MEPs put forward draft changes to the EU’s core rules, following up on the Conference on the Future of Europe and reacting to unprecedented challenges. The text, prepared in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs by five co-rapporteurs representing a broad majority, includes a more bicameral system, as well as granting Parliament the full right to initiate legislation and the right to co-legislate on the EU’s long-term budget. It also calls for an increase in the number of decisions taken by qualified majority in the Council. Opening statements by Rapporteurs and Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

SCHOLZ, Helmut (The Left, DE)

Treaty on European Union (T)

FREUND, Daniel (Greens/EFA, DE)

BISCHOFF, Gabriele (S&D, DE)

SIMON, Denis (FR)

Proposal of the EP for the amendment of Treaties: opening by Rapporteurs and Pascual NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union and Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/73313576/1700155122602_I249308Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, Thank you very much, President. First of all, I want to thank also the Spanish presidency to be here in this debate. It is well appreciated and we have all to recognise that since the approval of the Lisbon Treaty, that's quite a number of years ago, the world have changed dramatically and that we have since then the last years lived in a brutal world, a world of what I call empires, in which the sovereignty of the peoples of the countries of Europe can, in my opinion, only be secured to an enlarged European Union and a more enhanced European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, And I think that we have to be in this debate today honest with ourselves. That is, that we are, for the moment, not ready for this more brutal world in which we have entered and also not ready for the absolute need for an enlarged European Union to 35 or 27 member states, certainly not with Russia. That continues its aggression or maybe with hopefully not a return of Trump in the White House next year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, And the key problem that we face, we react too little, too late because we are paralysed by decision making and I will not give the whole list. The list is long, but a few examples. It is not for months that we are not capable to decide on a 12th sanction package against Russia. We are not capable to refinance the European Peace Facility to send new weaponry to Ukraine because of unanimity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, And we were for a decade not capable to do something against illegal migration because we enclosed all selves in unanimity. So vetoes and blackmail have become in the European Union, I would say, the standard practice. And if we find then a consensus, then we go to the General Assembly of the UN and then we vote one third in favour, one third against and one third third is is abstaining so the question with this report is how to change the puzzle.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, Dear colleagues, let us be honest, have failed. And the reason they have failed is that because that is not one small or medium member state, not even also Spain, Poland of Italy was ready to give up its veto to strengthen, in fact, the de facto combined veto right, of France and Germany under the current rules. And therefore, this report, I think, is critical and important because we will fundamentally change this by creating qualified majority by two thirds of the member states, representing 50% of the population and dramatically increasing doing so.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, The position of small and medium sized member states. We introduce also reinforced qualified majority for important decisions like, for example, the budget or own resources or the comp. And I think that this way is the way to overcome the union has come and fall in four years now. And in the same spirit, what this report is doing is also reforming Article seven, giving an enhanced role to the European Court of Justice so that it may be it can work in the future.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, And harnessing also subsidiarity to the national parliaments and the regional parliaments with legislative power by giving a green card but doesn't exist today, and then also increasing European democracy by giving more power to our Parliament, for example, the possibility to take initiatives or also to decide on the income side of the budget. And finally, new competences like in defence, health, energy and climate change.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERSHOFSTADT (Renew, BE), Rapporteur, Dear colleagues, we are a superstate. The truth is that the approval of this report is to make use of Article 48 so that the European Council can start the work so that we can and larger union, we can further unify the continent and be ready for the huge thank you ahead of us. And I will ask you. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Mr. President, colleagues, do we change the treaties with this report? No. This week we have to answer two questions. First, do we want a convention to discuss treaty change? And second, is this draft a sufficient basis to open up a discussion? My answer to those questions is yes. 16 years ago, the Lisbon Treaty was signed, but world has changed since then.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We are facing new challenges the financial crisis, Brexit, migration, Russia's war on Ukraine are forcing us to act. I have with this report three priorities we want. I want the European Union to become more focussed, more capable to act and more democratically accountable. It is not about old ideas of federalism versus the Europe of nations. It is about improving the European Union, where it really matters to the Europeans.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We must create a defence union bringing the defence industry together in order to be able to defend ourselves, which is not the case today. Colleagues, if you think about the fact that we in Europe have 178 main weapon systems and the United States has 30, it comes with no surprise that we waste taxpayers money, pay more, get less.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We must strengthen our energy cooperation to achieve energy independence and decarbonisation. We must ensure that the internal energy market does not just exist on paper, but also functions in reality. And I want to fulfil the voters my voters demands and protect our borders against illegal migration and transnational crime. But for this we have to change and amend the treaties. The European Union does nearly have no competency and we are blocked by vetoes and unnecessary bureaucracy.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, And it is true that we need to improve the protection of the rule of law. But the legal procedure needs to be in front of a court. This would stop the blame game in this House, which does not bring us any further but divides us all the more. I think it was a structural mistake of the Lisbon Treaty that the European elections have no influence on the Commission, on the on the composition of the Commission.