During the plenary session (7-10 June 2021) in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on the preparation of the G7 Summit: extracts from the debate. Statements by Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs and President in office of the Council of the EU, Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Radosław SIKORSKI (EPP, PL), EPP Group Speaker, Dacian CIOLOŞ (Renew, RO), Renew Group leader, Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ (S&D, ES), S&D Group leader, and Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Greens/EFA Group leader

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

GARCÍA PÉREZ, Iratxe (S&D, ES)

MICHEL, Charles (BE)

DOMBROVSKIS, Valdis (EPP, LV, EC)

CIOLOŞ, Dacian (Renew, RO)

G7 Summit (T)

SIKORSKI, Radosław (EPP, PL)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

vaccination strategy (T)

ZACARIAS, Ana Paula (PT)

Preparation of the G7 Summit: extracts from the debate

Title: Preparation of the G7 Summit: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (French), Charles MICHEL, How can we improve living conditions? And this ties into digital to climate change, to global tax reform. And the EU has been at the forefront of these subjects quite often. In fact, as the European Parliament that placed these subjects at the heart of the international agenda, it's about fairness, equity when it comes to trade relations and once again, global tax systems.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The dominant topic in all these sessions we had together, the meetings and summits, but also those who are ahead of is vaccines and the equal and fair access to vaccines globally.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And with the US, we will not only grow our common trade and investment relationship in support of the green and the digital transition of our economies. Together, we will also engage with our international partners for shared commitment and joint action to reduce emissions by 2030 and to have tangible goals to become climate neutral economies by 2050. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, The overall mission of the EU for the meeting is clear. Support an agenda for global action built on a strong commitment to international cooperation, built on the strong commitment on multilateralism and an open, resilient, rules-based, multi international order. And here there are a couple of elements. First, the covid-19 pandemic needs global cooperation to in order to be overcome. We need solidarity. We need to ensure early access to vaccines and treatments everywhere.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, We are at a crucial juncture on the OECD led negotiations for a broader overhaul of the rules on international taxation of the largest multinational enterprises. We welcome the fact that the G7 has reached a consensus on the framework for an overall agreement.

Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, and Commissioner for Trade, Leading and environmental climate action is EUs first priority At the G7 and we will continue pushing for ambitious COP 26 commitments on climate change and for ambitious COP 15 commitments on biodiversity. At the summit of G7 will show strong leadership by signing up for an unprecedented joint commitment around net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

SOUNDBITE (English), Rados&#322;aw SIKORSKI (EPP, PL), What I would like us to do is to strengthen our democracies, including through sensible regulation of social media, to complete the deal on taxes and tax havens. We need the money to revive our economies.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350; (Renew, RO), I also welcome the historic decision taken by finance ministers of the G7. Last weekend on the principle of a minimum corporate tax rate of 50 percent to be paid by multinationals. The current international tax rules that date back over a century, and can no longer be defended before our citizens.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), The historical agreement to establish a minimum global tax of 15 percent tax rate that multinational corporations should pay where they generate income, that is the beginning of a new type of tax justice.President Biden affirmed that it was the middle class and not Wall Street that built the United States, and in Europe it was always the modest classe that revived this continent from the ashes, and now at either side of the Atlantic we cant abaondon them to their fate.\The moemnt has coem o show leadership together with the US to establish a global agreement within the G20 and the OECD.

SOUNDBITE (French), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Group leader Greens-EFA, This is an American initiative and it's the European side that is lacking in ambition. The Biden administration wants an ambitious plan with 21 percent, 21 percent rate, but EU member states, including France, want only 15 percent. So let's look at the figures. A 15 percentage rate would bring in 50 billion a year, whereas 21 percent would bring in twice that.