photo: europarl.europa.eu
STRASBOURG - MEPs have elected Roberta Metsola to continue as President of the European Parliament for another two and a half years. In her speech, Metsola said she would continue to work for a strong Parliament in a strong Europe.
Dear colleagues,
dear European men and women,
I am honoured to accept the trust you have placed in me and to continue my work as President of the European Parliament with humility and a sense of responsibility. I will strive every day to ensure that I do not disappoint the trust you have placed in me and in Parliament.
This Parliament must continue to be a parliament for all in Europe. Together we must work for a politics of hope, for the European dream, for the realisation of the promise of our forefathers, which we have not yet fulfilled.
Two and a half years after I first took on this role, I still want people to get excited about and believe in the project of a common Europe again. To believe that our common space can be safer, fairer and more equal. That together we are stronger and better. That our Europe is for all.
It must be a Europe that does not forget the past, that can learn from past struggles and that appreciates the efforts of the many people who fought for ideals that we sometimes take for granted. For all the people who were driven from their homes and disappeared, for those who stood up to the tanks and the bullets in the fight against the totalitarian regimes that have ruled large parts of Europe for so long, for all those who believed in a better future and dared to dream. Our Europe must be one that Konrad Adenauer, François Mitterrand, Lech Wałęsa, Eddie Fenech Adami, Václav Havel, Simone Veil, Giovanni Falcone or Paolo Borsellino can be proud of.
Our Europe must be a Europe that honours and respects our common history. And there is no better place than here in Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament, this living symbol of reconciliation, where we can remember the past and build the future.
Our Europe must become a Europe that is accessible to all, and everyone must feel part of it and feel co-responsible for it. The polarisation in our society results in confrontational politics and even political violence, simple answers that divide us into 'us' and 'them'. We must overcome this dysfunctional way of thinking, for instead of fostering hope and faith, it excludes and discourages some of us, provoking anger and hatred. We all know that this simple policy is convenient but offers no real solutions.
This Parliament, however, seeks the opposite. It wants to build rather than destroy. It is not afraid to take the more difficult path. It is able to speak up for the sake of all of us. It is the counterweight to autocracy. It intends to step up the necessary fight for the rule of law. He understands that we must all be truly equal in Europe. This equality does not mean that we should all try to be the same, but that each of us will have the same opportunity to reach our full potential. We need an equality of opportunity that recognises the differences between us and that sees our different languages, cultures and stories that distinguish us as Europeans as an asset.
And it is this priority that will enable us to ensure that the laws we pass here benefit people in every village, town and island in our Union. We need to ensure that all our policies work, and that they work well for young people, families, farmers and industry.
It is our common responsibility to hand over Europe to our children in a better state than we took it over. And we can do this by creating a new framework for security and defence that protects our citizens and stops rampant dictators in our neighbourhood. That will defeat the hybrid threats we still face. That will protect Europe. That will defend our strategic independence. That will preserve peace. Because the threat we face is very real.
In order to hand over a better Europe to our children, we need to focus seriously on its competitiveness. We need to deepen the single market, secure quality jobs, conclude global trade agreements, complete the banking union and the capital markets union and put in place realistic targets for our industry. In this way we will persuade European businesses to stay in Europe and we will be able to invest in our young people, in research, in education, in culture, in our communities and in the rest of
of the world. But to do this, we need to simplify the rules and cut the unnecessary bureaucracy that is driving people and jobs out of Europe. Our citizens remember most the benefits of the European Union that have made their lives easier.
In order to hand over a better Europe to our children, we need to find real solutions to the climate crisis. Europe can be proud of its heritage. I am convinced that it can continue to be at the top of the world and find ways to achieve its goals without anyone feeling left behind, so that sustainable development is possible while protecting the environment and our heritage. We can achieve both.
To give our children a better Europe, we need to strengthen its social pillar. To give people hope and a life of dignity. To ensure that pensions and salaries meet society's expectations. We cannot move forward unless our young people are able to rent - if not buy - an apartment or a house to make their home. Europe is facing a housing crisis and we need tools to help us tackle it, including at European level.
In order to hand over a better Europe to our children, we must finally put in place proper legislation on migration and asylum that includes the necessary border management and return policies for migrants to their countries of origin and, above all, takes into account the human aspect. In this way, we will ensure that no longer will any mother see the only way out as putting her child in a rickety boat and entrusting him or her to criminal smuggling networks. This will ensure that Europe lives up to its proud historical legacy.
To hand over a better Europe to our children, we must seize the opportunities offered by the digital age and artificial intelligence. We need to stay ahead of the game and be able to reap all the benefits of the digital age and mitigate the effects of misinformation. We have all the knowledge in the world at our fingertips, and yet people feel more alone than ever in the past. This shows us how much Europe must also be a 'community'.
