The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, chaired by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, meets in Brussels. Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President is invited to prepare the State of the European Union debate. The COP consists of the President of the European Parliament and the political group chairs. Every September, the President of the European Commission comes to the European Parliament to discuss with MEPs what the Commission has done over the past year, what it intends to do in the coming year and its vision for the future in the State of the European Union debate. Gunnar BECK (ID, DE), Vice Chair of ID gives a statement on his group's political priorities ahead of the Conference of Presidents (CoP), in preparation of the State of the European Union debate. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

BECK, Gunnar (ID, DE)

Delivery EE2024 (T)

state of the European Union 2023 (T)

Meeting of the EP Conference of Presidents with the participation of Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President - Preparation of the State of the European Union debate: statement by Gunnar BECK (ID, DE), Vice Chair of ID

SOUNDBITE (English), Gunnar BECK (ID, DE), Vice Chair of ID, I think we have to make a distinction between what we would expect Commission President von der Leyen to announce and what we as a group think she should do. That starts with our ideas of what is need for. Europe is currently experiencing one of the most severe, if not the most severe recession since the war. It's not only begun recently. It's been going on for about 15 years. But I think the economic performance is deteriorating very rapidly and that the European Union has got the poorest growth forecasts for the entire developed world.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gunnar BECK (ID, DE), Vice Chair of ID, There are two obvious things that the Commission president should do. A: she should put an end to the disastrous fit for 55 program. Europe cannot afford the rapid green transition. It's as simple as that. And secondly, I think the Commission should reconsider its current plans for more migration, for more liberal migration policy. So that's what we think is needful in order to get the European economy back on course and to restore public finances.

SOUNDBITE (English), Gunnar BECK (ID, DE), Vice Chair of ID, What do I expect Commission President fundable to do instead? Broadly speaking, exactly the opposite. She's likely to expedite some of the remaining green files to add to costs for European manufacturers and further erode the standard of living of most people in Europe. And so far as migration is concerned, well, I'm afraid she's going to step up efforts to facilitate accommodating many more migrants than we've even seen in the past.