During the plenary session in the European Parliament in Brussels (13-16 May 2020), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council and Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, make the opening statement at the beginning of the debate on the conclusions of the extraordinary European Council meeting of 23 April 2020 and new Multiannual financial framework, own resources and recovery plan. The following transcription is the result of an automatic process. Check Against delivery.

Brussels

debate

plenary session

own resources (T)

MICHEL, Charles (BE)

Multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 (T)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

extraordinary European Council meeting 23 April 2020 (T)

Conclusions of the extraordinary European Council meeting of 23 April 2020 and New MFF, own resources and Recovery plan: Opening statements by Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council and Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC

SOUNDBITE (Italian) David SASSOLI, EP President, Ladies and gentlemen, the next item on our agenda is a joint debate concerning the conclusions of the extraordinary European Council and the new MFL own resources and the recovery plan. There will be council and commission statements.

SOUNDBITE (Italian) David SASSOLI, EP President, Both on the first and second points. I'd like to to remind members that there is no catch the eye procedure for this debate. Neither will blue cars be accepted. Without further ado, I'm going to give the floor to Presidnt Charles Michel. And we'll begin our work. You have the floor President.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council,  Mr. President, the members of the European Parliament. First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me for giving me again this opportunity to take the floor here.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, This crisis is unprecedented and it means that we need to take unprecedented decisions. And that's why I am convinced that a very strong cooperation between the democratic and legitimate European institutions will be vital in the next weeks, in the next month

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Is there the reason for me today to share with you some comments after the force video conference, after the last European Council, as you probably know, we have taken some very stern orientations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The first goal was to endorse the proposals made by the Ministers of Finance in order to mobilise more than 540 billion euros in order to support the workers. The company's, but also the member states. And we have asked the Ministers of Finance to implement this decision by the 1st of June.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Of course, we all know here, but also in the European Council that it's not enough. And I would say that this European Council was the occasion to shift from the crisis management in the short term to more and more the mid-term and long term vision about what we need to do.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Especially in order to have a strong debate about the orientation for the week of risk strategy and I would add for the transformation strategy of our economic and social model.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Ladies and gentlemen, this fourth video conference with the opportunity to discuss the roadmap for the economic recovery and transformation. Together with the European Commission, I had already had an opportunity to present the four chapters that we were placing on the table.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, So here I would like to concentrate in particular on two aspects that we discussed and that we will continue to be working on over the next days and months.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The first point is and remains the importance of harnessing all our efforts into revitalizing the single market. How can we get it going again and how can we ensure that we don't forget the challenges that we were facing before the crisis, the digital agenda?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The climate agenda. We mustn't forget the historic decisions that were taken by the European Council with the very strong support of the European Parliament, so that climate neutrality would be set as an important goal that would mobilise all our forces to transform our economy and society.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The same is true of the digital transition. So more than ever, we need to move it on that path. We consider that the digital agenda and the climate agenda must be part of the common project that we wish to implement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The single market is, of course, also a debate about the strategic autonomy of the EU. And wee are increasingly sharing the view in the European Council that we have to learn the lessons of the past. We have to restore to Europe production capacity certain in terms of our critical products.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, We have to bring back made in Europe. That is a crucial question. And the crisis showed how importance, how important this is. So we need to launch a strategy based on that reasoning.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Another important aspect of our work in the single market is we've asked the commission to present a report on how the various European ecosystems are affected and how they will be affected in the coming weeks and months so that we can make the most appropriate proposals possible.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, It is, of course, the financing and the this essential importance to develop a very strange and ambitious strategy to mobilise more means based on two very stern tools. The first one is the European budget.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And we had a deal last reached the last month many debates together about this orientation for the next European budget. More than ever, we need to take decisions. We need to adapt also, our strategy in order to take into consideration the consequences, the huge consequences of this crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, But it's not enough. The next European budget. And that's why we have taken this very strong commitment to work together in order to launch a week of a refund, in order to be able to mobilise more means more more money to identify what are the priorities in the near future.