In times like these, Europe's answer is cooperation over conflict - President Metsola in New York  

Thank you so much, and good afternoon everyone.
 
It's really good to be back at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. And great that we are here to discuss how best to affect change in the world and what it will take to get where we need to be, and ultimately what Europe is doing about it.
 
So, there has probably never been more capital for investment than there is right now, and never more people with good ideas about how to solve the problems we all face. And yet, far too often, the two struggle to find each other.
 
Bringing them together is what this Clinton Global has done so well for over twenty years, from medicines reaching people who could never have afforded them, to rallying support for Ukraine, to changing lives across the world.
 
And it is urgent. We are living in an era, as one would call it, of permacrisis: energy, security, war, climate. And the temptation is always to wait it out. Now, I would argue the opposite. We need to seize the moment and take action. This is exactly when we need good ideas most, and they are out there, in labs, in start-ups, in communities everywhere.
 
But why don’t the funds always reach them? There are three misconceptions or myths that I come across again and again.
 
The first myth is that markets or governments can do this on their own. They can't.
 
Take energy. Prices are up again, and families and businesses everywhere are feeling it. The best protection against the next shock is energy that we can produce ourselves, and partnerships on LNG, to investing in renewables and nuclear, plus the grids and storage that keep it flowing. And that takes hundreds of billions a year, far more than any public budget could carry alone.
 
Now, every banker, every CEO or investor I meet tells me that the capital is ready to move, and the word I hear from all of them is predictability. They want to know where we are heading, that the rules will hold in ten years, and that they won't carry all the risk alone.
 
So what we do in Europe is that we help. We are clear about our long-term goals. We keep the rules stable. And when something isn't working, we adjust. And we use public funds to share some of the early risk, so that private investors feel encouraged to come in. That approach has already helped attract around 400 billion euros of investment.
 
And we are building the same kind of partnership beyond our Union. Just last week, we welcomed Prime Minister Mark Carney to our Parliament in Strasbourg, and our message was that on energy, on critical minerals and security, we are stronger when we invest together. That is the mindset that we have with other partners around the world, from the United States to the Gulf - we can align on the areas that matter to all of us. Because ultimately, we believe that this is a win-win approach.
 
The second myth is that rules scare the capital away. That we somehow have to choose between rules and innovation.
 
I don't believe that. AI is the best example.
 
But they must be the right rules that create guardrails, that build confidence and critically, allow fast innovation and delivery of products. 
 
The opportunities are huge. AI is already helping doctors spot cancers earlier and scientists find new medicines faster, and we are only at the beginning. But none of that counts for much unless people use it. And people use what they trust.
 
I have four boys, and they use AI every day, to answer their questions and make things frankly I could never have imagined at their age. And they trust what it tells them. So both as a mum, and as a leader, I want these systems to be secure.
 
That's why we put guardrails, working across all party lines to make sure it develops responsibly, with less room for bias and disinformation. And founders tell us the same as the bankers. They can work with rules, they even welcome them, as long as they're clear and the same for everyone, and as long as they don’t stifle crucial innovation, because rules you can rely on are what make a market worth building and investing in.
 
And it shows. In some of our Member States, people are taking up AI faster than in the United States. They are testing these tools, they are giving feedback, helping make them better, co-creating them, really. Trust is what makes technology spread, so the right guardrails are a launchpad, not a brake. And without the best society that trusts you on your side, even the most potentially successful product would struggle.
 
And we are backing the builders, with funds for research, for start-ups, and for the computing power our companies need to train and scale their own models. That is the Europe I want the world to see.
 
Now, we have all heard, lately, some of the very people leading the biggest AI companies tell us that we should slow the pace at the frontier, so that safety can catch up. I see that as an invitation to work together, as we get ready for the clash between democratic and autocratic AI. We are working through it with our transatlantic partners, who face the same questions. And this is an issue we cannot afford not to work together on.
 
I am an optimist about all of this, though never a naive one, and I want Europe and America, together, to be the ones shaping where AI goes next. The real race is not between ourselves but with those who wish to use this technology to dominate, to impose, and fundamentally, to limit freedom. We don’t fear AI. In fact, I think it will shape the next generation of breakthroughs, so for me it is about building trust, not blocking development. Because we can do both.
 
The third myth is that good ideas will always find the money.
 
They don't. And I know that nobody here needs convincing, because so many of you have spent years backing the people others overlooked.
 
And allow me here to underline that if we really want to unlock capital, we need to back women. Across Europe, companies founded only by women still get a couple of cents of every venture capital euro. Secretary Clinton once said that women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world. And those numbers prove it. Our Parliament fought for years to promote women on company boards. Because when you back women, whole communities benefit.
 
It is the same for young founders, who want capital that lets them grow at home, which is why we are working to give people in Europe more ways to invest in European companies. It is also why philanthropy is so important, taking the first step where markets haven't yet looked, and why civil society helps the money land where it is needed most.
 
Ultimately, whether it is energy, AI or development, none of these challenges can be solved without partners, without us working together.
 
And so, before I go, let me leave you with my commitment. We in the European Parliament will keep giving people the clarity and predictability they need to invest with confidence, we will keep encouraging investment in the ideas that markets haven’t noticed yet, and we will be a partner you can count on. I hope many of you take us up on that, because that is the promise of our European Union.

Thank you.