BRUSSELS, Belgium. March 19, 2026
2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the European People’s Party. For half a century, faithful to our values, we have put our citizens at the centre of our political action. We have been the engine of European integration, for freedom, democracy and prosperity, and still today we are the strongest political force of the continent. We can count on the support of millions of Europeans. While we take stock of past achievements, we assume the responsibility to lead the way to address the geopolitical and socio-economic challenges we are facing today.
In the current brutal global context, the EU must do everything it takes to establish itself as credible global actor to be able to shape the new international order. It must accelerate the push for European independence to ensure that its security, prosperity, democracy, and place in the world can withstand – and be strengthened. To achieve that, we have to speak with one European voice, and we want to use the full potential of the current Lisbon Treaty to make this happen. We are convinced that in foreign affairs matters we need new ways to decide to be more impactful. To move towards the Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in foreign affairs and to overcome repeated blockades, we are ready to use more often flexibilities provided in the Treaties, including the enhanced cooperation mechanisms among willing Member States. Moreover, past and present threats to peace in Europe urge us to define further and to operationalise article 42(7) TEU, to create a dependable "Mutual Defence Clause", ensuring that it complements Article 5 of the NATO treaty. To establish credible deterrence, European solidarity must extend into the field of defence, while respecting the policy of military neutrality of certain member states.
Against the backdrop of this ambition to take up the leadership responsibility, the conflict in the Middle East and the economic outlook are the most urgent items to address.
Developments in Iran are greatly concerning. The Iranian regime has inflicted immense suffering to its population and has posed long lasting threats to the world with its nuclear programme. Europe has long been calling for the dismantling of the regime’s instruments of repression and of its nuclear capabilities and has imposed strong sanctions. International humanitarian law must be respected in all conflicts.
In the current volatile situation, any escalation of the conflict must be prevented, and civilians must be protected. We condemn the Iranian regime’s attacks to its neighbours. We reiterate European Union’s steady support to Cyprus, whose security is inseparable from EU security. In this respect, we commend the deployment of assets by five EU member states to enhance security in the Eastern Mediterranean region. We want to strengthen solidarity and deepen cooperation with our Southern Neighbourhood and Gulf partners, including through the Pact for the Mediterranean.
These developments underline once more the importance of building a stronger European defence for 2030, and to speed up a European drone and missile defence shield to protect EU’s Member States.
This is a regional conflict with global implications. The impact on Europe is already visible, whether on energy, supply chains, finance, security or other dimensions. In this context, we support exploring national and EU measures to mitigate rising energy costs caused by the conflict in the Middle East, as to stabilise the market and prevent further inflation. Rising energy prices once again underscore the need to continue our efforts to decarbonise and to reduce our dependency on imported fossil fuels. This should be framed within the urgent and ongoing work to address structural issues, which drive up the cost of energy for households and businesses alike. In addition, it is expected that this conflict will lead to significant displacement of people, either within the region or closer to Europe, for which we should be well prepared. It is essential to strengthen our common security and fully deploy our migration diplomacy, ensuring an orderly and rigorous management of flows.
We condemn Hezbollah’s actions to drag Lebanon into yet another war with Israel, in support of the Iranian Regime and the IRGC. Hezbollah’s attacks resulted once again in an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, affecting civilians, infrastructure and both economies. We call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the total disarmament of Hezbollah, while we reiterate our support to the Lebanese army, including through financial assistance. Peace talks between Lebanon and Israel should not be delayed any further and EU should play its role to support this process.
We recognise Ukraine’s defence as vital for Europe’s freedom and security, and we reaffirm our unwavering support to Kyiv. Ukraine’s internal resilience requires political unity, pluralism and institutional balance, as defending the rule of law under war conditions remains essential. In this respect, we stress the need to safeguard media freedom and independent anti-corruption bodies in the country. We reaffirm our continued support for Ukraine’s path toward membership based on merit.
Economic growth and competitiveness
We reiterate our commitment to sustaining Europe’s economic growth and competitiveness by simplifying existing legislation and cutting red tape, strengthening supply chains, investing in innovation and digital technologies, relaunching our core industrial sectors, ensuring robust protection of our companies against unfair competition, and protecting our economic security. We support the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.
Furthermore, we call for a Permitting Omnibus that systematically addresses barriers in EU legislation, particularly in environmental legislation. It is a crucial EPP success that the European Commission proposes a Joint Roadmap with concrete proposals and a timeline to deepen the Single Market by 2028, including an ambitious Savings and Investments Union and a completed Energy Union. The Single Market is our greatest asset, and we need to be able to make full use of it for our economic prosperity. Europe can grow - if we lift our own barriers.
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