this is news coming to you live from berlin a major policy speech from the german chancellor angela merkel is due to speak before parliament in just a few moments it's her first such address since the general election last september and the bringing you live coverage and plenty of analysis. hello i'm terry marchin good to have you with us chancellor angela merkel is due to

give a key policy speech in parliament in just a few minutes she's expected to focus on the e.u. summit starting to morrow the e.u. talks will address how to plug the braggs it budget hole for the remaining twenty seven member states it's thought that britain's departure from the e.u. in twenty nineteen could leave a twelve billion euro annual shortfall which medical admits will be very challenging but we're looking at live pictures right now coming from the parliament we saw. live there just of moments ago he's now the new president of the parliament since last september's election there is the former finance minister just opening up this important session it's been five months now since the election and chancellor merkel is still seeking to form a new government but she's still serving as caretaker chancellor her. the party of

course did the best in that election in september and is still trying to form a government right now they do have an agreement with the social democrats but as yet to be approved as medical heads off to brussels to morrow for that important summit our political correspondent thomas sparrow is standing by there for us covering the chancellor's speech today thomas regularly addresses parliament but today is special tell us what makes this speech so important today. terry we're standing here in the german parliament to my left is where that session is just starting the session that you spoke about as we saw those live pictures if as you say correctly i'm going to does often come here to the parliament to address the parliament on a wide range of of issues in this particular case it's obviously the first speech that she gives before this parliament since that election in september it also

means it will be the first time she's directly confronted with some of the most vocal opponents namely the members of the party alternative for germany described as far right an anti immigrant so this is certainly one of the reasons why this meeting today why this session right here in the german parliament is particularly important but also because of what you also addressed the fact that germany has now been for many months without a new stable government this is something that will obviously be discussed here as well not only what priorities there are for germany but also what priorities there are for germany what that coalition coalition deal that was signed between conservative and social democrat carries and also what risks germany has because of the fact that it hasn't had a new stable government since the election in september so two in a search in a certain extent we can say that this speech here that i'm going to merkel will give about the e.u. about the upcoming summit has been in

a way overshadowed by the fact that germany has been for such a long time without a stable government. turns a local she generally briefs the parliament just before you so she's about to do so no it's just serco straight over to her speech chancellor. the other big if you can but we are only there to seeing what is happening in the world around us and we also saw how trusted principles being don't it's how established partnerships are tested we want. this is how europe is exposed due to its geographical position. he was in libya syria ukraine are not happening somewhere in the world but a few by plane away from berlin we also know that the violation of borders which have been recognized by international law in europe is no longer to we also notice how the focus of the global economy is beginning to shift primarily to asia china

you have been companies are no longer heading the world in every sector digital progress in particular means that other regions are developing much faster. for these reasons. i know that the world is not waiting for us for us and germany or even for us and europe secondly more than ever we will need to find european answers to the urgent questions on far time. because if you know a guy named. that is the spirit. which will also. be highlighting tomorrow the summit meetings debates the heads of state and government let us look back twenty sixteen bratislava we started it. with a new process partly because we realize that many decisions are simply made too

slowly but also because of the u.k.'s decision to leave the european union and we decided to start a new process and i joined actually her games were developed for migrations of uni security both internal and external and not least social development these are areas where we want to convince people by offering them create our missus and then it's straight into the net europe can you do something for him and a video people in these countries. on the occasion are celebrating the anniversary with treaties of rome being signed we confirmed this once again and in october the council gave itself a novel ambitious work shed where the individual steps of the work were defined which were to be done until twenty nineteen and that is also points to one of those informal summit meeting is all about so it's not exactly my chance that the first chapter of the new coalition agreement drawn up between the c.d.u. c.s.u.