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We need a European Commission that can be elected and voted out of office. Colleagues, in this report, I know that is a very substantial one. It may be those all right who say it is simply too much, too difficult to understand not the right time and to difficult to explain, especially when you have to fight against right wing populists at home who instrumentalized the whole thing.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, And I'm also aware that we have totally different debates in different member states. But those colleagues who are concerned, let me say this is a very first step on a long road to go, a road that requires the consent of all member states. That will include lengthy discussions. And as in any compromise in this House, it is not a perfect report for anyone. Every political group had to make concessions, but at the end of the day, there are again two questions on the table.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, First, do we want a convention? And second, do we think that this draft is a sufficient basis to open up a discussion? Not more, not less. And for me, the answer to those questions is a very convinced yes. Colleagues, we have no time to waste. Depending on the outcome of the next U.S. election. Europe is only a little more than a year away from losing its nuclear umbrella.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We need to wake up. We as Europeans need to grow up as a union and grow up fast. The way to get there is through a reform of competences and institutions. Let us take the first step by voting for this report. Thank you. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Thank you, President, Secretary of State. I am delighted to see that the Commission is also well represented here today. The fact is, as somebody said, will tomorrow will be looking back and seeing what step we've taken today. And the party I come from for more than 150 years. We've had a slogan to mobilise people, which is that you can never get it wrong if you're fighting for freedom and the rule of law.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), First step is to ensure that we don't get caught up in minor detail, that we don't fiddle around while trying to really succeed in equipping ourselves to deal with crises in the future. Everybody talks about the enormous geopolitical risks which we're facing now. Everyone talks about how far and how fast the world's changing, how much has changed since we adopted the Lisbon Treaty. We've had the world financial crisis, pandemics, wars, Trumpism, populism, all sorts of challenges.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), One thing is clear, however, which is what reminded us that the conference on the future of Europe took place in this very chamber. So we invoked that spirit twin to relevant changes to the treaty. Why have we done this? Not because we've not got no better way of spending our time that the European Union is the only hope we have of security and progress in a rapidly changing world.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), And what was so insistent of one of the key barriers is unanimity. We are not able to act quickly. Seen as elsewhere. It's important that we be able to reach agreement and act quickly in a united way. This requires changes we weren't simply doing away with in which we put forward three different alternatives A qualified majority by a simple majority, more respect for smaller member states, of course, and then a super qualified majority just to ensure that we can give in circumstances we want to do away with these vetoes and the dubious deals they often lead to.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), It's important that we also pave the way to a future enlargement. So I believe that in the future, if we are to secure greater security as we've seen, enlargement is essential. Reform and enlargement are two sides of the same coin. You can't do either one or the other alone. This is why it's so important that we realise the implications of this for just imagine the future. Much of 35 countries which could wield a veto 35 commissioners I think.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), 'It goes without saying that we have to make ourselves more effective. The European Union contains within itself a promise, and we saw this promise when we saw our response to the pandemic. For example. This is why it's so important that we are able to address these cross-border challenges in the field of health care, for example, which is why we need new powers. We lift this as part of our own shared experience.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), It's essential conditions, more market integration, stronger social policy. And we've taken on board all of those once said that we have to dare to have more democracy. It's very important that we strengthen democracy. Democracy is under pressure. And let me wind up, which translates into English. But it says we should be ambitious in what we aim for now bringing in a global VAT rates, Mr. Orban is against all sorts of things. EU subsidies for Ukraine. Viktor Orban He puts in his veto vetoing everything. Vetoes all over.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Now, when we're talking about unanimous decisions. Viktor Orban Now it's, you know, money or, you know, we just want to, you know, make the EU completely untenable, as Mr. Putin has been trying to do it's simply one. One head of government can be corrupted somehow and we're all blocked. The whole of Europe is blocked. So it's not just an undemocratic procedure. It's a risk, a security risk for Europeans. So that's why we have to do away with the veto.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), Now, the European Parliament is taking a historic step forward with starting a process, which is something that the citizens really expect and need from us. More democracy, stronger democracy, real democracy. With the proposals to remove the barriers that are holding Europe back so that we can really have a Europe that's fit for the world where people in the Kremlin can, you know, take other countries in a world of Putin and Trump. It's just not possible for us to put up with that.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), And we can just can't just reduce everything to agreeing on the level, you know, peace, Fidesz holding hands, trying to, you know, install the Soviet diktats, which is absolute nonsense. You know, the people who go out down to the barricades who look at us trying to strengthen democracy in Europe, these people who are interested in money, but not about the people.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), And now they see that there's a danger and a threat to our European house. I know when we talk about changing treaties, people here in this parliament, a lot of people are saying it's just not possible, it's too difficult, we won't manage it. And member states at the end of the day won't follow. But maybe, maybe they will. I've heard again and again in this conference on the future of Europe, and we'll hopefully be able to avert this with a large majority tomorrow.

