Europe must spend five per cent of GDP on defence, as well as deregulate, Poland’s PM Donald Tusk argued in his first encounter with MEPs during his country’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Mr Tusk said the EU-27 must regain its self-confidence. “Europe is not lost while we are alive,” he kicked off his speech to Wednesday’s session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France with a paraphrase of Poland’s national anthem. The phrase, he said, reflects the current mood in Europe, which is characterised by uncertainty. “We want to try to provide an answer to the global uncertainty about what our future will be,” he added.
Mr Tusk’s speech came less than 24 hours after Donald Trump’s return to the White House. “If Europe wants to survive, it has to be armed,” Mr Tusk went on, tackling a potential sore point of transatlantic relations. „There is no alternative — Europe must start defending itself and therefore it must start spending European money on defense.”
Mr Trump’s calls for Europe to boost its military investment to five per cent of GDP should be seen as an opportunity, Poland‘s Prime Minister said. “Only an ally can wish another ally to be stronger. This is not something an opponent of Europe would say,” he said.
You might be interested
Security first
Mr Tusk recalled that security is the top priority of the Polish presidency. It has many different aspects, he said. The EU should be flexible, creative and determined to “radically” boost military spending and protect itself from “potential missile threats” — and build up defenses along its eastern frontier.
“Now is a time when Europe cannot afford to skimp on security,” Mr Tusk said, as no one in Poland wants war but that is precisely why it is necessary to increase security spending.
The European economy is another area where security need too be bolstered, Mr Tusk said, calling for “the courage to deregulate”. “We should not just read Draghi’s report and other words of warning, we must roll up our sleeves and act. We must change the status quo, propose a major deregulation campaign,” he insisted.
“If we go bankrupt, who will protect the environment? Who will take charge?” Poland’s PM asked. In this context, he called for a review of the existing legislation, including that under the heading of the Green Deal. “We should identify the problems, but we should also have the courage to change those rules that result in high energy prices,” he said. He specifically mentioned the ETS II emissions trading scheme, which he warned against introducing quickly.
Déréglementation, oui!
Mr Tusk’s deregulation drive received an unexpected boost from the government of France, the EP session’s host country. Just as he was holding his speech, the Paris cabinet was working on a set of recommendations intended to rein in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.
The proposal will likely include limiting the number of companies in scope for the full requirements, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. The goal should be rules that are manageable, but “not costly for companies,” Sophie Primas, a spokeswoman for the French government, said after a cabinet meeting.
“Today, the devil is in the detail. In fact, the implementation of this CSRD regulation is hell for companies. I believe that the European Union as a whole has realized that it has gone a little too far,” she said.
This means the EU’s two biggest economies are now publicly pressuring the European Commission to make cuts to CSRD, after Germany’s government last month urged the bloc’s executive arm to scale back the directive. With the EU Council Presidency on board, this development may derail the most ambitious goals of the Green Deal, the flagship project of the European Commission.
A chamber divided
The parliamentarians’ response was mixed. Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest parliamentary group, highlighted the difference between the Polish presidency and its Hungarian predecessor. “We need a security-oriented approach. That is your main message. Europe must wake up. Security must come first when it comes to trade, when it comes to the development of new technologies, when it comes to migration policy,” Mr Weber said.
Iratxe García, President of the European Socialists (S&D), the second strongest group in the European Parliament, opposed Mr Tusk on deregulation. She mentioned the need for social policy and the fight against climate change. “The European Union will only survive if it continues to implement the Green Deal,“ she warned.
Ms García said the Green Deal was “the only tool capable of ensuring the survival of our planet, saving human lives and making the European Union more competitive“, sketching the outlines of a major European political battlefield in the coming months.
