Official Inauguration of Greek House Davos 2023 "Strengthening the European architecture in times of global crises"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, let me thank Greek House Davos and its Chair Ms Irini Vantaraki for the invitation to speak on "Strengthening the European architecture in times of global crises".

In recent years we have indeed seen a very rapid increase in changes and challenges for humankind: after the economic and financial crisis, there was a migration crisis, then COVID-19 with its consequences for our economies and societies; All this against a background of climate change that becomes more and more threatening for our planet. Only last year, one of the worst draughts hit Europe reducing harvests by 30% in some countries and putting navigation to a halt even in our major rivers.

The European Union has been answering to new challenges by innovating its policies and procedures, often in a revolutionary way: allow me to just mention the unprecedented cooperation in the sanitary field we witnessed, the concept of united strength which Europe's recovery plan NextGenerationEU is based on, as well as the Green Deal meant to transform Europe into the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

This is the mood in which we started the year, but then a new tragedy has dramatically changed our perspectives. Russia's war on Ukraine is not only a terrible act of aggression, it is also an attempt to violently change the international order against all principles of peaceful resolution of conflicts, international cooperation, democracy and rule of law the EU stands for. The war and its disruptions of global trade, as well as competition for raw materials and energy sources, have caused a rise in inflation with direct repercussions on the living of our citizens. The EU is responding to these crises also through closer cooperation, within the Union and with like-minded countries. The Union has also granted candidate status to Ukraine, Moldova and conditionally to Georgia, sending a message of geopolitical determination. 

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the biggest challenges now next to ending the war in Ukraine, especially in view of approaching winter, is energy. The Union is working hard to reduce its energy dependencies and secure alternative gas supplies. EU countries gas reserves are already filled on average to 82.5% of their capacity. This shows collective mobilisation. But there is still a lot to be done to reform the EU's energy market. We need to act quickly, in order to secure affordable prices for business and end consumers. Let's be clear: Failure to do so will put a strain on the EU's democratic system. Therefore, we have high expectations on what the Commission will be proposing to the Member States these days.

I would like to put a particular stress on the energy transition: decarbonisation needs to continue being our priority, not despite this crisis but because of this crisis. The transition will require both individual and collective changes, and the EU needs to consistently adhere to the basic objectives of its energy policy: security of supply, reasonable costs and prices, and carbon-neutrality. The war in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis further underlines the need for the green transition to succeed.

Another pressing challenge I mentioned is high inflation. Inflation impedes competitiveness and triggers a faster monetary policy response than expected, with an increasing pace of raising interest rates. The growth in consumer prices is particularly dangerous, as it erodes purchasing power and deteriorates the social situation of households. We must ensure a recovery that helps Europe to be more competitive, sustainable and resilient. We need reforms to achieve the digital and green transitions while leaving no one behind.

My institution, the EESC, is aware of the enormous difficulties of implementing an economic policy that simultaneously aims to reduce inflation and to ensure economic growth, employment and the sustainability of public finances. The European authorities, national governments and the European Central Bank must act in close coordination to ensure that the withdrawal of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies is carried out in such a way as not to lead to a new recession. We also warn against actions that would curtail social, educational and health expenditure.  The EESC's main proposal for the revision of the fiscal framework is to introduce a golden rule for public investments, while safeguarding medium-term fiscal and financial stability. While extraordinary situations require extraordinary measures, we must never forget that dept we take today, tomorrow is the backpack on our children and grandchildren shoulders and future. 

Ladies and gentleman, the geopolitical shock caused by the war in Ukraine has led to new resolute decisions, like unprecedentedly harsh economic sanctions against Russia, unconditional support to Ukraine, and the recognition of candidacy status for Ukraine and Moldova, and possibly for Georgia too. A reflection has started on a new security architecture for Europe, with the proposal of a European Geopolitical Community which would work in concentric circles according to our neighbours' degree of preparedness for integration, without ruling out the enlargement perspective.

All this complements the ongoing debate on Europe's strategic autonomy and on a common European defence in a framework of NATO cooperation. Earlier this year, the Council of the EU adopted the Strategic Compass, a tool to make the EU a stronger security provider which can protect its citizens and contribute to international peace and security. But as the compass had been conceived when a conventional high-scale war in Europe was not among the foreseen scenarios it might require a review.  Once again, solidarity is key: for example, if European countries had a common energy policy and a common grid that brings extra energy produced in Spain to the rest of the continent, we would be a lot further now on our path to energy sovereignty.

All these open dossiers lead me to the need of strengthening the European architecture in order to better face global crises and become more resilient. This was one of the goals of the Conference on the Future of Europe: the future will come with new challenges that are not likely to make our life easier, and for this reason we cannot take citizens' support for granted. The increasingly important role of the EU in facing large-scale problems requires a strengthened democratic process: we cannot rely on elections once every five years to receive feedback. We need to involve citizens and organised civil society by default when taking decisions having impact on their daily lives.

The Conference on the Future of Europe proved that citizens' involvement is an added value: we should learn from this and build a long term-mechanism. The Conference also called for a stronger role of the European Economic and Social Committee, the institution I chair, as a bridge between organised civil society and the European decision-makers. We are constantly intervening, with different opinions and resolutions, on all the challenges employers, workers and civil society are facing and that in our view call for a common European response. We will continue working as a guarantor of participatory democracy as participatory democracy is getting increasingly important in the current rapidly-changing scenario: we need to ensure that no one is left behind in the major developments leading us to the future.

Thank you for your attention and looking forward to continued cooperation.