The President of the Renew Europe Group, Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ, gives his statement after the speech on the State of the European Union 2022 of Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

SÉJOURNÉ, Stéphane (Renew, FR)

state of the European Union 2022 (T)

State of the Union debate - SOTEU 2022: Statement by Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group

SOUNDBITE (French), St&eacute;phane S&Eacute;JOURN&Eacute; (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, 200 days now, for 200 days now the Ukrainian people have been fighting the Russian aggressor. For 200 days they've been fighting for their freedom and for our freedom. Threir struggle is ours. It is the struggle of democracy against autocracy, the struggle of the rule of law against the law of the strongest. It's freedom against oppression, our Union against its enemies.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, The last few months, we've held the line all together. But now the populace are coming up with very dangerous proposals. War isn't just sanctions, but this war is having consequences on the daily lives of our citizens. The quantity of energy, the quantity of food available, maybe in future the jobs available in Europe. We need to respond rapidly and well. Europe can be effective.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, And your speech, Madame von der Leyen, it proves this. Your proposals are good and I would like to thank you for the democratic exercise that you have just embarked upon. All of these projects are ones that we support. And particularly on the main front we face, which is the energy front, we're in favour of a European energy shield to reduce bills. And I think there are even two forms of European solidarity.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, European solidarity with Europe's citizens and SMEs, using the windfall profits from the energy companies and setting a cap on gas imports. The second form of solidarity is solidarity between the Member States and our neighbours. We need to make joint purchases of energy. We need to invest surpluses into investing in renewables and renovation of buildings. That is an objective for our group.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, We want to make our continent the first one to abandon fossil fuels. But out on the extremes, there are these very glib solutions. They say get rid of the sanctions. The sanctions were the cause of Europe's problems. Even if Russia's GDP has fallen by 6%, the Russian army is trying to get resupplies by Iran and North Korea. We've received information yesterday about the kinds of huge figures, €300 million that have been sent to European political parties in Europe and abroad to carry out interference.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, The European Parliament should deal with this. The institutions should deal with this. There are proposals against foreign intervention in Europe. Our group supports those proposals. We need to work harder on this because it's a democratic challenge primarily. The other main issue is sovereignty. Sovereignty means that we should reduce all of our dependencies. Well, in the food sector, I could just mention that.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, We can't risk a breakdown in food supplies. We need to work upstream on raw materials, health, digital sector, infrastructure, defence. My group is in favour of a new action plan to identify our vulnerabilities and to try and reinforce our value chains within Europe. As a Union. Every single question we need to be asking ourselves this question, and as parliamentarians in particular, will the decision we're taking make us more sovereign or more dependent?

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, We propose a sovereignty test to test the conformity of the whole European market, of the new European legislation that we have put together between the Parliament and Commission. We need to check our budgetary lines, our investments for the future in line with the sovereignty test. Now, all of our public policies have to be aligned with the strategic autonomy objective. That's the only way to ensure that the EU is not just an economic power but a geopolitical power. And that's something that you stressed before this plenary at the beginning of your term in office.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, We need to guarantee the equality and quality of life for our citizens. Economic growth, the green transition, and our place in the world. All of these proposals raise a fundamental question for our institutional and budgetary framework. The Union has shown that it can show agility and flexibility over the last few months. But the question is. Not just the question of the convention that you're putting forward. First of all, how long we'll be able to continue deciding things by unanimity. And at what price?

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, And then if we are to invest together, we need to know what priorities we're picking out. That's what we need to know before we launch a convention. That is what we need to know before we go before the Council. We have been amongst the first to call for a Conference on the Future of Europe, calling for a review of our budget. And a convention can follow that up. I'm sure that you'll find that my group's position is clear and will not surprise you.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, And I'm sure you won't be surprised that I raised the rule of law. The rule of law has to be our compass. It has to guide our actions beyond our borders and within the European Union. I'm thinking particularly of Mr. Orban. Now, for ten years, we've been looking the other way. This indifference has led to corruption and discrimination spreading wildly in the country. The media is under state control and spread Russian propaganda.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, There are problems elsewhere too, in Poland in particular, which is a very different case. But all of this kind of backsliding has to be combated. Other countries are moving into unknown democratic terrain such as Italy. We need to hold firm, Madam President. We are counting upon you. We are counting upon all of the College of Commissioners.

SOUNDBITE (French), Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ (Renew, FR), Chair of Renew Europe Group, Multiple crises are springing out that the approach that you took in 2019 is the right one. Renew is proud of what we've already been able to achieve. We've got through these crises and we will give you our support for concluding the projects that you've put forward to us. We shall not hesitate. We shall not delay. And we shall not forget how important it is for us to work together in this new international situation. I think we are up to the challenge, Madam President.