SOUNDBITE (German), Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE), And we will strengthen the parliament. We will move, reduce the size of the Commission and we will be able to really. Each pages, which is almost a small revolution, will go through and take us forward. Yes, we need the member states. And yes, the Council has done very little, far too little to really take this whole process seriously.

SOUNDBITE (German), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA), Rapporteur, But next time, when you're annoyed in Europe and people who are talking about tokens but experiences and goodness knows what, what we are putting on the table is a it's a roadmap to strengthen democracy in Europe, to do away with vetoes and to ensure that Europe can speak with one voice on a global arena. A plan for a new European Union is something that we present to you now from the House of European Democracy, the European Parliament. It's a great day, not just for the Parliament, but is a great day for the European Union. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, 'Thank you, President, vice presidents, the Council presidency. I would like to thank my four co-rapporteurs and all the members of staff who worked on this, the secretariat of the groups, the Committee Secretariat who tabled the views of the easy but who didn't want to support today's proposal today.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, Over the past years, paragraph by paragraph, we've gone through the Treaties and we've taken historically important ideas for the Conference of the Future of Europe to find a policy to transpose the proposals of the coffee and the those in the Agora and the plenary conference with the representatives of the representative democracy and the EU, but also at the Member state level and also including the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee, all the free expression of digital views. Thank you for the initiative.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, Vice President Speech in that was the promises and responsibility that was and commission on the 9th of May 2022. With this report here the Parliament is delivering. We want to have to be strategic and putting the Commission and the Council and the Parliament to have a convention to change the treaties under Article 40, 84, 48, such it shouldn't be seen as an anomaly normally initiative report, it should be seen as a experiment in things democracy.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, There was consensus from the beginning that treaty changes in institutional area, but also in areas of policy where the coffee saw a need rather than going through voting through paragraph by paragraph. We've seen as the we've we thought about the appropriateness of the proposals and the red lines of the other groups were considered all through that we've managed to achieve a good result, therefore is a success in itself.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, But it shows how deliberate this process. We wouldn't have this report, but it was an attempt to deliver on our promises to the citizens in the conference, but also other promises to citizens in the throughout the EU who are faced by social problems day by day, who questions of security, the environmental challenges, crises and all the need for assurance they have.