We will not be able to pass on a better Europe to our children if people everywhere in Europe are still unable to be who they want and love who they want. Unless we remove all the barriers that prevent people with disabilities in the Union from having the same opportunities in life as others. Unless we are able to fight discrimination or to combat the growing anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. If political discourse continues to be too often driven by hatred and violence. We need to build a Europe where everyone feels at home, where girls like Ireland's Coco can find protection from those who persecute them.
We will not be able to pass on a better Europe to our children if too many women continue to feel that they do not belong. Too many women in Europe are still being abused, beaten and murdered. Too many women continue to fight for their rights. Too many women continue to be paid less than men for the same work. Too many women continue to be afraid. Europe must be there for them too.
We can build the Europe that Simone Veil and Nicole Fontaine dreamed of. The Europe that Marie Skłodowska-Curie would have wanted to see. The Europe that Giulia, Pelin, Ana Vanessa, Daphne and so many other women will never see again. We will build it for them, for all those who can no longer speak out, and for all those who come after them.
I am confident that together we will build a better Europe than the one we took over from our ancestors. I am confident that when the world looks at us, it will see a Parliament that defends rights, protects journalists, values freedom and understands its role as a beacon of democracy for the world.
Seventy years ago, Alcide de Gasperi said, "The desire for unity is ever present in our history. Let us speak, let us write, let us continue, let us never stop - let Europe always be at the centre of our thoughts." I agree with his words and we must bear them in mind throughout the next term.
Dear friends,
We have already understood that we can never take democracy for granted. We know that our European values are seen by many as a threat. That is how autocratic rulers describe us, and we remain proud of it.
One of the priorities of our agenda will continue to be Russia's military aggression against sovereign Ukraine. After the outbreak of the war, I visited Kiev on your behalf. This visit was a new impetus for Parliament and gave it new visibility and influence. This Parliament has always pointed out that Ukraine needs our support and that the people are counting on us to continue to do so in the future.
We will be forced to take further steps and we must be prepared to do more than we are comfortable with - we must do what is necessary. We will do it because Europe must promote freedom and peace: a real peace that goes hand in hand with justice, dignity and freedom. Because we in Europe can overcome seemingly insurmountable differences.
This philosophy must also guide our response to the conflict in the Middle East. Even in the chaos caused by war, we must assert the voice of humanity, seek to end this intergenerational cycle of violence, advocate a two-state solution, sustainable peace and the return of detained hostages.
This is also the role we must play in the context of the sad 50th anniversary of the artificial division of Cyprus. We must become the generation that is able to find a solution under the auspices of the UN plan. We must finally overcome this dark page in Europe's history and find a workable solution in accordance with Security Council resolutions and our European values.
It is this defence of our common humanity that means we stand with the women who face such a terrible threat in Afghanistan, the girls and students on the streets in Iran, Svetlana Tsikhanouski, all those unjustly imprisoned, and the movement for a free and democratic Belarus, the brave Yazidi girls who are still fighting, Yulia Navalny who is not giving up, we stand with all the people around the world who continue to face tear gas attacks and proudly fly our European flag.
This is how Europe is perceived by other countries. This is how the whole world sees Parliament - and it is the Parliament we all serve so proudly.
It is this parliamentary diplomacy that will be crucial in defending multilateralism and preparing for the enlargement of our European Union. In Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, people look up to us, and in the Western Balkans, they have been waiting too long for progress - we must be ready to offer them Europe's helping hand on their own journey, to acknowledge the progress that has been made, while respecting the necessary criteria.
We must be ready to face this new world and this new reality. And together we will be ready for it.
Colleagues,
we need to prove once again our commitment to Europe and - in the words of the great European saint from Krakow, Karol Wojtyła - "not to be afraid". Not afraid to stand up to autocrats. Not afraid to keep our promises. Not afraid to defend Europe. Not afraid to keep building a Union that works for all of us.
In 2016, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote, "The politics of hope are at hand. But to build it, we will need to find ways to strengthen families and communities, build a culture of collective responsibility, and insist on an economy for the common good. This is no longer a question of party politics. It is a question of the very viability of the freedom for which the West has fought so long and so hard. We must come up with a compelling story of hope that speaks to all of us, not just some of us, and we must start now."
Dear friends, we can once again begin to unfold the story of our great Union. We can be an inspiration to new generations of Europeans.
Because Europe means hope.
Europe means trust.
Europe is all of us.
And Europe continues to be the answer.
Long live Europe!
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