David SASSOLI, EP President, gives a press conference ahead the European Council meeting of January 2021.

press conference

meeting of the European Council

SASSOLI, David Maria (S&D, IT, S&D, IT)

European Council meeting 16 December 2021 (T)

European Council meeting 16 December 2021: arrival of David SASSOLI, EP President, and extracts from the press conference

Arrival of David SASSOLI, EP President at the European Council

David SASSOLI, EP President, greeting the other European leaders

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, At this mid term point, we have got through the first half of our term of office. It's been a very important time. Particularly in terms of response to the pandemic. And now it's time, I think, to continue that work. We can't be defeated now. We need to continue to work on defence, on digital issues, on innovation.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, And if there's one thing that I can say about the past two and a half years, I think many people, many parts of our public opinion have realised that without Europe, everybody would be even more fragile and vulnerable. And that is something which I think this realisation is something which can allow us, I think, to renew ties that have appeared to be broken between the European institutions and the European citizens and, of course, European citizens, and now need to rebuild the trust. I think this is the message. Let's not stop now. Let's not start to feel exhausted. We need a Europe that can innovate, that can protect, and that also acts as a guiding light.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, The model of the European Union is not something that we find very often in other parts of the world, something that we are very happy about is that all economic provisions and developments have been accompanied by measures that can allow for the European Union to better defend the rule of law and fundamental values and rights. As you know, currently, the future, the conference on the future of the European Union is underway and it will very soon be time to draw the first preliminary conclusions from it that will take place under the French presidency. That will be a time to understand how we can adapt our institutions, how we can renew our democracy, how we can make it much more efficient and effective.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, I mean, politics is choices and decisions at the end of the day or which side are you on? And the parliament can not do without the cooperation of the liberals, the populists and the socialists. Now,. The presidents of groups within the parliament will discuss and I'm. Sure in a month or so the outcome will give us the solution as to who will hold the presidency of the parliament.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, Well, I've always said that one of the ways to strengthen our democratic system is to give the European Parliament the right of initiative. I've said that I just said this a moment ago as well at the summit. This is the starting point to be able to get a democratic and parliamentary system that works and ensure then that our system is much more efficient.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, I think the mechanisms. That we need to reform the EU are different. And they should allow us within the framework of the conference to clarify what direction we want to move in. We have said that there should be no taboo subjects in the convention and the reform of the treaties is not taboo either.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, We were questioned on our arrangements from many different parliaments in the world. You have the American Congress and the Parliament in Brazil and other European Parliament as well. They have asked questions, but I was pleased to hear that the Bundestag in Germany said that the European Parliament during the Covid crisis was a point of reference for everyone. I'm very proud of that.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, I think over the past two and a half years,. The parliament has. Improved the text, the legal texts that were being presented by the commission and I think that's a really big achievement. I mean, think about the multiannual budget of the the union. Think about the rule of law texts. The European. Parliament improved the proposals that were made by the commission. And that's why we are saying today that the topic, this idea of having the right of initiative for the European Parliament is something that can't be postponed any longer.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David SASSOLI, EP President, I think keeping the parliament open and making sure that our citizens have had all the measures in place that are needed is something that I'm very proud of. Not just me, but everybody that works in the parliament, all the political groups, all of the choices and decisions that we have made have been shared choices and decisions. And we're very proud of that.