President Metsola addresses Heads of State or Government at the European Council and hold a press conference. The European Council discusses Russian military aggression against Ukraine, security and defence, energy, economic issues, COVID-19 and external relations.

Brussels

press conference

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

meeting of the European Council

president's agenda

European Council meeting 24-25 March 2022

European Council (24-25 March): arrival and doorstep of Roberta METSOLA, EP President, roundtable, extracts from the press conference

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, First of all, we need to address the largest humanitarian crises we have had since the Second World War. We need to rethink our migration and asylum strategies. We need to start to think properly in terms of our green transition that it's not only about climate ambitions, but also about a security policy. And we also need to think in terms of rule of law and justice. That's what the Ukrainian citizens want, and that is why we should offer them a home that they always feel in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, At the end of the day we need to have a policy where we buy or are dependant on gas from our friends and not foes.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, My message will be tonight that we welcome, as I have done already, the application of Ukraine and Georgia and Moldova. We also cannot forget our Western Balkan countries and our partners that have been on the track of making sure they can be part of the European family.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, We have to look in the immediate and in the short and but also in the medium and longer term. We have climate ambitions, we have security goals, we have defence ambitions that we need to be able to address with legislation, with political messaging and with symbols of hope and assistance. And I think if we manage to do that tonight, then those gaps and any divisions will not be exploited.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Putin's criminal invasion has backfired spectacularly. The democratic world today is stronger and more united and more relevant than it was a month ago. The presence of President Biden at the European Council today and the address of Prime Minister Trudeau at the European Parliament yesterday are proof of this. The fact that Brussels is today hosting three major summits is further evidence of the centrality and the leadership that our Union has taken in response to Putin's unjustified war. [

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, First, we need to organise our asylum and migration policy to face the needs of people fleeing the war and seeking shelter and protection. Second, we need to give freedom, justice and rule of law priority. That is why Ukraine wants to join the European Union. And finally, we must accelerate the green transition immediately.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, What is clear is that Putin underestimated our resolve. If we have seen over the past one month what we have taken as decisions, unprecedented decisions. You see majority results and votes in the European Parliament. You see member states that have decades long held positions that are shifting according to public opinion. And that is because we have all been inspired by the courage, resilience and bravery of our Ukrainian partners fighting our war in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, We adopted today a decision on the triggering of the CARE, which is the Temporary Protection Directive, as we used to call it, which identifies cohesion funds. And also, let's say, assistance that will go to those first of all, those member states that are receiving the the refugees to the people seeking and fleeing Ukraine and the Ukrainian war or Russia's war against Ukraine and as well going further for those countries that are not those of first arrival but could be of secondary third and tertiary and fourth movements.