and in our treaties and conventions that is the legal and moral duty to respect the dignity of every human being the european union can and must to defend these values the european union needs humane borders we must save but saving alone is not enough we must reduce irregular marriage gratian we must fight smugglers and traffickers it's organized crime we must preserve the right to asylum and improve the situation of refugees for example through humanitarian corridors in close cooperation with the un h c r we need empathy and decisive action i am aware of how difficult and the vice of discussions on these issues are we need to

address the legitimate concerns of many and look at how we can overcome our differences i will propose a new pact on migration and asylum including the relaunch of the dublin reform this will allow us to return to a fully functioning shang in the area of free movement the key driver of our prosperity security and freedoms a centerpiece in this ambition is a reinforced european border and coast guard agency we need to reach a standing for of 10000 frontex border guards not by 2027 but way earlier at least by 2024 we have to modernize. we have to modernize our asylum system a common european asylum system must be exactly that common. we can only have stable external borders if we give enough help to member

states facing the most pressure because of where they are on the map we need solidarity we need to help each other and to contribute we need a new way of burden sharing and we must make a fair co-operation offer to countries of origin and transit which are in the interest of both sides diplomacy economic development investment stability and security are needed so that people have a perspective. i would like to tell you a story about perspective 4 years ago i was lucky enough to well come a 19 year old refugee from syria into my home and into my family he spoke no german he was deeply scarred by his experience of

civil war and flight today 4 years later he's fluent in german he's fluent in english he's of course fluent in arabic he is a community leader by day in vocational training and the student for his high school degree by night he is an inspiration for us all and one day he wants to go home. and honorable members as a defense minister i've been many times in this war torn neighborhood i will never forget the words of former president of iraq my son who said we want to see more europe here the world is calling for more you the world needs more you i believe europe should have

a stronger and more united voice in the world and it needs to act fast and that is why we must have the courage to take foreign policy decisions by qualified majority and to stand united behind in 1001 . the cornerstone of our collective defense will always be nato we will stay transatlantic and we have to become more european. this is why we created the european defense union our work for our european union of security and defense isn't bad at all and comprehensive security steadman ization always comes with

diplomacy re conciliation and reconstruction. our service men and service women work side by side with police officers diplomats and development aid workers and honorable members these men and women deserve our at most respect and recognition for that tireless service for europe. thanks to. i cannot talk about europe without talking about of friends from the united kingdom. for the very 1st time in 2016 and member state decided to leave the european union. if you mean thank you. bass is a serious decision we regret it. but we respected.

petite since then together with the current government of the united kingdom the european union has worked hard to organize orderly the orderly departure of the united kingdom the withdrawal agreement concluded with the government of the united kingdom provides certainty where grex it created uncertainty in preserving the rights of citizens and in preserving peace and stability on the island of ireland these 2 priorities are mine too however. i stand ready for a further extension of the real withdrawal date sure more time being required for a good reason to. 80 s.

t. in any case the united kingdom will remain our ally our partner and our friend. in 1000. honorable members when i came to strasbourg 13 days ago i promised i'd come to listen i've heard your concerns your hopes your expectations the political guidelines which i sent to you today reflect our discussions from what i have heard i've drawn my conclusions and i've made my decisions 1st i want european citizens to play a leading and active part in building the future of our union i want them to

have their say at a conference on the future of europe to start in 2020 and to run for 2 years 2nd i want us to work together to improve the schlitz and candied out system we need to make it more visible to a wider electorate and we need to address the issue of transnational lists of the european elections as a complimentary to all of european democracy. and 3rd 18 and 3rd years i support a right of initiative for the european parliament 18 when this house acting by majority of its members adopts resolutions we questing

the commission to submit legislative proposals i commit to responding with a legislative act in full respect of the proportionality subsidiarity and federal law making principles i am convinced that our stronger partnership will further help to make people's voices heard the president. my in fact i've often seen my father was 15 years old when the violent war brought devastation by my country and displacement and destruction to a continent ended thank you know new york he often told his children it's me and my 6 siblings about it i learned that. he told us how significant is it to be. that he said you know the country has reached out. to bring

