Jordi Solé on SOTEU: “I hope in next debates I can address you in my mother tongue, which is Catalan”

EFA Group President Jordi Solé intervened in plenary today during the State of the European Union debate with the President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen.

Jordi Solé MEP highlighted the change the union has experienced in the last few years, the cross-party agreements reached due to all the unprecedented circumstances, and the willingness to collaborate with each other to work for  the European citizens

“During your and our mandate, some circumstances mostly unexpected push us to have to kind of reinvent ourselves as a union. We took decisions that were unthinkable a few years ago and we became more aware of ourselves as a political community with values and interests to stand for.”

But Sole also warned about the risks of working with those who do not respect democracy and want to put an end to the progressive policies the EU has reached. He asked for ambition when working towards a better future, and guarantee that no European citizen will be left behind.

“Now, we cannot bow down to those who call with misleading arguments for an end to Much-Needed policies like those of the Green Deal. We need to go on facing our challenges with political ambition without leaving anyone behind with more attention to social issues, which has been the big missing thing in your speech and guided by a sense of responsibility towards future generations.”

With the current debate on the possibility of including Catalan, Basque and Galician as official EU languages, the EFA Group President also wished for this to become a reality.

“And you mentioned Europe's diversity. I hope next time in the next debates I can address you in my mother tongue, which is Catalan.”