Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament,

when I stood before you this time last year,

I had a somewhat easier speech to give.

It was plain for all to see that our Union was not in a good state.

Europe was battered and bruised by a year that shook our very foundations.

We only had to choices: either come together

around a positive European agenda,

or each recede into our own corners.

Faced with this choice, I argued for unity.

I proposed a positive agenda to help create as I said last year,

a Europe that protects, a Europe that empowers,

a Europe that defends.

Over the past 12 months, the European Parliament

has helped bring this agenda to life.

We continue to make progress with each passing day.

Just last night, you worked to find an agreement on Trade Defence Instruments

and on doubling our European investment capacity,

and you succeeded, thank you for that.

I also want to thank the 27 leaders of our Members States

This, after my speech last year, they welcomed my agenda at the Summit in Bratislava.

In doing so, they chose unity,

They chose to ally around our common ground.

Together, we showed that Europe can deliver for its citizens when and where it matters.

Ever since, we have been slowly but surely gathering momentum.

It helped that the economic outlook swung in our favor.

We are now in the fifth year of an economic recovery

that really reaches every single Member State.

Growth in European Union has outstripped that of the United States over the last 2 years.

It now stands above 2% for the Union as a whole

and at 2.2% for the monetary area.

Unemployment is at a 9 year low.

Almost 8 million jobs have been created during this mandate so far.

We have 235 million people at work:

more people are in employment in the European Union than ever before.

The European Union, the European Commission, cannot take the credit for this alone.

Though I'm sure, that had 8 million jobs be lost,

we would have taken the blame.

But Europe's institutions played their part in helping doing change.

We can take credit for our European investment plan

which has triggered 225 billion worth of investment so far.

It has granted loans to over 450,000 small firms

and more than 270 infrastructural projects.

We can take credit for the fact that thanks to determined action

European banks once again have the capital firepower

to lend to companies, so that they can grow and create jobs.

And we can take credit for having brought public deficits down

from 6.6% to 1.6%.

This is thanks to an intelligent application of the stability and growth pact.

We ask for fiscal discipline, but are careful not to kill growth.

This is in fact working very well across the Union despite some criticism.

10 years since crisis struck,

Europe's economy is finally bouncing back.

and with it, our confidence.

Our 27 leaders, the Parliament, and the Commission

are putting the euro back in our Union,

and together, we are putting the Union back into our Union.

In the last year, we saw all 27 leaders walk up to the Capitoline Hill in Rome,

one by one, to renew their vows, to each other, and to our Union.

All of this leads me to believe the wind is back in Europe's sails.

We have now a window of opportunity

but it will not stay open forever.

Let us make the most of the momentum,

catch the wind in our sails.

For this, we must do two things:

first, we should stay the course set out last year.

We have still 16 months in which real progress can be made

by Parliament, Council and Commission.

We must use this time to finish what we started in Bratislava

and deliver on our own positive agenda.

Secondly, we should chart the direction for the future.

As Mark Twain wrote, I'm quoting:

"Years from now, we will be more disappointed by the things we did not do,

than by those we did."

Now is the time to build a more united, a stronger and more democratic Europe

for 2025.

President, ladies and gentlemen,

Members of the Parliament,

while we look towards the future, we cannot lose our direction.

Together, we have set ourselves the objective of achieving an energy Union,

a security Union,

a capital markets Union,

a banking Union and a digital single market.

Together we have already travelled far on this road.

As the Parliament has said, the Commission has already presented

80% of the proposals that were set out at the beginning of the mandate.

We now have to work together,

in order to ensure that these proposals become legislative acts

and that these acts are made concrete in practice.

As is ever the case, some concessions will have to be made.

The proposals put forward by the Commission to reform our common asylum system

or to set up new solid rules on the posting of workers

are of course, and I know this, controversial issues.

We will get good results if everyone builds their part of the bridge

so that we can meet.

And I would like to say that the Commission is open to compromise

starting from the moment that the final result is good for the Union

and fair for all of its Members States.

We are now ready to submit the remaining 20% of the initiatives

by May 2018.

Now this morning, I spoke to the President of the European Parliament,

Antonio Tajani and the Prime Minister Jüri Ratas of Estonia

and I sent a letter of intention, which sets out the priorities for the upcoming year.

I do not want, and indeed I cannot here enumerate all of these proposals

but do allow me perhaps to mention 5 which are particularly important.

First, I would like us to reinforce, to strengthen our European trade programme

Europe is open to trade yes, but there has to be reciprocity.

We have to get as much as what we give.

Trade is not an abstract concept; trade is jobs,

trade is new opportunities for European businesses whether they are large scale or small.

Every billion in export that we have equals 14,000 extra jobs in Europe.

Trade is also exporting our social and environmental norms

and our rules in terms of the protection of data and food safety.

Europe has always been an attractive economic space.

But since last year, I see that our partners all over the world

are knocking at our door in order to sign trade agreements with us.

Thanks to the help of this Parliament,

we have just concluded a trade agreement with Canada

which will be provisionally applicable starting next week.

We found a political agreement with Japan

on a new future economic partnership

and by the end of this year, we have a very good chance to achieve the same with Mexico

and the countries of South America.

Today, we are suggesting that we open trade negotiations with Australia

and with New Zealand.

I would like all of these agreements to be finalised by the end of our mandate

and I am absolutely committed to them being negotiated in the greatest transparency.

This opening to exchanges has to go hand-in-hand with increased transparency

for our decision making processes.

The European Parliament will have the last word

on all of these trade agreements.

Therefore, its members, just like national and regional Parliaments

have to be kept absolutely up to speed

and informed, starting from the very first day of negotiations

and the Commission will oversee this.

From now on, the Commission will publish all of the draft negotiation mandates

which it will present to the Council.

The citizen has the right to know what the Commission is putting forward.

We're finished with the lack of transparency, we're going to finish with rumours

and ideas of intention

that the complaints that the Commission very often is being the subject of.

I would like to say once and for all that we are not naive supporters of free exchange.

Europe has always got to defend its strategic interests.

This is why we suggest today a new framework for the EU

on how we examine investments. In English it's called investment screening.

If a public business, a foreign public business

wants to buy a strategic European port,

part of our energy infrastructure or one of our businesses,

In for example defense technology,

that can only happen in full transparency,

via a deep examination and debate.

It is our political responsibility to know what is happening here,

in order to be able, if we need to protect our collective security.

Secondly, the Commission wants to make our industries stronger,

more competitive.

This is particularly true for our industrial base

and the 32 million workers who make up its backbone.

They make the first class products: our cars, for example,

which explains why we are ahead of others.

I am proud of our car industry,

but I am shocked when clients and consumers are intentionally tricked.

I therefore invite the automobile industry to make proper

amends for that and to correct what they are doing

rather than trying to trick and to lead people into error.

The car constructors are to invest in cleaner cars which are those of the future.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to present today

a new industrial strategy for Europe.

which will allow our industry to remain and become

the very first in the area of innovation, digitization and decarbonization.

Thirdly, I want Europe to be on the vanguard of the fight against climate change.

Last year we set global climate norms with the ratification of the Paris agreement,

indeed in this very Assembly,

Confronted by the reduction of the ambitions which the United States has shown Europe,

Europe is going to work to ensure that the planet remains great

and that it remains the indivisible homeland of all humanity.

The Commission will shortly present a proposal to reduce carbon in the transport sector.

Fourthly,

I want us to protect better Europeans in the digital area.

During the past few years, we have made progress

in the securitization of the Internet.

There have been new rules put forward by the Commission

which will protect our intellectual property,

our cultural diversity,

and our private personal data.

We have strengthened the struggle against terrorist propaganda

and online radicalisation.

But Europe remains poorly equipped, confronted by cyberattacks.

Cyberattacks are sometimes more dangerous for the stability of democracy and economies

than guns and tanks.

Only last year, we have noted more than 4,000 attacks by cyberware,

and 80% of Europe's enterprises have known at least one incident

linked to cybersafety.

These cyberattacks do not know borders and they spare nobody.

This is why the Commission is proposing today

new tools, and particularly, a European Cybersecurity Agency

to better defend us against these attacks.

And fifth, migration remains on our radar.

Even if the questions around migration have often created debate and polemic,

We have managed to make real progress on numerous fronts.

Today we protect external frontiers in a more efficient manner.

More than 1,700 officers of the new border guards

and the coast guards work with 100,000 national border guards

in all Members States, and work in Greece and Italy, Bulgaria and Spain.

We have common borders with the States

who are on the very front line of the geographic situation.

They must not be left alone for their protection.

We have to have common frontiers and common protection.

We have managed to slow down the flows of irregular migrants

which is the source of great worry in many countries.

