MEPs discuss with Prime Minister Petr Fiala the programme of Czechia’s six month-long Council presidency, which starts on 1 July. The motto of the Czech Presidency is “Europe as a Task: Rethink, Rebuild, Repower”, recalling a speech made by the first Czech President Václav Havel. The motto underlines the need “to re-evaluate current approaches and premises” in light of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Opening statements by Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister and by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission.

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Czech Presidency: opening statements by Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister and by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, On the 1st of Jult we welcomed the Czech Republic at the helm of the Council of the European Union. And today, it is a pleasure to have with us Prime Minister Fiala to present the programme of activities of the Czech presidency. Prime Minister, Dear Petr, welcome to the European Parliament. Prime Minister, you, along with the prime ministers of Poland and Slovenia, were the first European leaders to visit Kiev when it was besieged in a message of solidarity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, We know that European unity with Ukraine and its people will be central to the Czech presidency's agenda. And this is why, with an illegal war on our continent, your presidency comes at a turning point in history. So our next steps will be decisive for our common future. This is not time to backtrack on our ambitions. We need to address the economic and social consequences of the pandemic. This is why we must accelerate our digital and green transitions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, And here the Czech presidency can count on the commitment of this House to make progress on the Fit for 55 package, as well as the European TIPS Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act. Dear Prime Minister, just a few weeks ago, you welcomed us, together with all the presidents of the leaders of the parliamentary groups in Prague, and it is in this constructive spirit that the European Parliament will continue to work with your presidency on the many important initiatives on the table on behalf of this house. I therefore wish you every success in the coming months. So, dear Prime Minister, I will now give you the floor.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Madam President, dear Roberta, dear members of the European Parliament, Madam President, the Commission, Ursula. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to be here today to present the Czech Republic's plans for our presidency of the Council of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, This is the second presidency for my country, but the first under the Lisbon Treaty. We are building on the excellent French presidency. It has managed to complete a number of proposals successfully. It was not easy to find a compromise in such a difficult debate, like the Fit for 55 package in the area of climate or on the new rules for the digital economy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, But the most important thing that was achieved during the French president was a united action to response in response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Our response was quick. It was tough and most importantly, it was united. Six packages of sanctions that were not approved easily. A number of member states had to give up their positions, some of their economic interests and some of their comfort.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, But because we were convinced that it was right to stand up to Russia and to help our friend and ally, I mean, Ukraine, we did it. Together we also granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova. It gave them hope and faith in the future and in joining free democratic Europe. Our presidency wants to build on this work. And now, according to the European Parliament tradition, allow me to present the main priority of our presidency in my mother language, Czech.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Ladies and gentlemen, the topics and priorities that we want to focus on have been created over a period of many months. But 24th February 2022 turned most of our plans upside down, literally. Our priorities reflect this new situation. We are in a time where war is being waged just outside the EU's borders. This is a classic conventional conflict many of us thought was a thing of the past in Europe. But apart from conventional war, Russia is also waging hybrid war, intentionally sparing a refugee wave, using energy resources as a weapon and by targeting infrastructure, it is spurring a food crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, From our point of view, it is very good that our membership in the EU and in NATO protects us from the most tragic consequences that are being faced by the Ukrainian people. When on the 15th of March, together with the Polish and Slovenian prime ministers, I visited President Zelensky in Kiev, I saw with my very own eyes the heroism of Ukrainians who were and still are fighting for their right to exist and for their right to belong to Western civilised countries.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, This reminded me that our values were not a matter, of course, that they need to be defended day to day. The values for which Ukrainians are dying these days are values that were defended by one of the founders of the modern Czech state, the president Vaclav Havel. His inspiring essay from 1996 brought us to the motto of our presidency, which goes: Europe as a task. And indeed, Europe has many tasks before it.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, And similarly, the Czech presidency of the Council has many tasks before it. The main task for the next months will be to find a united and strong agreement on such measures that will dampen as much as possible the most negative consequences of the current crisis on our citizens. Because inflation, unavailability of energy or the food crisis are threats that need to be faced. And these threats are best faced together. I believe that both the Council and the European Parliament can agree on this.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Europe as a task is a commitment for us. It is not a given. It is something that we will need to work on constantly, that we will need to perfect. Also, we need to adjust those things that have not been working as planned. Europe needs to lead by example. It needs to reflect its conscience and it needs to face its challenges. Our solutions, however, need to be balanced so that too much focus on one does not damage or neglect another.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, For example, social peace or our economy. The Czech Republic will always very delicately try to reflect all opinions that will be voiced in our debates. We have to prevent a split amongst us. We always have to try to find the widest most possible agreement. We have to respect the opinions and position of others, even though we may not agree with them. Havel's words on Europe as a task come, of course, from another time. They come from another Europe than what we have today. But their basic message remains the same and as strong.