:00:26. > :00:58.TRANSLATION: Good morning. Dear Mayor, dear President of the
:00:59. > :01:11.University Institute, current president, the former... The number
:01:12. > :01:17.of people being able to speak and understand Luxembourg. I will be
:01:18. > :01:23.between English and French, but I make my choice, I will express
:01:24. > :01:30.myself in French because... APPLAUSE
:01:31. > :01:46.Slowly but surely, English is losing importance in Europe... And then the
:01:47. > :01:51.French will have elections on next Sunday and I would like them to
:01:52. > :02:04.understand what I'm saying about Europe and about nations.
:02:05. > :02:12.TRANSLATION: Before that, I admit I will have to cut my speech short. It
:02:13. > :02:19.is a very long speech, a keynote speech which I think would be
:02:20. > :02:24.somewhere out our place, as far as today's agenda is concerned. That is
:02:25. > :02:30.because our Italian friends who took the floor before me, took more time
:02:31. > :02:34.than expected. And therefore, my proposal is just to share some
:02:35. > :02:42.thoughts on Europe with you. First of all, let me say how pleased I am
:02:43. > :02:47.to be back in Florence. This is a wonderful city, a city of culture,
:02:48. > :02:54.an extraordinary city. One filled with light, one filled with
:02:55. > :03:01.sunshine, which makes us all dream and which allows us to think about
:03:02. > :03:07.key topics concerning the future of Europe and the world. I am glad to
:03:08. > :03:14.be back in Italy and Europe owes a lot to Italy. Italy is a country and
:03:15. > :03:19.I owe a great deal too. Because I grew up in the south of Luxembourg,
:03:20. > :03:25.I grew up alongside the children of Italian immigrants, who lived
:03:26. > :03:33.alongside my parents, who were my next-door neighbours. I love Italy,
:03:34. > :03:43.I love Italy and I love Italian is. And I am especially happy to be
:03:44. > :03:51.hosted by the European University Institute, the procedure which is
:03:52. > :03:59.recognised internationally. Their activities, their research and allow
:04:00. > :04:08.us to understand Italy better. Their research allows us to understand
:04:09. > :04:16.Europe better. Although it sometimes seems impossible. The president of
:04:17. > :04:29.the Institute, its professors, its students, who work and study here in
:04:30. > :04:34.Florence, help us to better understand the issues, the
:04:35. > :04:46.challenges we face. Whenever we talk about Europe, besides the things
:04:47. > :04:50.said by the president of the European Parliament, I often notice
:04:51. > :04:55.we never discuss the successes are obtained by the European Union. We
:04:56. > :05:01.talk of its shortcomings, of its mistakes, but I feel its successors
:05:02. > :05:09.are very many indeed and they are impressive. The only ones who don't
:05:10. > :05:14.appreciate these successes obtained by the EU, are the Europeans
:05:15. > :05:19.themselves. The further we travel from Europe, the more enthusiasm we
:05:20. > :05:24.see in the hearts and minds of those who listen to us. And it saddens me
:05:25. > :05:34.to go back to Brussels when I notice all this. In this valley of tears,
:05:35. > :05:40.in which we are all criticised, offended, destroyed, torn to pieces.
:05:41. > :05:47.Whereas, elsewhere in the world, men and women Admir Europe. They should
:05:48. > :05:56.Admir Europe because Europe has been able to overcome decades, centuries
:05:57. > :06:02.of bloodshed. And the Europeans were able to come up with a piece, Common
:06:03. > :06:09.Pleas. It was an extraordinary result in the history of the world.
:06:10. > :06:13.We owe this to the generation of our fathers and grandfathers. The
:06:14. > :06:18.generations who experienced war. We thank them because after they
:06:19. > :06:26.returned from the concentration camps, after they returned from the
:06:27. > :06:31.battlefield, they were capable of transforming their struggle against
:06:32. > :06:43.war into a political approach, which has been very beneficial to us all.
:06:44. > :06:49.After so many years of divisions in the post-war period, Europe was able
:06:50. > :06:54.to unite. Europe was able to reconcile with its history and its
:06:55. > :06:59.geography by broadening itself towards the central and Eastern
:07:00. > :07:04.European countries. The enlargement process, which contrary to many
:07:05. > :07:13.claimed, was not a mistake at all. It wasn't premature, it wasn't too
:07:14. > :07:24.hasty. It was our historical duty to understand what was happening.