We have reduced the number of irregular arrivals by 97%

in the Eastern Mediterranean thanks to the agreement that we drew up with Turkey.

And this summer, we managed to better control the central Mediterranean routes.

The arrivals have gone down by 81% in August compared to the same month last year.

In this way, we have considerably reduced the number

of human lives lost in the Mediterranean.

I cannot talk about migration without making a heartfelt homage to Italy

for its perseverance and its generosity.

These summer months, the Commission worked in harmony

with the Prime Minister, my friend Paolo Gentiloni and his government.

We did it, we will continue to do it because in the Mediterranean,

Italy is saving the honour of Europe.

We have also, and urgently, improved the living conditions of the refugees in Libya.

I am upset by the terrible, inhuman conditions

which we see in the reception centres.

Here, Europe has got a collective responsibility

and the Commission will work hand in hand with the United Nations

to bring to an end this scandalous situation which cannot continue.

Even if it saddens me that not all of our Members States show the same degree of solidarity,

Europe, as a whole, has continued to show solidarity.

Only last year, our Members States gave asylum to over 720,000 refugees

or have foreseen how they would be replaced.

It is 3 times more than Australia, Canada and the United States together.

Europe, contrary to what is often said, is not a fortress

and must never become one.

Europe is and will remain a continent of solidarity

where people have to be able to find asylum

if people are being pursued for unacceptable reasons.

And I am particularly proud of those young Europeans

who are volunteering to give language courses to Syrian refugees,

or to all those young people, who, by their thousands

have joined our new European Solidarity Corps.

These young people give both life and colour to European solidarity.

But today we have got to double our efforts.

Before the end of the months, the Commission will present a new series of proposals

focused on returns, solidarity in Africa, and the opening up of partial legal migration.

In particular when it comes to the issue of returns, I want to repeat this:

Those who have no right to stay in Europe have got to go back to their country of origin.

Only 36% of migrants in irregular situations are sent back.

It is obvious that we have to considerably strengthen our activities in this area.

This is the only way that Europe will be able to show proof of solidarity

with regards to the refugees who really need protection.

Solidarity cannot be an exclusively intra-European issue

it's also about putting in place greater solidarity with Africa.

Africa, cradle of humanity, a noble continent, a young continent.

Our trust fund for Africa, which has been filled with 2.7 billion euros

opens the possibilities of jobs all over the African continent.

By while the budget of the EU is carrying the weight of the financing,

the contribution of all our Members States is only at 150 million euros.

So the trust is now getting to its limits

We knew, we have to know the risks of there being a lack of financing.

In 2015, many migrants wanted to get to Europe

when and because the food funds of the UN ran out.

I therefore want to invite the Members States to join action to words,

and to ensure the trust fund for Africa does not suffer the same fate

because the risk is great.

We are also going to work towards the opening of legal migration routes

Irregular migration will only stop when the migrants have got another option

than undertaking a perilous journey.

We are on the point of setting up 23,000 refugees coming from Turkey,

Jordan and Lebanon,

and I am actually supporting also the High Commissioner for the re-installation

of 40,000 other refugees from Libya and neighbouring countries.

For the rest, Europe is a continent which is getting older

and this is another reason for having a legal migration system

which is an absolute necessity.

This is why the Commission has put forward proposals

to facilitate access for migrants to the European blue card.

And I want to thank the support of the Parliament for this proposal.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

honourable Members,

I have just listed a small number of initiatives that we want to complete

by the end of next year.

And we have to do that, but even that is not enough

if we are to win the hearts and minds of the people of Europe.

The time has come to set the course for the future.

In March, the Commission published its white paper

on the future of Europe with five different scenarios

setting out what Europe might look in 2025.

These scenarios were debated, sometimes superficially,

sometimes in depth, they were analysed and sometimes they were torn apart.

And that is the way things should be, because that's what they were for.

We have to set in train the process which will allow

the people of Europe themselves to determine their future.

The future of Europe is not something that can be dictated from above.

Any such decision must be based on a broad consensus

in the wake of democratic debate.

This house has made an active contribution to this debate,

and I would like to thank all of the rapporteurs concerned.

I would also like to thank those Members

who have taken part in the more than 2,000 public stakeholders consultations

which the Commission has organized around Europe since March.

The time has come, ladies and gentlemen, to draw the first conclusions

from this debate.

