On 14th September, Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President delivered her State of the European Union speech. After the debate, Roberta METSOLA, EP President made a statement and comments on important announcements made by the EC President concerning Ukraine, measures against rising energy prices and the Conference on the Future of Europe.

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METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

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state of the European Union 2022 (T)

State of the European Union 2022: Statement by Roberta METSOLA, EP President following the SOTEU debate

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SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, First of all, that this was a highly anticipated State of the Union address. As you said, we went from one crisis to another before we had the pandemic. Now we have multiple crises at the same time. We have war on our continent. And we have an energy crisis because of the war in our continent, because of this House, continued commitment to solidarity with Ukraine from a financial, political, logistical, military perspective. It was really a special honor to have Olena Zelenska with us today who could see the gratitude and the honor that the members of the European Parliament in the standing ovation gave to her in a symbol of- We are here with you. We will stay with you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, The State of the Union address also focused on specific measures that will continue to go to help Ukraine. The European Parliament is committed to act effectively, efficiently, pragmatically in making sure that the help gets to Ukraine as quickly as possible. So we can see Ukraine winning the war against an illegal, brutal, unnecessary invasion by an autocracy that is the Kremlin .

We have no choice. These (energy) measures have to reply to the concerns of our citizens. Because if we do not as European Union, we have already seen so much unity during the pandemic, so much unity in addressing the war and fighting the war.... Why would we not have unity on the concerns that every single citizen of the European Union is asking us to address. The European Parliament has asked for immediate measures, but also more medium and long term measures.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, In terms of immediate measures, we need cushions in order for citizens to be able to make ends meet, to pay their bills for basic services that we have taken for granted for far too long. And we have looked away from the real challenges from far too long. In the medium term-How and when are we going to become interdependent? Are we ready to be able to take the next step to depend on each other rather than on unreliable partners? And in the longer term- When will we be able to uncouple ourselves completely from Russia on our energy resources? We have the possibilities. We have the tools. We now need the political will. And we cannot fail our citizens on this one.

We have been asking as a parliament for months now, ever since the the the conclusion of the Conference (on the future of Europe) where we ourselves asked the citizens to tell us where they would like Europe to be more- in health, in energy and military, for young people, for mental health, etc.. And then we have been now for months waiting for the next formal steps to be taken. We in the European Parliament already took those formal steps in June. We are extremely delighted that the Commission has now pronounced itself. It is now up to me and my colleague, the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to go together to the European Council and convince the Member States.

State of the European Union 2022: Statement by Roberta METSOLA, EP President following the SOTEU debate

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State of the European Union 2022

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament