Roberta METSOLA, EP President, holds a press conference after exchanging views with heads of state during the European Council meeting.

EU - Ukraine (T)

Brussels

EU - Georgia (T)

EU - Moldova (T)

press conference

future of the European Union (T)

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

president's agenda

European Council meeting 23-24 June 2022 (T)

Press conference by Roberta METSOLA, EP President following her participation to the European Council

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and putting Georgia firmly on track to follow and would very much like to congratulate the people of these countries that have looked to Europe for as a home and one that can give them the protection for their fight for the values of democracy and freedom of justice that are the same as our values that we share with them.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, European Parliament was amongst the first to call for this decision to be taken. And we have been vigorously advocating with our Ukrainian partners for this decision. So I am very pleased to see this historic step happen today. A few hours ago, we adopted a resolution within the European Parliament that was overwhelmingly voted in favour of opening the door to these three countries.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, As we said, we will not go back to a world before the 24th of February. We will only go forward into a Europe that values its geopolitical and security situation. So if there ever was a time for more Europe, this is the moment. This decision to grant Ukraine candidate status is the right one. It will strengthen Ukraine. It will strengthen Europe. It is a decision for freedom and democracy. And it puts us also on the right side of history.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, We also spoke about the speed with which the European Union has acted, the unity with which it has acted and the resolve these past months. That resolve needs to be kept up because with numerous pressures now mounting, this is when we must remain together. Of course, there are no easy solutions. It was these issues of fact about diminishing supplies and rising costs, causing great social impacts that I discussed with the heads of state and government.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, The three concrete points that I also made on behalf of the European Parliament. First of all, in connexion with the agenda, is that we cannot backslide on our climate goals. This is also against the backdrop of the decisions and votes that took place this week in the plenary on on three backboned of the climate package. And therefore, we must ensure that immediate Short-Term measures do not become the new normal in the medium term. We owe a responses to our younger generations who are looking to us to provide the answers and also to provide solutions of an ever present crisis.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, We also need to show resolve against war fatigue. This also was discussed push back against Russian disinformation. It is not the green deal that is pushing up inflation or our sanctions that are behind a possible famine in the world this fall squarely on the Kremlin and the aggression started by Russia. And also, we need to keep up support for Ukraine and keep the pressure on Kremlin through sanctions because we ultimately must not be the ones to blink first.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, I also made reference towards the end of my intervention, first of all, to the good work that was done with the French presidency from a legislative angle and also following a visit of the Conference of Presidents to the Czech Republic last week, we also embarked on the new legislative commitment that we will have for the next six months with the Czech presidency.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, On the future of Europe, I also made reference to the very strong resolution and a mandate that I was given by the European Parliament in order to go to the natural next step, which is the convention with the message, let's start the conversation. This is a conversation that we were asked by citizens to have.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, We worked on to over for more than a year with a process started by my predecessor, the then Portuguese presidency, and the president of the commission towards a conclusion on the 9th of May with the French president and the president of the European Commission and time myself. And we owe it to our citizens to respond to that. The European Parliament stands firmly on this track, and this is one that we will keep up. Thanks a lot.

SOUNDBITE (English) Roberta METSOLA, EP President, You first. Yeah, And second, Laura, to be ready, please. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Can I have your comment to the decision rather than on decisions that were taken today on the Western Balkans? And the Albanian prime minister was saying basically it's the process that is crewcut. He said, because of the unanimity and so on. I don't know if you have any comments on the things. put forward context. My question relates to the discussion that will happen tonight on the European political community. I believe