Thank you, Mr Minister.

I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to Minister Domański and the Polish Presidency for the warm welcome in Warsaw.

We are meeting in a significant place. This Army Museum highlights Polands heroic resistance history.

Poles have paid a high price to stand against tyranny and totalitarianism, from the Warsaw Uprising to Solidarność.

Your courage is an inspiration for all of us.

Today, we face a pivotal moment in Europes history. We are not only confronted with severe security threats.

But also with threats to the international rules-based order, which has driven progress, peace, and prosperity.

Polands history teaches us to remain strong and united in the face of these threats.

Today, Poland leads Europe in investing in its defence and security capabilities.

And in providing Ukraine with the support it needs to fight for survival.

Europe must urgently rebuild its defensive capabilities in the face of grave security threats from Russias aggression.

This requires significant and sustained investment in defence capabilities and the European defence industry.

As the Minister mentioned, at tomorrows ECOFIN meeting, we will discuss how the EU, through the Commissions ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, will facilitate this investment.

Together, we can and will take responsibility for Europes security and defence.

Moving to trade. Ministers continued and deepened their exchange on the impact of the Trump Administrations universal tariffs.

The main takeaways from the debate are: there was a clear agreement that the imposition of universal tariffs is wrong and will deeply hurt economic growth, consumers, and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

I want to reiterate my message from earlier today that we are ready to negotiate.

Therefore, we welcome the 90 days pause on reciprocal tariffs above 10%, which creates space for negotiations.

The EU has put on hold countermeasures for 90 days to give those negotiations a chance.

However, it is important to note that the 10% reciprocal tariffs remain in place for almost all countries, still representing a blow to the global economy.

Additionally, the 25% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium and also, 25% tariffs on cars and car parts remain in place.

The imposition of tariffs against the EU contradicts the political and economic logic of the deep and longstanding transatlantic trade partnership, valued at €1.6 trillion in 2023, and being the largest in the world.

This is why we continue to show extraordinary restraint in our response. We do not wish to add to the already unprecedented levels of uncertainty.

We are ready to negotiate a mutually acceptable outcome, while defending our economic interests.

However, all options remain on the table, and there are things we need to do in parallel.

So, we will continue to work on deepening the EUs Single Market – our greatest strength.

Today, ministers showed great commitment to enhancing our competitiveness and deepening our existing partnerships around the world, as well as sealing new win-win deals with other partners.

Finally, we had an exchange on the Savings and Investments Union strategy that the Commission presented last month.

The EU is equipped with a large pool of household savings of around €10 trillion in bank deposits.

Europes capacity to address current challenges demands significant and sustained investment.

The Draghi report estimated these investment needs at an additional €750-800 billion per year.

By developing better integrated capital markets, the Savings and Investments Union can effectively connect savings and investment needs.

This creates a win-win scenario for citizens, who stand to earn a higher return on their savings, and the broader economy that will receive the additional investments it needs.

This includes improving access to finance for Europes SMEs.

The Commission will come forward with concrete actions to implement this strategy in the period ahead.

We look forward to continuing our engagement with Member States and other stakeholders to achieve the Savings and Investments Union objectives.

Thank you.