During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (08-11 February 2021), MEPs debate the establishing of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Opening statements by Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Siegfried MURESAN (EPP, RO), Dragos PISLARU (Renew, RO), co-rapporteurs, Pascal CANFIN (Renew, FR) (ENVI), François-Xavier BELLAMY (EPP, FR) (ITRE), Roberts ZĪLE (ECR, LV) (TRAN), EP Committees representatives. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

MUREŞAN, Siegfried (EPP, RO)

ZĪLE, Roberts (ECR, LV)

GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL, Eider (S&D, ES)

CANFIN, Pascal (Renew, FR)

BELLAMY, François-Xavier (EPP, FR)

PÎSLARU, Dragoş (Renew, RO)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

Recovery plan for Europe (T)

recovery and resilience facility (T)

Establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility: Opening statements by co-rapporteurs and EP Committees representatives

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/4987393/I201769Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Thank you very much. Madam President, Vice-President Dombrovskis, dear colleagues. Good morning. The morning on what I believe will be a very good day for the European Parliament today.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Today, we are giving our final vote, our approval to the 672.5 billion euros European Recovery and Resilience Facility. This means that money will be coming, support will be coming for people, for enterprises, for regions all over Europe affected by coronavirus and by the consequences of this pandemic.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Our message is clear. Help is coming. Support from the European Union is coming to those affected. This support, this money is money to overcome this crisis, but it is also money to make us stronger in the face of the next crisis. It is money for recovery and for resilience to make us more resilient to better face next challenges in the future. Never, ever again, in the future, people and enterprises should be affected by crisis as they were until now.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), It's money to modernise our economies, to make them cleaner and greener, to make them more digital, more innovative, more modern. This is why it is very important how we are going to use this money.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), The European Parliament proposes the money to go into six directions. Firstly, greening. Second, digital. Thirdly, economic cohesion, money for the private sector, for the small and medium-sized Enterprises, for the industry, money for infrastructure projects. This is the third pillar.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), The fourth pillar is social cohesion, money for the people affected, different social categories affected by this pandemic, including children, including elderly people. Fifth, institutional resilience. We are going to strengthen the institutions in member states about which we learn during this during this crisis that they have to modernise, increase their capacities.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), And here I would like to be very clear that countries can use this support to build or modernise existing hospitals, to build new hospitals or modernise and enlarge existing hospitals and the six pillars. The sixth pillar is money for youth.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), We as the European Parliament have negotiated intensely in the last months, and we believe that through the European Parliament, the European Recovery and Resilience Facility has been made better. What have we achieved? Firstly, we have managed to offer and agree on an increase of financing.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), That means that once a national plan of one country is approved at European level, the pre-financing, the support that it will receive will be bigger, 13 % thanks to the involvement of the Parliament compared to the 10% initially proposed. This means that the recovery will be quicker and more decisive.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), We will be able to create more jobs quicker due to the increase of this pre-financing, that the structure with the six pillars which I just described is also a proposal and an achievement of the European Parliament. We are setting up clear rules for spending the money, but within these rules we are also leaving the flexibility to member states to decide where they use the money.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), We say 37% of the amount at European level should go into greening and 20% into digital. But we do not impose other specific proportions for different directions because needs of different member states are different. Malta is different than Finland. Portugal is different than Ireland, Luxembourg or Romania, and countries should be able to decide within the European rules to be able to use the money where they need it.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), We, as the European Parliament have also imposed that member states make a self-assessment with regard to safeguarding the cyber security of the European Union while accessing money from this recovery and resilience facility. In clear words, the money should be used in a way in which the cybersecurity of the union as a whole and of individual member states should not be affected.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), For example, money should not be used for investment into 5G networks by hostile companies from countries outside of the European Union against our will. Money is not for ordinary budgetary expenditures to finance deficits. Money is for investments and reforms. And reforms is a is a key concept to make our economy stronger for the future, and it is something on which the European Parliament will insist on very much.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), What the European Parliament have also achieved that there will be democratic control for all of the money spent, democratic control and legitimacy through the involvement of the European Parliament. The European Parliament will be involved in all of the future phases. We will supervise. We will scrutinise to make sure that money is being spent according to the rules.