:07:25. > :07:29.Europe had to deal with the events unfolding in Europe in the 1990s and
:07:30. > :07:34.we have to be proud of what we were able to obtain. We were able to
:07:35. > :07:39.reconcile our history and geography, we were able to reunite, or rather,
:07:40. > :07:44.unite Europe for the first time in the history of our continent through
:07:45. > :07:50.peace. This was the major success we obtained in the 1990s, along with
:07:51. > :07:57.the creation of the single market, which was a true success. Our
:07:58. > :08:02.history is marked by a number of different successes. We were able to
:08:03. > :08:10.give Europe a single currency, the euro. When no one believed we could
:08:11. > :08:19.have been able to achieve it, yet, we succeeded. Despite the huge
:08:20. > :08:28.efforts it up, the euro is now the world's second currency and then, as
:08:29. > :08:35.now, the euro protects Europe from external shocks. It does not cause
:08:36. > :08:40.internal shocks. The Euro protects us from external shocks. Think about
:08:41. > :08:47.what would have happened had we not had the euro during the Iraq war.
:08:48. > :08:53.Following the attacks in New York and Washington, following the events
:08:54. > :08:59.in Afghanistan, following the economic and financial crisis which
:09:00. > :09:10.came from far. A crisis that is, in the past, we could only have dealt
:09:11. > :09:15.with with our national means. Had we left that task to the national
:09:16. > :09:21.central banks alone, we would never have been able to succeed, we would
:09:22. > :09:25.never have been able to react. The European Commission and the European
:09:26. > :09:34.Parliament are facing a number of different crises. Different crises,
:09:35. > :09:42.which follow one another and even overlap. Sometimes we feel we have
:09:43. > :09:53.been successful in responding to a crisis, than all of a sudden, other
:09:54. > :10:03.crises, long. We have thought that Europe could have improved, returned
:10:04. > :10:09.to growth, a weak growth, but yet it was a gross in the countries of the
:10:10. > :10:14.European Union and the countries in the Eurozone. Unemployment is
:10:15. > :10:19.declining and the employment rate has never been higher. And now,
:10:20. > :10:28.growth in the European Union is twice that than in the US. And I
:10:29. > :10:34.feel we can be reassured as far as the future is concerned. At that
:10:35. > :10:38.point, despite the success, despite the growth, our British friends
:10:39. > :10:46.decide to leave the EU. Which is a tragedy. We shouldn't underestimate
:10:47. > :10:55.the importance of the decision made by the British people. It is no
:10:56. > :11:02.small offence. And of course, we will negotiate with our British
:11:03. > :11:07.friends in full transparency, but there should be no doubt whatsoever,
:11:08. > :11:13.it isn't the EU which is abandoning the UK. It is the opposite, in fact.
:11:14. > :11:19.They are abandoning the European Union and this is the difference
:11:20. > :11:23.that will be felt over the next few years. But of course, my friend,
:11:24. > :11:29.Michel Barnier will be giving us the details of this negotiation. All of
:11:30. > :11:38.the details we will be facing very soon. Europe does have some
:11:39. > :11:47.weaknesses which can partly explain the outcome of the referendum in the
:11:48. > :11:51.UK. There are some weaknesses which, perhaps, we sometimes overlook. We
:11:52. > :12:02.may be scared of the truth sometimes. The truth which may
:12:03. > :12:08.emerge on the horizon. Europe, as every other continent, as every
:12:09. > :12:13.other country or state in fact, it needs to accept the fact that each
:12:14. > :12:19.and every policy is a result of the meeting between she grew free and
:12:20. > :12:30.politics. Europe is the smallest continent, the European territory is
:12:31. > :12:41.in fact only 7 million square kilometres. Think of Russia. It has
:12:42. > :12:51.17.5 billion square kilometres. We have some very large neighbours.