SOUNDBITE (English),  Sven SIMON (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, It shows how necessary it is to have a reforms and potential enlargement that this reform I think is a historical, a unique event. So it's important that the left in Europe so that the treaties can be adapted for a better EU. It's clear and it's equally important that the recommendations I hope that the report tomorrow will achieve broad support in this House so that the Parliament with its can deliver on his promise and win over the Council for these proposals and have a broad civil dialogue and to start a reform of the Treaties law can say thank you to the Council. Secretary of State. Various takes the floor.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, 'Senor President, Team President, Honourable Members. Vice-President Sefcovic. I would like to thank you, President, for having invited the current Presidency of the Council to take part in this important debate. The Presidency has followed very closely the work in the AFCO Committee regarding the preparation of the proposals from the European Parliament regarding changes to the Treaties.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, 'As you know, we in the Council find ourselves at a key moment in the institutional debate on the future of Europe. The Vice-President Sefcovic, set to which can of course confirm ongoing work in the Council, together with the Commission, the progress we've secured in this debate and the Council's commitment of today's vote and the vote in this House following the reform of the Treaties to the Council which might be adopted by the plenary, the Council will act pursuant to its obligations pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaties.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, As a result, if you received in time, the Presidency has the strong intention to prepare a decision so as to translate the European Parliament's proposals to the next meeting of the General Affairs Council on the 12th of December. I repeat that the Spanish Presidency is committed to this House. As you know, pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaties further improve Parliament's proposals to the Council.

SOUNDBITE (German), Helmut SCHOLZ (The Left, DE), Rapporteur, I would like to wind up simply by reiterating President to the various different rapporteurs who I listened to very carefully. I took careful note of. I look forward to following the rest of the debate, very relevant debate for the future of Europe. As you know, Spain has always been a member state, which has been highly committed to implementing and supporting the results of your debates and the results of the conference on the future of Europe. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE in English, Nils TORVALDS, on behalf of Rapporteur 'It establishes a clear line in favor of innovation allowing a five year derogation for innovative packaging and providing a horizontal exemption for almost the entire text for micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees. In addition, as one of the rapporteurs main priorities, the report has added health dimensions to the environment aspects of the dossier. With the addition of a ban of PFASes, chemicals, for other pollutants and bisphenol A in food packaging.

SOUNDBITE in English, Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS Commissioner for  Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Packaging is a key sector where we can empower citizens to participate in the circular economy and help create new business opportunities. The measures we propose, they will deliver cost savings to consumers and benefits for the environment.

SOUNDBITE in Italian, Massimiliano SALINI (EPP, IT) The risk we we're running here as this extremely complicated and cumbersome regulation will end up covering just 2% of the total volume of waste. It's not serious for us to devote so much time and money to regulations covering a sector which and I've talked about, the food sector has already achieved an enormous amount.

SOUNDBITE in DE, Delara BURKHARDT (S&D, DE) We can have a whole program for recycling because from 2030 all packaging must be recyclable and more recycled material must be in plastic material. We can we can avoid bisphenol and forever chemicals which come in contact with our food.

SOUNDBITE in Danish, Karen MELCHIOR (Renew, DK) With this law, we can make sure we can have harmonization of the packaging rules and reduce our use of single use packaging. I would not to go through all the glass in the parks of Copenhagen because there aren't enough requirements. All the single use takeaway packaging. I don't want to go through Europe with deposit bottles in my packaging because these packaging deposit systems are mutually recognized.