and the social democrats in germany is devoted to europe that is our national answer to the european have gendered. it's clearly not an exaggeration for me to say that europe has not been a figure in the so prominently in any previous coalition agreement and that emphasizes what i have frequently emphasized myself that even germany can only continue to thrive in the future if europe prizes well. of the and i mean even they love us. and that means we are clearly committed to a european work programme after all we need a new dawn for europe. and there are three areas in particular which are important and will be a so in my discussions today and tomorrow and brussels us while the first is the subject of migration which is so important to all of us and i could wish an

agreement we have laid down that we will continue to consistently work on the mood causes for migration after all nobody whether he or she runs run a war from persecution from a lack of prospects will leave his or her country lightheartedly and that also means that fighting the root causes of such migration of men this is something which has to be in the home countries are as close to them as possible. in fact that for me that was informal a more. fine tuning morning that means tomorrow morning just before the informal leasing starts we are going to have a meeting of the e.u. commission the african union and the united nations with the five star her countries china. and the share book enough loss of mauritania and france spain italy and germany will participate or not meeting. on that occasion we will look into the question of how to cooperate against illegal migration and. development

corporation and we will also focus on combating terrorism in this region. to the e.u. commission one of which has played a major coordinating role progress has been made in these areas in recent months germany has been very actively involved in the approach particularly share we are supporting the government when it fighting unscrupulous all the silly taters people smugglers who really look down on people generally and one of the success stories is that together with the government don't we share we are creating an outlook for the development for work in the regions for the people on the spot we also support the highly regarded work of the international organization for migration as well the i.n.r. and the coalition agreement c.d.u. c.s.u. and s.p.d. also looked into how to effectively protect european borders which is important and

emphasize we also keep to the need of a joint european asylum system which will be robust against prices also have to be in a spirit of solidarity particularly as far as a fair division of refugees all over europe is concerned it is that and that ladies and gentlemen is the chapter on european migration policy which is the most satisfactory without any doubt however it's equally not in doubt that perseverance and patience will help us find a salute. which will be sustainable and in the spirit of solidarity until june this year we want to have made substantial progress on this. the second factor is the economy the competitiveness of the european union must be strengthened as i one of our central tasks particularly in times when the economy is doing well therefore it is not to be underestimated but after the difficult years of the european

debt crisis we will see that people are economically doing much better all the countries within the euro zone have shown once they will grows prospects for this and the coming year i do all of the europe more people are are gainfully employed as the have in the previous line here. and yet we mustn't rest on our laurels as far as the successes are concerned on the contrary. we need to make quick progress when it comes to shaping digital change will we in europe manage to use the new options offered by technology in such a way that we will remain competitive in the international arena that question is unresolved but that prosperity of the future will finish on it and so creating a digital internal market is essential to. our most important is the estonian presidency at the special summit in tallinn last autumn did

a major contribution to that also showing us how far we can in gate i can get in nation states on that it's to do with creating an digital infrastructure of research as well as chips are concerned about research in artificial intelligence in particular it concerns questions of how to tax international companies how to implement our new data protection. directive which is to all pose a major challenge as well but above all what concerns us is we have to take people on board. take the concerns and fears seriously but create the conditions for everybody to benefit from digital progress through lifelong learning and related programs. to my love and fear but i also just i don't give it up when he belongs to the economic and monetary union in europe we haven't got to the end of the road again which is why improving competitive as in the euro zone has still be made more

effective it will entail so for responsibility exercised but each member country which means they have to have ambitious reforms thereby strengthening their own economic growth competitiveness but of course the compass i our action will remain the european system and liability and control the market will go together to be a guiding principle that is one of the subjects they were discuss in detail in march and parallel our unitary union a cop coming here on the commander plane ladies and gentleman. common your foreign and security policy we want to make speak with one voice to the outside world when one major contribution of that is to further strengthening the c.f.a. speak i am not them actually after a remarkably brief preparatory periods and germany and france played a minor role in that they come from eating a december kickstarted structured corporation and in the area of defense that was

a project that would have actually gone if the ground in your list for decades now in the next few days we would also have to initiate the first concrete projects and ladies and gentlemen let me and therefore make a brief comment on the national debate on this issue our armed forces excellent work in the many international deployment areas where now the second largest provider of troops with a nato. so we are actually. playing a major road and let me also take this opportunity to thank all our armed forces personnel both in germany and britain. that then. the other things secondly there are deficit zooming out in the taleban dismay and these deficits are due to developments that go back many many years and

it's proper for the commission of the armed forces to actually name these problems . but it is equally important that we do not forget the achievements which have been made at the same time and we must also be careful that internationally we don't get into this i want to be is on the one hand lamenting all the things that don't work right in our own country while on the other hand we are i would say the you know the only member country if they did who keeps questioning. what are the only obligations are which we have agreed to when it comes to the defense spending and these two things don't work to the other and they don't make us a reliable partner in the alliance ladies and gentlemen india. apart from increased cooperation in the field of security a united europe in front in the. security policy is also one of the priority us that means so we can bring europe's weight to bear when it comes to trying to