:12:52. > :13:01.Neighbours, facing major problems. How can we think we can solve it
:13:02. > :13:07.all? We need to have players, protagonists who can serve the
:13:08. > :13:11.entire globe, the entire world. We are the smallest continent. We are
:13:12. > :13:20.losing our economic power, our economic clout. We currently
:13:21. > :13:30.represent 25% of the global GDP. In ten years, that percentage will
:13:31. > :13:38.shrink down to 15%. Therefore, we will be a smaller continent, our
:13:39. > :13:44.economies will decline proportionately, our demographics
:13:45. > :13:49.will face a crisis. The beginning of the 20th century, the Europeans were
:13:50. > :13:57.25% of the world's population. At the end of the 20th century and
:13:58. > :14:05.early 21st century, we represent 24% of the world's population. Those who
:14:06. > :14:13.feel that these elements that we cannot think of changing alone,
:14:14. > :14:17.shouldn't lead us to further dividing. Those who feel we have to
:14:18. > :14:22.go back to our individual nations are wrong. The time has come to
:14:23. > :14:27.further increase our cooperation, further unite. In the upcoming
:14:28. > :14:30.years, we will have to avoid making some of the mistakes we committed in
:14:31. > :14:43.the past. Europe and the European Union, and
:14:44. > :14:46.we should never mix the two up. The European Union has perhaps done a
:14:47. > :14:52.little too much from certain aspects. Even the commission, too
:14:53. > :14:59.many rules, too much interference in the lives of our citizens. We have
:15:00. > :15:03.sometimes tried to change all this. The commission which I am honoured
:15:04. > :15:12.to be president of has eliminated 100 proposals of the previous
:15:13. > :15:15.commission. We only make 23 proposals per year whereas
:15:16. > :15:25.previously 120 proposals or more were made every year. I know that
:15:26. > :15:32.Antonio and others of the European Parliament complain about the fact
:15:33. > :15:36.that the European Commission draft is far too little legislation. Well,
:15:37. > :15:49.our intention is to improve the quality of our legislation, such as
:15:50. > :16:00.the environment. That is a key priority. We have 450 billion euros
:16:01. > :16:07.which will be allotted to create new jobs. We want a focus on foreign
:16:08. > :16:14.trade because 30 million jobs that directly depend from exports through
:16:15. > :16:19.other countries in the world, and every billion euro more in terms of
:16:20. > :16:25.exports is equal to a further 14,000 jobs. We are focusing on
:16:26. > :16:29.investments, and together with Bernard Hoyer, the president of the
:16:30. > :16:35.European investment bank, who I want to greet very warmly, we have
:16:36. > :16:40.launched the European fund for strategic investments. You may
:16:41. > :16:47.remember this. This used to be called the young care plan, because
:16:48. > :16:56.those who felt it would have been a complete failure wanted to identify
:16:57. > :16:59.the plan with a guilty party, yours truly. Whereas now it has been
:17:00. > :17:05.proven to be successful, it has been called the European fund for
:17:06. > :17:12.strategic investments, whereas it is exactly the same thing. We simply
:17:13. > :17:17.doubled the investment. 180 million euros have been invested so far and
:17:18. > :17:23.thanks to the tools of the fund, we have increased that amount to 630
:17:24. > :17:38.billion euros, which means that 500 billion euros will be mobilised by
:17:39. > :17:46.2020. This went to be to the benefit of major corporations alone. In
:17:47. > :17:50.Italy, there are thousands of SMEs who will be supported by this. This
:17:51. > :17:54.is the path we need to continue on. I believe the European Union does
:17:55. > :17:57.too much sometimes and too little other times. The investment plan is
:17:58. > :18:07.one of the responses to the investment crisis. A crisis we
:18:08. > :18:11.inherited from the major economic and financial crisis of the past few
:18:12. > :18:22.years. In other sectors, we don't do as much as we should. In the defence
:18:23. > :18:29.sector, I am a military expert and the army in Luxembourg only has 660
:18:30. > :18:33.military, which means I myself did not have the opportunity to turn
:18:34. > :18:36.into a warrior and I have no intention of becoming one in the
:18:37. > :18:44.future, but I feel Europe should be able to defend itself somewhat
:18:45. > :18:53.better. We spend 50% of what the US spends on defence. That means we
:18:54. > :19:07.should be at least 50% as efficient as the US is. In Europe, 75
:19:08. > :19:14.different types of weapons exist. In the US, only for. And 85% of
:19:15. > :19:26.military and defence investment in Europe is based on national
:19:27. > :19:29.programmes alone. Whereas, if we use a European approach as far as the
:19:30. > :19:34.military sector is concerned, we could save a great deal of money
:19:35. > :19:37.every year and we could use those proceeds to improve the
:19:38. > :19:39.effectiveness of our defence systems. The commission has
:19:40. > :19:45.presented a few proposals from this point of view and I would hope that
:19:46. > :19:50.the other institutions can start dealing with these issues in an
:19:51. > :19:53.in-depth way, which is something that in fact the European Parliament
:19:54. > :20:06.is doing along with the European Council. Despite a limited number of
:20:07. > :20:07.people who are hesitant, we have to realise the fact that we have two
:20:08. > :20:39.speed Europe can improve. That is on
:20:40. > :20:44.defence. I am not speaking about a European army, not saying we have to
:20:45. > :20:49.set up a European army. That is not something that is going to take
:20:50. > :20:56.place any time soon, but we have to do more for defence, we have to do
:20:57. > :21:01.more for Europe. Europe must have a place in dead things to come, in the
:21:02. > :21:07.innovation part, and we must do more for social Europe. We have a social
:21:08. > :21:13.dimension in Europe which is important and a large part of the
:21:14. > :21:17.explanation is that we have to bring to the disaffection Europeans feel
:21:18. > :21:20.for the European Union is due to the fact the social dimension is
:21:21. > :21:36.underdeveloped, which is the reason why the commission has set up a
:21:37. > :21:40.proposal for minimum rights, and we hope in Gothenburg with the Swedish
:21:41. > :21:46.Government, and I want to greet the Minister of European affairs, we
:21:47. > :21:55.hope that we will set up this better setup for the social don't mention.