us into the circle of democratic people one time when you started in the color still community and so you know. we're trading with each other again and if we're trading in friendships will grow up and friends will not shoot at each other which i found out he was head of company for the funder called me in the house down commission yes i did literature general for competition issues that is why i was. i became european i think before later learning that i was german and the citizen of la saxony and that is why there is only one thing for me to unify and strengthen europe uses all push anyone who wishes to strengthen that's not healthy that's your aversion to grow and blossom will find in many a passionate fighter by this. question but anyone i have 6 times we can split or to

story and it's right myself i had a fierce opponent thank you. my father and i mean he's old a ship the end of his life my father's story about europe had changed and he no longer talked about the war so much. he said this europe has like a long marriage the thoughtful life love may not be greater than on the 1st day but tif but it gets deeper vivier visit us films often and because we know that we can rely on each other in good times and advantage because we know we can argue but be reconciled again because we never forget why we fall into this alone oddly enough all of us in this room and i live in

a europe that has grown up mature grown and strong with its 500000000 inhabitants over 200000000 people voted and european elections since europeans have influence on this but europe is one has to take responsibility for itself and this world that's not always easy i'm told it can be painful and difficult but at least one is. mostly noble and judy people want to see that we deliver there we're making progress you know that people are calling for it my children are quite proud to say don't just waste our time doing that and that's what drives me up this is why i need your help and support i call on all europeans therefore she has a heart it is the most precious thing is video we have long you live up your love your long live your thank you thank you chris thank you have been watching special coverage of an address by germany's ursula

fonda line before the european parliament in strasburg it is her last chance to make her case to e.u. lawmakers in her bid to become the 1st woman president of the european commission she needs to secure a majority in a confirmation vote being held later today we saw founder lyon highlight the principles that have guided her career namely is strong europe. in conviction she also highlighted the challenges that she will address as president of the european commission digitalisation climate change and defending based order. and we have a full analysis here in our studio now of the speech that has just taken place our brussels bureau chief max hoffman is standing by in strasburg and we also have melinda crane our chief political correspondent joining us here in the studio and

max i'd like to begin with you because you watched the speech happening live there and you know arcilla funded she really had a lot of people to convince in the room do you think that she did so effectively. well at least she touched upon all the main points that she had to talk about she had a forceful in true saying i stand before you as the 1st nominee or 1st candidate for a 1st female candidate for the presidency of the e.u. commission she mentioned that she was a mother of 7 so she did play that card and in the end she got a little emotional telling stories about her father trying to underline to emphasize how important the e.u. was for the big matters of war and peace and how precious it is in her eyes so for those willing to listen and for those willing to take seriously what she said this was at least in my eyes a strong speech

a speech where she was very forceful where she made a good impressions a speech without real mistakes and you know she had a presence she had an aura she had some applause at the right points so it's certainly not a failure and it might swing some votes. and you know she doesn't just win those votes doesn't she melinda because she does not have a clear majority coming into this vote later this afternoon who does she need to convince the most and what are the chances that she did did so because she didn't come in with kind of a little something for everyone didn't she with the shit she absolutely did but if we had the impression that at times that speech was skewing somewhat leftward i think that's probably for good reason there were 2 party groups that said in advance they would be waiting to hear this speech before their leadership made a recommendation about how to vote and i think it's important to remember this is a secret ballot today so at least initially we won't know exactly who from which party group votes how but basically those 2 groups that said they were awaiting the

outcome of the speech they were the social democratic party group on the one hand and the liberal meaning free market. parties on the other hand. so what we definitely heard her do was pick up on some key issues for social democrats ranging from a europe wide unemployment reinsurance scheme it sounds a bit abstruse but it's something that the s.p.d. has been pushing for for a long time or europe wide minimum wage and a very strong emphasis on climate but it particularly on climate justice saying we need much more ambitious measures on c o 2 reduction she's talking about 55 percent by 2030 that's a significant increase of 15 percent over the current target but saying that has to be paired with social justice measures to ensure that the most vulnerable are brought along and that that definitely is certainly something that would be looking

