A few days ahead of Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday 10 September, the chair of the centre-right Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, Valérie Hayer of France, has emphasised the urgent need for action to strengthen and reform the European Union, listing five priority areas for action in a letter to the President of the European Commission dated Thursday 4 September.
“The EU-US trade deal of this Summer, which is massively unbalanced, demonstrated how far we are from being a superpower. It is time to reform the EU”, said Ms Hayer.
The MEP began by highlighting the work being done to strengthen economic competitiveness, based on the recommendations of the ‘Draghi’ report. She advocates a simplification of the rules without weakening them, eliminating internal barriers to the single market for goods and services, reforming public procurement directives and further integrating the EU’s capital markets.
In the digital sector, the EU27 must ensure compliance with the current rules by modernising them to protect SMEs and stimulate innovation, according to the Renew Europe group. Initiatives are advocated to support the development of “sovereign” solutions in artificial intelligence, the ‘Cloud’, quantum technologies and semiconductor manufacturing. Europe must also become the best place in the world for investment in biotechnology.
The centre-right group reiterates its unwavering commitment to the defence of individual freedoms and the Rule of law. These values “are non-negotiable”, emphasises Ms Hayer. She also advocates the intelligent application of conditionality rules for the EU budget after 2027. One new idea is the creation of a ‘European Semester for the Rule of Law’ to ensure more regular monitoring of compliance with recommendations made to Member States in respect of this. Ms Hayer also has high expectations for the future ‘European Democracy Shield’ (see EUROPE 13702/8).
At an international level, centre-right politicians are calling for initiatives to support international courts, tools to counter totalitarian ideologies and a ‘humanitarian strategy’.
According to Ms Hayer, Europe must also “be able to defend itself”, through the deployment of a “Defence Union”. This includes continued military support for Ukraine, its “ accelerated” accession to the EU and stronger European sanctions against Russia.
With regard to transatlantic relations, Renew Europe would like to see tensions overcome, “while adopting a firm stance to ensure the defence of European interests and values, by activating, if necessary, the anti-coercion instrument”.
With regard to climate action and environmental protection, the MEP stresses that the EU must be at the forefront of the fight against climate disruption. “We call for bold action to meet the 2040 climate target”, she added.
Ms Hayer goes on to list a series of expected measures, including: - an ambitious chemicals package, including revision of the ‘REACH’ regulation; - a comprehensive climate change adaptation plan; - an ambitious Circular Economy Act to reduce the EU’s material footprint and import dependence, while boosting European productivity.
The last area of action raised was the reform of the governance of the European institutions with a view to EU enlargement. The MEP notes that the European Parliament wants a Convention to be convened to revise the European treaties, in particular “moving away from unanimity” for decision-making in the EU Council.
See the letter from the Chair of the Renew Europe Group: https://aeur.eu/f/iax (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)