Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP and Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, give a press conference in Brussels. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Brussels

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

press conference

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

2024 European elections (T)

EE2024 campaign material (T)

Press conference by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP and Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/74951933/1708426404238_I253256Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, Good morning and thank you so much for your interest today. It's 12:00. The deadline finished about the nomination of candidates for the lead candidate for the EPP Party. And we are proud to have now Ursula von der Leyen as the only proposed candidate. On Monday she was presented from the mother party at home in Germany from CDU and there are two further parties who support the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen, that is Donald Tusk for platform in Poland and Nea Demokratia Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Greece. And we just had a intensive discussion, a long discussion with Ursula von der Leyen in the EPP Group and can announce that the EPP Group supports Ursula von der Leyen's candidacy as lead candidate for the EPP Party.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, Ursula von der Leyen delivered in the last years. The European Union was in good hands and that's why for us it is logical that was Ursula von der Leyen as Commission President is our candidate. And let me also say it's quite logical that from our point of view, she's the next Commission president. We have worked very close together in the last five years. Ursula von der Leyen has also my personal full support for this mandate. We have different roles, but together we deliver at 100% EPP for the future of Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, The EPP family has gone through a very challenging period in the last years. I have to say, when I became party president, we only had seven prime ministers and chancellors and head of State and Government on the EPP table. Today we have 12 and most probably we will have in June this year 14 prime ministers, head of state and government in our ranks. So I can tell you the EPP is back. People trust in us, the people can count on us, especially in times of big challenges. We will do our campaigning first of all with our achievements. We EPP and also Ursula von der Leyen kept Europe together, on COVID times ,in the Ukraine war, on the Green Deal and on the digital agenda. We were leading the European Union in a good direction. With these achievements, we can do our campaign based on trust that we are experienced in crisis management. That Ursula von der Leyen is leading in a good way.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, We live now in a world of full uncertainty and that's why the main message from EPP is we want to guarantee stability in Europe, certainty in Europe. And the two big messages to have there in front of us is security and prosperity. For example, the idea of a Defence Commissioner is also embedded in our electoral manifesto, so also 100% EPP. The EPP is asking for a security deal for the next five years in Europe. And the second thing is Europeans want to have safe jobs, decent income, and therefore we need strong companies, industries and innovative economies. We will guarantee also with this decision of supporting Ursula von der Leyen, a democratic process. I, myself and we as EPP, we believe deeply in this idea of lead candidates and presenting people before the elections. And with the decision to nominate in Bucharest the lead candidate we guarantee this process.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, It is crucial to give the people a voice in deciding about the future of Europe. And finally, let me underline that we will present next to the lead candidate in Bucharest, also a strong manifesto, a strong idea for the future of Europe. About tomorrow, about the tomorrow of Europe. The political assembly tomorrow will decide about the proposal on this manifesto. So the content is also work in progress and will be delivered in Bucharest. The people can count on us and we will show leadership with Ursula von der Leyen as lead candidate. But also with the whole team, the 12 prime ministers and I also want to mention Roberta Metsola. We are very proud to have the President of the European Parliament, also a strong female leader of a EU institution in our ranks. We will show leadership for Europe and we ask then the people for support in the elections. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Thank you very much. I'm very grateful, Manfred, for the wave of support I felt and the warm reception in the EPP Group, and I'm very much looking forward now to the weeks where we are going to work intensively together. And I thank you for the excellent cooperation that we had over the last five years. When I ran in 2019, I did it because I deeply believed in Europe. There's so much that happened in between and we went through challenging times. And these past 5 years not only taught me a lot about my passion for the European Union, but what I also learned is how much this Europe can deliver to its people. And from the beginning on the mandate, as you said, was very challenging.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, It started actually with Brexit, I tend to forget that but this was the first month of my mandate. I was not even 100 days in office when WHO declared COVID a pandemic. This was a terrible time at the beginning but together with the Parliament and the Member States we then had to break completely new ground and in the result we defeated the virus because we stood together. We managed to keep our single market functioning and we came out of this very deep crisis even stronger than we had been at the very beginning.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Because we managed also to avert a severe economic recession. Think of NextGenerationEU, the 800 billion investment plan that smoothened the hit by the lockdowns and we came out much better than we were before funding a cleaner more digital economy. Think of the semiconductor production that we brought back to the European Union or the battery technology or clean hydrogen. So another word, we were able during this time to prepare the European Union already for the future.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, And then amidst the economic recovery, Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin started the biggest land war in Europe since 1945, and once again, Europe stood united, acted immediately, and acted decisively. We stood by Ukraine from day one on. I have not forgotten how Putin tried to blackmail us by exploiting our Russian gas dependency. And we stood firm together. We went through the biggest energy crisis in the last 40 years but we managed to turn the challenge into an opportunity. We diversified a away to likeminded friends and partners, like the United States or Norway, for example, we increased our energy efficiency and most importantly, we massively invested in clean and home-grown energy.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, So today Europe is far closer to energy resilience than it has ever been. And at the same time, we know that a lot of work is ahead of us. In fact, we have to adapt our competitiveness to the new conditions, we have to boost prosperity in the European Union, we must achieve the climate targets, and we have to do it with the people and with the business sector. Our businesses are fully supportive of the climate objectives. What they want to discuss is not the what about the target but the how we are getting there. And this is the period where with the structured dialogues we try to discuss how in a tailor made approach we can give every industry sector the opportunity to reach the goals we have accepted together.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Of course, digitalisation helps a lot in this case, we have to exploit the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence, and as important is as exploiting the opportunities of artificial intelligence is that we need to link it with the principles of a social market economy. The second big topic is security. And here, let me have a look, a brief look at the topic of defence. Citizens want more Europe in defence. They want us to invest more. They want us to invest better. They want us to invest European and smarter. And they want us to remain transatlantic, without any question, but to become more European.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, But I also want to look at security in a wider sense. Citizens want to be safe on our streets. They want protection from poverty and illness, and they want to know who takes care of them when they are old. People want a society where everyone plays by the rules and where the rule of law is respected, where the media is free, and the judiciary is free. Whether corrupt and criminals are held to account. Well, we are working to build a globally competitive and clean industry and at the same time step up our fight against climate change. And this is what Europe stands for.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, But above all, we have to protect what makes Europe unique and strong, and that is our democracy, and these are our values. We are a Union of 27 countries and the appeal of this union is so great that many other states want to join deliberately, from the Western Balkans to Ukraine. And this is Europe's ultimate success and we must continue to defend it against those who want to divide us, the Euro sceptics and Putin's friends, be it from the inside or from the outside. We must keep our democracies strong. I am convinced that together we will be successful and that is the task I'm very much looking forward to. Thank you very much.

