State of the Union (debate)
Speaker: Manfred WEBER (Germany, Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) / Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern e.V.)
Date: 2021-09-15

  Manfred Weber,  on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madam President, debating the State of the Union means today the first focus on what the pandemic has brought. Not everything went well and smoothly, but all in all, Europe has managed the crisis well. No other continent has developed a vaccine of a better quality. No other continent has a higher vaccination rate. No other continent has shown more solidarity and willingness to help each other, and no other continent has provided other parts of the world with more vaccines than we have.
All Europe is proud of our everyday heroes, the doctors and nurses, researchers and many others, and we thank them for their contribution. The crisis defence began in China. In Europe, we found the solutions. We can be proud about what Europeans achieved in the past.
When we look now what is in front of us, there are two main issues. We are emerging stronger from the crisis, but this crisis has caused and left deep social and economic wounds. Many people fear for their existence, for their jobs. Only if we create jobs, then we can secure our prosperity and we can care about the weakest in our society and we will defend the European way of life.
Alongside the Green Deal, we are thinking as EPP that now is also the time for a Jobs Deal. In addition to this, after Afghanistan, we now really need a common foreign and defence policy. Joe Biden is clear, the US is no longer a world policeman. But where is Europe? Russia and China are just waiting to fill the vacuum, and that would be fatal for the future. We would wake up in a world in which we and also our children will not want to live. 
Based on these two points, I want to make very concrete proposals for what we have to do now. Firstly, the rapid development of a vaccine was only possible because the authorities worked quickly during the approval process. That is what the BioNTech founders told us; no blockades. But this speed is what we also need now in other fields of the research sector and in the investments for the climate protection. With an immediate action plan for cutting bureaucracies in the European Union, we should work together with all stakeholders to identify 300 EU regulations that we will abolish or simplify in the next 12 months.
Secondly, for the production of an electric car, only half the number of employees is needed. Many industrial jobs in the European Union are under threat. New jobs are urgently needed in today’s European Union. International trade was and is a job machine. Why not now pick up this debate with our American friends? Let us negotiate an EU-US trade emergency programme on the mobility sector, on mechanical engineering in the digital economy as soon as possible, as a first step for a broader comprehensive trade agreement. And only this will be the way to strengthen the Western economy, key industrial sectors. And together we can protect ourselves against China. The European Union and the US together represent 50% of the global economy. Together, we can start the growth machine that benefits the whole world.
Thirdly, the pandemic has shown us how important the health sector is. The coming decade will bring a wave of innovation in medicine. We can beat cancer. I want Europe to create 10 million new jobs in the next four years with an immediate innovation offensive in this field. At the beginning of the digitalisation 20 years ago, we, as Europeans, overslept the innovation on internet and jobs were created in the US and in China. Today, neither the Chinese nor the Americans are ahead with the COVID vaccines, but we are. So let us use our know-how right now.
Fourthly, Defence. We and I fully welcome the initiatives from Ursula von der Leyen today and also the decision of the Defence Council in Ljubljana. But, what are we waiting for? The Lisbon Treaty gives us all options if we want to create a reaction force. So let’s do it and let us do it now. 
Fifthly, Global responsibility. Some 15 000 children die of hunger worldwide every day. The everyday horror, and we hardly speak about it. The weakest suffer most from the COVID crisis. That is why we must reallocate and free up funds. Like we are doing in Afghanistan now. To invest, we need to stop the silent and daily mass deaths in this world. 
Finally, without law and security, the rest means nothing. That is why we stand for a robust application of the rule of law mechanism inside of the European Union, but that is not enough. Cross-border tax fraud, money laundering and criminal organisations, mafia make its way through our societies, and the terrorist threat is still high in Europe. Why don’t we finally transform Europol into a real European FBI? The European Commission should present in the next 12 months a legislative package to strengthen security in the European Union.
Ursula von der Leyen was clear that we can lead the world with the Green Deal. I want to put on the table that we have to have the same ambitions now for new jobs, for our international responsibility and for security. Let’s do it.