Madame president, members of Parliament and those people listening from outside
-thanks to new technologies.
Well, I'm very moved and happy to be here.
I've got very many memories from this room and I see very many familiar faces here.
Now my ambition for the coming five years is to ensure that young Europeans can live
to their choices, so they can be independent.
We need to preserve our freedoms, our prosperity, our social model and that depends on us being
able to ensure that we successfully tackle the digital and environmental transitions.
They are the two main priorities identified by president von der Leyen.
It's an ambitious roadmap, I am aware of that and I come here very humbly to deal with very
complex issues that many of you know more about than I do.
But it's going to be a team mission.
It's going to be a mission for the whole Commission and I'd like to thank them for their help
that they have given me.
In my sector there are five main requirements.
The first was recalled just now by the chairman, which is to better exploit the potential of
the single market.
Now I know what you are going to say to me.
You are going to say "Well we know that.
We've heard that before, we need to complete the single market."
But this is a necessary condition to ensure productivity and jobs.
And I think it is encouraging that during the Brexit negotiations we've managed to remain
united in the defense of the single market and of what we have built together.
Last spring, the European Council urged the Commission and Parliament to make progress
on this and I take that signal received from heads of state and government very seriously.
Thus, I look forward to hopefully working with you to releasing our economies because
I think that there is nothing that can shelter us from geopolitical uncertainties.
Now there are various expectations which are legitimate.
Some people want more rules some people want fewer, some people want more rules to have
more security, be it safety, cyber security, ecology, etc.
Other people want fewer rules so that businesses can work better.
We're going to have to resume discussions on services because trade and services remain
too limited.
And also in industry agriculture we see that the difference between services and goods
are starting to be blurred.
I think we need to be brave enough to respond to issues such as the lack of fiscal equality.
I think that's what president von der Leyen mentioned when she wanted to reconcile the
social and market issues.
We need a fair minimum wage.
I was a shadow rapporteur relating to taxation on businesses.
We need taxation on large multinationals.
We also need to look at the rights of workers on platforms.
And I think if we do that progress can be possible.
I'm also going to work on impartially that the current rules are implemented by rigorously
looking at infractions under the control of the Court of Justice.
The speaker kindly thanks the interpreters.
So we are working with the Court of Justice and those who know the work that I've done
in the ECON committee on the stability and growth pact know that we will try to apply
the rules as well as possible with the tools we have available.
The second thing is SMEs.
With them, if I gain your trust, I want to be as pragmatic as possible.
When we went to speak with business leaders on the ground, what did they tell us?
They are not looking for strategies, they are looking for affordable financing,
qualified workers, less red tape and the possibility of getting paid the money they are owed.
I will be working for them, with them and for their benefit.
We have the InvestEU fund, for example, but we also have SOLVIT, which provides a daily
service and that needs to be fostered.
We need to foster SME participation in the defence fund, that is one of the tasks that
I have been given.
The goal there is to facilitate cooperation between SME's and large groups and give them
access to across-border cooperation, so that they can get hold of the ten billion that
are invested in that field.
That will enable member states to better use the money that they invest in security.
It also means that tax payers will have to pay less and it will mean more interoperability.
This will boost the capacities of member states and will also help NATO capabilities,
for those who are members.
There are also links between civil and military industries, for example, some discoveries
in the military field can help in the transport sector.
There are also links between defence and space industries, and also when it comes to investment
in transport in general.
My third point relates to a military strategy for the industry.
Our industry, however, will have to change profoundly towards a circular economy.
That is a phrase that seems a bit abstract, however it relates to waste of plastic, the
amounts of wrappers that we see around everything, food waste and the idea is not only to deal
with waste but also to ensure that we have greener means of production and that we can
save resources, such as rare earths, other materials and also to preserve biodiversity.
Once again, I humbly say that I am aware that the goals that we have set ourselves to achieve
carbon neutrality by 2050 and to move towards zero pollution are extremely ambitious.
It is not because that is part of my portfolio it is because the planets resources are being
exhausted and young generations are taking to the streets.
So we are going to have to achieve this.
But to do so, we are going to have to innovate more.
We are going to have to catch up our delay in certain technologies, such as green autonomous
cars, hydrogen-connected objects, health, microelectronics, batteries.
These are concrete things.
Mobility, the quality of medical diagnosis, the way that we produce energy.
the idea is to look at the value chain
and see how we can put allindustries in one sector together and make
them work towards a single goal.
If we don't do that we will be pendant on the rest of the world.
We will be stuck in some kind of technological servitude.
For me, the best form of protection is excellence.
We need to invest together, we need to have the best people working here in Europe.
We don't want to see our young engineers leaving Europe.
We've done that for space programs: Galileo, Copernicus, EGNOS.