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Up the two instruments that have to be mobilised. We thought, in terms of a kind of Marshall Plan. I think we need to work on what I would call the Gasperi plan to name it after one of the Italian founding fathers of the European community.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, So that we can work together on the ways and means of financing this transformation. How will we finance that this year? How will we find the necessary funds and how can you establish the appropriate interaction between the Recovery and Transformation Fund and the European budget?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, How will we coordinate these? How will they be linked? And also how can we best use and implement these funds? How can we mobilize the funds we need for the economic recovery?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And the third aspect, quite apart from the proposals that the commission will be making on the economic response. There is another point that I wish to highlight in this debate with you, and that is the importance of not losing sight of the main aim of the European project since its inception.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Since its foundation after the Second World War, the project was not just to achieve prosperity, but also to ensure that by working together, by cooperating in a spirit of solidarity and unity, we would be able to rise to any challenges that we might face.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And so our work over the last few decades has been focussed also on convergence, on reducing the disparity between our countries, reducing the differences between us.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And in this crisis, we realize how important it is to confront, to convince all member states of the fact that this crisis should not be considered a pretext or an excuse to increase our differences to deepen our disparities in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, But on the contrary, this pandemic should prompt us to work together even more determined for cohesion and convergence and more European integration more than ever.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, I am convinced this crisis shows how important it is that our answer should be to cooperate more, to integrate more, to coordinate more, and not the reverse, because the reverse would mean more fragility and less capacity to respond at a time where there is a global crisis that requires, of course, a global response.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And finally, there is another point which is extremely important. We've already seen the very damaging economic impact on tourism, on air transport and in many other sectors.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And in the next days and weeks, it will be necessary for us to work actively on the basis of the proposals that have been set up by the commission, its recommendations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Of course, member states have the right to take decisions on their frontiers and tourism. But it is very important that on the basis of the guidelines of the commission, member states should sit together around the same table, roll up their sleeves and try to be consistent in their response.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, And show their ability to rise to this challenge. And so I would call for the reopening of European borders as soon as this is possible. Taking, of course, all the necessary precautions that have to be taken. But the freedom of movement of people is an extremely important issue.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, So we should be able to gradually open up. This is important economically and socially. And so I hope that we will be able to make progress so that all the member states will be around the same table to take a coordinated, consistent and synchronized decisions that will show our European resilience. Ladies and gentlemen, finally.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, This is not directly linked to the debates in the latest European Council. But as I am speaking before you, I would like to take this opportunity to say to you that European law has primacy. And that is a very important point to bear in mind when we are trying to move forward in the European project and reinforce European cooperation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, The role of the European Court of Justice is central to ensuring uniform interpretation of European law.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, 70 years ago, Robert Schuman made his statement that still constitutes a cornerstone of our European project. The Schuman Declaration that set out what were quite innovative values at the time.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Just a few years after member states had been at war with one another, had been suspicious of one another. I'm not saying whether the crisis that we face is the same as the kind of conflict that we went through back then.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, But there are some points in common between this situation and the situation 70 years ago. Because we are facing a global crisis and a serious one, an unprecedented one. And just as 70 years ago, it was necessary to be creative to be innovative and to be daring and courageous in that situation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, It was necessary to tear off our blinkers that have been causing division, dragging us down now even more. This political generation today, the question is, will we have the capacity to be creative and innovative.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, So that we can draw from this crisis, from the suffering and the sadness that so many families are plunged in today? Will we be able to draw the necessary energy and the resources and the motivation to make this European project?