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), And we have also achieved, together with the European Commission and with our colleagues in the Council, that the European Recovery and Resilience Facility will be revised after two years. And we are going to look at it. We are going to have a review evaluating how things go and see if something needs to be further improved or adjusted.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Today, dear colleagues, we are going to vote in favour of this facility, I believe, by a very large majority. I would like to thank my co-rapporteurs, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial from the Socialist Group and Dragos Pislaru from the Renew Group for the excellent cooperation which we had throughout this process. And I would also like to thank the shadow rapporteurs of all of the other political groups.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), This facility was adopted by a large majority in the joint meeting of the ECON and BUDG Committees, and I believe a large majority of members will also support it today. This is thanks to the excellent cooperation which we had throughout the groups.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Dear colleagues, to conclude the experience of the last year shows us that none of us, no country alone, can overcome this pandemic. Only the joint response of all of us based on solidarity will help us. This is a day of success for the European Parliament. It's a good day for Europe. Thank you very much for your support. Dear colleagues have a good day.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Thank you, President, Vice President Dombrovskis, with this vote and then the discussion, we will be moving on to the next step in this extremely necessary Recovery and Resilience plan.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), And what I want to emphasise here is the fact that the European Union will confront the economic crisis deriving from the pandemic with 672 billion euros. This is going to be a crisis like the one of 2008. This is the correct response, this plan. This is what our citizens in the European Union want to see. They want protection, support, aid, because the impact of the virus has been extremely difficult.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), And this Parliament has been very clear since the very start. In May, we had a resolution asking for a strong economic result, and then it has taken months for this recovery plan to see the light of day. Since the second half of last year, we have been working under the German Presidency with them and with the Commission on this recovery plan.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Now, there are two aims here. One, short term recovery with an injection of income that is going to support GNI in our countries and support in investment and particularly to help manufacturing and households. And then we want to see resilience because we're not just injecting the money, but what we want to do is to also ensure that this money can help to bring about unprecedented change.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), We want to focus on modernisation, modernising education, digitalisation, have efficient public administration. But so far, because of lack of funding, these ideas have not been reality. Now, what we're going to be able to do is be able to make progress in these areas and are just a few short years. Without this, it would have taken decades.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), The basis discussed in the July council were good, 672 billion in the Resilience facility, a rapid reaction plan that's going to ensure a quick reaction and also a plan focussed on the digital change. But for the Parliament, we want to see more. That's why we emphasised a number of points with the German presidency. We have increased the number of pillars to six so we can set out strategies and priorities for the European Union, the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the social pillar.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), The plan's objectives are fighting climate change, digitalisation, social and territorial cohesion, supporting SMEs, inclusive growth, health and economic institutional resilience. And the final pillar is focussing on youth and childhood with education and training programmes and integration into the labour market.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), We're also more ambitious when it comes to environmental plans, 37% of expenditure will be on this. Also the principle of not causing damage. So any plan or reform financed by this plan cannot lead to environmental damage. And then we've established a new methodology to see if expenditure is grill in order to ensure that it's not an unfounded figure. In the digital arena, we have said that it's at least 20%of expenditure.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), And in the social area, it's one of the priorities of the fund. But we want to ensure as well that it's a crosscutting principle. This way we focussed to ensure that the funds will help to fight poverty, to create high quality, stable jobs and also focus on marginalised groups.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), The 2008 crisis made it clear that taking decisions on debt and deficit without taking account of the social impact was the wrong strategy and one that we should not repeat. Therefore, macro conditionality has to take account of the economic and social conditions of the member state in question, and in particular unemployment rates, poverty and social exclusion rates in the member states and also what impact it will have on the economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), This is a unprecedented crisis and unprecedented health crisis and has put pressure on our health systems. The lack of human and material resources has been able to be overcome thanks to the commitment from our health care workers and systems. But this is not sustainable, so we have to ensure that we can improve the capacity and accessibility of our health care systems and prepare them for future crises.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), This crisis, like all crisis, has particularly impacted women. And we can't accept a plan that doesn't take proper account of this fact. When it comes to gender budgets and also taking account of the gender dimension, we seem to still be in the 19th century. We have to ensure that we have proper financial management, look, measuring the impact of our measures, not just on the economic side of things or social, but also in terms of how it takes account of a gender balance. And this has to be shown in the national plans.