During the plenary session (14-17 September 2020) in Brussels, MEPs debate on the Preparation of the Special European Council, focusing on the dangerous escalation and the role of Turkey in the Eastern-Mediterranean. Opening statements by Michael ROTH, German Presidency and Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Brussels

EU - Greece (T)

debate

plenary session

EU - Türkiye (T)

KARAS, Othmar (EPP, AT)

BORRELL FONTELLES, Josep (PSE, ES, EC)

ROTH, Michael (DE)

special meeting of the European Council 24-25 September 2020 (T)

Preparation of the Special European Council, focusing on the dangerous escalation and the role of Turkey in the Eastern-Mediterranean: Opening statements by Michael ROTH, German Presidency and Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, Vice President of the EC

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, Vice-President of the EP, Ladies and gentlemen, honourable members. Following the announcement of the results of yesterday's voting session.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, Vice-President of the EP, The next item on our agenda is the debate on the statements of the council and commission on the preparation of the special European Council, focussing on the dangerous escalation and the role of Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, Vice-President of the EP, And as I told members yesterday, there will be no blue cards given in this debate and no unannounced speaking time will be given. The first speaker in the debate is the representative of the presidency in office. So I give the floor with great pleasure to president-in-office, Michael Roth.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Mr. President, Honourable Members, Vice-President of the Commission. Ladies and it gentlemen, is a great honour for me to be here today. To participate in this debate on such an important subject.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, It is a pleasure for me to explain to you what the main items on the agenda will be at the extraordinary summit of the special European Council. In this time of crisis, it is important that the European Union should speak with one voice, join forces and not allow itself to be divided.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, And that is precisely the priority of the German presidency. We want to make a substantive contribution to ensuring that the European Union's weight on the international stage can be strengthened because we have a positive contribution to make.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, We all know that authoritarian regimes are growing. Democracy is increasingly under threat and is therefore even more important for us to defend our model, which is based on human rights, justice, democracy and this is why we will be focussing on precisely these subjects at the special European Council.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, And we are dealing with difficult actors in this context. And I want to begin with one difficult actor, which is Turkey. The situation in the eastern Mediterranean is extremely fragile for a number of reasons. The situation in the Middle East, the unresolved migration and refugee questions. And now Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Turkey is not assuming the responsibility that it ought to resume in this region. It ought to be actively contributing to stability and peace and is not doing so.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Therefore, we need to send out a signal from our special European Council that we show unconditional solidarity with Greece and with Cyprus.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, And the second important signal that the council must send out is that we do not need further escalation. We need to contribute to de-escalation. There can be no military solution to this conflict.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, We have to find a political solution. We have to strive towards this. We want to make a substantive contribution to this by keeping all options on the table and the heads of state and together government, with the moral, will discuss what should happen if Turkey does not rise to its responsibilities.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, And another key actor that we have already discussed at length is China. China is a completely is it is a particularly complex partner because first of all, we see China as a partner.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, You cannot achieve sustainable climate protection if we don't have China on board. And of course, China is a competitor in economic and trade matters and it is therefore in our interests to ensure that we have a rules based relationship for our for cooperating in trade and economic matters.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, However, and this is what makes it particularly difficult. China is also a systemic rival. We have our social model. Our social model could not be imagined without human rights, without democracy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, And without the rule of law. And therefore, we have to have a constructive and open exchange with China. I did the video conference yesterday. We did discuss issues of climate change, trade, the economy, but we also talked about human rights.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Honourable members, Mr President, I also want to turn your attention to some other matters that I want to raise with you, because they are all that they are also at the heart of a special Council.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, We know that in March, because of the Corona pandemic, important issues concerning climate protection and the single market couldn't could not be discussed.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, They had to be postponed. We have just been discussing how important the next generation EU recovery plan is, not just for the crisis hit countries, but for all of us, because we don't want to rebuild the old conventional structures.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, We want to contribute to an ecological transition in the EU with his next generation money. And that is also a subject that will be on the agenda of the heads of state and government.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Covid 19 has hit the single market very hard, but it's not just a question of restoring the single market. We want to deepen it further with an ambitious industrial strategy, among other things, because if we take climate change seriously.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Then we have to show that we must remain competitive, we must remain a front runner and we have to encourage that was to see that climate change and protecting the climate can be incompatible with having an industrial economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, We want to show that this can be reconciled. And another important question on the agenda of the summit will be the question of strategic autonomy. We want to strengthen our resilient resilience.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, Of course, we don't want to stop free and fair trade. But there are certain products which are crucial for the health and safety of our citizens in Europe. And we have seen that we need capacity of our own.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, We need to strengthen our European supply chains for these crucial products. And that is also something that we would address at the summit. And please indulge me that I had mentioned these questions also because it's all about the role of Europe in the world.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Michael ROTH, German Federal Minister of State for Europe and President of the Council, It's not just a question of how we act towards others on the international stage. It's a question of our own strength and therefore climate protection, our social and economic transformation and ecological transformation are very important as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, Vice-President of the EP, And of course, to have a strong policy. We need cohesion. And I will now give the floor to the vice president of the European Commission, Mr. Josep Borrell. I'll give you the floor now to address those points.