SOUNDBITE in English, Grace O'SULLIVAN (Greens/ALE, IR) We cannot recycle our way out of this mess. If your a single use plastic cup is recycled into a single use plastic bag. It is not sustainable. If your plastic junk is swapped for cardboard junk, it is not sustainable. And if we continue to generate levels of waste at current rates, that is by definition unsustainable. So, colleagues, we have to pull the brakes on our throwaway society.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual Ignacio NAVARRO R&Iacute;OS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, 'President, Honorable Members, Vice-President &Scaron;EFČOVIČ, I would like to thank you President, for having invited the current Presidency of the Council to take part in this important debate. The Presidency has followed very closely the work in the AFCO Committee regarding the preparation of the proposals from the European Parliament regarding changes to the Treaties.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual Ignacio NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, 'As you know, we in the Council find ourselves at a key moment in the institutional debate on the future of Europe, the Vice-President ŠEFČOVIČ, set to which can of course confirm ongoing work in the together with the Commission, the progress we secured in this debate and the Council's commitment. We are now waiting for the results of today's vote and the vote in this House.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual Ignacio NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, Following the transfer of the European Parliament's proposals on the reform of the Treaties to the Council, which might be adopted by the plenary, the Council will act pursuant to its obligations pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaties. As a result, if the European Parliament's proposals are received in time, the Presidency has the strong intention to propose adoption by the Council of a decision.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual Ignacio NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, So as to translate the European Parliament's proposals to the next meeting of the General Affairs Council on the 12th of December. I repeat that the Spanish Presidency is commitment to this House. As you know, pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaties, the Council's commitment to transfer the Parliament proposals to the Council is a procedural decision which will take pursuant to the Rules of Procedure of the Council.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual Ignacio NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, I would like to wind up simply by reiterating President my thanks to the various different rapporteurs who I listened to very carefully. I took careful note of what they said and I look forward to following the rest of the debate on behalf of the Council.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pascual Ignacio NAVARRO RÍOS, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, This is a very relevant debate for the future of Europe. As you know, Spain has always been a Member State, which has been highly committed to implementing and supporting the results of your debates and the results of the conference on the future of Europe. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, 'Thank you very much. Mr. President, Honorable Members of the European Parliament. My dear colleague, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Navarro Río, my dear colleague, Vice-President DuUravka Šuica. Indeed, today we participate in a very important debate because from the outset the establish the values and principles upon which our union is based.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, They define the competences of the Union and the powers of, each institutions. The Treaties are the backbone of our European Union, which has a unique construction in the world. For all our institutions, the Treaties are the basis of our action. They define the rules according to which we deal on a daily basis with the challenges that the Union is facing.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, And since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the Union has been confronted with many challenges the financial crises, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, just to name a few. When faced with this crisis, we successfully used the tools available under the existing framework.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, While we have often managed to find solutions based on political will and creativity, these crises have also here and there shown certain limits of the current framework, including the institutional framework and the competences conferred upon the Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, The next big political priority of us is, of course, enlargement. This can be a catalyst for progress while we widen our Union, we can also deepen it. We must ensure that our institutional framework and our policies are fit for the new geopolitical reality. I would say fit for the future. The new situation has led to reflections on whether and which reforms are necessary at this point in time, in particular to prepare for the upcoming enlargement.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, And I can clearly confirm that thanks to Swedish and Spanish presidencies, the General Affairs Council have in recent months had several discussions on how the Union should be possibly reformed in the view of enlargement.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, 'Today's debate and tomorrow's vote on Parliament's proposals for amendments to the Treaties therefore comes at a crucial moment in time. And I would like to thank the five co-rapporteurs in the Committee and all the associated Committees for the impressive work done on this report, which followed up on the Parliament's call for the European Convention in May and June last year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, The Commission will always support those who want to reform the EU to make it work better for its citizens. In our State of the Union Address. In September, President von der Leyen expressed her support to the call of this House for European Convention and Treaty change if and where it is needed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, As regards the Parliament's proposals for Treaty changes, it will be the first and foremost for the Council and the European Council to follow up on Parliament's resolution. The Commission stands ready to fully play its institutional role in the procedures set out in the Treaty on the European Union. In particular, we are ready to give our opinion in response to consultation by the European Council.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, From the outset, I want to assure you of the Commission's full commitment to play an active role in the process. One thing is clear however, they cannot wait for treaty change to move ahead with enlargement. This is why President von der Leyen announced that the Commission will start working on a series of pre enlargement policy reviews to see how each area may need to be adapted to a larger Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, They will address the question on how our institutions would work, how the Parliament and the Commission will look. Institutional questions are complex as they concern the very architecture of our Union. They are also sensitive as they touch upon their respective powers and the balance of powers of the institutions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Executive VP of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, There will be challenging discussions ahead of us that will require us to be visionary and bold in shaping the Europe of the future. The Commission is getting ready for these debates and this process, notably as we are opening a new chapter in expanding the European family. Thank you very much, Mr. President.