Debate: Conclusions of the European Council meeting of - December  and preparation of the Special European Council meeting of February  - Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Manfred Weber
Political group: PPE
Country: Austria
Language: EN

And at the beginning of this electoral year, we proved this. Ursula von der Leyen has demonstrated together with us in the last years that we are ambitious on climate policy, the Brexit agreement, COVID vaccines, RRF, Ukraine support and the migration policy. The EPP is not building castles in the air like some of the left are doing, and we are not having a wrecking ball in our hand like the radical right is doing. The EPP’s Europe is an ambitious Europe and we deliver. I want to thank for this. The European Council in December showed leadership: yes to Ukraine, yes to Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal on enlargement to start the negotiations, especially with Ukraine. This was an historic decision and gives certainty to the Ukrainian people. Yes, you can be part of our family. Yes, it’s worth to fight against Putin. Yes, Ukraine must win the war. But the European Council also failed when it was about the money – to create certainty on our long-term financing of the European Union. And yes, there is a question now with Viktor Orbán and Hungary on the table. For us, as the European Parliament, it was a huge success in this mandate to establish a binding rule of law mechanism. It was our common effort, our common success. For us, as the EPP, it was always important to have a fact-based assessment about rule of law in individual cases. And for us now, the important thing is that we need further clarification. As the EPP, we initiated a letter to ask in the BUDG Committee and also in the CONT Committee about the reasoning behind the decision of the Commission. And we are welcoming Commissioners Schmit, Reynders and Commissioner Hahn to inform us about this. That’s the next step in front of us. Hungary has for a long time here in this Parliament been seen as a difficult case. We have initiated an Article 7 case against Hungary. And if I may say so, it’s great to hear the Council telling us that the Commission decision must be assessed. But the most important thing – what I would love to see from the Council side – is to answer our request on Article 7, because that is on the table and until now the leaders had no courage, and obviously no time even, to discuss the Hungarian case on substance on the Council side. So please answer the demand from Parliament. The question now on the table for Ukraine is how to pay teachers, how to pay nurses, doctors and all of the soldiers? How to convince our American friends and the IMF to continue supporting Ukraine? Having this in mind, the end of January Council must deliver. We must be prepared for all options at the end of this month and we, as the EPP, also insist on the other elements on the MFF: don’t forget about migration, for example. At the beginning of 2024, I want also to speak about the broader perspective. An ambitious approach is needed – I said it. What do we have to do? First of all, we have to come back to a very old idea in Europe. Belgium had already ratified the European Defence Union before it was stopped by the French National Assembly in 1953, nine years after the end of the Second World War. Another former Belgian Prime Minister and former NATO Secretary General, Paul-Henri Spaak, said rightly afterwards: ‘There are only two types of states in Europe: small states and states that have not yet realised that they are small’. Europe must stand united against Putin. Now it’s the right moment to build up a European defence pillar. We cannot have 180 different weapon systems while the US only has 30. Imagine how much we could increase our defence capabilities only with the introduction of a single market for defence systems. Let’s build up our own defence capabilities in the next years, for example, with a European missile defence shield, a cyber-brigade or even a nuclear shield. With ambitious investments in European defence, we can keep the biggest promise of Europe, and that is a promise of peace. Alongside defence, migration is a second important pillar for our family. We have to finally complete now this legislation. Le Pen, AfD and Orbán are trying to torpedo the European solution because they want to use the substance of this problem for their egoistic political benefit. They don’t want to solve the problem. They are the problem. And that’s why we must finalise this legislation. And my appeal today goes especially to the Greens. I understand that they are not yet decided whether they can support the final outcome of this migration deal. Imagine for a second the Migration Act failing in this House. Imagine for a second. That would mean that we help Le Pen, AfD and FPÖ, that we would fuel extremists all over Europe. And that’s why it’s now the moment to take over responsibility and finalise this migration deal. And the last point I want to mention is economic issues for us as the EPP. This will be the driving issue for this election campaign – to have jobs, to have good incomes, to have prosperity, to have a strong economy. Germany is already in recession and we need not another European traffic light coalition. What we need is economic strength for Europe and that is what the EPP will be asking for.