During the plenary session (5-8 July 2021) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on the Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 June 2021. Opening statements by Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council and by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission. This transcription is the result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

MICHEL, Charles (BE)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

European Council meeting 24-25 June 2021 (T)

Debate on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 June 2021: opening statements by Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council and by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE (Original), David SASSOLI, EP President The next item on the agenda is the European Council and Commission statements on the conclusions of the European Council meeting 24th to 25th of June 2021. I would like to remind members that for all debates in this session, there'll be no catch the eye procedure and no blue cards will be accepted.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David SASSOLI, EP President Furthermore, as during the last part sessions, remote interventions from the parliaments liaison officers in the member states are foreseen. I'd like to welcome the President of the Commission Ursula Von der Leyen and President of the Council. Charles Michel and I give him the floor for his introductory remarks. President, go ahead.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, President of the European Parliament, President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, members of the European Parliament, before I move to the report on the council, conclusions that took place about [..], I would just like to echo the words by Madam In 't Veld. A crime has been committed against a journalist. And this is a crime, sorry, this is a crime against our values, our fundamental values against peace. And we should condemn it in strong terms and express solidarity with the family and close friends of the victim and as well as with the people of the Netherlands and the government,

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Dear members of the European Parliament. I would like to warmly thank the Portuguese presidency. This was an exceptionally intensive and productive presidency. A warm thank to you Portugal, the baton now passes to the Slovenian presidency with many challenges. Dear colleagues, we tackled many important issues during our last European Council, covid-19 migration, external relations and our economic recovery. We also held a eurozone summit and hosted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Today, I will focus on the major topics. Discussing our fundamental values at European Council level was not a common practise in the past, but last year during our four day meeting in July, we held a full session on the rule of law, and that was the first. Recently, the legislation passed in Hungary has caused widespread concern, in particular amongst EU leaders. And this is why I decided to discuss the issue at our last meeting.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, LGBTQI+ are not a marginal issue. They are a concrete example of how a society relates to diversity and how it relates to human dignity. It touches on a most intimate thoughts and beliefs, our fundamental liberties. In the European Union, we do not discriminate, we integrate. That's the meaning of Article 2 of our treaty. Our discussion was necessary, difficult and at times emotional. Many leaders expressed deep concern.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The prime minister of Hungary explained the motives behind the new laws, the President of the Commission gave her assessment and the formal steps the Commission might take as guardian of the treaties. For my part, I concluded with two remarks. First, our debate should encourage the Hungarian government to reflect on the values that bind us together, as one European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And the Conference of the Future of Europe must be an opportunity to put our fundamental rights front and centre. Second, EU law has primacy in our union. We have the tools and institutions to uphold our principles and our laws, the rule of law will run its course.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, We also tackled the covid-19 issue once again. And I would like to summarise the debate by saying that on the one hand, we welcome the progress that has been made throughout Europe when it comes to vaccination campaigns. But at the same time, we also recognise that we have to remain very focussed and vigilant, particularly towards the arrival of new variants and particularly the Delta variant.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And there we want to strengthen cooperation in order to find the right balance between return to mobility and freedom, but also not letting our vigilance down, but we recognise and welcome the progress that's been made in the covid certificate to allow us to travel. And we also would say that national measures have to be further harmonised in order to avoid adding complexity or difficulty.