Ms. Premier, even if Mr. Tusk amendment had failed, the budget would still have increased because there’re other amendments, then don’t just blame an Eurogroup for this budget raise. Moreover, you are once giving the Europeans a misleading argument by saying “the EPA Councillors tried to increase the amount of money going directly towards them”. Firstly, if the Council salaries rise, they rise for everyone and secondly; the budget would have been the same than in 2020, then no changes would have happened concerning salaries.
Now, it’s funny you mock about my defeat four months ago, when you also lost against Angela Merkel on your first run for Premier, or have you already forgotten about that? But losing is fine and needed, because it’s a direct message from the people that are telling “your policies need a change”. And that’s why my team and I’ve changed some of our policies.
Thanks, Kieran, for your question.
The current EU distribution of power areas are correct with the Constitution we have now, but if we start the Constitutional review procedures, something I’m carrying on my agenda; we will surely have to negotiate and write down in the Constitution what competences we want the European Union to have. There are some areas it shouldn’t touch, like education or the industrial planification, while we need to cooperate on others like environment and pan-European transports and others that are exclusive, such as External defence and external EU borders.
There is one thing we should point out in this debate too, and that’s the ECoJ current functioning, as I believe a reform should be submitted to the European Council after a discussion period and make the European Court of Justice more useful and interesting at the same time. I think it’s possible, we just need some compromise from the European Union leaders and Councillors, as well as from the European Commission, to make it real. Of course, some people in this room like Mr. Desai would love this to never take place, just look at how he is selling you his country agenda and initiatives instead of bringing good proposals for the union like the “European Green Fund”, which by the way, is not sponsored by the European Union.
I also want to keep speaking about my agenda, now I have some time to do so, about the Digital Services Act, for which I’ll accept suggestions: With this act, I want to guarantee 2 things: a safer digital space where the Europeans basic rights are protected and foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness within the European Union. We need to adapt to the new times, and this act would mean a very important step towards that direction.