Metsola asks the EU for “big leaps” instead of “little steps”

“ This week, the arguments will be put and the questions will be put, but it will be the following year that will determine our assessment. Let us make it the year of the big jumps and not the small steps”, urged Roberta Metsola, in a social media publication.

In the message, released on the eve of the address on the State of the Union of Ursula von der Leyen, which will be delivered on Wednesday at the plenary session in Strasbourg, the leader of the European Assembly identified three major priority areas, such as European economy and competitiveness, security and defence and the EU's relationship with the rest of the world.

“ The question now is whether we are still waiting for a crisis that forces us to act or if we find the courage to jump while we still have the privilege of being able to choose it,” he added.

For Roberta Metsola, “small steps may be easier to explain internally, but will prove insufficient.”.

In stressing that “Europe has never achieved its true progress gradually”, the President of the European Parliament called for “ambition” in several areas.

In the economy, Roberta Metsola argued that the EU should complete the single market, reduce bureaucracy, invest in artificial intelligence (IA) and infrastructure, and lower energy and housing costs, as well as strengthen European competitiveness towards China and deepen trade partnerships, notably with Canada.

In security, the person responsible has placed Ukraine at the centre of priorities and has called for the strengthening of European capacity to respond to sabotage, foreign interference and misinformation, supporting a “European Shield for Democracy” and more protection for children in the digital environment.

In the EU's external relations, the President of the European Parliament advocated the advance of enlargement to Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans, an adaptation to a future Union with 30 or more Member States and greater control of external borders, including through a reform of Frontex and the fight against trafficking in migrants and human beings.

It also called for closer relations with the United Kingdom and other international partners.

For Metsola, these priorities should be reflected in the EU's next long-term budget for 2028-2034, which it considered to be a key factor in achieving European ambitions for competitiveness, security, support for Ukraine and enlargement.

The position was disclosed before the annual time when the President of the European Commission took stock of the institution's activity and presented the main priorities and initiatives for the following year, followed by a debate with MEPs.