The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, told the UN General Assembly on Friday 25 September that the EU wants to become stronger and strategically autonomous, alongside an open market.
“The EU wants to be stronger, more autonomous, and firmer, to defend a fairer world”, Mr Michel stressed in his pre-recorded speech. And if the Union wants to keep its values and its open model, it does so, according to Mr Michel, “with greater awareness of (our) strength, with more realism, and perhaps less naivety”.
No longer taken advantage of. Although the EU believes “in the virtues of free and open economies, never in protectionism”, access to its market “will no longer be sold off”, warns the President of the European Council, adding that from now on the EU will better enforce a level playing field in an open market to those who meet its standards, “whether they leave our Union or want to move closer to it”, he added, in a thinly veiled message to the UK.
Recalling that the EU is an “actor for peace and progress, which wants to mobilise its influence and strength to make others more robust as well”, Mr Michel said that the relationship between Europe and Africa will be “the backbone of a fairer and stronger world”.
Mr Michel also said that the fundamental values of democracy, human rights, the Rule of law and cooperation are “our compass to pursue our interests”. “The European Union is an autonomous force, master of our choices, master of our destiny”, insists the President of the European Council.
And if the EU wants to be stronger, it is not just for its own sake, but in order to be able to better contribute to a better world, explains Mr Michel, who believes that the Covid-19 crisis has made this objective even more essential. The pandemic “has awakened a new collective responsibility, to build back better and greener”, reveals the President of the European Council, recalling the EU’s efforts in the fight against climate change and its digital agenda.
Regretting that, in today’s world, the abuse of force, both military and economic, too often supplants argument and negotiation, Mr Michel reiterated the EU’s “stronger than ever” support for the United Nations, of which it is an “unwavering supporter”. “We need a strengthened and effective multilateral system. This requires an even stronger UN to deliver results that advance world peace”, he argued, adding that “a stronger and more resolute Europe” would stand alongside the organisation in making the world a better and fairer place to live.
See the speech: https://bit.ly/3i0P1m4 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)