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Our motto is to rethink, rebuild and repower. That reflects our challenges and the problems of the current Europe and our reactions to them. The Czech presidency will want to build a safe and prosperous EU, such an EU that will be true to its values of freedom and democracy, an EU that will enable all of its citizens to travel and work freely or become engaged in the internal market, an EU which understands that we do have a responsibility towards the environment that we need to hand over to the next generation as it is, and an EU that builds on what unites us and respects what makes us diverse.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, That's the EU that we want and in terms of this target, we formulated five pillars of the Czech presidency, which I would now like to introduce to you. The first priority is managing the refugee crisis and a post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. The Russian aggression, directly or indirectly, is impacting all member states of the EU. The direct consequences include the most massive refugee wave since the Second World War.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, The Czech Republic is one of the countries with the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita. There are more than three point five percent refugees in our population. We do have our bitter experience with Russian imperialism. We know what aggressive Russian policy can do. The Czech Republic is therefore convinced that political and military support of Ukraine from the EU is in the utmost interest of the entire EU with direct impact on next future of our continent.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, The Czech presidency will therefore defend and support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, using all tools at our disposal. We will focus on a strong and united stance against Russia, as well as the maximum possible assistance to member states when providing military support to Ukraine or when compensating for the consequences of the migration wave. It is also very important to look in the future. At the last European Council, we've managed to approve the candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova. I am very happy that in this regard we had massive support from the European Parliament as well. I would like to use this opportunity to thank you for that, but that must not be the end.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Another very important task of the Czech presidency will be preparing for a post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. We have to focus mainly on reconstructing their infrastructure, providing basic services, their economic stability and recovery. That is where the EU must play a fundamental role. After all, we discussed this with Madam von der Leyen and we've demonstrated this on Monday at the conference on the Reconstruct of Ukraine in Switzerland. The way of Ukraine to the EU will still be long, but together we need to strive that this be a successful way, that this makes the EU stronger.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, The second priority is energy security. The current crisis has fully shown us how much the future of the EU is existentially dependent on others and how important it is to be independent, especially as far as countries which are threatening our safety concerned. I'm talking about Russian gas, oil and coal. Of course, the way of the Czech presidency will be the way of common European project, which will rid us of our dependence on Russia. The Czech presidency will focus on issues of energy security to make sure that we can implement Repower EU as fast as possible. And that includes our energy resource diversification.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, We are ready to work on coordinating storage facilities before the winter. We support voluntary common acquisitions according to the model that we've used during the Covid crisis. While doing all that, we have to remember that we may find ourselves in a situation where more than ever it will be necessary to show solidarity between and amongst member states. We must not forget building energy resilience of the EU for the future through developing our energy infrastructure. At the same time, we need to support all EU emission free energy sources because these play a very important role when providing energy security in the EU as well as in meeting our climate goals.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, The long term goal of decarbonising the European economy goes to a great extent hand in hand with a short term goal to diversify our energy supplies. And that must be our viewpoint in this regard. To become energy independent on Russia, we have to use all options that are allowed by our geographic situation. Given the size of the EU and the number of member states, we may not apply a one size fits all approach.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Every member state needs to have the opportunity to choose such an energy mix that is the most suitable for their particular conditions and using which they will be able to meet both the climate climate targets as well as the target of becoming independent on energy supply from Russia.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, If we indeed want to meet our climate goals, we have to be able to finance them in the individual countries. I'm mentioning this because today ladies and gentlemen, you will be voting on the objection against the so-called taxonomy as introduced by the European Commission. I would like to stress that this is a very fragile proposal. It is a balanced proposal, a proposal that makes it possible for a number of countries to meet their commitments stemming from our climate goals only thanks to criteria that were presented in the proposal.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Therefore, I would like to ask you to not reject this very fragile compromise. Nuclear energy and gas as a temporary energy source from safe countries are the only tool that many countries have at hand in order to achieve our common climate goals in the next years.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, The war in Europe has shown how important it is to boost European defence capabilities as well as the safety and security of European cyberspace. That's our third priority. Given the current geopolitical situation, it is of importance that we boost European safety and security and defence capability. NATO is in this matter and natural partner to the EU and the implementation of the key issues within the strategic compass is the appropriate framework.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, We shall work on boosting European cooperation, in boosting defence capability. It is of urgent importance to top up the military warehouse provisions. Together with that, member states have provided to the Ukraine. We also consider it of great importance to develop our defence industry and reduce our dependence on not trustworthy countries.