The time has come to take the next step

from reflection to action, from debate to decision.

Let me know set out the way I see things.

You are about to hear my own, my very personal scenario number 6.

This is born out of decades of personal experience.

I have lived the European project through my entire life.

I have fought for it, I have worked for it.

I have been through good times, and I have been through bad times.

I have sat on various sides of the negotiating table,

as Minister, as Prime Minister, as President of the Euro Group,

and now, as President of the European Commission.

I was there at Maastricht, at Amsterdam, Nice, Lisbon,

where our Union developed and expanded.

I have always fought for Europe.

I have sometimes suffered with Europe

and agonised over Europe.

I have been through thick and thin with the European Union

and never have I lost my love for the European Union.

As we all know, there is no love without disappointment

or very rarely.

Love for Europe,

I mean what I say, because the European Union

has achieved so much in this divided world.

Inward and outward peace,

prosperity, not for all but still for many.

In 2018, we should consider what it means to have

a European year of cultural heritage and celebrate our cultural diversity.

Europe, is a Europe of values

and a safe place for us to be.

Europe is more than the single market, than money, than the euro,

it is all about values.

There are three fundamental principles which underpin my scenario number 6:

freedom, equality of opportunity and the rule of law.

First and foremost, Europe is a Union of freedom

and by that I mean freedom from oppression and dictatorship.

Those are phenomena that our continent, especially its central and eastern parts,

have known all too well.

And I mean the freedom...

And I mean the freedom to speak our minds

whether as citizens or as journalists.

This is not to be taken for granted and yet it is these values of freedom

upon which our Union is built.

Freedom is not something handed down to us, we have to fight for it

in Europe, and in the world.

Europe must be a Union of equality and equality of opportunity,

that means equality between its members, be they big, be they small,

be they in the East, the West, the North or the South.

Europe stretches from Vigo to Varna,

from Spain, to Bulgaria.

Europe needs to breathe with both its lungs:

the eastern lung and the western lung.

Otherwise, our continent will suffocate.

In a Union of equality, there cannot be second class citizens.

It is unacceptable that in 2017 children are dying in Europe

from diseases which should have been eradicated long ago.

Children in Romania and children in Italy

should have the same access to measles vaccines

like children in other European countries, with no ifs and no buts.

And that is why, we are working together with all of the Members States

to support their national vaccination programmes.

There must not be avoidable deaths in our Europe.

In a Europe of equality, there cannot be second class workers.

People doing the same work in the same place should receive the same remuneration.

That is what is behind the Commission's proposal on the posting of workers.

We need to make sure that all EU rules on worker mobility are implemented fairly

simply and effectively.

And for that, we need a new European supervisory and implementation authority.

It is absurd for us to have a banking supervisory authority

making sure that banking standards are respected

when we do not have a common labour market authority

which makes sure that the single market is built on fairness.

We are going to set up such an authority.

In a Union of equality, there can be no second class consumers.

I for one cannot accept that people, especially in central and eastern Europe

are buying poorer quality products, which have the same packaging,

and the same label as those sold in other countries.

A Slovak deserves to have as much fish in fish fingers as anyone else.

A Hungarian should have as much meat in meat dishes as anyone else,

and Czechs should have as much cocoa in their chocolate as anyone else.

These practices are already forbidden by EU law

and we have to make sure that that EU law is enforced.

And we need to ensure the national authorities have the wherewithal to root out these practices.

In Europe, law has muscle. It's not muscle that lays down the law.

And that means that in Europe the law is safeguarded

by an independent judiciary.

Being part of a Union which is built on the rule of law means respecting court judgments.

Our Members States have given the European Court of Justice

the powers to take the ultimate decisions and that means ECJ Judgments have to be respected

in all cases.

Failing to respect them, and undermining national justice systems

means stealing citizens fundamental rights.

In the European Union, the rule of law is not optional,

it is a duty. Our Union is not a state but it's still governed by the rule of law.

These three principles,

freedom, equality of opportunity and rule of law,

have to remain the foundations of our ever stronger

and ever more united and more democratic Union.

For the people of Europe, what they are looking for

is not new treaties, new institutions:

They are a means to an end; new institutions, new treaties,

perhaps of interest to us here in Strasbourg or in Brussels.

Elsewhere, people don't care two hoots.

I am only interested in institutional reform, if it gives us a more efficient Union.

