On the occasion of EU Speaker's conference in Bratislava in Slovakia,&nbsp;Antonio TAJANI, EP President&nbsp;makes a keynote speech.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

conference

fight against hate speech, populism, and fake news on social media (T)

Bratislava

keynote speech

Slovakia

EU - Slovakia (T)

EU Speaker's conference in Bratislava, Slovakia: extracts from the keynote speech by Antonio TAJANI, EP President

EP President Antonio TAJANI shake hands with Slovak Speaker Andrej DANKO

General shots at the at the EU's Speakers's conference in Bratislava Castle; EP President Antonio TAJANI takes the floor (intro shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Our citizens are concerned. They look to us for solutions. They think that the European Union - the source of the best sixty years of the European history - is slow in responding to their concerns and their priorities. This is giving fuel to the fire of populism.

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, The European Union has indeed achieved a lot for its citizens. But the achievements of the past no longer suffice to guarantee the future of the European project. We need to deliver more. The only way to respond to populism today is with a Europe of more results.

SOUNDBITE (French), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, During the year 2016, we received 76 official delegations from national parliaments in the European Parliament. In my opinion, these bilateral visits are very important. In my capacity as President of the European Parliament, I mean to work towards making this co-operation more effective. This is exactly what I said at the European Council in my first speech to them as President of the EP, this cooperation amongst us is the most important one if we are to defeat populism.

SOUNDBITE (French), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, We need a true industry policy in Europe. I have visited several times your country to support the steel industry. And this is a message addressed not only to Slovakia, but to all EU countries: we need to protect the European industry if we want to fight unemployment, we have to support the real economy if we want more employment.

SOUNDBITE (French), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Our parliaments should, as a first priority, call for better collaboration and exchange of information between intelligence services. Terrorism knows no boundaries. Our Europe is committed against terrorism and against crime, altogether: member states, the European Parliament and the national parliaments. It is a strong message: Europe is capable of protecting its citizens, this is the message we want to send out today from Bratislava.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, We cannot win over this difficult match for Europe if we don&rsquo;t defend our European values. Our identity, our history, our civilisation. Values are of extreme importance (...) Our identity is the same here, in Madrid, in Rome, in Brussels and throughout Europe. Freedom is the most important value, journalists are not in jail, and we can all speak.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, The representatives of national parliaments, of the European citizens, we can all together help Europe to win over this match, I am optimistic and I truly believe that we can transform our youth dreams into reality, the reality of tomorrow&rsquo;s Europe. Thank you all. Applause.