22
Jun
2022
Watch
Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)
Mr President, Madam President of the Commission, Minister, for the latter of the French Presidency, the European Council of tomorrow promises to be once again historic. My group welcomes the spirit of responsibility shown by all Member States and the Commission's work to achieve this. Madam President, Ukraine’s candidate status is a fair recognition of the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people for our European values. We could not have been unaware – as I have said many times in this Chamber – of the blood shed in the name of the ideal of peace, democracy and sovereignty in this unjust war. I hope that this same spirit of responsibility will also prevail among the members of the Council on the issue of the Western Balkans. We also have a duty to build the European path of these nations. This is the position of my group, which is also in favour of Moldova's candidate status. The Council will also finally decide on the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe. I know that some people think that these institutional issues are secondary and, by comparison, surely, are not among the emergencies of our time. I think they are wrong. What is our near future? We Europeans? Probably a combination of crises that will force Europe to decide in a coherent, ambitious, rapid way: inflation settles in a sustainable way, with the possibility of passing on sovereign debt; food crises, humanitarian and migration crises, probably; Climate change will continue if we do not act... And in the face of these challenges, are we ready today, together with our institutions, to act? Perhaps we can repeat once again the miracle of the COVID crisis, which, together with the recovery plan, created a massive, rapid and urgent response from the European institutions, a real impetus for European solidarity, with a speed we had never seen before. But some states will likely use our institutional architecture, including the veto, to block the efforts needed to deal with these new crises. And that is exactly why, Madam President, Mr Minister, we will not leave the institutional project behind. This project is important. Some Member States - and, forgive me, still the same - are blocking the necessary reforms. Vetos are not vetoes of peoples, but are vetoes and blackmails of struggling governments. The blockage on the global minimum tax is as much a symptom as a warning for us, and we are obviously paying attention to all these points. We have so much to do and we must not disappoint. Mr Minister, Madam President, you know that our political family is carrying this institutional reform in Europe. We have a majority of Council members who are ulcerated by the behaviour of certain States. You know that citizens will not accept the spectacle of inaction on these issues. So my watchword, and the watchword of my group, will be to open this reform and follow it up in the European Parliament, which has paved the way for this procedure.