Speeches

Mr President, in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) that I chair we are of course very much interested in the Fit for 55 package, as ITRE competence on energy, industrial policies, new technologies and innovation and ENVI competence on climate policy are very much interlinked. The 55% emission reduction target for 2030 has already been set. The Fit for 55 package will pave the way to reach this target. The Commission is very ambitious indeed. The proposal is already ambitious. The reality sometimes is far from ready for this transformation. Consequently, we in the European Parliament need to find the proper balance in this debate. We need to ensure consistency across policies, streamline our climate ambitions with a feasible transition leaving no region behind, with no industrial sector being negotiated, ensuring further the resilience both in the energy and industrial sectors and in particular of the energy system ensuring the security of energy supply. All of this while striving for energy autonomy in the Union, and keeping costs affordable for end users. In securing our lead in tackling climate change we need to work towards climate innovation and digitalisation, remaining competitive and ensuring growth in all our industrial sectors, and in particular in the heavy ones. As chair of the ITRE committee, I can say that the long-term commitment of this committee is to achieve the ambitious targets on climate policies, but with a coherent industrial policy with a just and inclusive transition, while maintaining the security of energy supply in the Union.

Mr President, this European Research Area – initially launched in 2000 under the Lisbon Treaty – underwent its revitalisation process in 2018. It is an effort to create a single, borderless market for research, innovation and technology across the EU. The objective of creating a genuine single market for research re-confirms the goal to realise an average research spending level of 3% of GDP. Research ministers reaffirmed their commitment to reaching the target by 2030. Here we are, 21 years after its launch, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic: Europe faces extraordinary health, economic and social challenges. Last year’s communication set high ambitions for the new European Research Area (ERA), and it is very much welcomed. To further strengthen Europe’s world-leading research, a strong ERA is essential, and must be based on research excellence, international collaboration, openness, inclusiveness and academic freedom. It should help fulfil the ambitions of the European Green Deal and industrial strategy. And this, of course, will be a great challenge. The context having been set with the communication, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, which I have the honour to chair, has tabled an oral question with a motion for a resolution, on the matter of which I put forward several aspects for your consideration. We’d like to underline the important role of that ERA played in research and innovation during the COVID pandemic, in finding multi-sectoral and transdisciplinary solutions to overcome the crisis. In this regard, we welcome the ‘ERA versus Corona’ action plan as an example of quickly defined and well-targeted action undertaken together with the Member States. We are concerned that improving the quality of such an innovation system is slowing down: it shows uneven progress across the Union. The COVID pandemic has not only demonstrated the importance of research and innovation cooperation, but also of open science practices and infrastructures to rapidly deliver solutions to the most demanding societal needs. While we welcome the inclusive approach of the Commission in aligning the ERA with the European Education Area and European industrial policy to foster synergies between the interdependent policies, this should lead to synergies, and not to more complexity in the European Research Area, the European Education Area or industrial policy. In order to achieve our goals, we need to have a pact for research and innovation in Europe, and clear commitments by 2030 to increase public spending on research, innovation, and national public R&D funding. We truly believe that one of the keys to success of significantly increased public spending on research and innovation lies in integrating different European, national and private funding streams, including convergence of funding through Horizon Europe, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), EU cohesion funds, and national R&D funding. We think that the recovery plans and the Next Generation EU represent an opportunity to reinforce the knowledge triangle and strengthen skills, education and research. And we stress the need for more structured links with the initiatives to reinforce the European Education Area and European Innovation Area. We call for an ambitious Horizon Europe, for widening participation and for the strengthening of an ERA package that supports collaboration between Member States in order to achieve a balanced access to excellence. We approve of the Commission’s plans to improve access to excellence, institutions and infrastructure for researchers from across the EU. However, there is a clear need for more targeted support aimed at helping close the research and innovation gap in the Union. We ask the Commission to work together with Member States to identify policies and procedures that could support a better management of research careers, reduce precariousness, promote inclusion and diversity, and ultimately increase the quality of science produced. We firmly believe that ERA cannot be complete without guaranteed academic freedom within the Union and without upholding the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union related to academic freedom, the freedom to fund higher education institutions, and the freedom to conduct business. In this regard, we underline that academic freedom does not only entail an individual dimension insofar as it is associated with freedom of expression, and specifically in the field of research, the freedoms of communication, of research and of dissemination of results. In order to achieve a strong research base in Europe, we need coherent efforts. We therefore welcome a reaction from the Commission to these matters. And I know that the ambitious, energetic and extraordinary Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will be able to make this ERA a reality.

Madam President, I would like to start by thanking Mr González Casares, the rapporteur, for the good cooperation, and Commissioner Kyriakides for bringing forward this proposal last November. As both shadow rapporteur for the reinforced mandate of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Parliament’s contact person for the EMA, I strongly believe that reinforcing and extending the mandate of the EMA should meet our expectations and at the same time streamline the need for the Agency to stay competitive worldwide and give patients quick access to medicines in times of public health emergencies. I welcome the reinforced structure for the functioning of the Medicines Steering Group, the Medical Devices Steering Group and the Emergency Task Force that shall be convened during public health emergencies. Our citizens need more transparency in terms of how the institutions manage a crisis and respond to it. Therefore, I emphasise that public information concerning clinical trials and marketing authorisation decisions will play an important role in regaining citizens’ trust and fighting disinformation. With the reinforced mandate, the Agency will approve faster vaccines and medicines in times of crisis and health emergencies, and will also provide more transparency for clinical trials. Mitigating shortages is a top priority for me, for the Parliament and for the EPP, my political group. Indeed, the proposal of an EU medicines supply database would be a very useful additional measure to help address EU shortages. But the proposal in this report goes beyond the intended scope of this crisis—oriented legal proposal. Thus, addressing shortages needs to be further considered beyond this current legislation as part of revising the basic pharma legislation implementing the EU’s pharmaceutical strategy, supported by an impact assessment and with the involvement of all actors concerned. A common central repository based on standardised data would serve as the first step towards monitoring shortages.

Mr President, I would like to join my colleagues, Ms Virkkunen, Mr Marinescu, Mr Riquet and Ms Bilbao Barandica, in special congratulations and appreciation for Commissioner Adina Vălean and her team. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) will be a key EU funding instrument that promotes growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted investment in infrastructure. Particularly important now while mainstreaming Green Deal ambitions for 2030 and aiming for climate neutrality by 2050, the CEF will seek to better integrate the transport, energy and digital sectors. CEF for Transport focuses on decarbonisation and making transport connected, multimodal, sustainable, inclusive, safe and secure. We need projects on building missing cross-border links and removing bottlenecks along main trans-European transport corridors, and we need to better connect the Union from west to east and from south to north. CEF for Energy contributes to the transition towards clean energy and the completion of the energy union. It will aim to make EU energy systems more interconnected, smarter and digitalised. We need CEF for Energy to focus more on cross-border energy projects and, as Commissioner Vălean has just mentioned, it will promote the interoperability of networks and a better integration of the internal energy market. Finally, CEF for Digital aims to improve digital connectivity by creating very high capacity broadband networks, better digital services and 5G networks along important transport axes.