:21:56. > :22:02.I'd like for all of you, those who wish, to be able to participate. I
:22:03. > :22:09.haven't talked about the White book and about the five scenarios that
:22:10. > :22:13.the commission has proposed. I won't do it because this is just a chat,
:22:14. > :22:23.so to speak, not a real speech, but I would like you to know that it is
:22:24. > :22:27.not an act of courage for the president to propose five scenarios.
:22:28. > :22:35.I should have proposed only one scenario. How much is it? Only one
:22:36. > :22:45.minute I have left. We proposed five scenarios because we wouldn't want
:22:46. > :22:48.to proceed in the way that one always acts in Brussels, dictate
:22:49. > :22:52.this, dictate that. It is no longer the way to act. It is no longer the
:22:53. > :22:57.good method and I hope that everybody in Europe understands that
:22:58. > :23:05.we have two discussed, compare, propose, summarise, section the
:23:06. > :23:10.different scenarios in order to find the scenario that is the best one
:23:11. > :23:14.for Europe. That means probably none of the five that were mentioned in
:23:15. > :23:24.the White book, because it is a way of finding the intersections between
:23:25. > :23:26.here and from one another. There is one I have included, the scenario
:23:27. > :23:32.which wants to reduce Europe to simply being a big internal market
:23:33. > :23:43.without any ambition, because Europe is more. Europe is more than a
:23:44. > :23:49.high-level free exchange. We know some are leaving the European Union
:23:50. > :23:52.and some think it's not as complicated and requires less
:23:53. > :23:57.effort. Europe is more than just money or just a market. Europe is
:23:58. > :24:01.not just a market, we must understand that, because we don't
:24:02. > :24:05.understand it, we will not only lose the market, but we will lose the
:24:06. > :24:07.continental possibility of launching ourselves, which will allow us to
:24:08. > :24:18.prosper and go forwards. APPLAUSE
:24:19. > :24:25.We sometimes do too much but sometimes do too little. There's not
:24:26. > :24:30.enough solidarity in Europe. The great absentee in Europe is
:24:31. > :24:39.solidarity. And who am I saying this to? In Italy, I have said this in
:24:40. > :24:49.this exact city when I was campaigning in 2014 with the result
:24:50. > :24:53.is that you know, Italy, from the very first day of the migration
:24:54. > :25:02.crisis, has been doing everything it could do, Italy, in fact, in spite
:25:03. > :25:07.of the lack of presence of Europe, Italy has saved and is saving the
:25:08. > :25:14.honour of Europe. APPLAUSE
:25:15. > :25:25.And, we have to be, have more solidarity with Italy and with
:25:26. > :25:28.Greece. They are not responsible for the geographic conflagration of
:25:29. > :25:37.Europe. They just happen to be there. Greece and Italy are in this
:25:38. > :25:50.position. The commission has made some proposals in April 2015, even
:25:51. > :25:54.before a proposal of solidarity, a proposal of solidarity with those
:25:55. > :26:03.who cannot be left alone with the consequences of the migration flows.
:26:04. > :26:07.The council took a decision. The treaties were there to make this
:26:08. > :26:12.possible and there were a number of member states who did not respect
:26:13. > :26:14.his decision. If Europe begins no longer respecting the rule is that
:26:15. > :26:22.it gives to itself following the rules of the treaty, we will go
:26:23. > :26:30.towards what will be our last and the number of these states... I
:26:31. > :26:39.mean, it a member -- a matter of putting into practice the idea of
:26:40. > :26:45.Europe. Those who say, it's your problem, we don't accept it on our
:26:46. > :26:49.territory, men and women who are coloured, we don't accept them, men
:26:50. > :26:52.and women who are not Catholic, they are wrong. They are wrong on the
:26:53. > :27:02.nature of Europe. APPLAUSE
:27:03. > :27:08.. And all of this, dear friends, is not a reason to fall into despair,
:27:09. > :27:13.because Europe does great things and we try to do great things, we keep
:27:14. > :27:19.trying. We need a lot of patience, we need a lot of determination. It
:27:20. > :27:22.is thanks to this patience and determination that we will go
:27:23. > :27:28.forward and that is how we will bring forward our ambitions. So,
:27:29. > :27:29.long live France, long-lived Italy and long live Europe.
:27:30. > :27:35.APPLAUSE