One day there will be treaty change,

but to busy ourselves with that now means first and foremost

that we have to understand that democracy is based on compromise,

not on winners and losers.

If we have the right compromises, everyone is a winner.

In the European Union, compromises are neither bad, nor ugly.

Compromises are an art, a way of bridging differences and finding our way to one another.

People who struggle with compromises struggle with democracy

and struggle with Europe.

If we are to have a stronger European Union, it needs to be more inclusive too.

If we want to bolster our external borders, and rightly so,

then it is high time to bring Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen Area.

And incidentally, Croatia too deserves full membership

of the Schengen Area as soon as all the criteria are met.

If we want the euro to unite our continent rather than dividing it,

then it needs to be more than just a currency

of a select group of country.

The euro is destined to be the common currency of the entire European Union.

All but two Members States are duty bound to join the euro area

as soon as they have met the conditions.

For that to be possible, these Members States need the support

of a euro accession instrument, which I propose here today,

which will offer pre-accession assistance in technical and financial form.

If we want the continent's banks to operate

by the same rules and under the same supervision,

then we should encourage all Members States to accede to the banking Union.

That means we must reduce the remaining risks

in the banking systems of certain Members States.

The banking Union will only work if risk reduction and risk mitigation goes hand in hand.

For us to be able to ensure that is the case,

a certain number of pre-conditions have to be in place,

as proposed by the Commission in November 2015.

We can only have a common deposit guarantee scheme

when all of the Members States have done their homework.

If we want to see an end to social fragmentation and social dumping in Europe,

the Members States, as soon as possible,

and at the latest by the Gothenburg summit in November,

should agree on the European pillar of social rights.

National social security systems are going to continue to have their differences,

and will continue to be separate.

But we should still agree on a European Union of social standards

to ensure that we have a consensus about what is socially fair,

and what isn't socially fair on our single market.

A successful Europe must not give workers the cold shoulder.

Ladies and gentlemen, if we want to have greater stability

in our neighbourhood,

then we need to offer a credible enlargement prospect

to the countries of the western Balkans.

During the term of office of this Commission and this Parliament,

there will be no new accessions

because the conditions for accession will not have been met.

However in future, the European Union will have more than 27 Members States.

In the case of all accession countries,

the rule of law, justice and fundamental values

have top priority in the negotiations.

And that rules out EU membership for Turkey.

in the foreseeable future.

For some considerable time, Turkey has been moving away

from the European Union in leaps and bounds.

Journalists belong in editorial offices

and in the midst of heated debate, and not in prison.

I appeal today to the powers that be in Turkey:

let our journalists go, and not just our journalists.

Stop calling our Members States, and our Heads of States and governments,

fascists and Nazis.

Europe is a continent of mature democracies,

those who knowingly offend pull up the drawbridge.

Sometimes I have the impression that there are those in Turkey,

who want to pull up the drawbridge,

and later, blame the European Union for the failure of accession negotiations.

From our side, there will always be an outstretched hand

Outstretched to the great people of Turkey

and all of those who are willing to work with us on the basis of our shared values.

Ladies and gentlemen, honorable Members,

I would like to see our Union stronger, and that means

it needs a stronger single market.

In matters of the single market,

We need more frequent and simpler decision-making

on the basis of a qualified majority with European Parliament co-decision.

And that does not necessitate treaty change.

The existing treaties contain bridging clauses which make it possible

to decide in counts on the basis of a qualified majority,

as long as this is decided in advance by unanimity in the European Council.

I'm thinking in terms of decisions about Value Added Tax,

fair taxation of the digital economy,

and the financial transaction tax:

these can all be decided by qualified majority.

Europe needs to be able to take decisions more rapidly

and more efficiently.

We need to see a more agile economic and monetary Union.

The euro area is more resistant to shocks than it was a few years ago.

We have a European stability mechanism, which I believe should gradually

be turned into a European monetary fund

that needs to be anchored in the European Union.

There will be specific proposals coming from the Commission

in December of this year to that effect.

We need a European Minister of Economy and Finance.

A Minister to promote structural reform in our Members States.

A Minister who can build on the work done in the Commission by its special unit

for structural reform support.

The European Minister of Economy and Finance

should coordinate all EU financing instruments

and step in whenever a Member State is facing

the threat of recession or fundamental crisis.

And here I am not calling for a new position.

For efficiency reasons I believe that the future Commissioner

responsible for economy and finance,

ideally a Vice President of the European Commission,

carry out this role

as well as a chair in the euro group.

