Ahead of the plenary session from 13th to 16th March 2023, Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the EPP group in the EP, holds a press conference to give the priority of his group. The transcription is the result of an automatic process, please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

plenary session

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

press conference

Press conference by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), President of the EPP group

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Good morning and sorry for the early start into the day. The background is that we will have today the formal sitting with the President of Lithuania and the summit of respect, which should be in the plenary for this. So let me reflect on some of the issues, the political elements of the week.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), First of all, I want to underline that for us, economically, the unity of the Western world is key for protecting our our way of life as Western world. That's why the trip of Ursula von der Leyen towards our Canadian friends and also to go to Washington, was extremely welcomed and extremely positive. Especially on the battery development, this is crucial for our car industry, the agreement there.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), The second thing is that we are ready for this raw materials agreement with the Americans. And thirdly, I want to underline that we have to avoid and let me say a wave of subsidy race in the European Union. We are welcoming the change of the competition rules in the European Union to give a proper answer on the I.R.A.. That is what the EPP is also asking for, but it is good to have a common understanding with the Americans to limit this competition on subsidies in the GreenTech area.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Having this in mind, it was a good step forward to find with our American friends a common understanding on this. But still there is a lot to do. And towards the Americans, I want to underline that our group, my group, the EPP, was always in favour of a real trade agreement with the Americans. We discussed this years ago and we had T-TIP on the table and a lot of other groups were opposing to this. So I think we need a real trade deal with the U.S. and that has to be upgraded. So we have to push for this on the long run.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), This is linked to what will happen from the commission's point of view this week in Europe. So this week is an extremely important week for the competitiveness of the European Union. We are welcoming this. My group, the European People's Party, was always insisting in the jobs aspect that we have to prioritise economic growth and the future of our industry and SMEs in Europe. That's why it will be a good week that the Commission will present the package of legislative initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of our industries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), So net-zero industry, the Raw Materials Act, all these things are positive things for us and must give the direction that we ask our industry to invest in Europe and not abroad. We expect that this package will also boost the competitiveness in the areas where we are investing in the clean tech industry, that is a priority for doing so. And it's also clear that this is in a way, also an answer to the competition with China.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), I think we also need to protect our industry against exploding energy costs, because one element is the investment conditions to build up a company, to build up a factory, to build up a plant. But the other thing is the long term costs on producing products and services, and that is linked to the high energy costs where we still need further answers to do so. We want also a net zero industry, but we want to have also a net zero bureaucracy. So that is also an important element for us that will reduce administrative burden and we get also quicker procedures.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), I want to highlight one special legislative file which created in the last days some debates, and that is about the CO2 on cars. You know that especially after the uncertainty in building with the German government's behaviour, we see now uncertainty on the whole file after years of negotiations. We do not know any more about, first of all, the German positioning. So normally we should expect that they keep their promises they gave during the negotiations and I also must flag that this is also a liberal problem.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), You know that a minister Borne in France was heavily attacking the German government now and the minister Wissing in Germany is also a liberal, so both of them are liberals. So it would be great to see from Stefan and from the Liberal Party in the European Union whether they are in favour or whether they are against. Our positioning, as EPP was always clear, we were in favour of an ambitious climate approach to get 2050 climate neutral and also for the car industry to 2035 climate neutral. That was our positioning. But we always insisting in the technologically neutral approach to do so.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), And then finally, migration. Longstanding issue on the European agenda. First of all, our thoughts are, again, with the victims in the Mediterranean Sea. I must underline that this is not an Italian, that is not under Maltese, that is not a Spanish or a Greek problem. That is a European problem. And for the moment, I don't see so much activities to really identify this as a European problem. In the last European summit, in the special summit beginning of February, we made progress.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), And that is good that we had a more realistic migration policy, especially when it is about the issue of fences and also about physical infrastructure on the external border. Now we need to protect our borders and we need to protect the refugees. Both sides are on the same method. Again, the main message for us is that we should not let the South alone, it is a joint responsibility. For us in the European Parliament, I regret that until now we could not managed with the Socialists to find a final agreement on the legislative file on the migration pact.

SOUNDBITE (English), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), Until now, we don't have a fixed slot in the LIBE Committee to vote on this. And my appeal is to the other groups - speed up. The Council is ready for negotiations on the migration pact and we should also be ready as European Parliament to move forward. So that's why we are pushing for this. And the main message today is that we should not leave the South alone. Thank you so much.

Q&A Question regarding Europe moving away from Russian energy fuels and our bills rising. Second question regarding Meloni's movement.

Q&A Question regarding the change to North Stream and if it would not be wiser to change to solar batteries from China. Second question regarding the Ukranian war becoming uncontrollable.

Q&A Question regarding the new rules coming in the next few months for former MEPs no longer be allowed to enter the Parliament.

Q&A Question regarding the Spanish goverment can impact the European position on things like Ukraine.

Q&A Question regarding the European point of view of the situation in Taiwan.

Q&A Question regarding climate policy depending on solar batteriest from China and Europe being prepared to carry on.