resolve international conflicts when it comes to a foreign policy which is a truly joint foreign policy that has not yet to be done both as far as our relations with russia and china are concerned but equally as far as our own is concerned when it comes to resolving the regional conflict including their disenchantment their colleagues i'm sure you're feeling just the way i do what we're seeing right now. the horrifying events that come in syria this is the fight of one regime not against terrorists but against its own population. killing children destroying hospital. all of these constitute a massacre which needs to be condemned we say it clear no to this but at the same time it requires us to play a larger role in this making sure we can end such a massacre and we as your opinions need to strive for that. is that i didn't do all

of this is an appeal which also goes to the allies of ourselves regime a particular iran and russia and there is a responsibility and now the foreign minister has talked to the international red cross or mr lowry he's also going to talk to the russian foreign minister we have to do all in our power so we can end this massacre. and on into. the ladies and gentlemen c.d.u. c.s.u. and s.p. the coalition and. putting into gear some major signals for what could well be a successful in european policy on germany's part and it also makes clear germany is willing to show to its responsibility that brings me to what is expected of the informal meeting tomorrow twenty seven. heads of state and government are going to be present but not the u.k. but we're going to look into the future of european institutions and the future

financial framework of the european union over all this we must not forget that twenty nineteen is going to be a year where many changes within the euro and european policy will happen and that's why in twenty eighteen we have to make sure we get the things we put in motion in right and in the end of the year the year you k. one of the biggest countries. he's going to leave the european union and two months later. europeans will elect a new joint european parliament one in the autumn a new commission is going to be appointed in november twenty nine thousand the second and last period of office of donald tusk the president of the council is going to come to an end and these are all developments that we need to prepare for now. partly means institutional progression particularly preparation a part of the parliament for the next european elections and in this context we're going to talk about what our. challenge is already a candidate which is very much

a part a political issue of the group i belong to the european peoples party has already decided that it is part of the bylaws of the party but the fact that the u.k. is going to leave i mean is that seventy three thousand seats in the european parliament are going to be vacant in the european parliament is suggesting that twenty seven of the seventy three seats are to be unique distributed while the others are to be saved partly to be holding the reserve for the future that i expect that suggestion to meet with a broader agreement on part of the heads of state and government when talking about the future of europe that is a debate which cannot be divorced from the new european financial framework which will statements from the year twenty twenty one which is why on friday we will discuss that for the very first time. the financial framework has to be at least in part an answer to the question as to what is the kind to europe we want in the

future the new budget is it will support europe to actually be able to master the many new challenges and the priorities and agree on their floor after to be reflected in. the budget accordingly but of course the fact that the u.k. is leaving the european union and that doubt as is it is a cut in the budget but. and i see that also as an opportunity as an opportunity to actually make it a test of the european financial system and we have to make sure that we look at what really is essential and our decisions should be governed by where a european added value. and with actually it's gone up for us in our countries and for europe as a whole incident that we want to have a europe capable of action which is solid personae solidarity and self-confidence to achieve this we must be ready to strengthen europe wherever a european solution is better than any national one one such example would be

setting up european border security. and that european border security is much more effective now than it was just two years ago and protecting externally borders is something which in twenty sixteen was put on the new bases and the european coastguard system from texas has also given me a palace and yet there is still a lot to be done and up particular area fourteen thousand kilometers is the length of the e.u. external borders which is why frontex needs to have far more people. i don't know if at the end of district or for middle and with me when it comes to redistributing their structural funds funding they must make sure that the criteria will also take into account how committed various regions and areas are when it comes to accepting migrants and refugees ladies and gentlemen the overarching objective of a modernized e.u. budget has to be

a competitive. that means we need to see things and research innovation and digitization as well as infrastructure just as we have written it into our coalition agreement but equally in your funds should be used more that when it comes to facilitating the implementation has talked to reforms or structural reform is a permanent job in order to. achieve on top if europe and our budget in europe has to. make a major contribution to this when looking at the region we have to make sure that the new e.u. budget will also guarantee a good strong policy of less developed countries require continuing to support our e.u. a structure of still considered to be of benefit to all member countries so that whatever challenges there all of our can be tackled that is again a question of its own internal logic that it is the way we understand this solidarity is not a one way street. it is up to every single member country never to lose sight of

