EU leaders meet for a special meeting of the European Council on the 30th of May, in Brussels. Roberta METSOLA, EP President arrives at the European Council and addresses the press.

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

president's agenda

special meeting of the European Council 30-31 May 2022 (T)

Special Meeting of the European Council: arrival and doorstep by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President - Three points from us, from the European Parliament. First of all, we welcome the draught texts from the Council conclusions. We hope that they can be confirmed tonight. Naturally, we would have liked them to go further, but we welcome the progress. Position of the European Parliament remains clear that we need to have zero dependency on Russia for all fossil fuels. So we need to buy our energy and diversify our resources from our friends and not from our foes.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President -  We also would have liked, but we understand that this is going to be debated in the next European Council. A full and unequivocal declaration of candidate status for Ukraine. We look forward to the Commission's positive of on this matter and will continue to work hard on this. We are unequivocal. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Roberta METSOLA, EP President - We had many weeks of difficult decisions and I think today we have seen an important thing that member countries and governments are doing, that for us unity is the most important thing because otherwise Putin had to take advantage for us . And we want these conclusions to be confirmed tonight and we will continue to insist on the Unity that perhaps never had. He never thought about seeing.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Roberta METSOLA, EP President - For us this is a very important thing. We see and are seeing that many countries in Africa, but also around the world, are in a position of threats from an autocrat who is blocking the salvation of millions of millions of people. This is not acceptable to us that a country, an autocrat, can do so in this world. A naval mission, then, of the European Union? We are seeing, we are also considering these six maritime corridors which for us must be the solution, because we do not have millions of millions going to starve.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President -  I don't think it's a matter of blackmailing for us. It's a matter of continuing to insist that not only does the war end, not only does it does it not come at a price for Ukraine, but also that the rest of the world is not blackmailed into looking at the possibility of one country blocking food for millions of people. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President -  This is something that I will actually mention on behalf of the European Parliament today in my in my speech. This is a concern that we have, and we absolutely cannot let it off our agenda. What is unacceptable is that there is one country that is blocking millions of tonnes from leaving the Black Sea in order to feed the rest of the world facing millions of people that potentially face a famine. This is, for us impossible. It is unacceptable and we will not stop until that is solved. Thank you. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President - We welcome, first of all, the draught conclusions. This took a long time to negotiate. We see that a lot of progress has been made and we, of course, would want to see them confirmed in the European Council today. Different countries have different priorities, different difficulties. But at the end of the day, unity has to remain the key. This is what has kept us at the on the edge, so to speak, at the very forefront of fighting Putin's war. He will not stop, just like he did not stop in Crimea and in Donbas. And if we do not act with complete unity against then understanding that different countries have different realities, even that flexibility has its limits.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President - This is one of the main points I will make today that for us, as we have stated, candidate status of Ukraine, but also of Georgia and Moldova remains a priority. Otherwise, what will the message that we have been or we are sending to the people of those countries? So we look forward to receiving the advice from the Commission. We have seen that Ukraine has responded also to the questionnaire with lightning speed, and it is with that lightning speed that we expect the European Union to take the next steps and the European Parliament will do everything that it can within its our institutional power to do that. I have a full mandate to say that. Thank you very much.