to appeal to the social democrats and for the liberals i think there was there was emphasized there on how to deal with the big digital giants and fair taxation there was an emphasis on the role of small and medium enterprises how important they are and and i think also there to some words about the importance of investment and markets in terms of getting to the climate goals so both of those would be designed to bring along those factions the party groups that until now have been rather reluctant and let's get a quick listen actually to some of the main points that she made and then we'll get your reactions after some not turning towards also rich area and regimes some of buying their global insurance and creating dependencies by investing in ports and wrote. and other such earning twats protectionism. none of

these options are for us we want multilateralism we want share trade we defend the rules based order because we know it is better for all of us we have to do with the european way. q r us live underline speaking in english there in fact she spoke in 3 different languages during the speech french german english quite effectively max she is talking about defending the rules based order she also really focused a lot on european unity and the need for for building more of that in the in the current environment who was she speaking to here and how important was that message . it's really it really depends on the part of the speech there was a little something for everyone as melinda mentioned a very strong part on climate protection where she probably had the most concrete

measures melinda mentioned one of them 55 percent carbon emissions reduction by 2030 which is far more than her own party the european people's party is asking for and it's something by the way that the greens sort of identified with but that's one of the few parties who said categorically we will not vote for an ally and they did that very quickly i want to have some of the rooms and regret that today because like i said their goals on climate protection they were very much in the camp of the greens definitely in the camp of the social democrats the s. and d. faction here in the european parliament and it's also interesting to see the reactions of course this is now where we'll see if there was a possible significant swing in the votes and one of the standing ovations so one of the people standing for those standing ovations in the end was the leader of the political group of the s in the faction so the social democrats which is a good sign for from the line there was a little something for the liberals as well when she said we need to strengthen

small and medium enterprises as the backbone of the european economy also you know when she talked about migration which was also a very strong part there was something about saving lives being human but also taking decisive action so the part about humanity saving lives certainly something that will please the social democrats also the left even though they're groups that are farther left than the social democrats but the decisive action strengthening border agency strengthening border control that is something that will even please the euro skeptics the conservatives maybe even going slightly towards the extreme right that's also very present here in the european parliament. to really sum it up something for everyone here but the feeling the emotional part of it was rather strong and one of the big emotional parts of we have to address i mean she opened her. right up with it she didn't mince any words she said finally a woman candidate yeah that was very very interesting also her pledge that 50

percent of her commission will be women and that if the member countries don't give her good names for women who could hold those commission portfolios that she'll go back to them and ask for more and she also made proposals as including violence against women in the list of e.u. crimes that are spelled out in the e.u. treaties that is a significant move and i suppose that there might be some real pushback on that from the right wing in the e.u. parliament also i think there are a number of eastern european countries that would not necessarily welcome such a step so that that to quite a forceful measure and she talked about her own time as family minister and how important it was for her to see families put on a stable economic footing meaning support for them again and again that was also a theme here and all of those of course will be messages that will appeal certainly

to some on the left but also to some of the moderate members of her own bloc the european people's party they are most likely to vote for her anyway but certainly the fact that she is a mother of 7 children that's something that many conservatives find find appealing we mentioned the fact that she talked about the e.u. needing to work more as a unified body and i just want to quickly play what she had to say on that matter and they get a reaction after we must should just rediscover our unity. issues we are united on the insight no body will divide us from the outside. if we close the gaps between us we can turn to more of such challenges in tomorrow's opportunities. honorable members almost pressing challenge is keeping our planet

healthy. this is the greatest responsibility and opportunity of our times. she mentioned also max we have to say a green deal for europe. how do you see the prospects of that. well you could see during the campaign already that the big parties the social democrats and the conservatives had miscalculated the importance of that topic while the campaign was in full swing starting at the beginning of this year you had fridays for future youth for climate's all those different youth movements going on the streets of the european union sometimes you know 10 thousands drawing protesting and that was something that helped the greens that's why you had a strong german green delegation here in the european parliament as well but also gains in france gains in the u.k.

