Ursula von der Leyens tale ved Europa-Parlamentets plenarforsamling om konklusionerne af det ekstraordinære møde i Det Europæiske Råd den 24. og 25. maj 2021 og forberedelserne[...]

Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident Sassoli,

meine sehr verehrten Damen und Herren Abgeordnete,

Gestern haben wir darüber diskutiert, wie Europa gestärkt aus der Pandemie hervorgehen kann. Heute möchte ich Ihnen einen Überblick geben über die nächsten Schritte, die wir global gehen, um diese Krise endlich hinter uns zu lassen.

Insbesondere möchte ich Sie über einige Ergebnisse informieren: die Ergebnisse unseres G20-Gesundheitsgipfels in Rom und des EU-Sondergipfels einige Tage später. Und ich möchte über die Initiativen sprechen, die wir mit unseren Freunden beim G7-Gipfel Ende der Woche in Cornwall planen sowie über nächsten Dienstag, wenn Charles Michel und ich US-Präsident Joe Biden in Brüssel empfangen.

Diese Treffen unterstreichen nicht nur den multilateralen Ansatz, den die Europäische Union seit Beginn dieser Pandemie verfolgt. Sie sind auch eine erstklassige Gelegenheit, um zu zeigen, dass unser erneuertes transatlantisches Bündnis für die Menschen da ist, sowohl in den USA als auch in Europa.

Our immediate focus is on beating COVID-19. Everywhere. Ending the pandemic is the most important precondition for building back our economies. We want to ensure that all countries across the globe have equal and fair access to vaccines. This is why Mario Draghi and I convened the G20 Global Health Summit.

In their Rome Declaration, leaders gave a strong signal: They committed to boosting production capacity in low- and middle-income countries, to tackling bottlenecks in supply chains, a 'plaidoyer' for seamless flows of vaccines and components - and they committed to investing in a global surveillance and early warning system.

But in the short term, the dominant topic is vaccine supply in low- and middle-income countries. There are three strands: First, COVAX. With EUR 3 billion, Team Europe is one of the largest donors to COVAX. On top, Team Europe pledged to donate at least 100 million doses by the end of the year. Second, we want to engage the private sector more: At the Health Summit, our industrial partners committed to delivering 1.3 billion doses by the end of the year, non-profit for low-income countries and at low costs for middle-income countries.

And the third pillar is export of vaccines. Europe has proven that it is possible to vaccinate your own population and to allow exports. Since January, we have been exporting almost half of our production. Out of 600 million doses produced in Europe, until now round about 300 million have been exported to over 90 countries. If all the other vaccine producers had followed our example, the world today would be a different place.

In the course of this discussion, the question of the TRIPS Agreement has been raised recently. When the U.S. administration put forward their thoughts, we said, we were open for discussion. Now just four weeks later, we put forward a new global trade initiative at the WTO aiming to deliver more equitable access to vaccines and therapeutics.

This initiative has three elements. First, we want to keep supply chains open and eliminate export restrictions for vaccines and for all the inputs necessary to manufacture them. Secondly, we want to help ramp up production - not only in Europe, but also in Africa. And finally, we want to ensure the necessary transfer of technology and know-how in emergencies.

Let me be very clear: intellectual property has to be protected. And voluntary licences are the most effective way to facilitate expanding production. At the GHS in Rome, G20 leaders reaffirmed this assessment. However, in a global emergency like a pandemic, compulsory licencing can be a legitimate tool to scale up production where voluntary cooperation fails. This is why, together with the WTO, we want to clarify and simplify the use of compulsory licences in times of national emergencies. This proposal has been discussed yesterday. We know that time is of the essence.

La réunion du G7 sera une bonne occasion de réaffirmer nos engagements et d'aller encore plus loin. Au G7, nous discuterons également de l'impact économique de la crise de la COVID-19, en particulier pour certains des pays les plus pauvres de la planète. Parce que notre reprise doit fonctionner pour tous. Selon les Nations Unies, à l'heure actuelle, plus de 34 millions de personnes sont au bord de la famine. Nous devons inverser cette tendance et renforcer les systèmes alimentaires mondiaux.

C'est pourquoi l'UE, lors du G7, s'engagera à octroyer une nouvelle aide humanitaire de 250 millions d'euros pour lutter contre la faim. Par exemple, nous voulons donner presque 50 millions d'euros aux pays de la région du Sahel et de l'Afrique de l'Est. Des régions durement touchées par les conséquences économiques de la pandémie et par le changement climatique.

Sécheresses, inondations, conditions météorologiques extrêmes, nous connaissons tous le phénomène. Le changement climatique a lieu, et la science ne laisse aucun doute : il n'y a pas de temps à perdre. C'est pourquoi, malgré la pandémie, l'Europe choisit d'accélérer la transition écologique en adoptant un plan de relance durable. Nous ne saurions être trop rapides et ambitieux. Parce que même un réchauffement planétaire ramené à 1,5 degré aurait de graves incidences, en particulier dans les régions les moins développées du monde.

This is why now words must be followed by tangible action across all sectors of our economies and societies. In July, the Commission will present its 'Fit for 55' Package. And I am glad that at the special meeting of the European Council at the end of May, Heads of State or Government, in a first discussion on the Package, showed broad support. Because Europe wants to lead the way in this transition towards an economy that gives more to the planet than it takes from it.

Now we want to broker the same ambition on a global level: Clear commitments, followed by equally clear action. In particular, an alignment with the G7 and the United States would be very welcome. With the U.S., we will not only grow our common trade and investment relationship in support of the green and digital transformation of our economies.

Together we will also engage with our international partners for a shared commitment and joint action to reduce emissions by 2030 and to become climate-neutral economies by 2050. In this way, we hope to achieve the most ambitious possible outcome at the COP26 in Glasgow and at the conference on Biological Diversity in Kunming.

Honourable Members,

This is the ambition we want to bring to the table when we meet with our partners and friends from all over the world. I know that you, in the European Parliament, share this ambition. Because we all want to end this pandemic and we all want to bequeath a healthy planet to future generations.

Long live Europe!

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