“We have lacked for too long an energetic union”

Highlights the “brilliant example” of Spain and Portugal in energy matters

He assures that the European migration pact is possible: “We have all the necessary legislative instruments”

STRASBOURG (FRANCE), 23 Oct. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has underlined the importance of “dismantling as far as possible Europe’s energy dependency on Russia” as a “final strategy” to deal with the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has strongly warned of one of the main causes of the current situation in the bloc: “having lacked an energy union for too long”.

In an interview granted to Europa Press on the occasion of his visit to Santander on Tuesday, where he will attend the Global Youth Leadership Forum with King Felipe VI, Maltese politics has stressed the importance of forging this “union”, an issue that arises now as a priority to stop the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, before the advance of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

“For me this is the first thing we have to do. The second thing is to continue to help Ukraine. If we don’t do it, Putin will not stop. He said that he would take Ukraine in three days, that Finland and Sweden would never join NATO, and look what that we have achieved”, he asserted before clarifying that there is a need to “fight against the autocracy and all those who seek to destroy us”.

For this reason, he explained, “we must help Ukraine and guarantee that we follow the path of energy independence”, an issue in which countries such as Spain and Portugal have served as a “shining example”. “The Iberian Peninsula has led in renewable energies, they have managed to sell and buy energy from friendly countries. Others cannot say the same,” she pointed out.

However, he admitted that “nothing is easy” and recalled that some countries, at the beginning of the invasion last February, “depended on Russian gas 100%”. “Now I look at Moldova, for example, and I see that it is a country that we have to help more. We have identified new sources of energy, we have created alliances and found other partners in other parts of the world”, he stressed before stating that ” We are in the good way”.

With his trip to Spain, he has declared, he hopes to meet with young people in whom he can instill a political feeling in the face of electoral processes. “I ask you to look at Europe, to observe where it has taken us,” he continued, not without first stressing that “all the eyes of the EU will be on Spain when it assumes the rotating presidency” of the European Council in 2023.

THE ADVANCE OF THE FAR RIGHT

Faced with the advance of the extreme right within the EU, an issue that has occupied the MEPs during a debate held on Wednesday in Strasbourg, he has asked the Twenty-seven “to focus on the needs of the citizen” to avoid “falling into fragmentation ” and jeopardize “all the progress made”, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

In this sense, he has warned that there is “generalized social discontent, understandable concerns of citizens who ask us how to pay the bills.” “It is our responsibility as elected politicians, we have to guarantee that these doubts are transmitted and that measures are taken in this regard,” he added.

Metsola, an MEP for the European People’s Party, has urged member states “not to become the cause of speculation” and instead take “joint measures” to send a clear message to “those who want to kill the EU”. “You have to tell them that it is alive and effective,” she has asserted.

The president of the European Parliament, who has been repeatedly in favor of helping Ukraine on its way to join the community bloc, has now warned that the EU “could do more to keep up with the speed with which Ukraine has introduced reforms (…) to bring its system up to the requirements imposed by Brussels” and has asked “not to slow down this process”.

“In June of this year, a historic decision was made to admit Ukraine and Moldova as candidates. The period that follows this is incredible,” he continued, although he claimed to take into account the situation in the Western Balkans, where “there have been campaigned and elections have been won with the promise of reaching the EU”.

EUROPEAN MIGRATION PACT

Metsola has also clearly positioned itself in favor of finally achieving a European migration pact, a debt that was contracted during the last European elections. “This Parliament has a responsibility to respond to these migration issues. In 2019, when we had elections, the main concern was migration. I myself promised that we would be able to find common community solutions to address this,” she said.

“There are States that are not on the front line and others that are, but that does not mean that we have to put aside solidarity. (…) The war has caused a legislative initiative to be launched, the temporary protection directive , which had never before been put on the table despite the fact that the regulations were created 20 years ago”, he said regarding the European directive created as a result of the Balkan War.

The Maltese lawyer and politician, who took office as head of the European Parliament after the death of David Sassoli, has said she is “convinced that the EU can reach an agreement on the migration pact”. “We have all the legislative instruments independently and (…) we have given protection in Europe to millions of Ukrainians”, he assured before pointing to the Spanish presidency of the Council as the one in charge of putting an end to these issues.

On the other hand, he has defended that the European Parliament is in favor “that all the countries that technically and legally meet the requirements to join the Schengen area form part of it” and has clarified that the “lack of political will cannot continue being a blocking vector”.

The MEPs themselves –who have reaffirmed that this area represents “one of the EU’s greatest achievements”– have requested this week “to put an end to discrimination and admit Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area” due to the negative impact that it carries for the common market.

SITUATION IN IRAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Metsola, who considers that the sanctions and measures imposed by the Twenty-seven to deal with “autocratic regimes” are never enough, has however specified that they serve to “send a message aimed at preventing certain actions and behaviors from being tolerated”.

This is how he referred to the protests registered in Iran after the death of the young Iranian Masha Amini when he was in police custody: “What we see in this world are women being killed for defending their freedoms.” “If the EU cannot defend these women, who will?” she has argued.

When asked about the situation in Malta five years after the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, she emphasized that the day of the attack was “a black day in the history” of her country, but she remarked that “Parliament woke up then and spoke out in favor of introducing more protection measures for journalists”.

Precisely this Wednesday the European Parliament announced the winners of the award created in memory of the murdered Maltese journalist; the journalists Clément Di Roma and Carol Valade, who have been chosen for their documentary on Russian propaganda and influence in the Central African Republic. For Metsola, this is a reflection of the Chamber’s commitment to “truth, justice and independent journalism.”