Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of  and  March  – Digital Green Certificate
Date: WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 2021
Speaker: Katalin Cseh
Political group: Renew
Country: Sweden
Language: EN

But let’s also learn from what went wrong. Right now we have a chance with the Digital Green Certificate to do that and also to hear the voice of our citizens, because many millions of Europeans are eager to get their lives back and also their livelihood. That very often depends on tourism, on transport, on cross-border trade. But there are also other voices who are afraid about how their data is being used or if they are being discriminated against. So we also have to hear that voice as well.  So this is why this Parliament will continue to be the voice of those 450 million citizens. We are elected by them and we will do everything in our power to help them in this crucial situation. And we have to understand what’s at stake here, because in the problems witnessed around vaccine procurement, the European Union risks becoming the number one scapegoat. We risk becoming the prey of Euroscepticism, of those powers who work against the stability of our Union and who prey on this crucial moment where many people in Europe are living their darkest hours. Right now a lot of citizens, frontline workers, really suffer from the COVID response. They are struggling and they need us.  We need to speed up vaccination. This is the only light at the end of the tunnel. So this is why I am so glad to see the efforts of Thierry Breton, who really does an amazing job, offering us some good news and some clarity as well, and we need to continue further with this plan. We need to increase the production capacities, to set up more ambitious targets for deliveries, to work together with manufacturers and also to ramp up production. These are the crucial steps we have to follow.  And in the wake of these troubles, just as another leader said before me, I was also so  shocked to learn about the 29 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses that are stockpiled. How can they even justify that? We are racing against time. This debate was never about the United Kingdom, for me it’s about a specific company not honouring its contractual commitments and the Commission really needs to make sure whatever it takes to enforce these commitments in the name of our citizens.  Lastly, let me briefly talk about another issue that’s not on the Council agenda and that I’m very sorry for. We just heard about it from the President of the Parliament. And we all know that only three days before the Council meeting China slapped sanctions on elected European officials and public bodies, academics, representatives, our very own Subcommittee on Human Rights – even a Council committee is on China’s list – only for speaking up for human rights. We have to respond, and it has to come from the 27 national leaders who say with one voice that we will never be bullied.  We need to be clear. Our comprehensive investment deal has to be off the table as long as we see no meaningful progress in the treatment of Uyghurs and Hong Kong’s pro—democracy movement. And no product will enter a market that is tainted by the suffering of people who are held in prison camps.  Colleagues, we are the European Union. Our entire history, our entire purpose rests on the promotion of peace and human rights and we will never stay silent in the face of such brutality. So this is my message also to the Chinese Communist Party, and this is the message I also expect to hear from the Council tomorrow.