SOUNDBITE (Original), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, What is one of the most beautiful political ideas of history? Can we make this European project something that will enable us to pick up the challenge and allow us to protect human dignity, to maintain a kind, kindly society that can look with confidence to the future? Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Italian) David SASSOLI, EP President Said President Michel. Thank you, President Michel. And now I shall give the floor to the president of the commission, Mrs von der Leyen, you have the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, Merci beaucoup, monsieur. Thank you very much indeed, President Charles Michel, Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, the 60 years following the Schuman Declaration, the crises and challenges have overcome Europe frequently, as you have said.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And when faced with crisis, Europe was diverse, united in diversity, but also united in our diversity. And at a time of adversity such as we are facing now, Europe, more than ever, needs unity, strength, determination and ambition.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And it is in this spirit that the Commission is working on putting together an ambitious recovery plan for Europe. As you've called for and your resolution, honourable members, we all know why action is needed.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And over the last few weeks, you will have heard me speaking frequently about the things that Europe needs to do today. I'd like to speak about how we're going to do it.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, I'd like to present to you the main aspects of this ambitious plan that we've been working on and outline it for you, but in order to be able to do this, I think we need a full understanding of the crisis we're facing.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, We have had economic slowdowns before, but we've never had an economic shutdown like the last three months. Our economies have been on hold. The supply chains have been disrupted severely. Demand has collapsed.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And the truth is that we will not just go back to business as usual. Soon our economies and societies will open slowly, cautiously, gradually, while schools stay shut. We all know that most parents will have to continue home office.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And while social distancing measures rightly stay in place, businesses will have to rethink their workplaces and the way they work. In other words, we will recover, but it will take time.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, My second remark, the virus is the same in every member state. Yes, but the capacity to respond and absorb the shock is very different.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, For instance, we all know countries and regions with economies that are built on client facing services like, for example, the tourism or for example, culture have suffered way more.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And we should not forget that those who were hit first by the virus were often hit the hardest because it was the painful experience and the full transparency of Italy and Spain in dealing with a pandemic that helped others to brace themselves for the impact.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And my third point. Every member state has supported workers and companies as best as possible, and also thanks to the European level being fast and forceful. We trigger the general escape clause. We gave full flexibility on all the structural funds and full flexibility on state aid.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, But it is also true that each member states state has a different fiscal space. So the use of state aid is also very different from member state to member state. And where do we start to observe now is an levelling of the playing field in the single market.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, To all that, we need a European response. And because it is a real European recovery, focussing on European priorities. It is essential that the European Parliament plays its full role.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, For me, it goes without saying that this parliament must provide the democratic accountability and have its say on the entire recovery package, just as it does on the European budget. And that is what we're gonna discuss today.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, So let me dive in or plunge into the recovery package that consists of two parts.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, First of all, there will be the European budget, the so-called MFF, that is very well known to you.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, Secondly, and on top of the budget will be a recovery instrument funded through a larger headroom. This headroom fixes the maximum amount of money that the commission can borrow on the capital markets with the guarantees of the member states are backed by the member states.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President, And as important is the entirety of the money of the recovery instrument will be channelled through the European budget, that is through the European programs. And this is why and I repeat it, the European Parliament will have the same say on how the recovery money is spent as it does on how the MFF is spent.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Now, where does the recovery money go to? It will be spent across three pillars.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, [16:22:51] This is the one part of the first pillar. There goes the bulk of the money.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The first pillar will focus on supporting member state to recover, to repair and to come out stronger of this crisis. The bulk of the money will be spent within this first pillar on the new recovery and resilience instrument that is created to fund in the member states.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Key public investment and reforms. But they have to be aligned with our European policy. In other words, thus we are paving the way to a climate neutral, a digitalised and a resilient Europe. This will be done through the European Semester.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, It will be available to all member states, whether they are in the euro area or not. And it will be focused on those parts of the union that have been most affected and where resilience needs are the greatest.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Within this first pillar is also a second part, and that is a proposal by the commission to top up the cohesion funds. This will be above the usual cohesion envelope within the MFF. This top up will be allocated based on the severity of the economic and social impact of the crisis.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The second pillar, the second pillar is about kickstarting the economy and helping private investment to get moving again.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We already knew before the crisis that we also need major private investment in the key sectors and key technologies. 5G artificial intelligence, clean hydrogen off shore, renewable energies, you name it.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The only thing this crisis changed is that the crisis has only made the need greater than it was before. And this is why we will strengthen invest EU. We will also create for the first time a new strategic investment facility.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, This facility will help invest in the key value chains that are crucial for our future resilience and strategic autonomy. We've seen it during the crisis how dependent we were on global supply, which supply change for example, in the pharmaceutical sector.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So Europe must be able to produce critical medicine itself. But for all this, we also need healthy companies in Europe to invest in.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And this is why we'll also propose in this second pillar, a new solvency instrument. This will help match the recapitalization needs of healthy companies who have been put at risk as a result of the lockdown where ever they are located in the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And now the third and last pillar, the third pillar is about learning the most immediate lessons of the crisis. Over the last month, we have seen what is important, what has worked well, and what needs to be improved.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So we will strengthen programs that have proven their value in the crisis, such as rescue or such as Horizon Europe. We will also create a new dedicated health program and we will make sure that we can support our partners by strengthening our instruments for neighbourhood development and international cooperation and for pre-accession accession assistance.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable members, in a nutshell, this is how the recovery instrument looked like. It will be focussed on where there is the greatest needs and the greatest potential. The recovery instrument is short term and concentrated on the first years of recovery.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, It will include grants. It will include the possibility to frontload part of the investment still this year using proven financing models based on national guarantees. And we should not forget that we are not starting from scratch.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The recovery instrument will complement the three important safety nets that have been mentioned and agreed by the leaders in April: the short program, the finance availability from the European Investment Bank and the European Stability Mechanism.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And together with our MFF, this will be the ambitious answer. Europe needs an answer that includes own new resources that we need in our budget, just that the commission proposed in 2018. An answer that reflects our common values with a mechanism to protect the rule of law.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, An answer that is built on a society but is designed for the future.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So this is a response that was born in the crisis, but that will serve us well into the future. And that's not just about solidarity between countries and people being strengthened. It's strengthening solidarity between the generations as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Ladies and gentlemen, sooner or later, a vaccine will be found for the coronavirus. But when it comes to climate change, no vaccine will ever be available. That's why Europe needs to invest now in as clean a future investment into this reconstruction will entail a cost that's increased debt and increased debt burden

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And if we're going to increase debt that future generations will have to repay, then the very least we can do is ensure that we're investing in a future that will be brighter for them, that we reduce the burden for them in terms of climate change, rather than just adding on extra strains to them.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So let's not fall back into the old pattern, the old ways and relaunch the economy of yesterday. Let's use this opportunity to forge a new, healthier society, an economy that will set the foundation for the lives of future generations, our children and grandchildren.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Ladies and gentlemen, Europe alone won't be able to resolve all the problems that we face on this continent. But we do have to take on our share of responsibility. And we do this by levelling differences between the member states and ensuring that these efforts are being made in the interest of future generations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And I'm convinced that a new, stronger Europe is being born. Long live Europe.