with the measures that we are going to do together, buying together, storing together, we are going to make sure that prices remain predictable, controllable, no more price—hikes in the future. And this is good for the people in Europe and it is bad for the Russian leadership. Competitiveness will also be important because we can only secure high standards of living, high social standards in Europe if our economy is strong, if there is global demand for our goods. This is why, in the Conference on the Future of Europe, we have together agreed on the competitiveness check to make sure that any legislation that we put forward together in the future does not harm the competitiveness of our economies. The European Parliament, national parliaments, Council, Commission, citizens, businesses support this, so let us work on this deal. Make sure that it sees the light of the day. And yes, simplifying and financing the transition to the green economy will be key. This is what we have started last year. This is what we have to continue this year. Let us do this together. It is all about preparing and acting together to overcome this situation. We have done a lot. I think premises are good to overcome difficulties this year together.

Madam President, Prime Minister, welcome to the European Parliament and thank you for assuming this important role of leadership on behalf of all of the European Union in these important times. Let me address two topics. Firstly, competitiveness: the Swedish Government is absolutely right to put competitiveness high on the agenda of the European Union in this first half of the year, because we can only ensure high standards of living in Europe, we can only ensure high social standards, if our economy is competitive, if our economy is strong, if we produce goods that are demanded on the global markets. To support the competitiveness of our economy, in the Conference on the Future of Europe, Prime Minister, we have proposed the introduction of a competitiveness check at European level, which means that whenever the European Commission will propose legislation in the future it should make sure that this improves, it strengthens the competitiveness of our economy, it does not affect it. And, Prime Minister, my kind request to you is to make sure that we work together, because this idea was supported in the Conference on the Future of Europe by governments, by Commission, by citizens, by European Parliament and national parliaments. Let’s work together for this idea to see the light of the day. Second topic: the enlargement of the Schengen area. Unfortunately, under the previous EU presidency, we could not unanimously agree on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area, although these countries fulfil all of the required conditions, as the European Commission has repeatedly said. This is why, Prime Minister, let us keep this topic high on the agenda to make sure we can fulfil this commitment, because as the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO would make us all safer, the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area would also make us all safer. Thank you very much, let’s deliver.

Madam President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, when we adopted the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, we adopted it together with Next Generation EU. Next Generation EU and the budget together allow for more spending, more investments than ever at the level of the European Union. But these two together are bigger than previous budgets. But, because of Next Generation EU, we decided to cut the budget narrower than before, and there are areas in the budget where the funding is insufficient simply because the budget, the headings, the lines are smaller than before. Of course, it would be wrong to always ask for bigger budgets, like it is also wrong to always ask for smaller budgets. The right thing to do for us now in the context of the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework is to look concretely where we can improve things, where we can do better. And one proposal is the following: in the budget we have included the repayment of the interest rate for Next Generation EU. We do not know exactly how much interest rate we will have to pay in each year, and including that inside the ceilings of the Multiannual Financial Framework means that we have an amount there which can grow and, if it grows, it becomes a risk for priorities of the budget and it also becomes a risk for our capacity to react in situations of crisis. The more we spend for interest rates inside the budget, the more we have for our real priorities, for our real policies and for helping people in need in times of crisis. And this is why I would like to reiterate what already is an official position of the Parliament to have the repayment of Next Generation EU interest payments outside the ceilings of the budget. Other than that, of course, we have to make sure that we allow for more flexibility in the context of this revision and that we really look at those lines in which we had unexpected crises, foreign policy, migration, borders, where the money that we provided is not enough, Concrete solutions for concrete problems, this is what we demand.