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, On migration, this was also a topic on our agenda, we focussed our debate mainly on the external aspects of migration. Our objective, of course, is to try to prevent tragedy linked to loss of human life and to reduce pressure on Europe's external borders. And we agreed that we would ask the European Commission and the high representative to make the most operational proposals possible before autumn to strengthen cooperation with third countries, countries of origin and countries of transit by identifying priority countries for the European Union. I would like to very clearly state that we condemn the attempt made by certain third countries to use migration as a tool to put illegal migration to put political pressure on the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, A long discussion on Russia. We remain committed to a united long-Term and strategic approach based on the five guiding principles, and we remain fully united. We call on Russia to assume its responsibility in fully implementing the Minsk agreements. We also agreed on the need for a firm and coordinated response to any illegal and disruptive activities by Russia. We therefore invited the Commission and the high representative to present possible options for additional restrictive measures. We also agreed on our continued support for people to people contacts, Russian civil society and human rights organisations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, More broadly, we are also committed to deeper cooperation with our Eastern partners and with Central Asia. We discussed possible selective engagement with Russia in areas of EU interest, climate change, environment, health, foreign affairs and security, and will explore the formats of conditions for dialogue with Russia. Finally, given no progress in implementing the Minsk agreements, we've agreed to proceed with a rollover of the sanctions, and we will come back to Russia relations at a future meeting.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Dear colleagues, the escalation in the eastern Mediterranean is a good sign, but constructive engagement needs to be deepened. Engaging with Turkey in a phased, proportionate and reversible manner remains our policy. Work has started at a technical level towards modernising the EU Turkey Customs Union and at the same time, work needs to deepen on addressing existing [...]. And the Commission has outlined an indicative financing framework for the continued financing for Syrian refugees and host communities in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other parts of the region.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The European Council expects this work to be taken forward without delay, and we therefore call for a formal Commission proposals. We will continue to actively support the process to settle the Cyprus problem according to relevant UNSC resolutions, including the issue of Varosha. And you are very clear a two state solution is a non-starter. The rule of law and respect for fundamental rights remain a key concern in particular the targeting of political parties in the media and women's rights. Dialogue on these issues remains an important part of the EU-Turkey relationships.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, We finally were able to spend part of the European summit looking at economic issues. On the one hand, we welcome the progress that has been seen since last year and the agreement on the European budget as well as the recovery fund. And we welcome the fact that national plans in the framework of the recovery plan have been analysed by the Commission and can be implemented. But we also recognise that not everything has been solved. We have to continue with our cooperation and coordination with economic plans.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, We also recognise that the two pillars of transition, which are climate change and the digital transition, have to be at the very heart of all of our considerations. We welcome that a number of European countries have already introduced plans, have been very attentive to follow the recommendations and to dedicate a significant part of the plan through the climate transition and the digital transition. However, a lot remains to be done, particularly when it comes to the banking union and the Capital Markets Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And we had some exchanges on these topics, together with the President of the Eurogroup and the President of the European Central Bank. And we would encourage finance ministers to continue their work on a plan that will allow them to make progress in the banking union. Then on the capital markets union, Commissioners once again is looking at a number of proposals to see how progress can be made on this important topic. A lot of people expressed the need to work on the green aspect of the capital market.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, So to focus on green financing and use that as leverage for development and also to ensure that we achieve ambitious goals when it comes to climate change. We also had discussions relating to progress that has been seen recently, particularly in the G7, on international taxation, on businesses.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The Commission will soon be coming forward with a legislative package on climate. But we also want to see what on own resources and we are certain that this debate will continue within all of the various democratic institutions in order to we can see a stronger international plan when it comes to tax, either in the digital arena, but for businesses more general.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, So President colleague, that was some information that I wanted to share with you this morning following the most recent European summit. And of course, I'm happy to answer any comments and questions that are addressed to me. Thank you very much,.

SOUNDBITE (Original), David SASSOLI, EP President, Thank you, President Michel. And now give the floor to President von der Leyen. Go ahead, please.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,  Mr President Sassoli, dear David, President Michel, dear Charles, Ladies and Gentlemen. At the last European Council, we discussed many important issues. Indeed, as we just heard, from<em> </em>economic recovery to our relations with Russia<i>. B</i>ut no issue was as important as the one that really impinges upon our values and identity. Heads of state and government had a very interesting and emotional debate about new legislation in Hungary, which says that films, information and publications containing depictions of lesbians and gays, may no longer be shown to children aged under 18

