Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (FR), President, speaks to the press on the priorities of Renew group for the EP plenary session of December in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg

press conference

SÉJOURNÉ, Stéphane (Renew, FR)

Renew Europe

Press conference by Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (FR), Renew President

SOUNDBITE (French), St&eacute;phane S&Eacute;JOURN&Eacute; (Renew, FR), Renew President, Good morning all, delighted to be here! A quick intro on the priorities during this plenary. You talked about the preparation of the European Council and more particularly the European response to the COVID crisis, which of course is taking up much of our time and also the situation in Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, There's one point on fundamental rights and the rule of law in Slovenia, which has taken up much of the time. But then, after the group meeting and I'll give the floor to an iterations of a who would be talking a little bit more about the Digital Services Act, which again is another major subject major item on the agenda, with the regulatory framework being put in place in the months to come.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, And of course, Renew was very much at the heart of these discussions and has major responsibility for the report being produced on this matter. But perhaps we could start off with the situation in Europe. COVID my group at the Conference of Presidents had suggested a motion a resolution on the COVID situation. Unfortunately, we didn't have a majority on that issue. That's a bit of a shame, given the debates and the sometimes controversial resolutions that it being a table that would get us very far. But I think we do have a set number of priorities. Lack of coordination is one which concerns us greatly, with the emergence of the new variant Omicron.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, The Council, I think, would be facing new issues: closure of borders, is something that is of great concern to us at the current time. The lack of such coordination and the message of my group, that I'll be making preview tomorrow is based on this, I think we have a common interest, the Commission and the European Parliament, to bring some pressure to bear on heads of state and government when it comes to a more coordinated approach.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, I think we need to anticipate the criteria, and what we can do collectively in order to avoid any unilateral decisions, which would be very detrimental. We need to safeguard the Schengen area, the Schengen space. So much is at stake and my group will be most attentive to these issues. And of course, it's not just a question of Europe needing to get its act together.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, On coordination matters, such as the COVID Pass. We want new rules applying to set up the certificate. I think we need to ensure freedom of movement as a result of the introduction of this particular tool, which has exercised our minds. But I think the Covid Pass will be very useful. You can use your COVID personal certificate in most member states with great ease of access to those countries that have adopted the required rules. I think we need to ensure in particular, as far as the studies is concerned, that as a coherent position adopted by member states when it comes to the regulatory framework put in place.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, Then there is the matter of the action plan. The recovery plans that have been put in place, I think the great disparities between member states when it comes to actually implementing recovery plans at European level and take the example of Spain. There's a one to two percent of the recovery plans been actually sort of implemented, which raises a number of questions when it comes to the nature of the recovery plan. So I think we will be putting questions of commission as to how we can facilitate the actual execution of implementation of these recovery plans. That is, of course, important given the fact that member states can bring in new restrictions.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, That's I could just briefly touch now on the situation in Ukraine. We condemn the build up of military presence, a Russian military presence, along the Ukrainian border this weekend. I was in touch with the Ukrainian authorities in Rome. Where I met with the vice prime minister, a member of our political group, attending a Congress in Rome and who put a certain number of questions to the obviously on the position of the European Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, Russia cannot blackmail Ukraine or bring pressure to bear. And we, of course, support Ukraine as it sets out on a democratic path and has done now for a few years. And we need to call on the Russian authorities to relieve the pressure, that is what my political group will certainly be sending in Russia's way.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Renew President, Now, when it comes to the vote on the resolution on fundamental rights and the rule of law in Slovenia, as we have pointed out on a number of occasions, harassing the independent media, political interference in the process leading to nomination of public prosecutors, are very worrying signs and hopefully our motion will be adopted Thursday. In that we certainly need the Slovenian government to change track or change its attitude on these questions.