Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, candidate for a second mandate 2024-2029 answers MEPs during the debate where she presented her political priorities and her vision and plans as Commission President.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

appointment of the President of the European Commission (T)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Statement by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, candidate for a second mandate 2024-2029: answer by Ursula VON DER LEYEN

'SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, President of European Commission - Honourable members, thank you very much for a very lively debate which shows the vitality of our European democracy. In recent months, our political families have laid out that different programs for Europe, and I think it was a heated but fair electoral campaign. And for the second time in a row, the turnout in European elections went up, reversing decades of decline. The people of Europe have shown that they care and that they want to make their voice heard. This is a good sign for European democracy, but we must also be very clear eyed about the dangers that our democracy faces.

'SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, President of European Commission - Our societies are polarised more than at any time since the end of the Cold War. And let me be very clear, we will always defend freedom. But freedom does not mean to have the right to take it all. Not the one who screams the loudest or is the most disrespectful, has the right of mind. It is the rule of law and respect that unites us. And thank you for the show of white support in this house of democracy, for the respect for each other as the foundation of democracy. And this respect is something that we can only built together across all political divides and party lines, because this is how we sort our differences in our democracies, not with screaming and yelling and disrespect and violence, but with votes, not by feeding divisions, but by bridging them with dialogue.

'SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, President of European Commission - And over the last months, I've listened to all the democratic forces in this Parliament in the spirit of dialogue and respect. And this is reflected in the political guidelines that I have just presented. Now it is time for the democratic forces to come together and to move Europe forward, because there's so much more that unites us than divides us. And this is the essence of Europe. That is the story of Europe. We are united in diversity and in adversity. And let me conclude with the last public words that my friend David Sassoli addressed to Europeans just days before he passed away.

'SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, President of European Commission - The hope is in our hands, our best hope in a dangerous world. And today, Europe's hope rests on your hands. The democratic forces. Thank you. And long live Europe.