and something that for example i said earlier the e.p. didn't really really have in their program so this is a good time to do this because the big parties realize we made a mistake here we need to agra this stronger in our party programs and almost every party identified this as one of their top priorities for this legislative period in the next 5 years so it is a home run in the end you always have to see whether this touches national interest in the case of poland for example where they have a lot of carbon operated charcoal paraded. electricity companies and so you will have these fights between the leaders but like i said the groundwork is there and by the way what she spelled out there also cater to the social democrats with the different with the different goals she has now so you can think that this with this was a good strategy to sway some votes from the social democrats but we talked earlier

to one member of the s.p.d. s.p.d. is the german delegation within the larger s. and d. here in the european parliament i talked to catarina barley to see if all this discussion of the concessions that was enough on the i made had had some effect on her decision not to vote for fund and i and this is what she said. miss morley have you changed your mind over the weekend and yesterday are you going to vote for ms for not i haven't changed my mind it's a question of principle in the 1st place that the european parliament must not get run over by the council. and that hasn't changed at all and then of course there's the political issues and they're also i still have my doubts aren't you afraid of a possible backlash imagine the german s.p.d. prevents that off another one from becoming the commission president this is a danger for the coalition back home this is could some of the institutional crises in brussels the institutional crisis is if if it happens if it is there maybe

already is there because of the council. the european parliament has voted with a huge majority to only accept some kind of that even the conservatives were in favor of that and the council just ignored that and. the parliament voted for that parliament voted for that with a huge majority so the council ignored that and that is something that we cannot accept because this no this was initially. also promoted by by people like me to all of us on and missed so many who who did not want the parliament to to have the power being the people to representation so let me get this right you are not necessarily against. her topics but you're against what happened so how she got there it's just a matter of principle no it's also a matter of political issues because especially on the rule of law which is something that i find

a crucial she is far too soft but she did deliver yesterday on monday in her letter to the social democrats didn't she well it was a bit a bit less. soft than she was when she was in a group but essentially. she is still saying that the rule of law. is a question of law and not a political question and i really heavily disagree there and the whole the whole process of the right wing populists pushing the spits out pushing her and the package and now being quite soft on the rule of law all that surprised me to say no but if you look at the possible alternatives even alternatives that are mentioned by members of your party. who is also a member of the s.p.d. mention people like me who was a member also of the conservative party as an alternative and much more to the

right then. isn't she the lesser of 2 evils. i think what really gets out of focus is that this is. a decision decision for a long long period of time how parliament and council work together and this is something i mean the parliament has always needed to fight for every right and it would be the very 1st time in the history of the parliament that you have a rollback even in the rights of the parliament and that is something very very crucial and it's not about the person itself i know her well and i like her it's about the political content but it's also very much about the of the stability of the european structure catarina barly thank you very much for talking to us this morning a long day ahead. a long day ahead indeed and max we really see it very clearly there are germany's social democrats in the european parliament pushing

a very hard line. yeah you can see that they're having a tough time explaining why they're doing that especially if you keep in mind that they are governing together with the party of was enough on the line back in berlin and i think belinda said it earlier they've backed themselves into a corner that is the feeling that many here have as well it's going to be hard for them to get out of that corner but like i said earlier this is a secret ballot so we're never going to vote never going to know entirely who voted against it for it was enough on the day and at the end of the day to her doesn't really matter all she wants is a majority are there voices though max i mean especially given that this is a secret ballot because see some votes flipped here are there voices within the social democrats who disapprove of their party's opposition to underlines domination. we haven't heard that from the germans the germans have 16 seats and i think the total of the social democratic faction the s. and the faction that political group that has members of almost all countries is

154 so from those 16 we really haven't heard anyone saying that they would vote in favor of fonda line but we've heard from many other social democrats the spanish are the biggest political group right now in the social democratic group and they are in favor as we understand even the leader of that group so the leader of the whole social democrats who have an suv the spanish is stood up and gave her standing ovations also the italians are inspected to vote in her favor we also expect the brits to vote in favor of fundal line because she made such a strong stance on on bragg's it saying here in this speech also she is ready ready to push the withdrawal date even further back if there is a if there is a good reason for that and you can.