Response to the Commission’s President speech on the situation within the European Union

Response of MEPs Irena Joveva and Klemen Grošelj (Renew Europe/LMŠ) to today’s speech by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on the situation in the European Union:

“Today we heard a lot that has already been said in previous speeches. Certainly, the most important messages relate to stepping up efforts in global vaccination against COVID-19, in which the EU has an important, if not a key role. Despite some initial challenges, a common European approach to vaccination of EU citizens is one of the major success stories of the EU and shows that together we can achieve a lot.

The Commission’s President also emphasized the start of the implementation of the HERA programme or readiness for future unforeseen health challenges, but did not specify how the new project of EUR 50 billion will be financed by 2027.

An important announcement is also the start of strengthening European autonomy in the production of semiconductors, one of the major stumbling blocks to economic recovery and progress. In addition, we support the announced legislative framework on minimum corporate taxing, since we believe we must all contribute equally to society’s development and the current state of tax evasion is unacceptable. It is not clear from the speech itself is how this will be implemented practically (in addition to the definition of the minimum tax rate) in order to be efficient, fair and, above all, to achieve the desired public finance effects.

Von der Leyn’s main message concerns a ban on goods produced with forced labour in the common European market. We completely agree with her statement that human rights cannot be sold at any price.

The President declared the year 2022 to be the European Year of Youth, which will be strengthened by the new ALMA programme, the main goals of which will be to reinforce the mobility and employment of young people in the European labour market. We hope that this long-awaited initiative will not only increase employment for young people, but also improve their competences and competitiveness in the economy, while contributing to a greater flow of ideas within the EU and strengthening the affiliation of young people with the EU.

As many EU citizens face high energy prices or the risk of energy poverty, the idea of the Climate Social Fund also comes at the right time, and we expect that this fund will also serve as a mechanism to accelerate the transition to non-fossil energy sources. This also includes doubling funding for biodiversity.

Again, the speech lacked a clear framework for financing all these initiatives, as the part of it tied to the so-called own resources, which several Member States oppose or are hesitant about, was very vague and unclear.

Meanwhile, we welcome the announced Media Freedom Act and expect a lot from it, since – as we have seen in many Member States, unfortunately also Slovenia – media freedom is not a given.

Unfortunately, we find that the President was very vague in the part of her speech on the rule of law, the use of the conditionality mechanism and on the attitude of the Member States toward the rule of law in general, as she has been with her actions so far. It is clear that this task, despite some big words in the speech, will be left to the European Parliament.

Besides reiterating the familiar standpoints on enlargement to the Western Balkans, Ursula von der Leyen unfortunately did not say anything dramatically new. She was also surprisingly unclear about a common European defence. However, in a way it is very significant that the French Presidency will take on the initiative for a European Defence Union.

In regard to Slovenia, it is important to note that in the introduction the President also pointed out the connection, if not the very conditionality between the funds from the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the implementation of the pension reform. It would be interesting to know what other structural reforms the current government has committed itself to within the framework of this plan, as these are, after all, crucial, if not fatal commitments to the future of Slovenia.