Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of - October
Date: WEDNESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Anže Logar
Language: EN

There was a statement that the Council has not given any direction regarding the debate on the rule of law. Let me inform you that the priority of the Slovenian Presidency is a discussion on the rule of law. Yesterday’s General Affairs Council discussed the rule of law – a horizontal view. Next month, in November, there will be a country—specific discussion on the rule of law, and as well in December there will be a discussion on the rule of law. This topic has been discussed among leaders before, even if it was not on the formal agenda of the Council, and, in addition, if any of the leaders wish to raise this important issue at the European Council, they can always do so. As we heard from several of your interventions, we can expect that they will do so and will raise the issue. Therefore, we expect a discussion on this topic will take place during the European Council as well. There was a question regarding the Eastern Partnership and Belarus. The Belarusian decision to suspend its participation in the summit, which will be the first in a physical format since 2017, is not unexpected, but is regrettable, especially for all that strive for democratic procedure and dialogue. Hence, there will be no invitation, but we need to continue reaching out to civil society and keep pressuring the authorities in Minsk. I think all institutions are doing so, including the Presidency. Right now, we are drafting the final declaration that will be issued at the end of the summit. There was a question regarding broadening sanctions. There is also a discussion regarding that in many rounds of discussion in the Foreign Affairs Council, especially as we see the instrumentalisation of migration for the purposes of politicisation of the issue. Especially the use of migratory pressure on the border of European states shows that the sanctions have their effect.  Coming to migration, there are several concerning developments. We are witnessing, in the vicinity of the European Union, the number of irregular migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea or via the West African route increase by 39%, in comparison to 2020, and arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route have increased by 76%. The Council will discuss the migration situation on the various routes with a focus on developments on the routes that give rise to serious concern and require instant and immediate reaction. The European Council will as well call on the Commission and the High Representative, in close cooperation with Member States, to immediately enforce concrete action for priority countries of origin and transit. The European Council will also condemn and reject any attempt by third countries to instrumentalise migrants for a political purpose. On energy prices, the Presidency is active in this field. On 22 September, the informal meeting of Energy Ministers took place, where several delegations started to voice concern about increasing energy prices, and a couple of delegations also made concrete suggestions, mostly aimed at renewing the functioning of the EU Emissions Trading System.  In the last two weeks, energy prices were further discussed at the Competitiveness Council, at the Eurogroup, at the EU—Western Balkans Summit, and at the Environment Council. Following these meetings, five Member States put forward the idea to reform the wholesale electricity market. We discussed this in the plenary during the first October session. On 13 October, the Commission released its toolbox to help Member States to curb the rise of energy prices, and Member States already have a chance to react to this Commission communication. After the discussion at the summit, the Presidency has also scheduled an informal ministerial meeting of energy ministers on 26 October. So this topic is high on the agenda and discussed in many Council meetings.  Spoštovane poslanke in poslanci, najlepša hvala za vaše pripombe in komentarje. Predsedstvo bo z njimi podrobno seznanilo predsednika Evropskega sveta.  V veliki meri teme Evropskega sveta pokrivajo vprašanja, ki ste jih sami izpostavili v današnji razpravi. Gre za ključna vprašanja, s katerimi se danes sooča Evropska unija ter njeni državljani in državljanke, predvsem pandemija COVID-19, porast cen energije, vprašanje migracij pa tudi dolgoročna strateška vprašanja, na primer trgovina in digitalna preobrazba Evrope.  Za izpostavljene izzive ste tudi sami ugotovili, ni preprostih odgovorov tudi ni preprostih rešitev, vendar pa se je med krizo COVID-19 izkazalo, da smo skupaj močnejši in ko so pred nami globalni izzivi, kot so podnebne spremembe, migracije, krepitev demokratičnih standardov, hitro spreminjajoči svet, moramo delovati z združenimi močmi in verjamem, da bodo sklepi Evropskega sveta pravi odgovor za izzive, ki so pred nami. Hvala za našo razpravo.