Thank you. Good afternoon everyone.
We had a busy agenda today with diverse topics.
We started with discussions on the impact of the uncertain international environment on macroeconomic forecasts.
We discussed recent announcements by the new US administration regarding trade policies and US commitment to security in Europe.
Regarding tariffs, the EU will respond firmly and immediately against unjustified trade barriers that threaten European businesses, workers, and consumers.
In terms of security, it is clear we need ambitious investments in our defense capabilities and industry, both at the EU and national level.
And we need to do it now.
The EU will continue to insist on the benefits of multilateral cooperation and a rules-based global system.
This will also be the key message we will bring to the upcoming G20 meetings in Cape Town.
We also discussed the new US administrations announcements regarding the OECD Global Tax Deal.
We especially regret these announcements given that the US and EU have always shared the same interest in curbing profit shifting to low-tax jurisdictions.
Profit shifting and tax avoidance deprives both jurisdictions of tax revenues in a similar way.
We will continue to value global solutions to addressing international tax problems and remain committed to the obligations we undertook in the OECD over the last years.
Today we also exchanged views on Ukraine.
The EUs approach to support Ukraine as long as it takes and to increase political and economic pressure on Russia remains unchanged.
To stop Russia, Europe must urgently boost its own security and defense and continue to support Ukraine. We will step up, as it is a crucial moment now.
Already, Europe has provided more support to Ukraine than anyone else.
Financially, this year alone, the EUs support to Ukraines budget will be over EUR 30 billion through the Ukraine Facility and G7 ERA loans.
As we approach the third anniversary of Russias full-scale invasion, we are preparing further measures to hit Russia, following the extension of sanctions on January 27 for another six months.
We must ensure that sanctions are fully and effectively implemented. This includes decisively targeting circumvention attempts.
Supporting Ukraine is the soundest investment in our long-term prosperity and resilience that we can make. We need a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine as the only option for security in Europe.
The Commission today presented its Competitiveness Compass and ministers also discussed our ambitious simplification agenda.
Simplification is at the center of our plan to achieve a more competitive Europe.
We cannot continue business as usual.
We must take decisive action to unleash people, businesses, and authorities to realize Europes full potential.
It is important to stress that our commitment to securing the green and digital transitions has not wavered.
However, we need to be mindful of how we get there.
We will present the first in a series of simplification proposals in the coming weeks.
The Omnibus packages outlined in the 2025 Commission Work Programme will be our first deliverables of this mandate.
This effort will continue over the course of the whole mandate.
I look forward to working with Member States and national authorities at all levels to help deliver on our ambitious simplification agenda.
Then on our Economic governance, following the Commissions positive assessment, todays meeting endorsed Hungarys medium-term fiscal-structural plan and issued a revised recommendation under the excessive deficit procedure - to reflect the plan.
Now its time to deliver.
All 22 Member States where the Council has adopted its recommendation on the medium-term fiscal structural plans should now focus on implementation to achieve the fiscal trajectory and deliver the investment and reform commitments set out in their plans.
The Commission will present its first assessments as part of the European Semester Spring Package based on progress reports submitted by Member States by the end of April.
Then the Commission provided our regular update on progress with the implementation of NextGenerationEU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The Commission has now received a total of 86 payment requests from 26 Member States, which has led to the disbursement of €306 billion by the end of last year.
The Commission has recently adopted positive preliminary assessments of payment requests for Estonia, Cyprus, and Finland and we expect the disbursements to follow soon.
We expect a number of further payment requests to be submitted in the upcoming weeks.
I would like to welcome todays endorsement of revised plans for Latvia and Belgium.
As we are in the final two years of the RRF, it becomes even more crucial for Member States to continue to focus fully on the implementation of their recovery and resilience plans.
Thank you.