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, In the long term, we shall work on facilitating joint purchasing of military material. We are also facing new types of threats that are being used by our enemies. We shall therefore focus on cyber threats and making Europe more resilient vis a vis the outside threats, such as fights against disinformation, the safety of the cyber space, as well as key EU infrastructure protection, including institutions protection. And that's what we have to do together with our partners and allies.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Our fourth priority is strategic resilience of European economy. It was the Covid pandemic that has shown some weak points in European economy, one sided dependency on some countries. Europe must be in an industrial and technology leader. For that, it is important to have a well functioning single market without unnecessary obstacles only that will boost our European companies. We therefore have to understand the supply chains better and make them as short as possible, so that the availability of strategic resources and spare parts is always a matter of certainty.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, What plays a key role here is boosting free trade with other partners who share our values there. The more free trade agreements of quality we have, the more we can diversify our contacts and supply chains. What I consider important is also that digitisation and automation in European industry, which also must lead in innovation and new technologies. As for our strategic resilience of European economy is concerned, food security is of utmost importance.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Europe has become self-sufficient in food. However, the war in the Ukraine also has its implications on food security, and the European Union must respond. We should not forget about the importance of providing food in all parts of the world, including the most vulnerable ones, not only because destabilising in the food area would represent a threat to Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Ronald Reagan said that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. The same can be said about democracy. That is why it is so important to have resilient democratic institutions. And that is our fifth and last priority. Long term prosperity and stability of Europe is based on functional democratic mechanisms. Our society is the target of attacks by those who have a problem with democracy, with human rights, and we must defend those values. That is why we should always support and boost the freedoms, fundamental human rights, civil society, free media, as well as independent institution across Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt that we are facing a difficult time, not only due to the Russian aggression in the Ukraine. We are fighting increasing inflation, ever increasing energy prices in some countries, rising unemployment in some countries. We are facing the drop in the GDP. We should not therefore forget about those citizens who are bearing the brunt of this. So surely we must not forget about those in need. I can reassure you that those are issues that we shall focus on in a systematic way.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, Ladies and gentlemen, the six month presidency is indeed a short time. However, I can assure you that the Czech presidency is ready to take its role actively. We are ready to focus on an open dialogue to seek compromises and functional solutions in cooperation with other EU institutions. I believe that we will be able to deliver our promises. I hope that with our help, Ukraine will soon be on the way to full recovery.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister, I also hope that we will be successful in the fight against inflation, in ensuring energy security, employment and increasing the competitiveness of our economies. I trust that we will be even stronger than we are now. Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that we can count on help, on the help of the European Parliament, which is a pillar of European democracy. We highly value democratic debates on this floor. And I am looking forward for our debate. Thank you very much for your attention.

SOUNDBITE (German), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We can all bring to mind the images of Russia's invasion of Ukraine when it started, Ukrainian citizens had no weapons and they stood tall against the Russian soldiers, spoke with the soldiers, shouted at them, flagged, quite frankly, how absurd the war was. Those images remind us of a different invasion and another example of resistance against oppression in Prague in 68, we saw unforgettable scenes of peaceful demonstrators taking to the streets of Prague and standing firm against Soviet tanks.

SOUNDBITE (German), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And so I cannot imagine a better country, one more suited to taking over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. No better country than the Czech Republic. The Czech people have suffered under oppression and the people in the Czech Republic know all about resistance, the power of hope and the joy that comes with free democracy. Now, more than ever, we need to strive for freedom, self-determination in the European Union. So my Petr, I look forward to the Czech presidency of the European Union over the next six months.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The enormous. tasks ahead of us are You Petr, have some them up with three words. Rethink, repower, rebuild. And of course, the word rebuild calls to mind first and foremost, the reconstruction of Ukraine. I have just returned, where I met you also, Petr, from the regional reconstruction conference. And I think we witnessed a very impressive presentation of Ukraine's reconstruction plan.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Representatives from more than over 40 countries and organisations agreed on the Lugano principles: Ukraine owned, reform focussed, transparency, accountability and rule of law, democratic participation, gender equality and inclusion, and sustainability. And I think these are good principles. Now we have to fill them with life.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And for doing that, we need the best and the brightest on reconstruction. And this is why, together with the German G7 presidency, we will convene such a high-level conference after summer, because we all know never, ever before have we mastered such a colossal reconstruction challenge. So we need all hands on deck. And while we work in these days to help Ukraine win this war, we must also make sure that Ukraine wins the peace, that will for sure come.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, You,, honourable members were the first to call for the European perspective for Ukraine. And this led to the historic decision to grant Ukraine candidate status. I think we can all take pride in this because our union lived up to the moment. We did exactly what Vaclav Havel reminded us of in his speech, which also provides the model for your presidency.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, He has said it is not that the United part of Europe would come to harm if it expanded, just the opposite. In the long run, it would come to harm only if it failed to expand. And I think in these days that really sounds like a prophecy. Now, the second task of the Czech presidency identified is repower. The unity and the resolve we show towards Russia will also be key to repower Europe. And this means primarily to push forward the very ambitious agenda of ours, European Green Deal, because climate change will not wait until Putin's war is over.