Mr President, President von der Leyen, Minister, dear colleagues, tomorrow’s European Council comes at an end of a year in which we delivered together. We, the European Parliament, together with the Commission and the Council, managed to support Ukraine throughout the year, managed to keep the European Union united, and we managed to sanction the aggressor. Just in recent weeks, we managed to provide funding and herewith security for Ukraine for next year; EUR 18 billion which will allow Ukraine to pay salaries, to pay pensions, to keep schools, to keep hospitals ongoing and supporting the Ukrainian people. And just this morning, we managed to agree on REPowerEU, which means that we will be able to reduce our dependency on Russian fossil fuels, accelerate the transition to the green economy; we will be able to improve our energy infrastructure and our energy efficiency. But let us do more dear colleagues. Full support, President von der Leyen, for the ideas, which you expressed. Let us also act not only react. High energy prices affect people and enterprises. It negatively affects the competitiveness of enterprises; let us work together early next year on a competitiveness check to make sure that all legislation that we put forward at European level does not negatively affect the competitiveness of European enterprises, but it helps them and improves their competitiveness.

Mr President, Romania's accession to the Schengen area is a fundamental objective for my country, Romania. People want this precisely because they are pro-European and because they want to be closer to Europe. In order to achieve this goal, we have made a lot of efforts, we have secured Romania's border according to the highest international standards, we have fulfilled all the conditions, which the European Commission has repeatedly confirmed. We have reformed justice so that the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism is lifted. All evaluations by the Commission and Member States' experts confirm that Romania is ready to join the Schengen area and that this would make the entire Schengen area safer. We have managed to have the support of 26 out of 27 Member States. However, the JHA Council did not take a favourable decision due to the opposition of only one state, Austria. We disapprove of Austria's position, we consider it unjustified. It is an injustice to people. We know that the arguments are in our favor, we know that the figures are in our favor. I ask you to reject populism, I ask you to reject as the European Parliament all unjustified arguments, to use objective arguments, official figures of the European institutions. Romania is not the source of migration, it has never been. Our goal is to join the Schengen area and we will work with everyone to achieve this goal as soon as possible.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the European Union has a budget for 2023, and that is good news. All beneficiaries of EU funds now have certainty. Farmers, researchers, small and medium-sized enterprises: they all know that money will come and money will come on time. That is good news. I would like to congratulate the two co-rapporteurs of the Parliament, Mr Ştefănuță and Mr Herbst, for defending so successfully the priorities of the Parliament. And I would like to thank the Commission, and Commissioner Hahn personally, for the extremely helpful, useful, essential role that they have played in finding a common position between the Parliament and the Council. It is clear that for next year we have a budget. But we also need to work on the long term and we need to do two things, because the multiannual financial framework has shown its limits. We saw that the budget only has a limited capacity to respond to unforeseen situations. We should do two things, Minister, Commissioner, colleagues: firstly, we should start together the work on the revision of the multiannual financial framework, and secondly we should clarify the repayment for NextGenerationEU so that it doesn’t become a burden for the budget of the European Union in the future.

Madam President, dear colleagues, firstly I would like to start by congratulating the two co-rapporteurs, Valérie Hayer and José Manuel Fernandes, on what is a very good report, widely reflecting the points of view of the Members of this House. Secondly, I would like to congratulate the Commission and the Commissioners specifically for what has been a successful borrowing strategy so far, if we evaluate it both in terms of volumes raised but also in terms of associated costs. NextGenerationEU is the largest package of economic support ever created by the European Union. We need to make sure that at the end of the day, the benefits for the people, for enterprises, for the regions affected by the virus, by its economic and social consequences, outweigh the costs and the risks. This is why, firstly, the borrowing strategy continues to be important and I believe that the borrowing strategy needs to be put in place in such a way that interest rates will continue to be as low as possible for the foreseeable future. But then, of course, we will also have to think about repayment. Making that is never an easy decision and that needs to be paid back. We have to clarify who, how and when pays back that debt. The Commissioner has rightly said that the European Commission has put forward a first document on own resources. We kindly ask Member States not to delay the implementation of what is a binding interinstitutional agreement between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council, with a clear objective to clarify the repayment of NextGenerationEU, because so far the interest rates of this instrument are included in the budget. They pose a risk for the budget. We do not want the repayment of this instrument to pose a risk for the budget as a whole.