Q&A, Question regarding on the campaign of Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine's presidential and parliamentary elections.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, So of course, it is very clear that on one hand I have my role as president of the European Commission, and I have to strictly divide or separate this role from the role of lead candidate of EPP and campaigning. We have a whole set of rules within the Commission that dated from former times already, which we have updated and strengthened. So its clarity, both rules roles have to be absolutely separated. What elections is concerned in Ukraine, this is a domestic matter of Ukraine, so not for me to comment.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, The same on the perspective of Ukraine. Again, that's domestic. But let me underline that from an EPP point of view, I am, as an EPP president, quite proud that Roberta Metsolat was the first travelling to Kiev after the war begun. Ursula von der Leyen was leading the debate about the support for Ukraine. Now the 50 billion additional money, security, and safety certainty for the next two years is thanks to Ursula's engagement and all of the enlargement process is thanks to Ursula von der Leyen's engagement. EPP is the party of Ukraine, is a party of being friends of Ukraine and we want to underline this because on the Bucharest Congress we also will put forward a plan for victory. We have to restrengthen now. We have to bring now new dynamic in the support for Ukraine in this moment of time and that's crucial.

Q&A, Question regarding on the next Commissioner on Defence and Security, and Estonian Prime Minister.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, So of course, we are not detailing out in every little form the different positions of portfolios that Commissioners have in the next mandate. But my view on a Commissioner for Defence and Security is that he or she is responsible for the defence industrial base that is a core competence of the Commission, the industry, and the single market. Of course, it plays a big role in that research and development. Here this is one of the main topics that accompanies the strengthening of the defence industrial base.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, But I think we also have to look at, as I just described, security in a wider sense. So the preparedness of the European Union for different shocks coming from outside the security also against natural catastrophe, and the solidarity to stand there. Our civil protection mechanism is a hallmark that shows how important that is, for example. What personalities are concerned, this is too early to discuss anything about that but this attitude of preparedness and this knowledge that everybody can contribute to security is one of the main task ahead of us.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, If you allow me to add the question on personalities is for the Commission absolutely to early, as Commission president said. For leading personalities again, I'm quite proud to have two Presidents in the EPP family. We can show this kind of leadership, that we have strong personalities. That is, I would say, also for the campaign in front of us a strong advantage compared to the Socialists and with the Liberal team, we don't have clarity in this moment of time. From an EPP point of view we have clarity of these two strong ladies.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, And on the defence field, let me just underline that on the long run, 330 or 340 million Americans will not defend more than 400 million Europeans, so we have to take over our responsibility. That's the main message of today and we would save billions of European taxpayers' money, if we would follow the proposal now from Ursula von der Leyen. To come to a common market on defence goods and products there. That would save a lot of money, we would be more efficient, and that is exactly what is now needed to do.

Q&A, Question regarding on how Ursula von der Leyen will position herself as a candidate.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, We do have a very clear situation, state of play, as we know we have the law agreed. That is that by 2035 there has to be zero emission, and there's a proposal by the Commission now with the Council to give a special role to eFuels. Very important is in 2026 is a review on the whole matter. So the discussion has taken place, the different proposals have been presented, and are on their way, but I think often forgotten is that a state of play and a review will take place in 2026 to make sure that there is openness what technology is concerned. That there are choices for the consumers but also choices, of course, for the industry where they want to invest in and what the mobility of the future is for them.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, And for the Green Deal, let me underline that, as Europeans, we are proud Europeans about what we do in the Green Deal. Also for me, as a political leader of the EPP, we are the party of Green Deal. We do the Green Deal under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen. So, for example, on the Climate Act the most important decision in this regard the PPE voted in favour, Greens voted against. So we have an ownership on this. We draw the line and the direction in which we have to go, and that's why I want to keep all during the election campaign the ownership. That the Green Deal is an EPP deal and we do this in the interest of future generations.

