Live replay of the EP plenary sitting in Strasbourg, 16th until 19th December. Commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty and the legally binding Charter of Fundamental Right. Links related to this program Closing statement by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check Against delivery.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

Lisbon Treaty (T)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Plenary session: Commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty and the legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights - Closing statement by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President: And now I give the floor to President Von der Leyen. Go ahead, please.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: Thank you very much, Mr. President, honourable Members. When we look at the beginning of this century, something was missing in the European project. They were in court and had already fallen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: The European communities were already a well-established reality, and yet they lacked something, in the words of my predecessor Jacques Delors: "Europe needed a soul". He said: "C'était le moment de donner une âme à l'Europe".

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: And this is what Lisbon is all about. If you ask the lawyers, they will explain that the Lisbon Treaty has given Europe a single legal personality. Yet? Yes, of course. If this was so. But it is more. The Lisbon Treaty has given Europe a soul, or rather it has rediscovered Europe's true soul.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: The soul that made us fight against tyranny and defeated the soul that brought down the Iron Curtain and reunited our continent. Lisbon Treaty went to the core of the European identity democracy, the rule of law, rights and liberties for all.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: And Lisbon gave centre stage to the citizens of Europe. It has brought more power to the European Parliament. The House of the European Democracy, it has called national parliaments to the forefront. And it has given to the European citizens their right to call on the commission to propose legislation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: It was a breath of fresh air that went through the European democracy. The European project, yes, was built around the economy, but Europe was always meant to be more than coal and steel. More than a single market, it was always meant to be a union. And with Lisbon, Europe rediscovered this vocation.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: Dear members, over these last ten years, fearful winds have blown across our union, but our union is like a reed which bends but doesn't break. New challenges are not blocking it, but are helping it to move forward because it draws its strength from the principles and values of its treaties and the European people.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: Our union is not a given. It is undergoing constant construction. It's a choice that we renew each day. That's its beauty and its singularity. I am convinced that we haven't yet used all of the possibilities in the Lisbon Treaty since 2016. As German Minister for Defence, I helped to discover the permanent structure of cooperation in defence. It's not easy to say the defence union basically, it was already in the treaty.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: But its potential hadn't yet been discovered. The treaty still has a great deal to offer us to ensure that Europe is more effective, stronger and more sovereign. It's now up to us to fully implement the full potential of Lisbon, and we've proposed a great deal. We have a lot to propose today in this room.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: We're celebrating the last 10 years, but we also have to look now towards the next 10 years. They will be what we wish to make of them and they will be what the European citizens wish to make of them. At the time of the Lisbon Treaty, we still wondered whether Europe could have an anthem or a flag.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: Over the last 10 years, millions of European citizens have gone out into the streets flying the blue flag with the. 12 stars our European flag, and millions of Europeans enthusiastically listened to the notes of the Ode to Joy, the marvellous anthem of our union. Europe is its citizens.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: That's why the conference on the future of Europe must be above all their conference. We have to listen to what they have to say to us and we have to provide responses to their concerns and to their hopes. And that is the greatest homage that we can pay to the Lisbon Treaty, a treaty which has given a soul to Europe.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC,: A treaty which has created a citizen's Europe and a treaty which has put the European citizens at the very heart of the European project. Europe is their choice and it's their future. But Europe's also our choice that we have to renew every day through our actions. Long live Europe.