9
Jul
2025
Watch
Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 26 June 2025 (debate)
Madam President, Madam President von der Leyen, Mr President Costa, ladies and gentlemen, one word has come up in recent years: that of crisis – cgeopolitical rise, trade crisis, democratic crisis, but also climate, economic, social, health or migration crisis. Fortunately, it is said that Europe advances only in crises. This has been demonstrated in recent years, with the way we have responded to Brexit, COVID-19 with vaccines and the historic recovery plan, the war in Ukraine with the deployment of defence Europe and the strengthening of our energy independence, and global warming with the Green Deal. The Renew Europe Group has been the driving force behind these concrete achievements, with an obsession: protect our middle and working classes, the hardest hit. But today, ladies and gentlemen, the European Union must do even more. That is what we felt at the end of the last summit, Mr President. I welcome, of course, the progress made by the 27: on unanimous support for European defence, on strengthening our competitiveness and on supporting the Commission in trade negotiations with the US, in order to reach a swift and pragmatic agreement. But on many other subjects, ladies and gentlemen, let us go further! Let us not forget, of course, Ukraine; Let us not lose sight of the danger that Russia poses to our own security. As regards the lack of unanimity on the 18th package of sanctions, let us say: this is a failure. As we know, Fico’s Slovakia and Orbán’s Hungary are two supporters of Vladimir Putin and they are thorns in the foot of Europe. Let us also not forget what happened during the presidential election in Romania, where Russian interference was clearly demonstrated. Vladimir Putin’s Russia has only one objective vis-à-vis the European Union: to encourage agents of division in the Member States to instil doubt about the necessary support for Ukraine, to influence our decisions here in this Chamber, thanks to relays that are now perfectly identified, and to encourage the lack of unanimity in the Council. The time we are wasting here has only one consequence: to favour the Russian forces in their work of undermining the Ukrainian resistance. Today, Europe is Ukraine’s biggest supporter. Ladies and gentlemen, on this subject and on all the others, there is an elephant in the room: Donald Trump's United States. America is a challenge for us today: Who has global leadership? Ladies and gentlemen, Europe has everything to enforce itself (a market of 450 million consumers, rules that protect us...), but it must be at the initiative, not to suffer, not to be shy in the implementation of its legislative agenda, to preserve its unity on Ukraine, to strengthen its partnerships with allies who share our values – and I am thinking, in particular, of the United Kingdom. That is why, ladies and gentlemen, we must act, propose and move forward. My group, Renew Europe, will always be on the side of Europe’s architects, and what I propose here is a triple plus: faster, stronger, further – because we need Europe!