European Council (15-16 October) in Brussels. Arrival of Martin SCHULZ, EP President, extracts from the press conference and statement

Brussels

statement

press conference

SCHULZ, Martin (S&D, DE)

meeting of the European Council

European Council meeting 15-16 October 2015 (T)

European Council (15-16 October): arrival of Martin SCHULZ, EP President, extracts from the press conference and statement

Arrivals: EP President Martin SCHULZ arriving, talking with journalists, general views, entering the Council (5 shots)

Round table :  EP President Martin SCHULZ, speaking with EU heads of states and governments (4 shots)

SOUNDBITE (German), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, "Jean Claude Juncker mentioned recently, and I also raised this point in the Parliament, that some of the money that was promised to the tune of billions has actually have not really been payed out, or only to the tune of millions. I think that out of 4.2 billion, actually only about 9 millions have really been paid out. That really is a terrible failure; we can&rsquo;t afford to go on like that".

SOUNDBITE (German), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, If we know what the UK proposals are, then we can move forward, and then the Parliament will be ready to talk. We wait for these concrete proposals. So far we don&rsquo;t know what are the points supposed to be discussed and what will be the framework of the negotiations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, EP President , "What I, as President of a European Institution, cannot accept is that we discuss about rumours. I&rsquo;ve heard a lot of rumours, what UK government want to suggest or not.  I&rsquo;m waiting, perhaps tonight, they will come with more concrete proposals".

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, If the objective is to keep the people out of the EU in order to avoid that they are having the rights to request EU asylum, then I&rsquo;m against. So, in consequence we have to be precise on what we are talking about: a refugee camp outside EU just to skip out the problem, no. Going on the field, see the situation where they can make applications, for EU asylum, or migration in to the EU in case that's possible, that we can of course discuss.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, The external border control is a key element. The border control is in the hands of the member states, not of the Union. European Parliament was, since years, on the opinion that on the moment a candidate country to Schengen fulfils the criteria for Schengen &ndash; there are bodies which verifies if a country fulfils the criteria or not &ndash; the moment the country fulfil the criteria, has the right of access. The independent bodies checking in the recent years if Bulgaria and Romania fulfil the criteria&rsquo;s stated &lsquo;yes&rsquo;, and then the access was nevertheless refused. Not by criteria reasons, but by political reasons. Now we have the situation that a country which got no access to Schengen is asked by the EU member states to protect in a Schengen sense the external borders to Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, Member states must mobilise the necessary financial means. But there is one thing: some of the countries have difficulties with their budget, and we have to avoid that these difficulties lead to a fact that the ordinary citizens have to accept the cuts, while on the other hands the cuts are made because of the need to help the refugees. That is playing one group of the population against another one. Therefore on the Stability Pact is foreseen that in times of exceptional challenges there could be exceptions. I asked the Commission to look if this is possible. I think that if this is offered to some of the member states, to get a certain flexibility, then they will be prepared to offer more in finding a common basis for relocation of refugees in Europe.