Thank you, Dear Minister.
Today, the Polish Presidency presented their policy priorities for the ECOFIN Council.
I welcome the emphasis on competitiveness, including simplification and strengthening Europes defense position and progress with legislative files like the digital euro.
I look forward to working with you, Minister, and closely with the Polish Presidency to achieve the key milestones in this program.
The Council adopted decisions on 21 medium-term plans based on the Commissions recommendations from November.
The Commission recommended a positive assessment of the Hungarian plan last week and invites the ECOFIN Council to decide in February.
Decisions for eight member states in the excessive deficit procedure were also adopted. This is an important step in implementing the new economic governance framework.
The Commission decided not to propose an excessive deficit procedure against Austria but will monitor developments and reassess the situation in spring.
These decisions show that the new economic governance framework works. Its time for implementation.
I also presented the Commissions proposal for the euro area recommendation and alert mechanism.
We discussed simplification and reducing regulatory burden, essential for improving competitiveness.
The Commission provided an update on the progress of NextGenerationEU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
We discussed the situation in Ukraine with participation from Ukraines Finance Minister. Support from Ukraines international partners remains crucial.
The Commission disbursed the first tranche of €3 billion under the new Macro-Financial Assistance instrument.
We also discussed transatlantic relations and cooperation with the new US administration. It is crucial to build strong economic relations with the US.
The EU remains committed to fostering a stable, balanced, and predictable economic and trade partnership with the US.
Thank you.