Live replay of the Debate on State of the Union 2018: Address by Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

JUNCKER, Jean-Claude (LU)

state of the Union

state of the Union 2018 (T)

Address by Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC (Part 1) - Debate on State of the Union 2018 (9:31 - 9:56)

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Mr President, To speak of the future, one must speak of Africa &ndash; Europe's twin continent. Africa is the future: By 2050, Africa's population will number 2.5 billion. One in four people on earth will be African. We need to invest more in our relationship with the nations of this great and noble continent. And we have to stop seeing this relationship through the sole prism of development aid. Such an approach is beyond inadequate, humiliatingly so. Africa does not need charity, it needs true and fair partnerships. And Europe needs this partnership just as much. In preparing my speech today, I spoke to my African friends, notably Paul Kagame, the Chairperson of the African Union. We agreed that donor-recipient relations are a thing of the past. We agreed that reciprocal commitments are the way forward. We want to build a new partnership with Africa. Today, we are proposing a new Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs between Europe and Africa.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, This Alliance &ndash; as we envision it &ndash; would help create up to 10 million jobs in Africa in the next 5 years alone. We want to create a framework that brings more private investment to Africa. We are not starting from scratch: our External Investment Plan, launched two years ago, will mobilise over &euro;44 billion in both the public and private investment. Alone the projects already in the pipeline will unlock &euro;24 billion. We want to focus our investment where it matters the most. By 2020, the EU will have supported 35,000 African students and researchers with our Erasmus programme. By 2027, this figure should reach 105,000. Trade between Africa and Europe is not insignificant. 36% of Africa's trade is with the European Union. This compares to 16% for China and 6% for the United States. But this is not enough. I believe we should develop the numerous European-African trade agreements into a continent-to-continent free trade agreement, as an economic partnership between equals.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Another issue where I see a strong need for the Union for leadership is Brexit. I will not enter into the details of the negotiations, which are being masterfully handled by my friend Michel Barnier. He works on the basis of a unanimous position confirmed time and again by the 27 Member States. However, allow me to recall three principles which should guide our work on Brexit in the months to come. First of all, we respect the British decision to leave our Union, even though we continue to regret it deeply. But we also ask the British government to understand that someone who leaves the Union cannot be in the same privileged position as a Member State. If you leave the Union, you are of course no longer part of our single market, and certainly not only in the parts of it you choose.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Secondly, the European Commission, this Parliament and all other 26 Member States will always show loyalty and solidarity with Ireland when it comes to the Irish border. This is why we want to find a creative solution that prevents a hard border in Northern Ireland. But we will equally be very outspoken should the British government walk away from its responsibilities under the Good Friday Agreement. It is not the European Union, it is Brexit that risks making the border more visible in Northern Ireland. Thirdly, after 29 March 2019, the United Kingdom will never be an ordinary third country for us. The United Kingdom will always be a very close neighbour and partner, in political, economic and security terms. In the past months, whenever we needed unity in the Union, Britain was at our side, driven by the same values and principles as all other Europeans. This is why I welcome Prime Minister May's proposal to develop an ambitious new partnership for the future, after Brexit.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, We agree with the statement made in Chequers that the starting point for such a partnership should be a free trade area between the United Kingdom and the European Union. On the basis of these three principles, the Commission&rsquo;s negotiators stand ready to work day and night to reach a deal. We owe it to our citizens and our businesses to ensure the United Kingdom's withdrawal is orderly and that there is stability afterwards. It will not be the Commission that will stand in the way of this, I can assure you of that.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Honourable Members of the European Parliament, There is much work to be done before the European elections and before Europe's Leaders meet in Sibiu, Romania on 9 May 2019. Sibiu is the moment we must offer all Europeans a strong perspective for the future. Europeans deserve better than uncertainty and confused objectives. They deserve clarity of intent, not approximations or half-measures. This is what is at stake on the road to Sibiu &ndash; a summit that will take place just six weeks after Brexit and two weeks before the European elections. By then we must have ratified the EU-Japan partnership agreement &ndash; for reasons as much economic as geopolitical. By then, we should also have brokered an agreement in principle on the EU budget after 2020.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, If we want to give young Europeans the opportunity to make the most of our Erasmus programme &ndash; which we must &ndash; then we must decide on this aspect, amongst others, of the budget. If we want to give our researchers and start-ups more opportunities, and prevent funding gaps costing jobs, we have to decide before the elections. If we want to &ndash; without militarising the European Union &ndash; to increase defence spending by a factor of 20, we will need to decide quickly. If we want to increase our investment in Africa by 23%, we must decide quickly. By next year, we should also address the international role of the euro. The euro is 20 years young and has already come a long way &ndash; despite its critics. It is now the second most used currency in the world with 60 countries linking their currencies to the euro in one way or another. But we must do more to allow our single currency to play its full role on the international scene.