European Parliament President Roberta Metzola said on Tuesday in Brussels that in the context of the 2024 European Parliament elections, the only thing that worries her is when a certain EU country blocks a European decision, for example, related to Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, which Austria opposed .

Asked by HotNews how he sees the European elections in 2024, given that several EU countries, such as Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, have seen some growth in Eurosceptic parties and leaders, Metzola explained that it is important for European leaders to combat anti-discourse. European, explaining complex decisions made at Union level.

“European elections depend on how we manage to get more and more people to vote, which is not an easy task. This election will be the first in which we will see in 4 EU countries that voters aged 16 and over will also be able to vote, but also in which it is easier to start a black and white populist speech than a constructive European language, center. I am convinced that if we fight this discourse and explain why decisions are made and why Europe continues to be a success story, then in all member states, even the ones you mentioned, we will have people coming out to vote for their MPs The European Parliament, 720 representatives here, who will have the role of continuing to make very difficult decisions from a legislative and political point of view for the next 5 years,” said the President of the European Parliament, interviewed by HotNews, at the conference. .

“It is not easy and never has been. But the only thing that worries me is when one country blocks the decision, as we saw when Romania and Bulgaria joined the Schengen area, then it automatically sends a message to those countries that there are different classes of citizens, that this is discrimination, that there is no fair access . And we will fight with this, approaching the elections” – added Metsola (Malta/EPP).

The President of the European Parliament also noted that it is the duty of EU leaders to communicate and very clearly explain to citizens the decisions made by the EU.

“From my experience of elections to the European Parliament, it is our duty to inform about the decisions made, to explain them and to say very clearly why these decisions were made. The last 4 and a half years of this mandate have not been easy, but looking back we can see that we have emerged stronger and more united from these seemingly insurmountable challenges, if you look at how we managed to emerge stronger from the pandemic and then from the Russian invasion to Ukraine, how we disconnected from Russian gas, how we managed to continue the path of investments in renewable energy, to our ambitions to become the most advanced continent in the fight against climate change by 2050,” Metsola also said. , answering questions from a HotNews correspondent.

It will be recalled that the European Parliament appealed to the Council of the EU with a request to approve the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone from 2023. However, Austria is blocking Schengen expansion, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg recently told StartupCafe. Vienna still opposes the expansion of the Schengen zone, which it considers dysfunctional in terms of the flow of migrants from outside the EU.

Thus, there will be no voting in the Council of Justice and Internal Affairs (JAI) on December 4-5, on the agenda of which is the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European free movement area, government sources told HotNews. .ro

Photo: Ludovic MARIN / AFP / Profimed