The European Minister of Economy and Finance

must of course be accountable to the European Parliament.

We do not need parallel structures.

We do not need a separate euro budget.

We need a strong euro zone budget line within the existing EU budget.

Nor do I see great merit in the idea of a separate Euro Parliament.

The Parliament of the euro area is this one, the European Parliament.

The European Union,

also needs to be stronger in how it fights terrorism.

In the last 3 years, a great deal has already been done.

But we are still not reacting quickly enough

in the case of cross-border terror threats.

I therefore plead for the setting up of a European investigating body

that would make sure that data on terrorists and foreign fighters

are automatically exchanged between our intelligence and police services.

I also believe that there is reason enough

for the newly set up European public prosecutor

to be responsible for the prosecution of cross-border terrorist crimes.

The European Union...

The European Union should also have more influence on the world stage.

But it needs to be able to take its foreign policy decisions more swiftly.

I think the time has come to take foreign policy decisions in certain cases

by qualified majority, and that is allowed under the existing treaties

as long as there is a unanimous decision by the European Council

and there is reason to do that, it would make our work more efficient.

In the field of defense, more efforts are required.

The setting up of a European defense fund is on our agenda.

Permanent structured cooperation in the defence field is well underway.

By 2025, we will need a functioning European Defence Union.

We need it, and NATO would like us to have it.

The Union should continue to do what the Commission has sought to do lately,

i.e. to concentrate on the important things.

We should not annoy the people of Europe with nit-picking and nitty gritty.

We need to act on the big things, and keep away from the small things,

which can be dealt with by the Members States.

This Commission has tried to play a great role in the big things

and to take a backseat on the small things.

Each year, it has put forward fewer than 25 new initiatives

remember that the previous Commission was putting out more than 100.

This month, we're going to be setting up a subsidiarity and proportionality task force.

The First Vice President Frans Timmermans has already done a good job

of better law making and he's going to lead the new task force.

The Timmermans task force will have among its members,

Members of this Parliament, and Members of national Parliaments.

It will report in one year.

President, ladies and gentlemen,

our Union now needs to effect a democratic leap.

I hope that European political parties will kick-off their campaigns

for the next elections earlier than they did in the past.

Because all too often,

European electoral campaigns have been reduced to

a simple totting up of national electoral proposals.

And European democracy deserves a lot more than that.

Today, the Commission is setting out new rules

on the funding of parties and political foundations.

It is not a question of boosting the treasuries of the extremists

that are against Europe,

It is a question of allowing European parties to better structure themselves.

I am well aware that the idea is contested by a number of people

but I have to say that I have quite a lot of sympathy

for the idea of having transnational lists

for European elections.

And I will try and convince the leader of my parliamentary group

to try and follow this idea, because it will lead to more clarity and more democracy

for our elections.

I also think that over the next few months,

we should involve national Parliaments

and civil society at the national, regional and local level.

We should involve them in the work that we're doing on the future of Europe.

Over the last 3 years, Members of the Commission

have visited national Parliaments more than 650 times.

They participated in more than 300 meetings,

talking to citizens in more than 80 cities,

in 27 Members States.

And that is why I support President Macron's idea

of organising democratic conventions throughout Europe in 2018.

As the debate develops,

I will be attaching a great deal of importance personally

to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania

in 2018. Because 2018 is the year where these 4 countries

will be celebrating their hundredth birthday.

Those who have the ambition to shape our future

and our continent, need to know about

and honour our history, our joint history.

And so the history of the 4 countries I mentioned

also is part and parcel of that of course.

These are countries without which Europe would not be complete.

This need to reinforce democracy and transparency

obviously also has implications for the European Commission.

Today,

I am handing out to the European Parliament

a new code of conduct for Commissioners

First and foremost, this code of conduct specifies that Commissioners

can stand in European elections under perfectly normal conditions.

Obviously the new code will shore up

the obligations of Commissioners when it comes to integrity

during and after their mandate.

Whoever wants to boost European democracy

could never accept that the major democratic progress

inherent in the head of lists system, the Spitzenkandidaten system,

would never go along with that not being renewed,

because it was an innovation and led to more democracy.

And I am convinced...

I will myself by the way not be a candidate,

but I am convinced that the future President will make the most of this experience.

You can stand if you like, but you will not be elected.

More democracy: that's what we need, and that means more efficiency of course.

