Statements by European Parliament’s political groups leaders at the debate "Toghether for a better Europe". This event is taking place on the eve of one of the most important moments for the European Institutions : the State of the Union debate.

Brussels

statement

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

economic situation in Europe (T)

state of the Union 2020 (T)

Together for a better Europe: statement by Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader

Soundbite (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader, The State of the Union speech gives us every year a chance to consider where we are and to then discuss about the next steps for the future of Europe and today's Europe. The general atmosphere is about concerns, even about fears amongst people, about Covid, about the job impact.

Soundbite (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader, But what does it mean for my pension, for the social impact in Europe? And our answer is stability, jobs, jobs, jobs, first of all. And as a headline credibility, let's simply do our job. Let's not do party political games. Let's simply deliver.

Soundbite (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader, Europe has to be credible. And that means for us, if we go on out to the markets and borrow money, that means on the other side we have to tell the people the truth: we have to finance this. And that means to have our own resources at European level.

Soundbite (English) Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group Leader, And I see a big chance with this because the big winner of the Covid crisis economically are the big tech giants in the Internet and not the job owner of our industry. It's the big Internet companies. And we have to find a way to tax them. To ask them: "Ok, you profited from the Covid crisis, now you have to share some of your profits with the society". These are the demands we have in our societies.