Speaker: Manfred WEBER (Germany — Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern e.V.)
Political group: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)
Date: 2022-06-08
Debate: Conclusions of the special European Council meeting of 30-31 May 2022 (debate)

  Manfred Weber,  on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madam President, yes, let’s assess the last Council meeting. First of all, about sanctions, defence, all the other initiatives, I think the outcome is good. We took a step forward. Europe is on a good path. But I ask myself, frankly speaking, when we reflect about the last Council meeting, why nobody mentioned until now the name of Viktor Orbán. Because when people saw what happened in the last European Council, I think they understood that there is Viktor Orbán, one of the crazy guys, at the table, and this is a problem for us as Europeans. I ask myself, how was it to sit next to him, to have the experience of being blackmailed by Viktor Orbán, to have Putin’s interests sitting at the table? 
I have a long history personally with Viktor Orbán. We kicked him out two years ago. Today, my party, the PPE, is in Poland, and in Czechia, for example, we kicked the corrupt Babiš out of office. So we are the rule of law party today in a lot of central and Eastern European countries. I am proud about this. But again, how was it? 
And I ask these questions because I think a lot of people, all of Europe, understand that the current architecture, the current decision-making process is not anymore giving us answers to the tasks of the table. That’s why the question again: why are we not initiating the passerelle clause in the Lisbon Treaty? Why don’t we discuss these issues? 
The European Parliament will vote tomorrow on the idea to ask for a convention. I think, all colleagues from the other Groups, that we find a good text now, that we find a common understanding about our requests on the table, a joint text. I hope that the leaders have enough will, show enough leadership, to really develop the idea of a convention. 
When we speak about leadership, then also Ukraine is in our mind, The next European Council will have to discuss its candidate status. I want to remind us that a few days after the war started, on 24 February, President Zelenskyy was here on the screen and he was asking us, Are we welcome? Can we become a member of the club? Is it worth to fight? That was his question. And I said here, like a lot of my colleague: yes, you have to come, yes, you can join the European Union. And that’s why it’s so important that we give, in the next European Council, a clear mandate, a clear signal to the Ukrainian friends that their fight is a good fight and they are welcome in the European family. So that’s why we need a decision of a candidate status now, that is what we need, and also for Moldova.
I want to be clear on this, that the Republic of Moldova has to have the same treatment. I want to underline that this is part of a broader development, for sure. And we speak about the Western Balkans. The whole enlargement process is not any more about the single market, it is today about stability, and that’s why we should do it now. We should show leadership again in this aspect. And my Group is fighting hard for this. 
And then I want to welcome the initiatives from the Commission on food security. A lot of these issues are good issues and to prioritise this is great. Probably, generally speaking, we can say that farmers are not seen anymore as the bad guys polluting our environment, because that was the perception over the last years. Farmers are those who are working hard, families who are working hard to deliver high-quality food for all of us. And that should be respected, that should be seen, especially in the week when we celebrate 60 years of the CAP.
And then we speak about the economic situation for farmers. Here I want to ask the President of the Council to consider putting another item on the agenda of the next European Council, because for the moment we speak a lot about the external dimension but we do not speak so much about the concerns of our citizens, and that is about inflation, that is about the interest rates going up in the next few months. 
From what we hear from the ECB, the growth rate is not promising for today’s European expectations. We are facing a recession, a possible recession. People are confronted with the question: can I pay my bill for holidays now or for a better education for my children? That is the question of citizens in the European Union. And that’s why politically, populists are already waiting for this development. We have to give an answer. We have to prioritise this debate now. We have to prioritise it now. And the PPE always insists on jobs, jobs, jobs. That is our message and I ask you now to put this on the agenda of the European Council to discuss this issue among leaders. 
From my political family, I can tell you, with strengthening the single market, less bureaucracy, yes to trade agreements. We need the Mercosur agreement now and also in this Fit for 55 package of today to find a good balance; we want to have a decarbonisation but not a de-industrialisation of the European Union. That is now on the table and that’s why we have to prioritise this issue. Leadership is needed again.