European efficiency would be very much at an advantage

If we are to merge together the Presidencies of the European Commission

and European Council. That would lead to a massive boost in efficiency.

This proposal does not target in any way

my excellent friend Donald Tusk,

who I have been working with very harmoniously

over the last 3 years, right from the start of our mandate.

This proposal is not aimed at myself and it is not aimed at Donald

all it does is ensure that the European landscape

would be clearer and more understandable

if the European ship was steered

by one and the same captain at the helm.

So if we just had a single President,

it would better reflect the true nature of our European Union

which is a Union of States and a Union of citizens.

Colleagues, the vision of a more unified Europe,

a stronger Europe, a more democratic Europe:

this is what I am presenting to you today.

And it involves all the different scenarios that I set out last March.

But our future cannot remain a mere scenario.

It is some kind of draft, one idea among many others.

It is today that we have to start preparing our Union of tomorrow.

This morning, I sent President Tajani, President Tusk,

and also to the future Presidencies in Council of the Council,

from now until March 2019, I sent them a road map

setting out the direction that we need to follow.

And one important element in this is the budget

that the Commission will be presenting in May 2018.

There too, we have a choice to make here:

either we ensure that the European Union's ambitions are

given a budget commensurate to those ambitions,

and that is something that I'm very much in favour of.

We should not be making any cuts.

That would be the other option which I will not be in favour of.

March 29th, 2019 will be the date

the United Kingdom will leave the European Union.

This will be a very sad and tragic moment in our history.

We will always regret this,

and I think that you will regret it as well soon, if I might say.

Nonetheless, we have to respect the will of the British people

but we are going to make progress, we will keep moving,

we will move one, because Brexit is not everything,

it is not the future of Europe. It is not the be all and end all.

The 30th of March 2019,

on that date, we'll be a Union of 27.

And I suggest that we prepare very well for that date.

The European Parliament elections will have taken place just a few weeks later.

in May 2019; That date will be a very important meeting with European democracy.

We need to ensure that European citizens go

to the ballot box, having a very clear vision

of the way in which the European Union will develop in the year to come.

And that is why I am calling on President Tusk

and on Romania, which will have the Presidency

during the first half of the year 2019.

I want them to organise a special summit

in Romania on the 30th of March 2019.

And I would like that summit to be held

in the magnificent ancient city of Sibiu

which I also know under the name of Hermannstadt.

That would be the right moment to take very important decisions,

essential decisions in fact

to shape Europe, a more United Europe,

a stronger and more democratic Europe.

My hope is that on the 30th of March 2019,

European will wake up in a Union where they know we are defending their values.

Where all Members States

vigorously respect the rule of law.

Where being a Member, a full Member of the euro zone

the banking Union and the Schengen area

have become a standard for every Member State of the European Union.

We need to ensure that we defend our single currency

in all circumstances, good and bad,

without having recourse to external aid.

Our single market needs to be fairer for workers

in the East and the West.

And I hope that they will wake up in a world like that.

We also need to agree on a bedrock of social standards

where profits are taxed where they are generated,

where terrorists find no fault lines to exploit,

and where we will have agreed on the creation of a true European Defence Union.

Where a single President will be at the helm

of the work of the Commission and the Council

after having been elected,

in the wake of a pan-European electoral campaign.

So yes, on the 30th of March 2019,

our citizens will wake up in that kind of Union.

And if that is the case, they will need to

take part in the elections, to vote.

And they need to realise that our Union is working for them.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Helmut Kohl and Jacques Delors taught me that Europe will only advance

if it shows courage.

The single market, the Schengen Area,

the single currency,

all of these things,

were projects first initiated,

when they were first though of, as mere flights of fancy.

But all those projects that I mentioned are a reality nowadays.

So Europe is faring better now,

and people are telling me one shouldn't overload our European ship.

But at the same time, this stage that we have now reached,

dictates that we should not be overcautious.

It is not enough just to make minor repairs.

What we should do today, and tomorrow

is patiently, step by step,

from one inspiration to the next,

moving onwards,

and complete not just the roof of our European house

but proceed in building and completing all of the flaws of that house.

We need to finish the job as a whole,

now that the sun is shining, this is when we need to do it.

Because when the next storm brews,

and it certainly will, it will be too late.

So, let us raise anchor, let us get going,

let us set sail, let us get going and let' u catch the wind in our sails.

Thank you very much.