European sovereignty, as I understand it, means that Europe can act independently and decide to pool its resources in areas where the individual states have long since lost their ability to shape globalisation to the major powers. (1/6)
The fact that🇪🇺 now imports almost 90% of all essential medicines from🇨🇳 or🇮🇳 illustrates where action is needed. Or just think of 5G, IT, logistics, energy & the natural resource sector. The first step must therefore be an unsparing analysis of our strategic dependencies. (2/6)
We will have to think about how to better contain the conflicts in Europe’s vicinity, even without the US. For that reason, too, we want to finalise work on the European Peace Facility & establish a European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management here in Berlin.(3/6)
It is also indispensable for 🇪🇺 to speak with a single voice to 🇨🇳! This is all the more important now, given the need to investigate the pandemic and the increasingly robust action taken by China in Hong Kong and its neighbourhood. (4/6)
@JosepBorrellF recently talked of "Team Europe" when describing his goal of truly interlinking European and national policy on foreign, economic, environmental, development and security matters. He has our full backing in this endeavour. (5/6)
For there is another task that will fall to us: The full force of the crisis will be felt by the poorer regions of the world. These regions will need help from🇪🇺. And if we democracies do not provide it, others will at a price that will in the long-term be much higher. (6/6)
