On the 5th of July, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, held a speech with the title „Climate transition, transformation and convergence: Europe´s path towards robust resilience”, highlighting important issues in regards to the current and future situation of the European Union. 

During his speech, Mister Michel addresses matters like the restriction some countries´ leaders have implemented in order to suspend fundamental personal freedom of their citizens or the fact that economies have virtually ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 crisis, with the aim of saving lives and slowing down the virus. 

The serious consequences the pandemic has for the global economy is clear, given the substantial economic impact of the health emergency. The European Commission is forecasting a 7.5 % drop in the EU´s gross domestic product for 2020, and Mister Michel predicts that it will take several years to return to the pre-crisis level. 

Because of the decisive action taken by the European Union, national governments were able to take exceptional steps to support businesses and workers. Since March, the European Central Bank has provided liquidity support with an amount of over 870 billion euros, topped up by an additional 600 billion euros in June. 

Mister Michel also mentions the decision of the European Council to relax the rules governing state aid and suspend the Stability Pact by activating the general escape clause, a measure that would have been unthinkable prior to that. This step enabled national measures unprecedented in terms of scope and speed to be taken. 

Clearly not all countries in Europe have the same capacity to deal with the economic effects of the crisis, making a joint European effort crucial to avoid the deepening of the economic divergence. Charles Michel claims in his speech that he is “entirely convinced that a European recovery based on solidarity, requiring unprecedented financial resources, was and is essential, without ever losing sight of the purpose of this effort: greater convergence and resilience in our Union. Because economic or fiscal vulnerabilities of Member States are of course a risk to each of those states, but they also represent a serious risk to the whole system, in an integrated internal market with a single currency.”

Furthermore, Mister Michel comments on the relevance of the double project of major transformation for Europe, which involves climate neutrality by 2050 and digital transition. These transformations have been started before the coronavirus crisis, and the pandemic has shown how big the interdependency of the economic, social and environmental systems is. Thus, they have to be dealt with together, which according to Mister Michel is “the only way to move towards robust resilience.” He adds that “There will undoubtedly be other shocks to come. We have to be better prepared, it is a duty for Europe, it is even a duty for humanity.”

Lastly, Mister Michel talks about the dimension of this matter that according to him might be the most important one, which is the democratic dimension. He says that the quality of life, involving the quality of the environment and of education, access to healthcare, as well as equal opportunities, should be at the heart of their ambition, nor more than ever. He states that, going beyond GDP, this is an issue, maybe even an existential challenge, for the future of liberal democracies. The forthcoming conference on the future of Europe will be the democratic opportunity to conduct this debate with full transparency. 

To read the full text of the speech or watch the video visit the website of the European Council.