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Mr. President, European Parliament, the subject of our discussion today is the preparation of this special Council focussing on the dangerous escalation and the role of Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, And that's what I'm going to try to do. Although as the Presidency of the Council has pointed out, rightly, there are many other issues.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Yesterday we had these in board and a level dog with China. And in general, we can say that due to a peace facing that situation in which we can say that the empires are coming back, they all empires are coming back now, least three of them, we can say Russia, China and Turkey making buyers in the past.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, They are coming back with an approach on their immediate neighbourhood and globally which represent for us anywhere environment. And Turkey is one of these elements that changes our environment. So this debate is very timely.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, I have to say that tension has been continuing to rise over this summer. I have spent the last few months, including this summer, trying to facilitate the escalation efforts. But the least I can say is that more efforts are needed.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, The soft as a way of saying that the situation has not been improving and the latest move by Turkey to [...] aspiration, the continental shelf of Greece is a step in the right direction and gives us some hope that it will lead to further steps towards dialogue.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Because as the presidency said, we are not going to solve it by military means. But through dialogue and negotiations, European Union and Turkey relations where at the front of an extraordinarily for ministers discussion at the meeting that we hold on the middle of August 14 of August and our game each meeting at the beginning of September.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, And we will continue next week for the Monday, Foreign affairs at the council, end of the month. And that is good and needed because the situation in the eastern Mediterranean requires urgent and collective engagement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, What has been happening during the summer are unacceptable events. Turkey has to refrain from taking United actions and this is a basic element to allow the dialogue to advance better to start and position of the Foreign Affairs Ministers Council has always been very clear.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, To defend in the European Union interests, and I stand in full solidarity with reason. Cyprus immediate escalation is essential to allow the resumption of dialogue, and negotiation was the only path towards stability and lasting solutions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, My colleagues at the European Union for a ministers were very clear about the possible consequences in the absence of progress in engaging with Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, And the European Council will consider this in the light of the most recent developments by the time they met the still some days they are reaching out continues, hoping that the European countries will be able to develop a constructive approach to our relations with Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Which I can say that firmly at that watershed moment in the history and war will roll one side or the other depending what's going to happen on the next days.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, I therefore ask you to support my efforts and the efforts of the council to create the urgently needed space to work with the Turkish leadership to achieve this collation that will allow the pursuit of lasting solutions to the underlying problems of today crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Anything else would also undermine the perspective of the resumption of talks on a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem that the United Nations are ready to restart after the election and the Turkish community in Cyprus in October.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, I've been talking with the Secretary-General of the United Nations about it, and I think that we need to push for the resumption of stocks.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Do you and I as high representative will continue to do everything we can to support the efforts to achieve this comprehensive settlement on the United Nations auspices in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and in line with the principles on which we have been found in our key in terms of domestic developments in Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, We perceive a worrying backsliding in the area of rule of law and fundamental freedoms that continues to raise our concerns.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, We still fail to see Turkey delivering on its promises to take effective measures on strengthening the independency and impartiality of the judiciary. Turkey is serious of backsliding away from European Union values and reforms are fans of relations with several member states.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Let the Council decide in 18 for a standstill on the accession negotiation and suspension of work on modernizing the customer unions. These were commitments that we take we took with Turkey under 2000 assisting agreement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, But in 2009, the council decided to stand still on these negotiations and suspension of the work on whether an agent, the Customs Union with the city of Development in the eastern Mediterranean and Turkey's foreign policy actions in the region since last fall, things had become even more worrying and complex.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, As I said, this is a watershed moment in history when our relations with Turkey, Mr President, honourable members, it is clear that solution will not come from an increasingly confrontational relationship.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, We don't want it. We don't look for it. Turkey is an important neighbour for the European Union. And we are not going to change geography and we will remain so.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, And it's a key partner in many areas. Migration, for example, is going to be difficult to believe that we can solve the migration flows without the help of Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Both of these two Mediterranean and now with the Libyan crisis also in central Mediterranean, accession candidate and the large majority of which population embrace our values and look for the European Union as a societal model.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, But it's clear that the developments in Turkey and Turkey's action induce me to read beyond put into question how our relations will develop in the future. And we have to look for an answer for these questions urgently.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, I strongly believe on the need for a solid relationship anchored in a common agenda of partnership that respect mutual interest and based on values.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, But these require us to look at the full relationship in a comprehensive way. I think that this discussion will have to advance on this direction. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. honorable members

SOUNDBITE (Original), Othmar KARAS, Vice-President of the EP, Thank you very much, Vice President, for that statement.