After participating to the European Council meeting with heads of state and government, Roberta METSOLA, EP President, holds a press conference. Questions and answers with journalists.

Brussels

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press conference

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

European Council

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European Council meeting 23-24 March 2023 (T)

Press conference by Roberta METSOLA, EP President at the European Council: questions and answers

Q&amp;A, Question about the European Parliament blocking a help measure for Ukraine regarding the storage of ammunition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Thank you for that question. The European Parliament has been clear since the very first day of the war. We stand with Ukraine in the face of this illegal invasion. I'm starting with that because that's really important. That's the basis on which we have taken all of our decisions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Now, on micro-financing, the European Parliament took the decision right away to assist Ukraine and Moldova. We used the emergency procedure for that, but we also took decisions outside of that emergency procedure. We used the procedures as best we could in the most efficient way possible to get things done.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, It was important for us, for me indeed, to have the Parliament be in a situation where they could respond to the demands of citizens, but also to the demands of countries who need us. And that's via all the means available to us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Perhaps so that Article 122 was overused, but we were trying to use that article in as an efficient way as possible. We hope that over the course of the next year we will be able to act as co-legislators using all of the competences that the Parliament has, and also ensuring that citizens are involved in these decisions that have an impact on them, and especially decisions made in relation to Ukraine.

Q&A, Question regarding the letter about CO2 emission standards sent to Sweden.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Thank you very much. Yes, I was mandated after a very open discussion last week in Strasbourg among the Conference of Presidents, which is the group leaders to write a letter to the presidency in office. And therefore, Prime Minister Kristersson on the need for legislative predictability.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Why do we mention the word legislative predictability in response to your question? This is not specifically directed at one country or another or one legislative file or another. It is about the last year of this already very difficult legislative mandate where we have laws that have been negotiated between two co-legislators.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Legislation sometimes that has been on the table for almost two years and subsequently approved with significant majorities in the hemicycle in this particular case that I wrote in in February. So our point as a Parliament is primarily institutional and procedural, that we cannot go back on deals because this is ultimately about trust between co-legislators and the credibility of the legislative process, which, if you link to the answer I gave to the previous question is specifically also about this.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, If we are asked or tasked by our citizens to legislate in a specific area, to take decisions in a specific area, we need to be prepared to do that. And once we do that, then we need to deliver.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding a possible immigration legislative package before the 2024 European elections.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Thank you very much. Well, next week we will vote on the migration and asylum and migration regulation file, the qualifications file and screening. If you think about the package, there are many different individual legislative proposals, some which are in the security part of the pact and some which are in the asylum part of the pact.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, What we wanted, and this is a consistent position of the Parliament, is that when we are going to deliver on a legislative package on migration, then it is one that has to be fair with who asks for protection, which is firm with those who are not eligible and which is strong with traffickers and violators of human rights who prey on the most vulnerable people on our planet.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, We came into this legislature with that demand from our citizens. Last legislature was disappointing. We had arrived to this point. We voted in the plenary very difficult files on solidarity, on security. But it took us years and some are still waiting for a decision. What has our position been as well? This is an area where majority voting takes place in the Council.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, It is not an area with unanimity and therefore if we can find majorities, we need the courage to have the general approach. Again, another technical term that is used in this in this Council during this presidency, in order for us to be ready by 2024, with legislation. Will this address all the challenges? I would never say that.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, But what I do not want is the automatic return of every government to a national position that is completely different from the neighbouring position. The European Union has shown throughout this mandate that it can act in unison. It can act when united as it did on the pandemic, as we have been doing during the war. On migration, this is one of the areas where the citizens have been asking us, pleading with us for years to do that. And I think it's about time that we did it.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding Hungary's Child Protection Law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Thank you. Yes, there was a decision taken in the Legal Affairs Committee, which is the process that we have when the European Parliament takes a decision as to whether it will intervene before the Court of Justice in Defence of an EU regulation or directive, basically a legislative act. In this case, the vote took place and therefore I was asked to task the legal service to prepare such intervention, and I have done that.

Q&A, Question regarding migration in Tunisia.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Thank you for this question. First of all, preserving representative institutions is fundamental to Tunisia's development. We are deeply concerned about the authoritarian drift in that country and the instrumentalization of Tunisia's dire socioeconomic situation to reverse the country's historical democratic transition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, The Parliament has long called for an end to the ongoing crackdown on civil society. We also urge the Vice-President of the Commission, the High Representative and the Member States to publicly denounced the deterioration of the human rights situation with regards to the partnership. As you are right, this is a neighbouring country, a very important country for the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, We need to look at how helpful specific EU support programs have been and they have been, I have witnessed them myself as a member of the European Parliament on missions to that country and also with an understanding that there has to be the fullness of respect of human rights and any discourse with regards, for example, to subsaharan migrants and subsequent attacks, are in full breach of international laws, actually notably Law 50-2018, Against Racial Discrimination.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, So it is a difficult situation. The Parliament has been quite vocal on this and it is with our interest in order to preserve democracy around the Mediterranean and have a constant discourse with our entire interlocutor. Also on the southern part of the Mediterranean, this has been something that is also close to my heart and it is something that I think we need to work on much more in the future.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding Germany's attitude to the combustion engine law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, As a lawyer, I will say I will always trust in trialogues. And I say that because when you arrive at a trialogue, it would be the result or the culmination of years of negotiation from the very moment that a Commission proposal starts to be even thought of to when it arrives to the co-legislators desk after loads of negotiations coming together to find a solution. Look, the Green Deal is, let's say, a fundamental pillar of our mandate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, And what I would say, and I will repeat in part what I answered earlier, is that anything that will seek to diminish or deter from the legislative predictability that we need not as a only as a parliament, but as a European Union and as a co-legislator is something we will always caution against. This is why the letter was sent, and I can tell you that if this had to happen again, this letter will be sent again. But I would hope that it doesn't needs to come to that. Thank you.

Press conference by Roberta METSOLA, EP President at the European Council: questions and answers

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European Council, 23-24 March 2023

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament