Antonio TAJANI, EP President, participates in the European People's Party (EPP) Statutory Summit, which takes place in the Astra National Museum complex, in Sibiu, Romania. Arrival, roundtable and statement.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

statement

round table

meeting

Sibiu

informal summit of Heads of State or Government 9 May 2019 (T)

EPP Statutory Summit: arrival of Antonio TAJANI, EP President, roundtable and statement

Exterior view of the Astra National Museum Complex, Sibiu, Romania 

Arrival Joseph DAUL, EPP President handshake.

Arrival Manfred WEBER, EPP Group leader in the European Parliament handshake.

Arrival of Klaus IOHANNIS Romanian President , handshake .

SOUNDBITE (Romanian), Klaus IOHANNIS, President of Romania, Today, 9 May, Europe comes to Romania, and the center of Europe is here in Sibiu, here we will decide the future of Europe.

Arrival of Andrej PLENKOVIĆ , Prime Minister of Croatia, handshake.

SOUNDBITE (English), Andrej PLENKOVI&#262;, Croatian Prime Minister, I think that the declaration which was prepared for the Summit is very solid, it has one clear message , and that its Unity of Europe, because we need to somehow prevent all of those disintegration forces which exist on the continent . And try to remember how useful European project was for the entire continent, in the last 70 years, how useful it was for the new member states , where Romania and Croatia very much belong , and I think this message it&rsquo;s a message of encouragement , a message also for the people and voters, to turn out for the elections at the European Parliament , because I think we need a stronger democratic legitimacy and representation.

Arival of Donald TUSK, President of the European Council.

Arrival of Jean-Claude JUNCKER , President of the European Commission handshake .

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, We will continue a virtuous dialogue, that we are having already with the Romanian authorities , and they have to make more efforts.

Arrival of Kri&scaron;jānis KARIŅ&Scaron;, Prime Minister of Latvia handshake.

Arrival of Nicos ANASTASIADES, Prime Minister of Cyprus handshake.

Arrival of Leo VARADKAR, Prime Minister of Ireland, handshak.

Arrival of Antonio TAJANI, President of the European Parliament handshak.

SOUNDBITE (French), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, We have to be engaged to reinforce the links between the institutions and the citizens; The European Parliament will play a key role, we already started, we try to be at the heart of democracy . Therefore, we have to give bigger powers to the EP. After the elections, I think there will be a new season starting in which the politics must be the leading force, and less the bureaucracy. If we have a bureaucratic Europe, the citizens are not pleased. So we must go in the right direction, we have to relaunch the politics with an European vision, and I think that the Romanian President is a personality having such a vision, not only national but also European; If we will be able to do so, we will increase the chances of our citizens . The objective is to protect our citizens where the state is not capable, or not having the possibility of doing so.

At the level of trade policy, we are under attack from the side of China , we have to reinforce the links with the USA , so to face what is happening at the world wide level we have to have a united and strong Europe, especially on the political level.

Arrival of Sebastian KURZ, Austrian Chancellor handshake.