being responsible for the home which also includes we must make sure we maintain our joint values which after all is what the european union is based on in makes it even more original tomorrow's meeting or informal meeting of the type to seventy heads of state and government we will also look at how to promote your ally dialogues among the citizens that is one way in which we try to get. more into the day to day awareness of people i think that's a very important thing to do as the former government we had a dialogue with european citizens which was not want video enlightening but we also need to advertise the european idea we need to try to get people in fizzy ask dick about europe but that in turn entails we listen to people. we take better care of their might of wants their concerns their needs and the best way of doing that is

to talk to people on a personal basis that much is why we would like to have a dialogue with civil society with the citizens and together with the french president in one way or. informal meeting about try to make sure that as many member countries as possible will take part in those dialogue sessions and the results of each and every national dialogue has to be put together with the other one so. in the end so that it can be used to support our further ideas about europe because that's exactly what citizens expect not just to have a chat with us to make but to make sure that whatever they tell us actually is used . very great financial clout you know president the commission has actually offered to his commission from his for supporting this. dear colleagues these are the guidelines people follow for this will come a meeting of theme from some of the next regular meeting is going to be held in march and our meeting is to create a joint understanding as to how the future twenty seven e.u.

manner countries intend to go into the future and how they've been masked of the challenges that we are all facing with perseverance the sense of responsibility and the willingness to serve the european ideal and then we can be successful and germany will do all that in order to be successful thank you. to write the disconsolate in money down one pound euro put it soon and that was chancellor merkel wrapping up her address to the german parliament her first major address to parliament since september's election she is briefing the parliament ahead of the informal summit of the twenty seven remaining member states after that britain leaves the chancellor outlined her priorities for that meeting in brussels our correspondent sparrow is with us there in the parliament he's been

following that speech very closely thomas so what struck you most about michael speech. i would probably summarize merkel's speech in one sentence that she said about midway through her speech it's all about europe capable of acting she mentioned a wide range of areas in which she believes europe should be more capable of acting whether we're talking about about migration whether talking about the competitiveness in in europe whether you're talking about european security whether you're talking about a larger role of europe in international conflicts such as the one in syria that she today again mentioned so it's all about how to make europe in europe more capable of acting and those are issues that she will certainly try and discuss with the other european leaders at the european summit if i would say that was the key aspect that angela merkel stressed today in this speech here at the german

parliament as you mentioned terry the first speech that she presents here since the election in september and now it's up for the other members of parliament to debate that speech and to debate those european proposals well the chance was it was fairly clear about what her priorities would be meeting with the other heads of state in government there in brussels to morrow thomas but how much leverage does the chancellor still have given that she has been unable to form a government since september selection. well she still has leverage that's that's clear because she's still the chance naldo in a caretaker position but it is also clear that that leverage has been dented if you will by the fact that germany has been without a new stable government by the fact that german politicians have been focusing first and foremost in trying to get that new stable government in other words they've been focused on the local situation here in german in germany instead of

also focusing specifically the situation abroad that's been clear in the last few months the focus of angela merkel and other major politicians here in germany has been trying to forge those coalition deals if that coalition deal is approved and it's important to stress that it's a big if because it still has to be approved by the entire membership of the social democrats then she would certainly recover that whole leverage that she has had in previous years and also in particular because the coalition deal if you look at it very carefully it has a very big and important chapter in europe that something else that anglo-american stressed here today that that european chapter in the coalition deal will certainly help germany bring those proposals to the european floor and probably be able to discuss them and pass them as well thomas thank you so much should it be a political correspondent thomas sparrow there. down the german parliament thomas going to stay with us now for

a little bit i understand thomas you mentioned chancellor the chancellor's efforts to put together the coalition she's been of course negotiating with the social democrats they've managed to come up with an agreement but it still has to be approved by the rank and file of the social democratic party what do you manage to take from her speech regarding her efforts to form a government and what what the priorities would be if she manages to get that coalition going with the social democrats. well in a way this speech although it was mostly about europe it has clearly been overshadowed by this uncertainty here in the german parliament but also the wider uncertainty in germany about the fact that there hasn't been a government in place since the election and in september the government has been in a caretaker position as i already mentioned but i'm going to call clearly wanted to stress today that that coalition deal is important for germany it is important as well from a european perspective and that's something that she clearly presented today right from the spirit. after seven years to

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