site.btaEC President von der Leyen: "We Are Ready to Get to Work Immediately"

"We are ready to get to work immediately," European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen told MEPs here on Wednesday, hours before the European Parliament puts to the vote the composition of the new European Commission.

The EC President presented each of the future European commissioners, who received earlier in the day the final approval from the preliminary hearings.

Research and innovation, science and technology should be at the heart of Europe's economy, she said. "The first pillar is closing the innovation gap. Let me start with the good news. Europe's global share of patent applications is on par with the US and China. But only one-third of these are commercially exploited. We are roughly as good as the US at creating start-ups. But when it comes to scale-ups, we are doing much worse than our competitors. We have to close that gap. So we will put research and innovation, science and technology at the heart of our economy. We will invest more and focus better. And we will ensure that our small companies, our start-ups and scale-ups, can thrive here in Europe. We know what needs to be done. A start-up from California can expand and raise money all across the United States. But a start-up in Europe has to deal with 27 different national barriers. We need to make it easier to grow in Europe. For this and many more reasons the first-ever Commissioner for Start-Ups, Research and Innovation will be Ekaterina Zaharieva. Her leadership and experience will be invaluable to get more breakthrough tech from the lab to the market," von der Leyen said.

Addressing MEPs, she also said that the fight for freedom does not just apply to the 27 EU Member States. "The dream of Europe extends to the Western Balkans, to Ukraine, to Moldova and beyond. We have seen the bravery of the people of Ukraine in pursuing their European journey. We have seen the resilience of the people of Moldova to stick to their European future. We have seen the commitment of the Western Balkans to reform, grow and get ready to join our Union. At the same time, we have seen how Russia will stop at nothing to prevent them having a European future". 

"We will work with all democratic pro-European forces in this House. And as I have done in my first mandate, I will always work from the centre. Because we all want the best for Europe – and the best for Europeans. So now is the time to come together," she said.