It is time for a new, re-imagined 'Third Way' to emerge from the strong political centre 

Thank you all and thank you to the Clinton Global Initiative for the invitation to be here today. 

I am grateful to be here to speak to you all as the President of the European Parliament - an Institution that has become, I am proud to say, a worldwide symbol of living democracy. Of Parliamentarianism. Of the way we can build bridges across traditional political divisions, across different cultures, countries - even languages. 

We’ve just emerged from our election cycle where some 400 million people were eligible to vote for their representatives across 27 EU Member States. 

There is nothing like an election to focus minds and to show the urgency of civic engagement. In the European Parliament, we have learnt the need to keep reminding people of why democracy matters to everyday lives. And it is becoming harder than it should be.

Perhaps we took it for granted for far too long, only to now be confronted with a reality, with new generations of voters who despite having all the information of the world at their fingertips - or perhaps because of that - are feeling more disenfranchised, more lonely, more sceptical than at any other time, in my memory at least. 

We’ve witnessed the rise of extremes and while, the constructive centre held in Europe, far too many people, far too many, thought their only option was to vote with the fringes. That is a message that we ignore at our peril. 

For someone like me, who remembers the literal split of Europe - when the only factor that determined whether you had rights or not was whether you were born on the left or the right side of a wall - the virtues of democracy may seem obvious. But most young people I meet across Europe - and I suspect it is the same also here - do not remember a world when democracy was under threat. They simply do not have the reference points like the fall of the Berlin Wall or the return of freedom to Central and Eastern Europe.

It is not enough anymore to just expect people to understand the value of democracy if we do not remind them of its value to their lives every day.

Democracy must be able to provide prosperity and security. It must ensure dignity. It must ensure rights. It must guarantee that people have the chance to fulfil their potential. It must be visible and they must feel it. It must be tangible. And that is our job as politicians, as activists and organisers - as leaders. 

We must do much better at getting the process closer to people. Democracy needs to be our answer to those people who feel abondoned, squeezed out of the economic middle. It must be our answer to those who feel helpless and hopeless. To those who feel the world has gone on without them or who have seen the fabric of their communities change too fast.

Democracy cannot be simply an academic process. Everyone must feel involved. Otherwise we will simply watch in bewilderment as we risk losing a generation to the false safety net of populism, to the easy answers to impossible questions that dominate the TikTok politics we see too much of - or to the shrugging disillusionment of not voting at all. 

I think that when it is seen from that perspective, with some honest reflection, it becomes easier to understand how the appeal of democracy, the struggle to maintain it can no longer be about abstract appeals. 

Just look at Ukraine. A nation fighting not only for its survival but for the freedom of its people. For the democracy that we take as a given. How the rest of the world responds matters. Do we stand with those defending the principles upon which our way of life was built on, or not? To me and to the European Parliament, it is clear: We must stand with Ukraine and we will do so for as long as it takes. Because that is what is fundamentally in our best interest - because our way of life deserves it. Because our rhetoric must be matched with our action. 

We will need to start speaking about what we are for and what we stand for.

We need to inspire the next generations to look at politics as a force for positive change. As a cause for hope rather than the opposite. 

I started my political career about two decades ago as a young woman with no backing, no funding, no network - with more doors slammed in my face than were opened. But what I did have was a great deal of optimism. Of belief. That is what drives me still today. 

We could use a little bit more of that sense of hope in our politics today, of pragmatism, of a better understanding of what makes people frustrated with our systems, of filling the gap between what they expect and what we can deliver, of explaining honestly, of celebrating our successes but admitting the failings of our ways too. Of pushing back against the polarisation and the entrenchment that we see too much of and of re-discovering the benefits of political compromises that we see too little of.  

Perhaps it is time to re-claim the strong political centre as the backbone of a re-imagined “Third Way” that this generation is calling out for.

To underline the need to support the modernisors, the innovators, the risk-takers, rather than those who seek to undermine and destroy.

It takes leaders. It takes politicians. But it also takes you: community leaders, the business community, local grassroots groups and activists to lead the shift away from the comfort of easy cynicism towards looking at politics as a force for positive change. To beat back against complacency. 

It will require patience, it will require leadership. But I am confident that we will get there. 

Thank you.