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And it is claimed that this information would have a nefarious effect on the moral and physical development of minors. Homosexuality. is equated with pornography. This legislation is a legislation that uses the protection of children, which, of course is a principle for all of us, is used as an excuse in order to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. It is a disgrace this legislation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, It is something that flies in the face of the values of the European Union protecting human dignity, equality, preserving human rights, these are our values. And they are anchored in Article two of our treaty. At the European Council, heads of state and government made it quite clear that they wanted to support the Commission on this issue. And I shall use all instruments available to the Commission in order to defend these fundamental principles.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, In French, now. This is the point that I would like to focus on in particular today. I would like to seize the moment in order to give you a broader overview of the way in which we intend to defend our values, the rule of law and financial interests of our union. First and foremost regarding the Hungarian legislation, per say. As you may be aware, Commissioner Reynders and Breton have written to the Hungarian authorities and they have expressed our concern, legal concerns regarding this legislation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, If Hungary does not rectify the situation, the Commission will use its powers available to the Commission as the guardian of the treaties. Let us be clear therefore, we can use these powers regardless of the member state that is violating European legislation. Since the beginning of my term of office, we have triggered 40 infringement procedures that have to do with the protection of the rule of law and other values of the European Union as enshrined in Article 2 of the treaty. If necessary, other procedures will follow.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Aside, while whole regions declare themselves as so-called LGBTIQ free zones, Europe will never allow parts of our society to be stigmatised, be it because of whom they love, because of their age, their ethnicity, their political opinions or their religious beliefs, because we should never forget when we stand up for parts of our society, we stand up for the freedom of the whole of our society.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The second point is the protection of the European budget. This is not an abstract question. This is about European tax payers money, and we will watch it closely. And this is why we have agreed on a new conditionality mechanism, this mechanism is at the very heart of next generation EU and the European budget. Measures must be taken if it is established that breaches of the rule of law in member states affect or seriously risk affecting the sound financial management of the union budget or the financial interests of the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, I know how important this point is for you and the European Parliament and for us the Commission. And I look forward to the decision of the Court of Justice. This will bring clarity for everyone in Europe. Meanwhile, our officials are examining all the facts, which could be relevant for later proceedings, and we drew up guidelines on how to apply the conditionality mechanism in practise. We are currently discussing these with you in Parliament. We will start the first files in autumn.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So what I said, when we adopted the budget holds true, not a single case will be lost. The conditionality mechanism will also help to protect next generationEU. Because if our union is investing more money than ever before to advance our collective recovery, we must take special care that this money is used properly and effectively. This is not only a vital ingredient of our democracies, it also creates trust for investors and business at this crucial moment.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And this is why in the national recovery plans of member states, we include a strong system of controls, of milestones to monitor where the money goes. We will look at good governance, anti-corruption measures and the fight against fraud. In addition, we will use the financial agreement signed with the member states, with each member state to make clear what we expect, for example, smooth cooperation with Olaf, the European antifraud office. Because in the end, it is the European people who are paying this all.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable members, these are the tools at our disposal, including the Article 7 procedure. But we all know that even the best tools cannot replace an honest debate about values. This is about the Europe we want to live in. It goes to the core of the values on which our union was founded. And which resonate throughout the world, democracy, equality before the law, respect for court judgements, free media. And these values bind us together, north and south and east and west.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We might not agree on every aspect of a certain law, but we have to agree on respecting the judgements of the independent courts that settle our disputes and we have to agree on the primacy of European law. We might not agree. On which project to grant European funds, but we have to agree that this money should be spent properly. We might disagree with a lot we see in our media, but we have to agree that journalists investigating potential abuses of power are not a threat, but an asset to our democracies and our societies and our thoughts and solidarity go with a journalist, Peter de Vries, in these moments.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We also have our different views when it comes to the future of our European Union. But we must accept the right for everybody to openly express their opinion without humiliating or diminishing others. We might even disagree about the best way of life. But we must agree on the right for each and every one to make this decision for oneself.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable members, there are many places in the world where you can earn a good living and do great business. However, when it comes to living in peace and freedom there is no better place than Europe. Europe is diverse. Europeans are diverse, yet we stand together. It is our values that unite us. Long live Europe. Thank you.