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This week, the European Union officially opened accession negotiations for Ukraine. A decision welcomed by our guest, the co-president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, Philippe Lamberts, who says he is “delighted”. He is vindictive about the attitude of Viktor Orban, who used his right of veto on the granting of a financial support plan of 50 billion euros over four years to Ukraine, conditioning the revision of its decision to release EU funds for his country.
Philippe Lamberts, co-president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, welcomes the decision of the European Council to open negotiations for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. “This is an absolutely essential signal to send to Ukraine. (…)” he declares. “But Europe came close to missing the boat.” To the detractors, he counters the fact that “in geopolitics, size and resources matter (…) The accession of Ukraine would bring resources, a people very motivated for European construction and also strategic depth for the European Union”.
Other countries have also seen their accession process move forward during this Council, such as Moldova, Georgia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and their integration will be a game-changer and lead to necessary reforms, some of which must be presented in advance. here the summer of 2024. “If we were to keep the current financing rules, which are totally senseless and outdated, Ukraine would find itself being the only net beneficiary country from the European budget. All other countries would become net contributors. We therefore clearly need to completely rethink the method of financing the European Union. (…) Either the Member States contribute to the European Union, or they allow the European Union to levy taxes directly,” he proposes, and also that budgetary decisions should no longer be taken at the discretion of the European Union. unanimity, because “it is a lock which obviously gives the power of blackmail to any member of the European Council”.
Blackmail that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, according to him, exercised during the votes of this Council. “The fact that we dropped 10 billion euros two days before the summit is problematic (…) What happened is not a standoff, it’s a blackmail, to which it must be admitted that the Council and the Commission responded by releasing money. I hope that the rest of the money that remains frozen until the regime has changed”, because “it is an autocratic regime”. “We let Orban do it because he was covered by Angela Merkel without limit until the end. The only deterrent that really matters for Viktor Orban is money.” He advocates the implementation of Article 7, which aims to suspend the right to vote of the Hungary within the European Union.
See alsoZelensky – Orban: the standoff?
After the return of the pro-European Donald Tusk, who became Prime Minister in Poland, former President of the Council, Philippe Lamberts is pleased that we can “still beat the national populists on a regular basis”. But he warns: “He will have a considerable job of unraveling all the excesses of his predecessors” so that we can “rapidly release the funds from the European recovery plan which Poland extremely needs”.
In a few months, European citizens will be called to the polls to nominate 720 elected representatives to the European Parliament. Polls show a rise in populist, far-right parties. The Green MP fumes: “What worries me most is that these national populist parties are strengthened by the rallying of traditional parties to their language. (…) The historic parties which forged the European Union, the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Greens should not fuel the fear machine of the far right”.
“What is at stake for the campaign is clearly (the cessation) or (the continuation) of the European Green deal”, (…) a real risk that the 2019-2024 episode was a parenthesis and that the Green deal stops” warns Philippe Lamberts. He would like to welcome this initiative from the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “But his commitment is not enough,” he nuances. “We can clearly see the outcry from the extreme right, followed by the traditional right. (…) People who never wanted of the Green deal did not dare to speak out against it at the time of the climate marches. But two or three years later, when there is war, the purchasing power crisis, etc., they feel much more authorized to speak out against the Green deal. Philippe Lamberts singles out the “strength of the agri-business lobby”, which he dissociates from farmers, “who have everything to gain from the Green deal”.
See alsoRise of the far right in Europe: the EU soon to be blocked?
A European MP for 15 years and co-president of the Greens group for almost a decade, Philippe Lamberts is not seeking a fourth term in the June 2024 election. “When you exercise political responsibilities, it must be for a fixed term. (…) and I can continue to serve the cause that I defended for 15 years in the European Parliament in other places and in another way,” he concludes.
Program prepared by Sophie Samaille, Juliette Laurain, Perrine Desplats and Isabelle Romero
