Renew Europe leaders meet ahead of the European Council at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels.

Brussels

meeting

JOUROVÁ, Věra (EC)

MACRON, Emmanuel (FR)

MICHEL, Charles (BE)

RUTTE, Mark

VESTAGER, Margrethe (DK, CE)

CIOLOŞ, Dacian (Renew, RO)

MARTIN, Micheál (IE)

LENARČIČ, Janez (SI, EC)

BRETON, Thierry (FR, EC)

BABIŠ, Andrej (CZ)

special meeting of the European Council 24-25 September 2020 (T)

Renew Europe leaders meet ahead of the European Council: arrivals and doorsteps

Exterior meeting venue, the Palais d'Egmont, 2 shots

Arrival Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy

Arrival Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice

SOUNDBITE (English), Dacian CIOLO&#350; (RE, RO), Group leader Renew Europe, It's a good thing that we have this proposal because we waited this for several weeks. We are ready to start to negotiate because we want to adopt as soon as possible, M n FF and recovery. But we deplore the fact that we didn't have this proposal. So now it is good that we have this, but we have to discuss because it doesn't comply with the expectations of the parliament. We need and we mentioned it from the beginning. We need a really strong mechanism and enforceable mechanism. And on the proposal of the of the council, the scope of of this mechanism was strongly narrowed. So we need a broader scope of this mechanism.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dacian CIOLOŞ (RE, RO), Group leader Renew Europe, We need also reverse qualified majority because the Commission has to have a key role in this in this process. We also proposed that the annual rule of law mechanism of the commission to be a reference, because we saw now that it's a really serious analysis of the commission for each member state. So this is a very good basis to start a discussion. And when there is a problem with the rule of law in a member state or another, this is a good reference.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dacian CIOLOŞ (RE, RO), Group leader Renew Europe, And another very important element for us is to protect the interests of the final beneficiaries. The final beneficiaries in any member state should not be affected by the fact that a national government or some politicians don't respect rule of law or affect the capacity to manage in the right way European financial interests. Our group Renew Europe group proposed some ideas about how to protect the final beneficiaries enforcing. In the meantime, such a mechanism. But we are ready to discuss, to negotiate. We have to do this as soon as possible because our intention is also to adopt MFF and recovery as soon as possible. But what is very clear, the Parliament will not be able to put on the agenda the vote of MFF and recovery without having an agreement on rule of law and of course, own resources. But on own resources things seems to to evolve.

Arrival Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, A Europe Fit for the Digital Age

Arrival Janez Lenarčič, Commmissioner for Crisis Management

Arrival Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Mark RUTTE, Dutch Prime Minister, (On the Rule of Law mechanism proposed by the DE Presidency) It is a stop on the way, on the way to a compromise with the Parliament

Arrival  Vera Jourova, Vice-President of the European Commission, Values and transparency

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Of course, the commission propose something which was much stronger, but now I think there's this proposal, still we can work quite efficiently. So I'm happy. Thank you.

Arrival Andrej Babi&scaron;, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

Arrival Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market

Arrival Charles Michel, President of the European Council

Mich&eacute;al Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland

SOUNDBITE (English), Miche&#225;l MARTIN, Taoiseach of Ireland, Clearly. I just had a meeting with the President of the commission this morning, the talks are ongoing in terms of Brexit itself. The commission has initiated proceedings against the UK for the unilateral action in relation to the internal market. And that now is proceeding. But parallel with that, the negotiations in relation to the future relationship between the United Kingdom and Europe is continuing. And we are one with our fellow EU member states in our desire to have a sensible and sane comprehensive agreement arrived at between the UK and the European Union that can be grounded on trust as we move forward. But that responds to the needs of those we represent, workers, businesses, livelihoods. We want to protect those, ultimately in terms of whatever agreement we arrive at. Thank you very much.

Arrival Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic

SOUNDBITE (French), Emmanuel MACRON, President of the French Republic, We have a text that we have discussed, that it is very good,and which is very clear on the subject last July. The work has to continue with the Parliament but I think nothing should take the recovery plan hostage, especially the wissehs to block or force one subject or other. The discussions will continue, we have few days to manage, it is a topic which we are not underestimating the importance of, which doesn't exist only when speaking of the recovery plan. But I strongly wish to advance with both.