The final report of the Conference is presented to the Presidents of Parliament, Council and Commission during a closing event on 9 May, Europe Day, in Strasbourg. Presidents Metsola, von der Leyen and Macron deliver speeches, alongside contributions from citizens on the National and European Panels and from the Conference Co-Chairs. Speech by Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

Strasbourg

ceremony

MACRON, Emmanuel (FR)

future of the European Union (T)

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

COSTA, António (PT)

ŠUICA, Dubravka (EPP, HR, EC)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

ZACARIAS, Ana Paula (PT)

president's agenda

BEAUNE, Clément (FR)

conference on the future of Europe (T)

Conference on the Future of Europe - Closing Event: Speech by Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, Dear Europeans, I am so proud to be here today as we come to this milestone in this unique exercise in active citizenship in Europe building, in future proofing our foundations. Amongst the many speeches we hear today, I think there is one message that we can take away today: Europe's future is yet unwritten and our story depends on you, on all of us. This debate took on a new reality on February 24th, when President Putin ordered his army to invade Ukraine, an act of medieval aggression that has changed the world.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, The Post February 24th World is a very different one, a more dangerous one, and Europe's role has changed with it. We cannot afford to lose any more time. How we have responded to the invasion and how we must continue to respond is the litmus test of our values. The unity and resolve of our response has confounded critics and made us proud to be European. That must be the blueprint going forward.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, But as we speak here, Ukraine is still being invaded. Bombs are still killing indiscriminately. Women are still being raped. Millions have fled and will continue to do so. People are still trapped in the tunnels under Mariupol. And Ukranians look to Europe for support because they know what millions of Europeans who were forced to spent half a century behind the yoke of the Iron Curtain will tell you: there is no alternative to Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, The future of Europe is tied to the future of Ukraine. The threats that we face is real, and the cost of failure is momentous. And I ask: how will history judge our actions? Will future generations read about the triumph of multilateralism over isolationism? The cementing of an interdependent relationship between nations and people who are proud of their differences, as Laura said earlier, but who understand that in this new world, the future can only be together. That is all up to us. That is our responsabilty.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, And let me tell you here today that the European Parliament will fight for a stronger Europe and all of what Europe means. And that means freedom, it means democracy, it means the rule of law. It means justice, solidarity, equality of opportunity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, And that means that we must listen more than we speak. And this exercise must be about you, about our project working for people in villages and towns and regions across Europe. Europe has a proud history. We have created the common market and ensured enlargement to successive states, embraced universal suffrage, eliminated internal borders, created a common currency and enshrined fundamental rights into our treaties.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, Our European project has been a success story. It may not be perfect, but we represent a bastion of liberal democracy, of personal freedoms, of liberty of thought, of safety and security. And that is what inspires millions and millions of people in Europe and around the world. However, this conference also proves that there exists a gap between what people expect and what Europe is able to deliver at the moment. And that is why we need a convention as the next step. And that is what the European Parliament will insist on.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, There are issues that simply cannot wait. That is true for defence. We need a new security and defence policy because we know that we need each other. That alone we are vulnerable. And here we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can complement rather than compete with existing alliances. It is true for energy. We are still too reliant on autocrats where energy islands still exist, where we must support each other as we disentangle ourselves from the Kremlin and invest in alternative energy sources where we understand that renewable energy is as much about security as it is about the environment. But we can only do that together.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, This is also true for climate change. The challenge of a generation that Europe has proudly led  the global charge on. It is true for health where we must heed the lessons of the pandemic and make our health systems interconnected, share information and pool resources. When the next virus hits us, we cannot let it shut down our lives. Our first instinct cannot be to recreate the borders of the past.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, It is true for our economic model where we must ensure enough flexibility without tying the hands for generations to come, where we are able to create jobs and the jobs that we need to thrive. It is true for migration, as we heard in the videos and the testimonies, where we still need a system that is fair with those who are in need of protection, that is firm with those who are not, but that is strong against those who abuse the most vulnerable people on the planet.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, It is true for equality and solidarity. Our Europe must remain a place where you can be who you wish to be, where your potential is not impacted by your birthplace, your gender or sexual orientation. A Europe that stands up for our rights, for women, for minorities, for us all. A Europe that leaves nobody, nobody behind. In all these areas and more, I want Europe to lead because if it is not us, it will simply be someone else.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, Dear Europeans, this Conference on the future of Europe involved hundreds of thousands of people across Europe. This has been an intense experience in the power of participatory democracy after months of discussions and powerful debate. I want to thank you for believing in the promise of Europe. And I want to specifically thank Guy Verhofstadt and Dubravka Suica and the different presidencies of the council, Prime Minister Costa, Minister Kleman, both here today. Thank you for leading the process. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, I also want to thank our late president Sossoli, who would be so proud. He would be so proud today. And of course, none of this could have been done without all the staff. And I ask you, please, to applaud the staff of the European Parliament and the institutions who really, really worked for this to happen. I thank you all for believing in this exercise, for fighting for Europe, for facing down the cynics. It is easier to be cynical, to be populists, to look inwards. But we should expose populism, cynicism, and nationalism for what they are: false hope sold by those with no answers, those who are afraid to forge the hard and long road of progress.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, Ladies and gentlemen, Europe has never been afraid, and now it is time to step up and not step back. We are once again at a defining moment of European integration and no suggestion for change should be off limits. Whatever process is required in order for us to get there should be embraced. As a student, I got involved in politics because I believed my generation's place was Europe. I believe this still. We see no old and no new Europe. We see no big and no small states. We understand that ideas are bigger than geography.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, That feeling eighteen years ago when ten countries, including my own, joined the European Union is a moment that will remain with me forever. We counted the seconds to midnight on May Day and you could feel the joy, the hope, the passion with which people believed. People today in Ukraine, in Georgia, in Moldova and still in the Western Balkans are looking to us with the same sense of purpose. Of course, every country must follow its own path, but we should not be afraid to unleash the power of Europe to change people's lives for the better as it did for my country.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the EP, Finally, we are gathered here on Europe Day during the year dedicted to youth in the seats of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. There is nowhere more symbolic of the power of democracy, of the power of Europe to take the next steps together. This is the moment to answer Europe's call. This is our time. Thank you.