Q&A, Questions regarding on the enlargement towards Ukraine and a political majority in the European Parliament after the European elections.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, So enlargement concerned, we are making excellent progress on the screening process. That is very good, and we are still working on the negotiation framework. My best guess is that it will not be ready before the European election, but afterwards, because if I see the development of the different negotiation positions, this will take its time. But I guess around summer, beginning of summer, we are going to be ready.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, What the second question is concerned, for me it is important that I work with pro-European, pro-Nato, pro-Ukrainian, clearly supporters of our democratic values groups. So it is more the question of what is the content? And you know that every European election brings a change in the composition of different political parties and different political groups. So the content counts, and those who are defending democracy against the Euroskeptics, and those who are defending our values against Putin's friends, these are the ones with which I want to work and I know I can work with.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, Based on the current the current situation, I just want to remind everyone that for the current European Parliament, we only had a tight majority in favour of electing Ursula von der Leyen for this mandate. And we have now polls European wide, which are quite worrisome because those who are the parties who are campaigning against Europe, who are the friends of Putin, are getting stronger and stronger. And that is extremely worrisome for us as EPP to keep stability.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, So my messages as EPP leader is to take the election serious. Please dear citizens take the election serious. A lot is at stake, and our red line is clearly defined. As Ursula said it, itäs about yes to Europe, it's about yes to Ukraine and it's about yes to rule of law. The three key principles, which we stand for, and that is our red line to all extremists on this continent. They can never be a partner of us.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, You will not be surprised when I say that I want to have the EPP as strong as possible, and I want to see the EPP in a situation that no one can anymore govern against the EPP votes in the next European Parliament. That is a goal, which is possible to achieve. That is what we strategically want to see, that we have a key position in the next European Parliament, but always based on the cooperation among the democratic pro-European forces.

Q&A, Question regarding on if Ursula von der Leyen is ready to make a coalition with the ECR Group in the next mandate.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, You defined already very well that against rule of law, impossible. Putin's friends, impossible. So there has to be a very clear positioning of the politicians that are, and we do not know who is forming the ECR after the elections. What groups will leave the ECR and, for example, join the EPP, which is also possible? But the cutoff line is do you stand for democracy? Do you defend our values? Are you very firm in the rule of law? Are you supporting Ukraine, and are you fighting against Putin's attempt to weaken and divide Europe? And these answers have to be very clear.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, They are simply not delivering because having the camp in mind, they have no common understanding. We have Putin's friends there. We have those who are against Putin there. But in a lot of issues, no common understanding about what to do. And what I can see already is a development of internal, quite cruel fight. For example, when Viktor Orban, and I have personally a long history with him, after Viktor Orban said that he wants to join the ECR, then immediately the Czech delegation in the ECR said publicly, we don't want to be in one camp with Viktor.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, The Swedish and Finnish populist parties there said immediately due to the NATO debate, we don't want to be in one camp with Viktor Orban. So we see the ongoing quarrels, the ongoing inner fights there, and our message is they will not deliver on your concerns, dear citizens, they will not deliver on this. That's why please trust in those who have gained the proof already that they are good in crisis management, who can give a good future for Europe. And that's the EPP So our red line is clear. Our red line is clear.

SOUNDBITE (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Chair of EPP, And if you allow me to say, that this Europe is our Europe, it's a Christian democratic Europe, it's built up Schuman, Adenauer. We are the founding party of this continent, the founding ideas, together, with socialists and liberal parties. That's why will never allow that someone is weakening or even destroying our European Union.

Q&A, Questions regarding on the enlargement towards Serbia and the rest of the Western Balkans.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Yes, so I have always been a strong supporter of enlargement, while saying very clearly it's a merit-based process. So I keep insisting on that one, but it is good to see how the Western Balkans, but also of course Ukraine and Moldova for example, are doing everything possible to do the necessary reforms and to move towards the European Union. So you will, of course, find me in the potentially next mandate as a strong supporter of the enlargement towards the Western Balkan.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Your second question was on the growth plan. Yes, the growth plan is exactly a very clear message that we have the funding. That was very important that in the mid-term review was also included the funding for the growth plan that was the 50 billion for Ukraine, but also the funding for the growth plan. So we have the means now in the European Commission. We are just in the process to detail out the growth plan with the six Western Balkan countries on what kind of reforms are coupled to what kind of investment and how that access to the European single market is.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, The work is ongoing very well. So there's a lot of interest and a lot of enthusiasm in the Western Balkan countries. So the moment we are done with the basic principles, the first disbursement can flow. Thanks very much.