Guy VERHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), co-rapporteurs hold a press conference on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

Strasbourg

press conference

Treaty on European Union (T)

BISCHOFF, Gabriele (S&D, DE)

Press conference by Guy VERHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), co-rapporteurs on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/72066555/1694452798303_I245693Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Co-Rapporteur, Why this report? This report on the change of the treaties is an attempt by the European Parliament to apply Article 48 of the treaty and to ask to the Council to open a convention for preparing the change of the treaties, a change of the treaties that, in the opinion of the five co-rapporteurs, is absolutely necessary to implement the conclusions of the Conference on the future of the European Union, that conference that we concluded a little bit more than a year ago. ,

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Co-Rapporteur, And secondly, is needed also to prepare the European Union for the upcoming enlargement of the European Union. And in this work, we were guided by all the committees of the European Parliament. In total, more than 11 opinions have been collected and have been also taken into account in this work. I will not go into the details because otherwise it will take the whole half an hour of the press conference.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Co-Rapporteur, I only want to tell you that one, in my opinion, one of the key elements of this reform that concerns more than 100 articles of the treaty in total is to, like I said, prepare the union for enlargement by changing the devastating unanimity decision-making that we still have in a lot of areas in the in European Union and to replace it by qualified majority.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Co-Rapporteur, But you can only replace that qualified majority if you change qualified majority. That is the purpose of one of the key elements of this reform, and that is, in my opinion, something that will be crucial in the negotiations of the future of the European Union. So for the rest, I think that everybody can and will discover all the changes in competences in the power of the Parliament and so on, that in all, in foreign policy, in subsidiarity way of handling in this report, and I hope for not only good presentation tomorrow in AFCO, but we will have a vote on this in October in AFCO, and probably in plenary in November.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Good afternoon. Indeed, this is the week where we want to open a new chapter in the history of the European Union. You all know that it is now 16 years ago that the Lisbon Treaty was signed. And the world has changed since then. And we believe that we need to change with it. If you think about the financial crisis, Brexit, migration, Russia's war on Ukraine, I think all those historical issues force us to act. We have three priorities. So I think we share those priorities. We want to become more focussed, more capable to act and more democratically accountable.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Co-Rapporteur, It is important for me to say for the EPP that it is not about old ideas or federalism or so I read that in newspapers. It's not federalism versus a Europe of nations. It is about improving the European Union and the functioning of the European Union, where it matters to Europeans. We want to create a defence union. We want to strengthen our energy cooperation to achieve energy independence and decarbonisation. We want to protect our borders against illegal migration and transnational crime.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Co-Rapporteur, And for this, the foundations of our union, the treaties need to be changed. As Verhofstadt, said we need to abolish vetoes and unnecessary bureaucracy. We need to protect the rule of law and national traditions. And we want to make sure and that is perhaps a cornerstone of the report that citizens voice is heard, namely when the Commission president and the Commission are elected. We know that we cannot write down in a treaty something like the lead candidate principle, but we want to make it more to happen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Whatever our political differences are. Differences between the different rapporteurs. We share one belief. Now is the time to take the next step. And we will fight hard in the upcoming days to convince colleagues about that common belief. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Ladies and gentlemen. Indeed, whe,n we listen today to the commission President von der Leyen, she said it's time to think big. And we work very hard to think big and to come up with a proposal for changing the treaties and ambitious. Indeed, some question is it not a bit utopian or whatever, but we are here in a grand line of parliamentarians that did come up with proposals to improve the treaties.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Co-Rapporteur, And I think really it's now time for the Council to not shy away from the decision to start a convention. Also, this was highlighted today by a Commission president, von der Leyen, strengthening democracy in Europe, strengthening a social Europe, strengthening the capacity to act. I think this is something that united us when we did this work on the proposals, and I think we followed very closely the lines that the conference of for the Future of Europe gave us that the citizens really wanted in this area we delivered with concrete proposals.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Co-Rapporteur, And that is very important because the challenges are huge. We have a rise of right wing fascist nationalist parties and movements all over Europe; and one thing they all have in common they are anti-European parties, at least the vast majority of them. So we want to unlock the blockades that we have at the moment here, stop the vetoes, a key point, and deliver really for the citizens. And to do that, we had clear priorities here.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Co-Rapporteur, So we are strengthening social Europe, especially to put social justice at the core, especially also regarding inclusive labour markets, fair working conditions and stronger also health union. We have the pandemic, we realise that we are not equipped to address challenges like this. And I think one point that was also highlighted a lot in the speec today is improved gender equality and especially also improve the legal basis against gender-based violence.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Co-Rapporteur, So we have a lot of issues here. We come up with proposals. I hope you will have the time to read it. It's a bit thick, but it's worth doing it. And we are now asking the Council to come up here to have also debates in the member states. So because the final goal is not only to have the courage to think big and to negotiate big, but also to act big. In this sense, we are giving a clear signal also to the Council with this. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Good afternoon. Since the full scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, we have seen painfully how a single member state time and again can blackmail the rest of the union, can ask for additional concessions. And it shows us that in a time of war in the immediate neighbourhood of the Union, that the unanimity voting be it on realising that there are war crimes happening in Ukraine is a security threat for the Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Rapporteur, So obviously abolishing unanimity in such key areas is one of the key proposals that that we're making here so that the union can act, can respond to the challenges of our time. Many of them say, particularly in the council, you know, we need unanimity at the end to approve that and that it's going to be difficult.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Rapporteur, But the crisis of the last 10-15 years have shown time and again that the union needs additional powers, it needs additional capacity to act, to respond to what citizens want from us, that the union can act in time of pandemic, can act in time of war, can act in time of economic difficulties. So that is what we're proposing for the broad coalition here of all the pro-European democratic groups in the House.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Council has one of the lowest thresholds anywhere in the treaty now to start the debate with us. It just needs simple majority of member states. 14 member states need to say, yes, we start the debate. I think this debate is crucially needed. It is now, it's been said already, be it for enlargement. I don't want to imagine what happens if we have another crazy president in the in the White House, whether that will threaten the existence of Ukraine or European defence. So Europeans need to, you know, make sure that we can act if we have to. And for that, we need to change the treaties to put us in that position.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would say we are in the situation that you have to say it very clearly and loud. We have to win the future and therefore we need to unblock certain limitations in the treaties which are hindering us to focus on the questions ahead of us and also in the current situation, political ones.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Almost one year ago, or even more one year ago, the European Parliament's representatives in the Conference on the Future of Europe have clearly stated "We are taking the responsibility to answer to the recommendations of the conference and that particular of the citizens assemblies who wished expressing that there must be changes in the treaties because they are hindering in the daily life hindering that EU policy is delivering to that what they are expecting".

