The Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier BETTEL discusses with MEPs his views on Europe’s challenges and future. Opening statement by Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

EU - Luxembourg (T)

BETTEL, Xavier (LU)

This is Europe Debate (T)

This is Europe - Debate with Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister: opening statement by Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister

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SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Madam President. Dear members of the European Parliament, what a privilege it is to be with you again in this Assembly. And I'm extremely grateful to the President for having invited me and I salute the presence of the commissioner as well.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, For me, this is the this house is the epicentre of European democracy, and for 70 years my country has hosted this Institution Secretariat. Back in 2018, when I addressed the House, there were some existential doubts. In the European Union. To do with the euro crisis, the migration pressure in 2015. And this has divided the Member States and divided this House.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, In 2016 there was the referendum in the UK and a number of Member States saw a rise in nationalism and identity movements and there was talk of the end of the union. There was talk of various member States leaving and the fact that there was nothing that we could do about it. And now in 2023. It's a pleasure to see that all that has not happened.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, In the last five years. We have seen deeper crises than that of 2018, and we have risen to the challenge, including, Madam President, your own institution. We have shown solidarity with Ireland following Brexit. We've preserve the integrity of the internal market. After some initial hiccups with COVID, we have managed to guarantee the free movement of people and goods and We worked hard to limit the damage.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Luxembourg is a country where we cannot close the borders because if we did, we wouldn't have anyone working in the hospitals. We have 200,000 cross-border workers. It's unthinkable to close the borders and it's daft to think that you can stop a virus by closing borders.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Imagine if whatever happened with with the individual contracts. Imagine if we had left vaccines and vaccine procurement to the free market. Luxembourg wouldn't have been able to afford them. And it's thanks to the Commission, it's thanks to the Common Collective for purchasing that It didn't matter whether you were Luxembourg, Maltese or whoever, you were able to have access to the vaccine. It's very easy to forget all that.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, We also have common debt issuance through next generation EU. And without this House, we wouldn't have a conditionality mechanism on respect for the rule of law and then support for Ukraine, the provision of humanitarian and military assistance and the reception of refugees in Europe has made us a credible geopolitical player.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, And then, of course, the climate crisis, which should not be overlooked and the energy crisis. We've managed to reduce our consumption and we are moving towards renewables over fossil fuels. This is all about the legacy that we are going to leave to our children. If we want future generations to enjoy our quality of life, then these are choices that we have to make. And I would like to salute the leadership of this House in the debate about climate change.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, You are elected by the citizens. You represent the citizens. And I have been presenting the findings of a survey which has revealed that the citizens whom we so often think are a bit sceptical about climate change actually want to go further than us. These ideas from the grass roots to drive policy. Why should we be afraid of the citizens just because of five year electoral cycles?