We've done this for supercomputers and we need to continue doing that for other areas.
The we have projects of a common European interest.
These were designed hand in hand with business.
It is important to work together with the businesses. This stuff isn't just decided in an office in Brussels.
It is also a way of boosting the single market.
Let me now speak in English.
The fourth requirement: the external element of the single market needs to be reinforced.
In order to protect themselves, some advocate abandoning openness.
This is not the solution.
Europe has been shaped by the movement of people, goods and ideas.
Closure can not be a benefit, neither between us nor vis-à-vis the outside world.
On the other hand, we must work hard to make global exchanges fairer.
This is the essential difference between protection and protectionism.
In order to be open but not powerless we need to strengthen our tool to fight unfair competition.
I know that Phil Hogan told you recently what he had in mind on that, demanding reciprocity
in access to public procurements, monitoring better foreign investment, notably when they
target our technology, through the use of trade defence instruments.
Furthermore, concerning the technologies of the future, such as artificial intelligence
or 5G, for example, the European Union can set the global rules.
We did it for the European data protection regulation,
strongly supported in the European Parliament.
This is exactly what we should try to do again.
Now I will speak in German.
Moving on to the fifth priority: The better protection of European during these changes.
The benefits of progress in services can only be made in line with our values.
Together with Margarethe Vestager and during the first 100 days of our mandate we will
be dealing with issues that relate to artificial intelligence.
We are going to ensure that a new law on digital services comes out, with the idea to remove
the 20-year old one that we currently have.
We are going to be looking at platforms, protecting users and the non-discrimination of minorities.
We also have to ensure protection of children.
We need to defend our freedom.
Firstly, press freedom and artistic freedom.
We also need to deal with the issue of how we deal with false information.
It is crucial to have an appropriate balance between freedom and security.
That is not easy to achieve.
I'm going to take time together with you, if you confirm me, so that we can work together
and look at the issues and understand them before we move on to the next phase.
Cyber security is going to become more and more important.
We have to work on that and establish a cyber unit.
The more digitalisation takes place, the more education becomes important.
Particularly, for young people.
We need to ensure that there is access to the internet.
We need to make sure that people are appropriately trained, particularly women.
There are far too few women involved in the digital world.
The Commission will make proposals
in order is support national strategies in this area.
When I was active in this parliament, I had an opportunity
to chair the intergroup on on fighting poverty.
We organised meetings with people who had personally suffered from poverty.
If you support me as Commissioner, I will continue to work with all levels of society
and first and foremost with those who are described as those who have been left behind.
I will be looking to develop a dynamic and solidarity-based sector.
I hope that in five years time, we will be able to measure our success by saying that we have cared for
the weakest in society.
So that they have been able to be involved in the changes that we've had.
This Europe, which is sovereign and competitive, which is underpinned by solidarity, which
is something I've been devoted to all my life.
My European commitment is deep ad far-reaching.
My parents have passed away, but I would like to thank my family for their help.
I thank my parents for the education that I have received.
I feel profoundly French and European - there is no contradiction there.
For 30 years now I've worked on European Affairs, in the French diplomacy service and the European
Commission under Romano Prodi, who I pay tribute to for the enlargement work there.
In the European Parliament, in the EU system, I carried out research, I've written several
books and also guided citizens movements at the head of the European movement in France,
for four years for instance, in in different international circles as well.
My activity for the Berggruen Institute, which is actually raised some question marks, is
actually enshrined in that journey.
It has helped me carry out reflections for the Council on the future of Europe, which
brings together famous university figure heads and other political leaders who I worked with
on issues such as governance or the rise of EU-scepticism.
Madame chairs, ladies and gentlemen and all the other people listening to us this afternoon,
the European Union has gone through decade of crisis.
Financial, social, economic crisis.
I've had the firs-hand experience in the ECON committee when we've dealt with the crisis.
We have also had the migration crisis, which has created a gap between the East and West
and between the North and the South there have been difficulties as well.
This Commission wants to look to the future, look ahead and bring European people together
to do things together.
We're not asking where they are from but where they want to go.
I'll be working with all of you, with all of my colleagues at the Commission and with
the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee, all of the possible
resources available across the board.
The businesses, the unions, the NGO's, the consumer protection organisations.
As a former MEP and former coordinator I am able to understand the importance of close cooperation
between the Commission, that makes the proposals and the European Parliament, which is the
co-legislator.
If you place your confidence in me, I am committed to working closely with you at every single
stage of the legislative procedure and on all the initiatives that you would like bring
forward.
I will listen to you,
although I don't know whether the rest of the college will follow me.
I hope this hearing will be the beginning of a strong relationship, underpinned by listening
to each other and I am looking forward to answering your questions.
Thank you.