The king started his speech by highlighting the bond between Belgium, a founding member, and the EU. The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the Union has made “important legislative progress” in recent months, he said, and “we will continue to work with conviction and commitment, because belief in Europe is in our DNA.” This also applies to the monarch personally, he said, “not only as head of state and as a Belgian, but also as a human being.”
It was far from the first time that a king addressed the European Parliament. The kings of Spain, the Netherlands and Jordan, among others, have preceded King Philip in recent years. The speech is also not a first for the Belgian royal family. The previous Belgian king to give a speech in the European Parliament was Baudouin, in 1987 in Strasbourg.
Long term vision
King Philip emphasized that Europe has shown unity in recent years, including in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, in the fight against the corona pandemic and in support to Ukraine. “In every crisis, at every turning point, we show ourselves united and decisive.”
But things can be better, the king also thinks. “The European Union is about more than just crisis management. A long-term vision must drive her,” he said. For example, Europe must “continue to persevere unanimously in the fight against climate change” and the Union is “still too fragmented” economically. “We cannot miss the train of electric mobility, of semiconductors, of batteries, of rare raw materials and of artificial intelligence. Too often we lag behind in invention, but especially in innovation.”
Green revolution
For King Philippe, the European Union must therefore put its shoulders to the wheel of “European reindustrialization, aimed at the green and digital revolution”. And if there is no budget for this within the European budget, “we must dare to be open to other financing flows”.
Finally, the monarch believes that the European institutions must work “to achieve greater credibility with regard to their own functioning”, because he is “concerned about the loss of faith and confidence in our institutions and in the growing autocratic trend in the world.” ”. According to the king, policymakers must focus on the “major concerns and fears of citizens and present results” and also involve citizens better in democratic processes.
Conflicts
Without mentioning a concrete conflict by name, King Philip also talked about “the ability to be outraged by the suffering of peoples engaged in an inhuman war.” “Europe should be the home of humanity. Let Europe therefore be the engine of a geopolitics of humanity.”
The king did talk explicitly about the conflict in Ukraine. He called that “also our struggle”. “This is about defending our safety and our values. We also feel threatened. Rightly so.”
