Roberta METSOLA, EP President welcomed Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Xavier BETTEL participated to the "This is Europe" debate. Extracts from the arrival, the welcome by Roberta METSOLA, the roundtable and extracts from the debate.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

EU - Luxembourg (T)

BETTEL, Xavier (LU)

president's agenda

This is Europe Debate (T)

"This is Europe" with Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister: extracts from the arrival, welcome and meeting with Roberta METSOLA, EP President, extracts from the debate

Roberta METSOLA, EP President welcomes Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Strasbourg, France, 19/04/2023, (1 shot)

Family photo, Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Strasbourg, France, 19/04/2023, (5 shots)

Internal shots, protocol room, meeting with  Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Strasbourg, France, 19/04/2023, (4 shots)

Internal shots, ambiance shots, arrival of Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister with Roberta METSOLA, EP President (2 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Allow me to praise you, Prime Minister, for your strong position on holding perpetrators of war crimes to justice. The European Parliament will always push for peace, a real peace with justice and accountability. And we know that for there to be a peace, there must be a Ukraine, as your government said in a statement earlier this year. Luxembourg will never resign itself to a world in which force prevails over law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, The European Union is not about slamming the door and saying everyone looks after their own. We need common solutions. We cannot achieve much alone. So it's very important for me to see in the future.

SOUNDBITE (German), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister,,  Open markets, a level playing field and climate and human rights issues will always be part of our prosperity. Protectionism. Protectionism makes you poorer, and it also ultimately makes you dependent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Xavier BETTEL,  Luxembourgish Prime Minister,, As I have told my colleagues at the February European Council, border walls are not only costly and questionable from a political point of view, but they are not effective in stopping irregular migration. 

SOUNDBITE (French), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Do you know how many young people commit suicide because they are unable to communicate their homosexuality? It is appalling to think that you can deal with this by a law on the media.

SOUNDBITE (French), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, When I accepted this, my family said, Finally, my friend said, finally. But the idea that in another country I couldn't say this because I could end up in prison, I could lose my life. The idea that in a European Union member state, I could only talk about this in secret. I understand that there are people who want to win votes at the expense of minorities. We've had that before in our history.

SOUNDBITE (French), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, The United Nations Charter is being violated. Luxembourg, as you said, Madam President, does not accept impunity.

SOUNDBITE (French), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, We must not disappoint our citizens. We have to ensure that the rule of law is respected. We have to meet our climate objectives. We have to deliver to Ukraine and we have to complete this process of building something together which is going to enable us to achieve something.