Debate: Council and Commission statements - Preparation of the European Council meeting of  and  March
Date: TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

Many of you, especially Mr Weber, Ms García Pérez, but also Ms Vautmans and Ms Loiseau, referred to the importance of defence and military cooperation. They’ve been calling for working very closely together to support Ukraine, but also to address the tragedy of Gaza. But I also heard very clearly from Mr Marques, Ms Szydło, Mr Nica and Mr Lamberts how important it is for our citizens and for the honourable Members of this House to also address the very important questions linked to food and social security, as well as wider economic security linked to the importance to reduce our dependence not only on fossil energy imports, but also on critical raw materials availability for all our future-oriented industry. In this context, also this afternoon, we are going to present the communication on climate security, where we will go into more detail, providing some answers as to how to deal with the management of climate risk and the devastating consequences of climate change on our lives and especially on our future generations. I would like to thank all of you for your support for our enlargement policies, and for sharing with us the joy about the good news of the progress achieved in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would like to underline that your words and your interventions are very much respected, and that we will work with all of you to address all these dimensions of security. Ms Neumann was highlighting the importance of our proposal on defence cooperation. I know that also in the Council it was received positively, and I am sure that Madam Minister will elaborate on that in a few moments. But we would also like to send reassuring messages to our farmers across Europe, and reassure Mr Bay that we are working very hard and we put a lot of focus on further simplification of our rules, on reductions of burdens, and we are doing our best to address the situation of today. We are also talking to our farmers about how to address the future of agriculture in the medium and long term. If you allow me, Mr President, I would also like to appreciate all of you who helped us to achieve the very important agreement of the Council on support for the rights of platform workers. And I agree with Mr Marques, who underscored that this is an important milestone in how we address the social challenges linked with the work on this platform, which is more and more widespread and popular with people across the European Union. If you allow me just a few words on economic security, because what we are doing right now – and I’m sure that it will be an effort also for the next political cycle – is exploring the possibility of how to use more widely the so-called principle of competitive sustainability. I believe that sustainable companies which produce products with a low carbon footprint, who treat their workers decently, who are sustainable, deserve to be rewarded for their efforts and not to face unfair competition from cheap alternatives and imports from faraway countries, including China. We just simply have to use public procurement across Europe in a better way, and simply give the boost to those responsible companies – because they are promoting the European social model – and fight the supplies which are coming from the companies which very often use dumping prices. And I think that was very well reflected in the interventions of Mr Nica and Ms Penkova just a few moments ago. If you allow me two last comments. Thank you very much for the convergence of views on how to approach the tragedy in Gaza. I think what was very clear in all your interventions was that the protection of civilians must be ensured at all times and it must be in line with international law. We know that right now to restore an adequate flow of humanitarian aid, what we need is an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire and a ceasefire that the people in Gaza need right now. And I think that was very clearly highlighted by Ms Marques, but also Mr López Aguilar, who also underlined the importance of diplomatic efforts and making sure that we would create – as our President was referring to in her introductory remarks – a ray of hope towards the two-state solution. Last point: unity in the European Union. I think this was very elegantly expressed by Ms Hayer and I would like to underline once again that unity is our greatest strength. It’s the most precious currency we have in Europe and we need it more than ever, especially in these challenging times across Europe. If we are united, we can achieve anything and I think that’s the message we have to spread across Europe towards all our people, especially when they will be making their decisions in the upcoming elections to this House, to the European Parliament.