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Co-Rapporteur, So it's a question about democracy and has democracy a chance for winning the future? My colleagues have already explained certain aspects. I would only say one experience from this Conference and the future of Europe. If you have seen how the citizens see us from the early morning to the late night sit together, worked on what should our recommendations to change. And they came to health union, to environmental union, and in particular to the social union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Co-Rapporteur, Because if you don't overcome the gap between the economic policy, between the market and the social reality, we will not be able to deliver to the citizens set. The European Union is there, which is its structure, this living space, and therefore The Left for the very beginning, very respectful and active in taking this responsibility also in their own approach to this work on this treaty change report.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Co-Rapporteur, And of course, we don't agree with the findings we have found in certain aspects and parts. And I will only mention that we are thinking that the future of winning means also to depart from the military thinking and the defence policy. We have to come to a foreign policy which is putting the European Union in the in the ability to act and therefore we need the voting structures.

SOUNDBITE (English), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Co-Rapporteur, But on the defence issue, we want that parliamentarian rights, also of the Member States, should be kept. And therefore we are asking here not to change the voting structure as it is embedded just now in the Treaties, and that is an explanatory statement in the report given so you can read it. And I'm also thankful to my colleagues that we really managed a working atmosphere and a very cooperative way to deliver today this report and to introduce it tomorrow in the committee and to wins a majority of the members for adopting. Thank you. .

Questions and Answers with the journalists