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), We've done a great deal of work here. We've also made it clear that national plans have to be drawn up together with the people. We have also made it retroactive to the 1st of February 2020. I'm finishing president. I'd also I'd just like to thank my co rapporteurs, Mr Muresan and Mr Pistlaru, it wasn't an easy agreement to reach in some areas, but thanks to our commitment, we have managed to achieve an agreement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), I'd also like to thank the shadows because they were a very important part of our team and of course the Commission and Council. We spent hours, days and nights negotiating. At times it seemed impossible. It was extremely frustrating. But we got there in the end. We reached an agreement. And so President, now I would urge member states to work to ensure that this is a successful plan.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), Dear Chair, dear Mr. Executive Vice President Dombrovskis. Europe's destiny is in our hands are words that were spoken in this assembly 40 years ago by Simone Veil. One year ago, when the pandemic hit our continent, these words couldn't be more accurate.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), We as representatives elected by European citizens, we have all duty to deliver a proper Recovery and consolidated Resilience to our citizens, to our entrepreneurs, to the young people and children of tomorrow. This was indeed the European Parliament's ambition. Together with my colleagues Siegfried Muresan and Eider Gardiazabal we understood that the recovery will not work if we will not be comprehensive.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș P&Icirc;SLARU (RE, RO), We understood that Resilience could not be achieved without ambition. We spent hundreds of hours, days and nights thinking, listening, writing, discussing, negotiating in order to find the best solution to win this battle and leave from it stronger. The RRF, the Recovery and Resilience Facility is a symbol. It's a symbol for the story we are going to tell our children and grandchildren, you know, years from now.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), It's a symbol of the vision that we have for Europe and it's a symbol of how we can unite behind a good purpose. And this is why we have actually found a proper solution and we will implement this successfully. We owe this to the next generation. We have a story that our children will be proud of.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), A story that for me, started in May 2020 when I was attending a conference about the early impact of covid-19 outbreak on children. When I heard children representatives telling us that they are scared, that they are uncertain about their future and about the way in which they can continue their education.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), And many young people that were present there, you know, their, you know, basically emotions about the fact that they might get unemployed or they might have an uncertain future. And I made that promise that day that children and youth would be at the centre at the core of our recovery. How can we talk otherwise about the next generation to you if we are not going to deliver to the children and youth of tomorrow?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), And shortly after, when the Commission announced the recovery package, the one that repairs and prepares Europe for the next generation, we knew together that we should actually avoid that our youth and children would become what is called a locked down generation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), And the European Parliament delivered on this promise with the cooperation of the Council and of the European Commission. We have right now a pillar dedicated to children and youth that is beyond the pillars. They are the five pillars that have been actually mentioned already, and especially the social pillar that is also contributing to, you know, the fact that no one will be left behind.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), And the story continues and brings us to the present. And this is actually really important to see how things developed, because in August 2020, I conducted, you know, consultations in 13 member states and I was actually talking to stakeholders and citizens and, you know, social partners. And this was a big effort to hear the citizens, to listen to them.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), And that's why we actually put this in the mandate of the European Parliament in the negotiation as part of our ambition right now, you will find in the regulation the fact that we need to consult stakeholders and citizens in the elaboration of the national plans. And this is important and this is the message that the parliament is sending and the hope that we eventually put forward should allow the citizens to express their view.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș P&Icirc;SLARU (RE, RO), Last but not least. This facility, the RRF, it's about unity and European unity comes when we let our values guide us. In the European Parliament team, we had different political views, but we stood united and we have been united in a team. And then at the beginning of the negotiation with the Council and the Commission, I specifically said, this is not, you know, Parliament on one side, Council on the other side, Commission that our side we are all together team Europe and we've been doing the negotiation in the interest of citizens. And this is actually shown in the regulation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), And I am so proud that we acted as a team Europe. And I'm sure that we will act as team Europe for the implementation. And obviously for having the trust of the citizens, we need to have transparency and we need to have the scrutiny, and you need to have legitimacy and democracy and accountability linked to that because we are strong together. And if we are going to work together with the 27 member states, then indeed we should remember that this is not a cash machine, but an instrument that requires full transparency and access to information.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), 2020 will remain a sad memory about loss. It's about uncertainty, about fear and insecurity. But the Recovery and Resilience Facility, it's a symbol. It's an ambition. It's something about listening to citizens. And it's a story about promise and vision and about European unity. And this is right now becoming reality. This is what we want our generations to come to remember.