Good evening, everyone.
Let me to begin by congratulating Kyriakos Pierrakakis on his election as President of the Eurogroup.
This election is an important symbolic moment for Greece and the euro area.
We all remember the deep economic and financial crisis which Greece had to go through.
Questions were even raised over Greeces continued membership of the euro area.
Now we see a remarkable turnaround with Greece being among the euro areas best performing economies, with a fiscal surplus and now a with Greek finance minister as President of the Eurogroup.
He is taking office at a pivotal moment for the euro area, and our Union as a whole.
I look forward to working closely with the newly elected President of the Eurogroup to address the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead.
Once again, congratulations!
Moving on to our more regular business.
I presented todays meeting with the Commissions Opinions on the 17 draft budgetary plans for 2026 that we received from euro area Member States in October.
Overall, we have made a good start with the implementation of the new economic governance framework.
We now need to focus on implementation and enhancing the efficiency and quality of public spending and revenues.
This is especially important given todays immense demands on public finances.
Our assessments find 12 draft budgetary plans to be compliant with the recommended net expenditure path.
For the euro area Member States at risk of non-compliance, I reiterated the need to take the necessary measures to ensure their compliance.
This is especially important in the current, challenging context to send a clear signal about our stability and sustainability.
I hope that our assessments and todays discussions will help ensure that Member States do what is necessary to fully align their budgets with our fiscal rules.
We also held a useful exchange with the International Monetary Fund on the latest macroeconomic developments and outlook.
The IMF notably pointed out the structural challenges facing the euro area, linked to innovation and productivity.
The European Commission broadly agrees with its assessments.
We have put forward a clear strategy to tackle these issues, but given the headwinds we face, a great deal of work remains ahead of us.
And it is urgent.
So, we must keep momentum and deliver on this together.
This includes by using the current European Semester cycle.
As part of last months Autumn Package, we gave recommendations to enhance the functioning of the Single Market, invest in innovation, pursue the savings and investment union and pursue regulatory simplification.
I would like to thank IMF staff for their work on preparing the assessment, and for helping us to push forward this important agenda.
We also had a good ESM Board of Governors meeting, where Bulgarias accession to the ESM was approved in the context of its joining the euro area next year.
This is another significant milestone and will further enhance the resilience of the Bulgarian economy.
I will stop here. Thank you.