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And the unprecedented heat wave that recently struck Europe is just the latest reminder of that. And I am very glad that both Parliament and Council have taken their positions on Fit for 55. So now it's up to the Czech presidency to bring forward the trialogues. And I am also very grateful for your commitment to bring forward the Repower EU package. With Repower EU we are mobilising substantial new resources for renewable energy. It is a three hundred billion euro plan to win independence from Russian fossil fuels, actually from any fossil fuels.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And to do so we are first and foremost diversifying our gas supplies, away from Russia towards trustworthy, reliable suppliers. And our efforts are already making a big difference. I have reported several times here in the Parliament about that. So let me update you about what the latest efforts are since March. Global LNG exports other than Russia to Europe have risen by seventy five percent compared to 2021 and LNG exports from the United States to the European Union have nearly tripled.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, I think even more important is that at the same time, the average monthly import of Russian pipeline gas to the European Union is now sharply declining by thirty three percent, compared to last year. Last year, June, this year, June minus thirty three percent. So we are making progress and that's exactly what we wanted to have.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, But we know that all of this will only work for diversifying away from Russia and having energy security of supply if we speed up the transition to renewable energies. This is the key remedy. Now, I observe that some say in the new security environment, after Russia's aggression, we have to slow down the green transition and this transition would come at the cost of basic security they say.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Just the opposite is true. If we do all nothing but compete around fossil fuels, the limited fossil fuels that are out there, the prices will just go through the roof and we will fill Putin's war chest. And that's exactly what we do not want to have. And therefore, the best, the cleanest and safest way out of the dependency of fossil fuels are renewables. So the new security environment is the best argument to speed up deployment of renewables. Renewables are home grown, they give us independent from Russian fossil fuels, they are more cost efficient and they are cleaner than anything else.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So let's take the opportunity and really invest in the renewable energy, honourable members. But we also need to prepare now for further disruption of gas supply and even a complete cut up of Russian gas supply. Just to give you a figure today, twelve member states are already directly affected by partial or total cut off of Russian gas. So it is obvious Putin continues to use energy as a weapon. And this is why the Commission is working on a European emergency plan.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We will present this plan and the necessary instruments by mid July. Member states have their national contingency plans, that's good. But I think we need European cooperation and we need common action as twenty seven. We need to make sure that in case of full disruption, the gas flows towards where it's needed most. We have to provide for European solidarity and we need to protect the single market as well as industry supply chains.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And here, honourable members, we should never forget the bitter, bitter lesson that we learnt at the beginning of the pandemic. You remember it very well. At the beginning, we had egoism and protectionism. Closed borders, export bans, you name it. That led only to disunity and fragmentation, but with European unity and coordination, we then, after a while, have the key remedies to overcome this brutal pandemic. So let's keep these principles in mind as always. Let's hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. I know this is hard work ahead of us, but like in the last month, unity will be key to our success.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable Members, you know as well as I do that in all member states, there are worrying economic trends. The Covid crisis has deepened debt levels, and just when economies were starting to rebound, Russia began a ferocious attack against Ukraine. This accelerated inflation in all sectors the food sector, the energy sector and all in between. At the same time, investment is key to ensure a transition. A green, digital resilient transition. And that is why we need to rethink.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Rethink, my dear Petr, is part of your motto, and it is very appropriate. We need to rethink the way we drive growth. We have a very different political and economic context. We know the rules of economic governance. We need rules that recognise our need for investment and the need for healthy budgets. The budgetary viability and indeed growth go hand in hand.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We will present the results of our assessment of economic governance during the Czech presidency. Look at the single market. You talked about this. You talked about our trade relationship. These are two major assets in tackling a crisis, the main drivers of growth. We need to rethink the way we can strengthen those assets further. We need to look at new free trade agreements.

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, One, for example, signed last week with New Zealand. That is a good case in point. The new agreement will help to bring about a 30 per cent increase in trade between the European Union and New Zealand. For the first time, it enshrines unprecedented commitments on social and climate issues. This shows that when democracies are strong, they can deliver results in the interests of their citizens.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, In his speech Vaclav Havel spoke about Europe as a task. The task of Europe today, he said, is to rediscover its conscience and its responsibility. Its beautiful end, of quote. And this is exactly what we will continue to do with the support of our Czech friends. Dear Petr, I've seen it with my own eyes and heard what you reported to me when I visited Czechia last week. And thank you again for this wonderful reception.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The Czech people opened their hearts and their homes to refugees. They do miracles to thousands and thousands of Ukrainian refugees hosted in the Czech Republic. And this is, in the Havel sense, Europe with a conscience and taking its responsibility. This is Europe at its best. Long live. Thank you.

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Czech Presidency: opening statements by Petr FIALA, Czech Prime Minister and by Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European Commission

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