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Even if we have to stand for election, we should allow the people to speak their views. And I think we'd be surprised sometimes at the the enthusiasm and the ideas that can emanate from them. We should not be shy in this respect. I want to emphasise the need to remain open. Our union should remain open to the world. Protectionism is an easy reflex.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, I want to say something about European values and fundamental rights. And the need for our union to rise to the challenge presented by the war on our borders. During the pandemic, I said that we had demonstrated unity. Little Luxembourg took in French patients during the pandemic. Thanks to the cross-border workers, we were able also to bring in patients from France. That's the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, The European Union is not about slamming the door and saying everyone looks after their own. We need common solutions. We cannot achieve much alone. So it's very important for me to see in the future. I have to say, I'm from a generation that doesn't remember a war. Many, many of our electorate remember the Iron Curtain. They remember division. And do we in the European Union of today want to send a message that we want more walls? Europe is about bringing down walls and barriers. We shouldn't make the mistakes of the past. Madam President.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, We also need the single market. 56 million jobs have been created in the European Union thanks to the single market, according to the European Parliamentary Research Service. I mean, great things have been achieved in consumer protection and food safety. And. It is the single market that will enable us to remain competitive at a global level.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, However, the single market is not enough. We need to be open to the rest of the world in terms of investment flows and the EU needs to defend itself against protectionism and against certain types of investment. It's very important for there to be strategic autonomy. But let me explain what strategic autonomy is. It is not protectionism. It is not lifting the drawbridge and it's not keeping distance from the rest of the world.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, We should concentrate on outcomes rather than a fanciful debate. The Net zero Industry Act, the CHIPS Act, and the Critical Materials Act. The Commission has done its bit. Luxemburg considers openness as fundamental to strategic autonomy. Open markets, a level playing field and climate and human rights issues will always be part of our prosperity. Protectionism makes you poorer, and it also ultimately makes you dependent.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, On the other hand, strategic autonomy means diversification of supply chains. It means cooperating with those who share our values, including meeting the objectives of the Paris Accord. Strategic autonomy also means protect proactive industrial policy in order to keep manufacturing in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, It is important to secure the supply of critical raw materials and to diversify. It's important to end dependence on fossil fuels and to promote the generation of renewable energy, hydrogen and so on. Technology and innovation are essential, and hence I talk in terms of open strategic autonomy.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, And when I'm talking about openness, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot avoid touching upon the issue of a truly common European migration policy. I agree that in order to Schengen to work, we need to be in a position to better regulate and control access to the Schengen area. However, for me that does not and can in no way imply that we Europeans do not have a legal obligation and a moral duty to offer those who seek international protection a realistic possibility to do so and to grant international protection to so who qualify for it.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, As I have told my colleagues at the February European Council, border walls are not only costly and questionable from a political point of view, but they are not effective in stopping irregular migration. We have to improve the surveillance of our external borders and engage with international partners on issues like returns or the management of migratory flows, or addressing the root causes of irregular migration and setting up facilities for irregular migration.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, At the same time, the respect for fundamental rights, as well as international humanitarian law should be the guiding principle for common European migration policy that preserves and strengthens our credibility with our neighbours and other third party countries. The external dimension can only be complementary to the internal dimension.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, A common European migration policy needs to be fair, resilient, rules based and characterised by the right balance between solidarity and responsibility for to European Asylum and Migration Pact and the related preparatory work by the successive French, Czech and Swedish Presidency represents the only solution on the table with the potential to achieve this balance. Let us not give up the pact and let us try to hammer out an agreement before the end of this Legislature using the joint Roadmap of the European Parliament and the Council as our compass to this ends.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, For me, one of the central characteristics of the European project has been the fact that it's always been solidly insured in the respect for fundamental rights and rule of law. This has been my main theme of my speech before this plenary last November. And as I told you in the press conference, I had a prepared speech about technical and secretariat.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, But Roberta, you showed us the video of Simon Veil. And this changed my whole speech. You know, who is Simon Veil, but we are not celebrating, remembering today. You have this yellow Star on you. Simon Veil had not only yellow star of flower. She was marked for life. She was Jewish. She fought during her political engagement for women rights.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, And for me, she represents Europe. This peace project, this project of respecting people how they are. And so that is the reason I want to excuse officially to all my team who profess usually long speeches, and I don't very often stick to that. But it was, for me, important to remind that and for me, you have to continue to fight for these rights, for this rule of law and for these human rights.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Defence of the rule of law and fundamental fundamental rights of citizens has to be the foundation stone of this European Union. We cannot change the rules according to who is in power. And I want to salute the European Parliament's role in the introduction of the conditionality clause for multiannual financing and next generation EU.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, For certain national recovery plans. The funds have been suspended and are procedures being taken against the LGBT plus law in Hungary. And there are 15 member states supporting the commission. And Orban wanted a law which would prevent people talking about homosexuality in the media. If there's anyone in this house who thinks that you've become a homosexual by watching the television or listening to a song, then you've not understood anything. The most difficult for a homosexual is to accept themselves.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, Nobody's asking for pity or solidarity or compassion. Just respect. Just respect. There is no point in having a double life or a secret life. Do you know how many young people commit suicide because they are unable to communicate their homosexuality? It is appalling to think that you can do with this by a law on the media. When I accepted this, my family said, Finally, my friend said, finally.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, But the idea that in another country I couldn't say this because I could end up in prison, I could lose my life. The idea that in a European Union member state, I could only talk about this in secret. I understand that there are people who want to win votes at the expense of minorities. We've had that before in our history. Madam President, I think that we can add some tools to our books in terms of the rights of minorities. And I will be asking in future for more solidarity to meet our climate goals, industrial policy goals.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, And, Madam President, allow me to conclude by saying something about this war, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which has been taking place on our borders for the past year. Many people thought that the European Union would not be united, and yet it is. The European Union is never strong when it is not united. Its member States alone cannot achieve much. But the European Union, when it is united, can achieve a great deal.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, I don't see an end to this any time soon. The United Nations charter is being violated. Luxembourg, as you said, Madam President, does not accept impunity. Robert Schumann of Luxembourg in 1950 said that world peace can only be achieved by peace efforts commensurate to the threats we face. And it is really up to us to act united against Russian aggression, penalise the aggressor and support Ukraine financially, deliver arms to Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, As you said, we have devoted a big chunk of our budget to Ukraine to enable it to defend itself, and we need creative efforts in terms of enlargement, as a geopolitical tool to help Ukraine on its way to accession. We need to ensure that the European Union can work as a bigger union in terms of its budget and finances. And we will need to mobilise the resources to rebuild Ukraine and to stop war on our continent once and for all.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, We must not disappoint our citizens. We have to ensure that the rule of law is respected. We have to meet our climate objectives. We have to deliver to Ukraine, and we have to complete this process of building something together which is going to enable us to achieve something.

SOUNDBITE (French, German, English), Xavier BETTEL, Luxembourgish Prime Minister, I think it was Churchill who said that "Alone we can move faster, but together we can move further". And had it not been for Europe as Prime Minister of Luxembourg, I might not be in a position here to address you. And there are many of you here who who argue and fight, but you don't use weapons. You use words. And that's how it should be. And we certainly should not fall prey to populism. Thank you.