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), Tthis is our role to ensure that it's going to be well implemented. I would like to think again, you know, Siegfried, Eider, all the shadow rapporteurs, the chairs that have been guiding us, all the other colleagues and teams and our assistance and policy advisors that work together, we have the choice of being remembered as the ones that set the example for the next generation. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), Thank you very much. I will be very brief this time, it's actually I'm quite proud to present the mandate of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. If there is one lesson we ought to have learnt by now is that we are indeed stronger together and there are threats that we can only take as union. This is something the pandemic has not only reminded us, but actually made us supply in practise.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș P&Icirc;SLARU (RE, RO), Our unity is provided by the strength of our society. And what society needs right now is the RRF, an instrument that puts social cohesion at its core, an instrument that shows how youth and children are a priority for our policy, an instrument that will make the European pillar of social rights becoming a reality.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Dragoș PÎSLARU (RE, RO), Because if we are to speak about resilience, this is the pillar on which our resilience relies. The Employment Committee saw that this facility is the solution for citizens, and I think that this is paving the way for the ambitious action plan ahead of the Porto summit in May. We have a choice to make, so let's make the right one. Let's adopt for our citizens the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pascal CANFIN (RE, FR), Madam Minister, Executive Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, what we're doing today, by the adopting the Recovery and Resilience Facility, is historic for three reasons. First of all, for the first time, we are investing together, united in investments for the future. The second reason why it's historic is that we are connecting up this recovery plan with other aspects of our economy and notably with a green deal.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pascal CANFIN (RE, FR), 37% of these investments will be going to the climate and 100% of the EU money going to this must not do any harm to the climate and the environment. That is a substantial difference. And that shows that the United Nations organisation considers this recovery plan as the second most green in the world.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Pascal CANFIN (RE, FR), The third reason why this is historic is because we're going to pay back this recovery facility, not by allowing our citizens to pay taxes, but making sure that those who are not paying taxes today do that in the future. Big companies, those who are polluting, people who are importing steel, for example, or causing too much pollution. And that's why this vote today is historic.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Fran&ccedil;ois-Xavier BELLAMY (EPP, FR), Thank you Chair, on behalf of the ITRE Committee, we contributed to the work on the RRF, the Recovery and Resilience Fund, by adding a definition of resilience which was lacking. For us, resilience means that you can produce what is needed in order to withstand the crises of tomorrow. This crisis has made it clear that we were dependent on raw materials from other world powers.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Fran&ccedil;ois-Xavier BELLAMY (EPP, FR), So it's the sovereignty of our member states that is at stake. We also added a clause to ensure that the funds that are used are really used to produce wealth for future generations so that it is then possible to pay back this debt because the RRF will continue to raise the problem that we have. Uh, we've agreed on debt without agreeing on how to pay it back. There's a political and ethical need to prepare for our future, so the ITRE Committee has had a long term vision and its work. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Roberts ZĪLE (ECR, LV), Madam Vice President, thank you very much for giving me the floor, because the shadow also from my ECR Group, I will try to touch both issues, transport committee opinion and political view from the group. So I would like to thank all the colleagues who worked in the Transport Committee and also in the main dossier on RRF for this final result. But we succeed with the council.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Roberts ZĪLE (ECR, LV), And actually, as as you may know, we normally always look forward to how it fits us plans, which is very important for member states also to make it flexible for member states. And final result was not all centralised and given flexibility for member states at the same time to keeping reasonable opportunities to control and govern all from your dimension.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Roberts ZĪLE (ECR, LV), It is also crucial that we will look on on the grounds part of RRF said, there should be new approach from the member states, not only old plans, which does not fit no more that are in reality. And it's also very much that the transport sector where we have a huge opportunity to to take this environmental friendly approach of mobility, but particularly taking the concept of CO2 emissions that are in transport are still a very high proportion of the other branches of the economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Roberts ZĪLE (ECR, LV), And that should we have to also check the member states' cooperation with with social partners and others to do preparation for national plans for recovery and resilience, and also that it should cover all all the envelopes. And so on transport sector, we have to remember that ratification of all resources open us to access for the Commission to go for RRF money to financial markets to borrow this money.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Roberts ZĪLE (ECR, LV), And if you will, missed it with a modification of our resources. Are we slow? Partly because of some of Connecting Europe facility and other dossiers are not yet finished and member states are very careful on this ratifications. That's why. Thank you very much.