Ahead of the plenary session from 13th to 16th March 2023, Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), co-Presidents of the Greens/EFA group in the EP, hold a press conference with the participation of Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), who recently left Renew Europe to join the Greens, to give the priority of their group. The transcription is the result of an automatic process, please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

plenary session

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

press conference

REINTKE, Terry (Greens/EFA, DE)

Greens/EFA

ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ, Nicolae (Greens/EFA, RO)

Press conference by Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), co-Presidents of the Greens/EFA group and Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO)

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), And so, no, we do not have a new co-president in the group. So I just want to reassure you, by the way, you know, that we can have two women presiding the Green group. But of course, not two men. No, it's my pleasure to welcome a new member to our group, Nicolae Ștefănuță from Romania.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), And, you know, for me, it is a sort of redress of an old, I wouldn't say grievance, but sorrow. When this new party was created in Romania, we hoped that this party would join to the Green galaxy, he made another choice joining this sort of hodgepodge group called Renew. But Nicolae, I think, saw the light. Nicolae, over to you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), Good morning, everyone. Indeed, I will be. And I am the first Romanian MEP joining the Green group. And my considerations are about Romania, about the future of Romania, the future of the Green Deal in Romania, and a personal one as well. I have a three year old daughter, for her, 2050, when we aim to be climate neutral, It's not just a distant date in the past, it will be hopefully the date when she turns 30. 2100, which for me, and maybe also for Phillipe, whose birthday it is today, might be a year of science fiction, you know. One of these years we speak in theory about. For her it will be hopefully the year when she turns 80.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), So I do want the Green Deal to be explained well in Romania, to be implemented well in Romania, to make Romania a winner from the Green Deal. Right now, the tone is turning aggressive, not only in the member states I know best, but in the entire Parliament. It's turning aggressive. It's accompanied by fake news. It's accompanied by exaggerations. The reality is, nonetheless, that we need to make these transformations, that the Green Deal is not just an ecological program, it is an economic model.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), It is a leadership model for the future in Europe, and it is a budgetary model. I also speak as rapporteur of the general budget of the European Union for the year 2023, and I know very well that the budget is linked to issues of sustainability, to biodiversity, not only the general Union budget, but also the resilience plants. So for me, the message is this, if Romania wants to be a winner from the economy of the future, from the budget of the future, it needs to understand it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), It needs to not resist it, but to apply it, to welcome it, to receive the money and to make the transformation possible. So this is what led me to make this decision today. And I would like to thank my former colleagues in the Renew Group. But from today, my work is here. My work is here in the Green group. And I would like to thank both, Philippe and Terry Reintke, as well as all the other colleagues who have received me with their open arms in the Greens group.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Now, another highlight of of this plenary is, of course, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, another major building block of the Fit for 55. I am glad that we can get to a conclusion here. I know that there are again attempts at weakening it. Well, some want to empty it of any binding force actually. But you know that we are, I was going to say spending, but actually spilling, a great deal of energy through uninsulated or poorly insulated buildings.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), And I think that what happened over the last summer, you know, these price hikes in energy should remind us that actually it's a good economic case to insulate buildings. And indeed, some people are not owners or are owners of buildings and they may have trouble finding the capital to invest, to make future savings. And there, indeed, it is absolutely crucial that government authorities provided the necessary assistance to nudge them over the line and make sure that indeed the insulation can happen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), It's really a matter of well cherishing energy and making sure that the best energy is the one we don't spend. So hopefully we'll have a good vote about that. On a more general note, I'd like to say that yes at what Nicolae was saying, resistance is stiffening, is toughening. You can feel that, we see that on the casting. We see that all over the place. And it's normal that it's getting tougher because now we start making real changes, not changes in this course.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), So, there are some economic interest resistent to understand that. But this cannot get in the way, as Nicolae was saying, of securing the future of our kids or our grandchildren, in my case. We want them to live on a planet that is liveable again. We are not doing that for the sake of the planet. People like to portray people like Green as defenders of the planet. No, we are defending our common home.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), It is because this planet is home that we want to preserve it, not because it is a planet. There are zillions of planets in the universe. But this one is a bit special to us and we don't have any other one. So we need to get this done. So, hopefully we get to a good vote. And well, I'll take your questions on any other topic you want to ask. And yes, I'm turning 60 today at 6:25 this morning, I jumped to the next decade. So looking forward to it. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), Excuse me, Philip, I just wanted to add something very concrete, in the country I know best, about the efficient housing about. So we have a program called Casa Verde, which is about installing photovoltaic panels on roofs. And what we saw is an immense demand for this program. And the government has been slow at allowing people to be producers or so-called prosumers, so producers-consumers.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ (Greens/EFA, RO), Taking their energy for very little money for undervalued prices or delaying the signing of contracts. Which makes the reality that people are giving energy for free into the States in a year, where fossil energy companies have posted maximum profit. And this is not okay. So if the argument is that the Green Deal is making prices higher, I would turn it around and say, no, it's the fossil economy that's making the prices higher for the European consumers right now.

Q&A Question regarding the German Greens on the current impasse on the decision on the combustion engines.

Q&A Question regarding the position of the Greens on the European Commission's legislation proposal on critical raw materials, particularly to reduce our dependence on China and to ensure an autonomous energy transition.

Q&A Question regarding the end of the combustion engine.

Q&A Question regarding the adequate minimum income.