Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party (EPP) of the European Parliament and Esther de LANGE, EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, hold a press conference on his group's priorities during the plenary session in Strasbourg. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check agaisnt delivery.

Strasbourg

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

press conference

DE LANGE, Esther (EPP, NL)

Press conference by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader and Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL) responsible for Economy and Environment - EPP Press Briefing

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for your interest. And let me start with a celebration, because we are today celebrating 70 years of our EPP Group, so we are quite proud about what we contributed to the broader European development to establish the European Union of today.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, And that's how positive momentum for our internal discussions we have today. This week, two main important issues on the table. Let me start first with a quick, brief statement on the need to summit in Vilnius. There is the key question resolved about Sweden joining the Natal community. The Swedish Prime Minister has our full support and can be now very proud about finally achieving the goal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, We are as EPP Group, we are ready for improving the relationship between the European Union and Turkey. There is no doubt about this, but we want to see, first of all, the concrete initiatives on the table. So, when we speak about VISA liberalisation and also a customs union, then the European Parliament, to see legislative chamber for doing so. That's why we are ready for all talks, but we want to see the details.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, And then obviously Ukraine is then the centre, I want to underline from an EP group's point of view, that we believe that once the war in Ukraine is over, a membership is crucial for a future security architecture. So, we have to heal in the way the mistakes of Bucharest. That is what the EPP Group is standing and arguing.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, In the European Parliament, the big debate is obviously the Green Deal. We have already a lot of demonstrations out in the street here in Strasbourg to formulate the wishes from the civil society, from those who are affected on this law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, Let me underline that the EPP Group shaped and supported the Green Deal in the past years out of 34 pieces of legislation in this Green Deal package, EPP have supported 32 of them. So, only two we couldn't support. That was one about the Combustion Engine and the second was about this Nature Restoration.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, Climate neutrality in 2050 is a goal, but we are not a rubber stamping machine on bad legislation. That is what we have to express. That's why we look on the details on the content of this and we listen to everyone. Those who are asking us to be committed on biodiversity and those, who have concerns about rural development and also the farmers.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, Our approach is bridge building approach, is listening to each other. That's why we are asking for rejection and the new proposal from the Commission. And I want to be very concrete. What we ask for is a new proposal. We do not want to stop. We don't want to block an initiative. We want to have a solid base for the discussion.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, That's why the Commission should come up with a new proposal. That is our concrete request. And if I may say, if the Commission is telling us that whatever happens in this Chamber, they will not present, like Frans Timmermans is telling us, they will not present a legislative new proposal, then I have to ask about the the democratic thinking behind.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, And if a majority of this House says this is not a solid base for achieving the goals, then I think it's a task, even the obligation of the European Commission to present a new one, to listen to the concerns. I think this style of doing politics is also part of this debate. And again, what we want to do is bridge building, listen, and taking the concerns seriously. Thanks so much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, Because the legislator is the European Parliament. And if a majority of this House says this is not a solid base for achieving the goals, then I think it's a task, even the obligation of the European Commission to present a new one, to listen to the concerns. I think this style of doing politics is also part of this debate. And again, what we want to do is bridge building, listen, and taking the concerns seriously. Thanks so much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, Thank you. Indeed, this is not about nature restoration. It's about the nature restoration law. If I look at Christian Democrats at local level, regional level, national level, they're doing nature restoration in practice in many various ways. But this law is flawed in the way it was designed. And we have said so from the beginning.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, Where are our main concerns? I think, you know, at least those of you who have been in these kind of press conferences before, mainly about the clash that this legislation potentially has with other pieces of legislation, other objectives of the same Commission and the same EU, mainly in the field of the production of renewable energy, food production and the food price.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, May I remind you that for the past couple of months, food was the main driver of inflation, even more than energy. So the cost of living being very close to the concerns of our citizens. This is a big issue and the impact assessment of the Commission is very limited on that. We would say not substantial enough.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, And I might add from my Member State, the provision of social housing, which is threatening to be stopped in terms of not being granted planning permission on the basis of Nature 2000 and this potential future legislation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, And furthermore, there is no guarantee that we currently have, the way the law is currently phrased, that a judge in any of our 27 Member States will not stand up like they already do in the Netherlands and say, you know, no planning permission on the basis of this legislation for, for example, housing and renewable energy production.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, So this juridification of environmental law, which is the agenda of some extremist NGOs really wanting to stop down our economies, is something that needs to be prevented. And currently the legislation doesn't give enough safeguards to make sure that this is for sure not not possible.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, And then secondly, the link to other pieces of legislation that are there and that might actually be contradicted by this future or at least this draft nature restoration law. Because if I take a step back and Manfred has already mentioned the huge amount of legislation already in place when it comes to protecting and restoring nature, there is a huge amount of legislation on the table and there's often very little coherence.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, If there's no coherence that leads to a huge administrative burden for many of our economic operators. But what is even worse, sometimes there are conflicting objectives within these pieces of legislation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, So we would say, the EPP would say, that if I look towards the next European Commission, we first need some kind of a health check of all the legislation that is on the table and to see where the excess fat is, that needs to be trimmed off so that we can actually have a lean but mean but functioning and consistent body of legislation in this field that we want, that we work with.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, So let me let me leave it at that. The Commission has argued that the nature restoration law is the basis of everything they will do in the future in the field of nature, just like the climate law which the EPP supported, was the basis of all the legislative proposals that were part of Fit for 55.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, And we as an EPP say if this is the basis, the basis needs to be sound and the basis needs to be broadly supported and therefore it is better to have a new proposal that makes more sense, is more coherent, and that would get broader support rather than pressuring this through Council the way it was done and well, leaving it up to what promises to be a very exciting vote tomorrow in in plenary. Let me leave it at that. Thank you.

Q&A, A question about a possible EPP vote lost during this plenary, and another question about the new elections in the Netherlands and if De Lange would be interested in leading her national party.

SOUNDBITE (English), Esther de LANGE (EPP, NL), EPP VP responsible for Economy and Environment, -

Q&A, Question about if the EPP position on the nature restoration law is driven by the rise of the farmers' parties across the EU, another question about if the EPP supports the investigation on the Pylos migrant boat tragedy and a final question about if the EPP supports the EU ethics body.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, -

Q&A, Question about if the EPP would support the nature restoration law compromise in front of the Council, if the law passes in plenary.

Q&A, Question on EPP's point of view regarding how to improve the proposal on Nature Restoration.

Q&A, Question about the stance of EPP regarding the 10% agricultural land to be taken out of production, as it is right now in the Nature Restoration law.

Q&A, A question about how Manfred Weber sees the position of liberals outside EPP on the Nature Restoration Law. And another question about how open is the EPP to some controversial political figures.

Q&A, Question regarding on Ursula von der Leyen's position and talks with the EPP group. Second question on which delegations do not support this rejection.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the Group of the European People's Party of the European Parliament, - -