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Recent events have brought into sharp focus the need to deepen our Economic and Monetary Union and build deep and liquid capital markets. The Commission has made a series of proposals to do just that &ndash; most of which now await adoption by Parliament and Council. But we can and must go further. It is absurd that Europe pays for 80% of its energy import bill &ndash; worth 300 billion euro a year &ndash; in US dollar when only roughly 2% of our energy imports come from the United States. It is absurd that European companies buy European planes in dollars instead of euro.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, This is why, before the end of the year, the Commission will present initiatives to strengthen the international role of the euro. The euro must become the face and the instrument of a new, more sovereign Europe. For this, we must first put our own house in order by strengthening our Economic and Monetary Union, as we have already started to do. Without this, we will lack the means to strengthen the international of role of the euro. We must complete our Economic and Monetary Union to make Europe and the euro stronger. Last but not least, by Sibiu I want to make visible progress in strengthening our foreign policy. We must improve our ability to speak with one voice when it comes to our foreign policy. It is not right that our Union silenced itself at the United Nations Human Rights Council when it came to condemning human rights abuses by China. And this because not all Member States could agree.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, This is why today the Commission is proposing to move to qualified majority voting in specific areas of our external relations. I repeat what I said last year on this matter. We should move to qualified majority voting not in all but in specific areas: human rights issues and civilian missions included. This is possible on the basis of the current Treaties and I believe the time has come to make use of this "lost treasure" of the Lisbon Treaty. I also think we should be able to decide on certain tax matters by qualified majority.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Mr President, I would like to say a few words about the increasingly worrying way in which we air our disagreements. Heated exchanges amongst governments and institutions are becoming more and more common. Harsh or hurtful words will not get Europe anywhere. The tone is not only worrying when it comes to political discourse. It is also true of the way some seek to shut down debate altogether by targeting media and journalists. Europe must always be a place where freedom of the press is sacrosanct. Too many of our journalists are intimidated, attacked, or even murdered. We must do more to protect our democracy and its agents &ndash; our journalists.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, In general, we must do more to revive the lost art of compromise. Compromise does not mean sacrificing our convictions or selling out on our values. The Commission will resist all attacks on the rule of law. We continue to be very concerned by the developments in some of our Member States. Article 7 must be applied whenever the rule of law is threatened. First Vice-President Timmermans is doing a remarkable but often lonely job of defending the rule of law. The whole Commission, and I personally, support him fully. But we need to be very clear on one point: judgements from the Court of Justice must be respected and implemented. This is vital. The European Union is a community of law. Respecting the rule of law and abiding by Court decisions are not optional.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Mr President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament, I started this speech &ndash; my last State of the Union though surely not my last speech &ndash; by talking about history. I spoke of both the events that have marked this Commission's time in office and of history writ large, the History of Europe. We are all responsible for the Europe of today. And we must all take responsibility for the Europe of tomorrow. Such is history: parliaments and Commissions come and go, Europe is here to stay. But for Europe to become what it must, there are several lessons to be learnt. I want Europe to get off the side-lines of world affairs. Europe can no longer be a spectator or a mere commentator of international events. Europe must be an active player, an architect of tomorrow's world.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, There is strong demand for Europe throughout the world. To meet such high demand, Europe will have to speak with one voice on the world stage. In the concert of nations, Europe's voice must ring clear in order to be heard. Federica Mogherini has made Europe's diplomacy more coherent. But let us not slide back into the incoherence of competing and parallel national diplomacies. Europe diplomacy must be conducted in the singular. Our solidarity must be all-embracing. I want us to do more to bring together the East and West of Europe. It is time we put an end to the sorry spectacle of a divided Europe. Our continent and those who brought an end to the Cold War deserve better. I would like the European Union to take better care of its social dimension. Those that ignore the legitimate concerns of workers and small businesses undermine European unity. It is time we turned the good intentions that we proclaimed at the Gothenburg Social Summit into law.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, I would like next year's elections to be a landmark for European democracy. I would like to see the Spitzenkandidaten process &ndash; that small step forward for European democracy &ndash; repeated. For me, this process would be made all the more credible if we were to have transnational lists. I hope these will be in place by the next European elections in 2024 at the latest. But above all, I would like us to reject unhealthy nationalism and embrace enlightened patriotism. We should never forget that the patriotism of the 21st Century is two-fold: both European and national, with one not excluding the other. As the French philosophe Blaise Pascal said: I like things that go together. In order to stand on its own two feet, Europe must move forward as one. To love Europe, is it love its nations. To love your nation is to love Europe. Patriotism is a virtue. Unchecked nationalism is riddled with both poison and deceit.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, In short, we must remain true to ourselves. The trees we plant today must provide shade for our great grand-children whether they hail from East or West, from South or North. To give them all they need to grow and breathe easily. A few years ago, standing in this very same spot, I told you that Europe was the love of my life. I love Europe still and shall do so forever more.