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To the Chancellor's speech Olaf Scholz In the European Parliament, as the European policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, I make the following statement:
Chancellor Scholz's speech to the European Parliament set the course for the future. Clear signals are needed in European politics: The European Union must strengthen its competitiveness and ability to act instead of adopting new spending programs and additional regulations.
For a real turning point, the EU must also efficiently reform itself and the way it works. We continue to promote the transition to qualified majority voting in the Common Foreign and Security Policy and welcome Scholz's call for an integrated EU defense industry.
The economic policy of the EU also needs a turning point. Overregulation, subsidy races and a lack of debt reduction are weakening the EU.
Instead, it must cleverly play to its strengths by becoming more attractive again as a business location, completing its domestic market, exemplifying openness to technology and research, and promoting trade agreements such as Mercosur.
The system rivalry with China and other dictatorships, in particular, means that we Europeans must always seek solidarity with the USA, Canada and other democracies.
