The European Parliament held a debate on preparations for the European Council meeting scheduled for October 23, 2025. During the discussion with the European Commission and representatives of the Danish Presidency, ECR Group Co-Chair Patryk Jaki took the floor. The politician criticized the European Union’s policies to date, pointing to the decline in European competitiveness, rising energy prices, and the contradictory and harmful assumptions of the Green Deal.
“Europe is falling apart because of you. Industry, innovation, research, artificial intelligence, space, the Internet—we’ve lost it all. Security, migrants, war abroad once again—you have destroyed everything that was good about Europe,” said Patryk Jaki.
The Polish MEP pointed out the inconsistency in the documents prepared for the European Council summit, which on the one hand call for reducing overregulation in the EU, while on the other hand push for the implementation of further climate goals—which, in his view, only exacerbate this overregulation. “It’s more or less like saying that we must defend freedom in Europe and, therefore, we’ll ban the sale of internal-combustion cars,” he remarked ironically.
Jaki also cited World Bank data showing a real decline in the European Union’s competitiveness relative to global economies. He noted that in 1995, the European Commission had predicted that by 2010, the European Union would surpass the United States in terms of GDP. “Meanwhile, since the introduction of the ETS in 2008, the EU’s GDP has grown by 13.5 percent, while that of the United States has grown by 90 percent,” the MEP pointed out.
Criticizing the EU’s energy policy, Jaki noted that, contrary to official statements, so-called green energy turns out to be significantly more expensive in practice. “The Commission President has stated that green energy is the cheapest. However, when we factor in the ETS, the costs of system stabilization, and the sustainability of investments, it turns out that this energy is actually the most expensive,” he emphasized. The MEP also pointed out the inconsistency in the Commission’s messaging. “Ursula von der Leyen says that the market for green energy is growing. The problem, however, is that the market for traditional industry is growing much faster—at a rate exceeding the European Union’s GDP growth. What’s more, this market is simply much larger,” Jaki noted.
The Polish politician also criticized the data presented by the Commission regarding the alleged reduction in CO₂ emissions. “The problem is that global emissions are still rising, and Europeans—instead of leading the way in reducing emissions—are increasingly just wanting cheap energy,” he emphasized.
According to the MEP, high energy prices in Europe are one of the main causes of stalled economic growth and weakened competitiveness. “Since you became President, energy prices have risen by an average of 30 percent in Europe,” he noted.
Patryk Jaki also warned against the consequences of further expanding the Emissions Trading System (ETS)—including to the construction sector—and against the effects of the trade agreement with Mercosur. “You will destroy housing opportunities for young people through the ETS for buildings, and you will destroy agriculture through the agreement with Mercosur. And while you’re at it, you’ll also destroy people’s health, because you’ll be importing products from Brazil that contain 370 different pesticides, most of which are banned in the European Union,” he warned. “That is why it is time for radical change,” the ECR Group’s co-chair concluded with an unequivocal call to action.
