Nine months before the next European Parliament elections on 6 - 9 June, President Ursula von der Leyen outlines her Commission’s priorities from now until the end of its mandate. During the third part of her speech she focuses on Europe's cultural and biological diversity, on the ecosystem services that are absolutely essential for all of us and on a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

state of the European Union 2023 (T)

State of the European Union 2023: Statement by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission (part 3)

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/72154248/1694591218299_I244619Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Ladies and gentlemen in the European Union, we are proud of our cultural diversity. We are a Europe of the regions. We have a unique blend of languages music, art, traditions, crafts, cuisines.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, And we are also a Europe which is a continent of unique biological diversity. About 6500 species, which are only found in Europe, nowhere else in the world. In northern Europe, we have the world Natural Heritage sites, the Wadden Sea, which is a unique habitat offering a home to rare species of flora and fauna.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, And it's a vital resource for millions of migratory birds. And with the Baltic, we have the largest area of brackish water in the world. And south of that we have the European plain. We have vast tracts of moorland and wetland that characterises that plain. These regions are important allies against climate change.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Protected moors and wetlands absorb huge volumes of greenhouse gases. They secure regional water cycles and they are home to a unique biodiversity as well. We have a Europe that is a continent of forests with the mighty coniferous forests of the north and east, the last remnants of virgin oak and beech forests in Central Europe to the cork oak forests of southern Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, All of these forests are irreplaceable as a source of goods and services. They absorb carbon dioxide, they supply wood and indeed other products. They generate fertile soils, they filter the air. The water, biodiversity and ecosystem services are absolutely essential for all of us in Europe. The loss of nature doesn't only destroy the foundations of our life, but also the feeling of what people consider home. That is something we must protect.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, And at the same time we have to make sure that food security is in harmony with nature. That remains an essential task. And today, I would like to express my appreciation to our farmers. My appreciation and my gratitude that day by day, they are always providing food for us and producing healthy food, of course, is the fundamental task of our agricultural policy. The task of agriculture.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, And self-sufficiency in food is also important for us. That is something that our farmers are providing is not an easy task. Because the consequences of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, climate change, bringing droughts, forest fires and flooding, but also new obligations are all having a growing impact on farmers work and farmers incomes. And we must bear this in mind.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, Many are already working hard to water a more sustainable form of agriculture. We need to work together with the farmers and people working in agriculture to tackle these new challenges. And that's the only way we can secure a supply of food for the future for all of us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, So, we need more dialogue, we need less polarisation, and hence we would like to launch a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU. I am and remain convinced that convinced that agriculture and protection of the natural world can go hand in hand. We need both.