Prior to the plenary session, Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of EPP in the Parliament, gives the piorities of the group.

Strasbourg

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

press conference

Press conference by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader, EPP Press briefing

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, Thank you so much for your presence. For your interest. So, first of all, obviously, the continuation of the of the war in Russia and Ukraine is one of the most important things. And there I want to express that we really respect and even admire what the Ukraine forces are delivering, that they win back territory.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, It gives us an assurance that a war is finally decided by the will of people and not so much by money or by power or by imperialism, but ideological approach. So it is decided by people, by the will of the people. And the Ukraine's give us a strong signal of this will that they want to be part of our Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, Putin this weekend, we see this also on the Nord Stream 2 sabotagge. He's obviously ready to cut all links to the European Union. That's the reality. And what we have to learn probably out of this latest development on Nord Stream 2 attacks, that Europe has to build up better services about intelligence; about the secret service infrastructure but also to take care of the people inside of the European Union, our citizens.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, And in having this in mind, there is a need that this week in the European Council meeting we see a real message of unity in this energy crisis in front of us. Until now, we do not have this message of unity in amongst the member states. I think we as Parliament, we can prepare this week with a resolution on the energy crisis management, this positive signal of party political unity that we are together to give our people a good answer. But on Council side, we do not see similar activities. And that is that is worrisome about what happens now in the next upcoming weeks.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, What we need is a common understanding about sharing our energy sources. Also, the storage of energy, especially gas, a common management of these facilities. We have to talk about the VAT, especially for the poorest one, when it is about food. We are in favour as EPP on the windfall profits proposal from the Commission, because those who are benefiting from the crisis must also contribute to finance the social impact and the social answer.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, And we need a real European energy market. Our deep conviction is that finally, only a European market will solve the problems. And in this regard, I have to underline again the resistance from France from President Macron to interconnect towards Spain, is a thing we cannot understand. We have no argument for this. Our idea is that together we are much stronger, is a common requirement, with strong interconnectors on European level, we would be much stronger, much more independent. That's why let us work for a European energy market.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, This is the expectation towards the Council meeting on Friday, especially the informal amongst our EU leaders. And let me add another point, which is for me important. We are not only facing the energy question, we are also facing recession in front of us. So the economic impact of all these developments will arrive during winter in Europe. And that means for us that we have to prioritise things now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, We are asking, is European People's Party for a moratorium on new legislation which are harming and burdening our industries, especially the SMEs, our farmers, all those who have today the need to produce food, for example, in the European Union. So for the moment, we should stop all not immediately necessary legislation and to focus on the most urgent issues. We are in war times and war times means to be reasonable.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER, EPP President, That means for us the moratorium on not immediately necessary legislation. There are three main priorities for us during the week and hopefully the Council members will deliver them.