Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of - December
Date: WEDNESDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2020
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

I think that, as the President said, we are clearly in the endgame. I would like to assure you that the Commission, Michel Barnier and myself, very much appreciate your support and also the clarity of your message and we are ready to be creative, but under no circumstances would we put into question the integrity of the European single market. And the same goes for the respect of the withdrawal agreement, which must be implemented as agreed and on time, and here I would say, Deal or No Deal. Peace and prosperity on the island of Ireland is of paramount importance and the respect for the Good Friday Agreement is absolute, and I really would like to assure of that Mr Kelleher who made this point very clearly. To respond to Ms Hübner in greater detail, I would like to tell her that if it comes to the withdrawal agreement we are also working around the clock on proper and timely implementation of this agreement. I’m glad that I can pass the good message to the 4.5 million citizens of the European Union in the United Kingdom concerning their residence rights, because here we are working very hard and I believe that for sure we will solve this issue. I am in frequent contact with Mr Gove. I would not hide that the negotiations are difficult, but I appreciate the constructive atmosphere and I hope that it will help us to adopt all the necessary decisions of the Joint Committee which are due before the end of the year.  Here again, we are also in the endgame and I’m looking for having the Joint Committee meeting in the next days and I really would like to use it as a decisive one to find a solution on all outstanding issues, especially on the proper implementation of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, and we are fully aware of the scrutiny requirements by this House, and by the Council. The Commission President told you this morning that we don’t know if we reach a deal with the United Kingdom or not, but I can assure you that we will do our maximum, our utmost, but we will not accept a deal at any price. The next days will be absolutely decisive and therefore I would like to underscore how much we appreciate the European Parliament’s readiness to hold an extraordinary session for proper assessment of the eventual deal. We will continue the close cooperation with you and with this House on this issue and we will respect to the fullest the transparency which was established in this process because we know that this is how we can earn your trust which is so important for all of us.  Many of you address the issue of multiannual financial perspective and the NextGenerationEU instrument, and I would say that an overwhelming majority of honourable Members, most of the leaders of the political groups, have been a very clear. In this unprecedented crisis we need the firepower, the novelty of this new financial structure to tackle the crisis, to restart the economy, to save lives and jobs, and to modernise our economies. I can assure you that for the European Commission, the rule of law is part of the deal and the European values are not negotiable. And I would like to assure you that the Commission will be working relentlessly with you, with the Council, with the German Presidency, to resolve the situation which is becoming very grave and to make sure that the European Union and our citizens will have the necessary financial means to perform our duties as of the beginning of the next year. Ms García Pérez, Mr Eickhout, Ms Van Brempt and Mr Picula referred to the importance of vaccination. I have to say that thanks to the advanced negotiations and prepayment to the pharmaceutical companies it’s very important to say that we will have enough doses of vaccines for all of the European Union citizens, and we are not thinking about them only because we make sure that we want to develop the mechanisms how the citizens of the world can benefit from this very important vaccine because only in that way would we be able to tackle finally the COVID-19 pandemic. If it comes to the vaccination we already asked the Member States to develop their vaccination strategies and we also issued a recommendation how we believe they should be developed for the orderly and fair process of the vaccination of our citizens. The next financial perspective and NextGenerationEU will have to focus on achieving our very ambitious Green Deal on our ambitious goals in the area of the digital agenda. Ms Keller, Ms Bonafè and Ms Cseh were actually highlighting the importance of the climate discussion and climate targets which have to be assessed and we believe positively decided upon by the leaders in the next European Council. Your calls for clarity is the same what we hear from investors, from business leaders, from our citizens, that we need the clear deal coming from the European Council meeting on climate goals to put into the higher gear our efforts to reach the ‘fit for 55’ agenda. The good news is that very soon we will have a strong ally in the United States in fighting climate change. The initial contacts of President-elect Biden with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, but also with other European leaders, and the track record of Mr Blinken, Mr Kerry, whom I know personally, is an absolute guarantee that the United States and the European Union will work hand-in-hand if it comes to the importance of tackling climate change. And to conclude, a quick response to Ms Loiseau and Mr Bellamy who raised the issue of counter-terrorism. On 9 December the Commission will present an EU agenda on counter-terrorism. It will set out the EU counter-terrorism strategy for the next four years, setting out new measures to better anticipate, prevent, protect and respond to the terrorist threat. It will include a strategic approach to respond more effectively and with innovative approaches to radicalisation. But we should also not forget that Member States need to implement the current framework and that it is high time to agree and adopt the proposal on terrorist content online.  In addition to that, in December, the Commission plans to adopt a revised mandate for Europol, as well as proposals on critical infrastructure and network information security. The Commission also included in the next year’s work programme a new agenda on counter-terrorism that will set out the new measures to counter radicalisation and terrorism.  Madam President, I really would like to thank all the honourable Members for a really very rich debate covering all the important topics which are on the European agenda. I very much appreciate the support, the clarity of the message and I really thank you for the floor.