Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of - December
Date: WEDNESDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2023
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

As you know very well, and Mr Marques underlined the importance of this proposal, we are pushing for EUR 50 billion to stabilise the financial situation in Ukraine, and we will continue to support the defence and to do our best to help Ukraine to be well prepared for accession talks and later for membership. And it is indeed remarkable that the country is in fully-fledged war and still managed to deliver on important preparatory works for the accession talks. So the strong signal clearly must be sent to our Ukrainian friends, but also in this very tense geopolitical situation, to the people of Moldova, Georgia and the people of all Western Balkan countries. And I agree with all of you that enlargement cannot be taken hostage to the lack of reforms on our European institutions. So the conclusion is very simple: We must work on both priorities in parallel. And you know that the European Commission will always support the changes, including in Treaties, if necessary, which would allow us to be more agile, more democratic and more efficient in our decision-making.  The geopolitical challenges of today clearly require the robust response from the European Union. And I think that over the last few years, we clearly demonstrated that we know how to stand tall and united in the face of the last crisis with Covid, with war in Ukraine, or with the challenges linked with the energy crisis and high inflation. The global leadership must be backed by appropriate financial means, and therefore, I would like to thank all honourable Members who have been supporting the clear position of the European Commission in this regard, that what we need is updated multiannual Financial Framework, which is simply need financial means to support our policies and to react to this unstable war.  Many of you rightly raised the issue of migration, and as you know, we raised our ambition on anti-smuggling, on better management of our external borders and on building stronger partnership with the third countries. What we have to do now is to push it to the next level, and we will do our utmost to work with you, honourable Members, with the Spanish presidency, to conclude the negotiations on the Migration and Asylum Pact. And I know that my colleague, Ylva Johansson, the chairman, Mr Fernando López Aguilar, but also the Spanish presidency, is doing their utmost to make sure that we will succeed, hopefully already in the next political trilogue on this very important issues, and we will do our best to assist the successful outcome of this process.  If you allow me to conclude on climate change and competitiveness. As you know, this morning, the COP29 discussions and deliberations are being concluded. What was adopted is described as a historic decision to set in motion an irreversible transition away from fossil fuels. And this agreement should keep us within the range of 1.5°C. And I think that also this decision just underlines the importance of the Green Deal, and it just underscores the importance we have to attach to move towards the competition, which is taking place among the global economic powers in the field of clean and green technologies. And therefore, we in the European Commission are convinced that the European Council has to support all the instruments to boost our industry and our competitiveness, to consolidate our global leadership in these sectors of the economy of the future.  So to conclude, Madam President, history is tapping on our shoulder, and we must respond to this call of history with appropriate ambition and with appropriate answers.