Nine months before the next European Parliament elections on 6 - 9 June, President Ursula von der Leyen outlines her Commission’s priorities from now until the end of its mandate. She focuses on a stronger and more resilient European Union, on the EU’s continued support for Ukraine in its war against Russia’s aggression, on energy security and EU energy independence, the EU’s twin green and digital transitions, and on protecting core EU values. Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), Co-Chair of the ECR Group, gives his statement during the State of the European Union 2023 in Strasbourg. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

LEGUTKO, Ryszard Antoni (ECR, PL)

state of the European Union 2023 (T)

State of the European Union 2023: Statement by Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), Co-Chair of the ECR Group

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Richard LEGUTKO for 5 minutes on behalf of the ECR group.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), Madam President, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, is the EU in better shape today than, shall we say, 20 years ago? The answer is emphatic no. To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet, something is rotten in the State of the Union. There is more than ever instability, conflict, tension and uncertainty.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), Let me quote a recent issue of The Economist. Inflation remains hot. Officials are increasingly worried by the cloudy growth outlook. The bloc is facing a recession, unquote. It is to your credit, Madam President, that you initiated and continued the sanctions against Russia. But again, one cannot be all too happy. Before the invasion, the Commission did not dare to do something about the German-Russian Energy Alliance. So this refusal to act, the Commission bears some responsibility for the depths of the energy crisis.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), The migration policy has been a failure, despite the Commission's hustle and bustle and fiery rhetoric. The people smuggling business is thriving and the disintegration of the social fabric continues. In Western Europe, the number of thefts, robberies and rapes has soared about 30 rapes for 100,000 inhabitants in France and Belgium, compared to less than two in my country.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), The Green Deal. The Commission's flagship, instead of being a vehicle of growth, is a costly extravaganza. Over €300 billion by 2030. With rising living costs, energy bills and other unpleasant aspects of the Commission's and the Parliament's fantasies. The Commission has been unsurprisingly silent on this matter. The last sinister fantasy is the nature restoration law, the curator of these harmful reveries, Mr. Timmermans, has taken a convenient exit and seeks his luck in national politics. I hope Dutch voters will give him what he deserves.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), Another financial extravaganza has been the common debt of €800 billion by 2026. We already know the predictions were erroneous. The cost of all this will be at least twice as high. The EU budget is in shambles, - 66 billion euros as of today. You apparently calculated that the markets would have had more trust in the financial credibility of the EU than that of the member States. Unfortunately, you mistook the EU propaganda for the real thing.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), And finally, politics. When I compare the past Commission with yours, I see a continuous slide towards oligarchy with a growing disregard for any restraints. The treaties stipulated the Commission turned into a partisan machine meddling in national politics, trying to topple the governments they don't like. You yourself, Madame President, threatened the Italian voters before the elections. Let me quote you. If things go in a difficult direction, we have tools, you said. Let me remind you, you don't have any tools to interfere with the democratic process of the nation state. Mr. Lukashenko has such tools. You don't.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), You made your may the rule of law a caricature. There is an old proverb "physician, heal thyself". Heal thyself, Madam President, for one thing, that the Commission stop juggling with the legal basis, claiming, for instance, the taxes are not taxes, but contributions, thus sidestepping the necessary procedures and perhaps start by providing all the documents relevant to the vaccines deal, including the text messages. That would be that would be a good example of how to be a law abiding person.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ryszard Antoni LEGUTKO (ECR, PL), And the last point. Believe it or not, but this Commission will go into history as one that tried to regulate the language of the European Union and to establish a sort of officially sanctioned indoctrination. For instance, by abolishing certain words such as Christmas. Yes. You withdrew from this idiotic move. But the fact is that the bureaucrats were planning it. It's a large bunch of the European Commission had been working on how we should speak and how we should avoid the word Christmas. I mean, this is simply outrageous. So but this gives us an insight into how the Commission works and what we see should be a warning to us all.