Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), President of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, holds a press conference, to present the priorities of the group for the plenary session. The transcript is the result of an automated process. Please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

press conference

SÉJOURNÉ, Stéphane (Renew, FR)

Renew Europe

Press conference by Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President

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SOUNDBITE (French), St&eacute;phane S&Eacute;JOURN&Eacute; (Renew, FR), Renew President, Thank you very much, Antoine. Before I give the floor to Dragos on artificial intelligence. I would like to make a few comments on this plenary session: first of all, the debate on the EU ethics body, the state of play of the Rule of Law in Poland, artificial intelligence. And then if you have any further questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, First of all, I would like to talk about the EU ethics body, which will be debated on Wednesday in the plenary. You're probably already aware that last Thursday the Commission put forward a proposal for the EU ethics body. As expected, in our view, it's rather disappointing and weak. The group's position was much more ambitious.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, Renew Europe had asked for the establishment of an independent EU ethics body as of 2019, and it was a commitment made by the President of the Commission who had included this ethics body in her work programme.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, Therefore, in our view, particularly in light of Qatar Gate, we need to be able to make headway on this matter. I'm quite concerned that the Commission has not fully taken on board this body in order to build trust at EU level. During the EU campaigning there it is very likely that there will be discussions on this and they will probably benefit the far right and the far left.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, So our group has the same view: to have a body which can investigate and which can cover all EU institutions the Commission, the Council and the Parliament. And for the time being, the proposal does not cover all of those aspects.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, The Renew Group discussed this matter and decided that the position wasn't clear enough. We won't be holding discussions or negotiations with the Commission as what has been put forward cannot be negotiated on. In our view, at this stage, we are very far away from the establishment of such an ethics body for the time being.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, Now, as regards the state of play of Rule of Law in Poland: we have the latest attempt of the Polish government to reduce the political opposition, to silence and to dismantle the rule of law. There was a request for the creation of a commission to investigate Russian interference, which is just a pretext for the party in power to eliminate any opposition to the government.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, We also support the sending of an observation mission to the country. Our group was one of the first to have a strong response to this situation and in fact, some of our representatives were attending the marches, including Tusk, to defend the rule of law in Poland.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, We are quite concerned because this is a serious matter and we have gone up a level in terms of what the government in power wishes to do on this matter. Now, I'll give the floor to Dragos on artificial intelligence to give us an overview.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, The EU is one of the first to be putting forward legislation on artificial intelligence, and we're very excited about what is to come. We've worked on this on different levels. I worked on intellectual property and you've worked on the Commission's proposal, so I'd like to give you the floor now so that you can provide some further detail.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur Thank you, Stéphane, and good morning to everyone. Indeed, this is the week of AI. There are, of course, other points, as you've heard, important on the agenda, but it is the vote tomorrow on the AI Act that I think is going to capture a lot of attention and I think for the right reason it is historic.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur We use this word a lot. Sometimes we exaggerate. But I think this is a historic moment, not only for us as Europeans, as the Union. But literally the whole world is watching what we do. For for us as Renew it is a moment that we prepared for from the start of this mandate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur I don't think many people know that Renew was the only group that has already in 2019 initiated work on a position paper that was adopted in late 2019, already ahead of the white paper of the Commission in February 2020.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur It was this group that pushed for the creation of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence of this Parliament, which I had the honour of chairing, and also within this group rest the responsibility of co-leading on the legislation myself as a co-rapporteur for the file. Why is it important and why is it important right now?

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur Again, I don't need to underscore what I think everyone of us sees already around us in terms of the public debate. Artificial intelligence does have a profound impact on everything we do on our economies and our societies, and therefore, it was time to bring in some rules, to bring in some safeguards and guardrails for how this technology and its use will evolve for the benefit of our citizens and our societies.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur It is also because self-regulation is no longer enough. And we see right now, even the global digital giants actually crying out on the risks of their own applications and technologies is posing as risks. And I think that shows that self regulation is no longer sufficient and that some firm standards and rules need to be put in place.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur And we also see a call at the global level: we saw the G7 discussing with priority artificial intelligence. We saw the last session of the Trade and Technology Council in Sweden last week. And this attempt to bring all like minded democracies around the topic. And of course, what we do here in Parliament matters a lot for that. And again, two of our commissioners, Vestager and Breton, are also leading this work on the global stage.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur A few words on substance and then if you have questions, of course, I'll take them as they come. On substance for us, as Renew, and for me as a co-rapporteur, the key priority was to bring the balance. In our group, we look very seriously on the agenda of protecting the rights of all citizens, just as we look very seriously at the agenda of ensuring the right ecosystem for innovation and creativity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur And I am confident that with the package that we have, with the text that we have on the table which will be voted upon tomorrow, we have managed to bring the balance between the two objectives. And it is a package that is solid. Of course, I'm sure you've you've seen that there is only one group that that broke the agreement that we had, that is EPP.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragos TUDORACHE (Renew, RO), rapporteur They decided to go out of the agreed text and put forward the separate amendments on the issue of biometrics. But I am confident that, and this House has shown already in several occasions, that there is a majority that supports the type of text that we have in the compromise text. And I'm confident that the vote tomorrow will reconfirm that. Thank you. And looking forward for questions.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding the EPP and the position of some of its members on the nature restoration law.

Q&A, Question regarding which funds will be invested for the reconstruction of Ukraine.And another question on the corruption in Ukraine and the possibility of European investors to enter the Ukrainian market.

Q&A, Question regarding the negotiations between Ukraine and the Global asset manager BlackRock.

Q&A, Question regarding the position of Renew on the Green Deal Farm to Fork Strategy.

Q&A, Question regarding the position of Renew MEPs on the Nature Restoration Law.

Q&A, Question regarding the approach Renew is thinking of taking regarding the impact of the Nature Restoration Law and its economic impact.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding the Renews' position on the new redistribution of MEP seats in the European Parliament.