(18 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brussels, Belgium – 18 April 2024
1. Wide of Macron arriving
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Emmanuel Macron, President of France:
"There is a strong consensus to sanction which is largely the most important issue and to take clear decisions to sanction not just the officials and the army but all the key players and the industrials and the financiers being involved in the production of missiles and drones and we will follow up. And I think it’s really important to rebuild and strengthen the coalition in order to contain regional destabilization, ballistic and nuclear activities of Iran."
3. Cutaway of news conference
4. SOUNDBITE (French) Emmanuel Macron, President of France:
"How to improve the circulation of European savings and how to direct them into investments in the European economy. Today our market is not integrated enough, there are many costs of transactions and the savings are not properly allocated. So savings are concentrated. Europe has more savings than the United States of America. But those savings are concentrated in a few regions and in a few actors. So they are not well allocated. And every year, around 300 billion euros of these savings go to finance the American economy, because they have better mechanisms and that there is a better profitability on some products.”
5. End of news conference
STORYLINE:
European Union leaders vowed on Wednesday to ramp up sanctions against Iran as concern grows that Tehran’s unprecedented attack on Israel could fuel a wider war in the Middle East.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used the EU summit to remind the leaders that his country still needed further support to combat Russia’s invasion.
The EU has already slapped sanctions on the Islamic Republic but French President Emmanuel Macron said new measures should target “those who are helping to produce the missiles and drones that were used" in the weekend attack.
In a statement released after the first day of their summit, which also focused on the war in Ukraine and ways to boost the bloc’s economic competitiveness, the leaders warned that the EU "will take further restrictive measures against Iran, notably in relation to unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles.”
At the end of the summit, Macron declared that there was agreement on new sanctions.
"There is a strong consensus to sanction which is largely the most important issue and to take clear decisions to sanction not just the officials and the army but all the key players and the industrials and the financiers being involved in the production of missiles and drones and we will follow up," Macron said.
On Thursday the second day of the summit, the EU leaders debated a new “European Competitiveness Deal” aimed at helping the 27-nation bloc close the gap with Chinese and American rivals amid fears the region’s industries will otherwise be left behind for good.
In a volatile geopolitical landscape redefined by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and increasing tensions in the Middle East that create new economic challenges, EU leaders believe there is an urgent need for action.
"Today our market is not integrated enough, there are many costs of transactions and the savings are not properly allocated," Macron said.
China, the U.S. and the European Union are the three largest economies in the world, but the EU’s share has diminished over the past 30 years.
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