Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA,BE) and Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA,DE), Co-Chairs of Greens/EFA Group hold a press conference ahead of the State of the European Union debate 2023. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

press conference

REINTKE, Terry (Greens/EFA, DE)

Greens/EFA

state of the European Union 2023 (T)

Political groups press briefings: press conference by Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA,BE) and Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA,DE), Co-Chairs of Greens/EFA

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to start by speaking about the extreme weather events that we have seen over the summer in Europe. Of course, we feel solidarity and compassion with the people who have been affected by them. There are too many to name all of them now. You have heard about the forest fires, about the droughts, about the flooding that happened all across Europe now also in other parts of the world. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, Of course, this has devastating effects for people and not only the direct victims, but also the people that are affected by, for example, streets that are no longer, people who are losing their homes, people who are losing their economic basis. And so we cannot turn our eyes away from this huge problem. And it shows, again, that climate change is not something that is happening in the future at some point, but that is happening now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, And these extreme weather events that only the most extreme impact that this has. And this is obviously why we as Greens want to see the European Union do more and not only in terms of preparedness and then reaction to disasters like this and but also when it comes to following on our climate, ambition and you know that we have a situation where right now we have politicians, namely from EPP, but also some new politicians who are saying that we should have a brake on climate regulation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, That basically we should have a moratorium because we have been doing too much over the past years. Well, if you look at the reality that we see in Europe right now, the absolute opposite is true because the climate crisis is not taking a break. And the effects that the climate crisis have are not taking a break. So we as politicians that have a responsibility to do something against that, also cannot take a break.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, So for us both in terms of the European reaction to disasters like this, but also in terms of keeping up our ambition when it comes to the Green Deal, obviously the saving of emissions, but also then nature related parts of the Green Deal have to actually be speed up and not be put on pause, as some people are suggesting right now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, The second topic I wanted to talk about is you have probably all followed the discussion over the summer. What happened in Spain and now the director has stepped down, which from our point of view is a good step because actions like this need to have consequences. We had a long debate about different forms of sexual harassment also here in the European Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, It is a problem everywhere where there is power. So basically the reactions that we have seen, the strong reactions, the strong solidarity with the player herself and have shown that this feminist movement is still strong and we want to do more to protect people from sexualised violence and sexual harassment. Thank you. .

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, Good morning everyone. Our emotions anyway. It's my last parliamentary year, the 15th. And so I'm going to try to give my all for. It is for this last year, because obviously I am not in a state of mind after me, flies, as Thierry said, we are facing colossal challenges and I want my political family to be able to make a really strong contribution to the response that Europe can make to the challenges facing us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, The climate challenge, obviously, the challenge of war, the challenge of social and economic inequality, the migration challenge, that's it, so many challenges that require answers on our part. And I think that European citizens are well aware that we are in this boat together. But sometimes they feel that some of them are a bit of stowaways.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, If you look at corporate profits and business profits, it seems a bit disembodied. What I mean is that behind it, corporate profits are distributed to management and shareholders. Even Christine Lagarde says that most of the inflation we are seeing today is due to the inflation of profits that go to shareholders and therefore our fellow citizens sometimes feel that these stowaways cost them dearly.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, And that's not entirely unjustified. But as Terri said, the real one, how do we manage the real debate that will take us to the 2024 elections? And will the European Green Deal have been a parenthesis, a welcome parenthesis, but a parenthesis in the political history of the Union? Or on the contrary, will it be the first stage of the rocket and then we are going to accelerate the green and just transition of the European Union?

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, That's the debate, that's the debate. And indeed, as you say, you can always ask for a break. But the planet is not in the mood to negotiate a break. Moreover, it is a real prosperity issue for the European Union. I have already made this point here, in this room I don't know how many times. If the European Union does not embrace ecological transition, I am not very sure what chances of money it has left in an economic sector in the 21st century.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, It's pretty much said at the same time, as they say, as they say in good French, it's the only chance we have left to ensure sustainable prosperity for the European Union. And so for me, this is my answer to these people from the EPP, to these people from the right and the extreme right, to these people from Renew, that we should not do too much. But it is this kind of attitude that has brought a European car industry into the situation it is in today.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, And so you still have to learn a little bit from your mistakes and dare to embrace transformation rather than cling to 20th century business models, which for me is a recipe, a fairly sure recipe for failure, including economic failure. Let's make no mistake about it. I think that this is the important issue. It cannot be denied that Ursula von der Leyen comes from a political family called the EPP and that it is from the EPP that comes the strongest pressure to give up.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, I understand that she can't kick her nose at her political family, but I still hope that she will stay the course, that she will know how to stay the course in the year that separates us from the elections and more if she wants to run for a second term.

Q&A, Question about the voting position of the Greens towards the prostitution report.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, -

Q&A, Question about the Greens thughts about the success of the measures concerning air quality, in the Green Deal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair, -

Q&A, Question regarding a group of MEPs asking the European Commission to take action against the drug shortages in the EU.

Q&A, Question about the possible division in the Greens when voting for the prostitution report or when voting for the purchase of armaments.

SOUNDBITE (English), Terry REINTKE (Greens/EFA, DE), Co-Chair, - -