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Thank you very much, dear Vice President, dear Roxana for your kind words.

Dear ministers, dear members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here with you today.

To see trade unions, employers, governments, civil society gathered in one place.

I think this is the spirit of partnership that is the foundation. Of Europe's social model.

It reflects our conviction that economic progress and social rights go hand in hand.

80 years ago, it's a long tradition that we have.

One of the founding fathers of modern Europe, Konrad Adenauer, put it very simply.

He said, The economy should serve the people, and not the people, the economy. End of quote.

That sentence captures basically the essence of our European model.

It is precisely this approach that we need today.

Because in a fast changing world, Europe's economy can only serve its people. If it remains competitive. Competitiveness is not an end in itself.

It is what underpins our citizens' well-being and sustains our social model.

It shapes citizens' daily lives, their jobs, their security, their standard of living.

It determines if we can compete with global giants on AI and digital technology.

It is a precondition to keep strategic industries in Europe.

And these are factors that directly affect people's livelihoods.

And they determine Europe's ability to shape its own future.

This is why we put competitiveness at the heart of our agenda. Because a strong social Europe. Needs a strong economic foundation.

And a competitive Europe must remain a social Europe.

I am confident we can meet these challenges ahead of us, because we have done so before.

You all remember At the start of this decade, during the darkest days of the pandemic. We heard a lot. Many feared mass unemployment.

On the scale not seen since the 1930s, I have not forgotten these voices. We defied those predictions together. It needed all hands on deck. The Commission proposed, but you all supported.

Remember, it was trade unions, employers, governments, civil society. We implemented SH in record time.

You remember the SH program that kept workers employed in companies during the lockdown.

We counted on being the first to take orders when the economy opened up again because we kept the skills in place.

And it worked We protected 40 million jobs.

We kept the knowledge and the skills in Europe. And then we had Next Generation EU.

We had Next Generation EU to restart our economic engine. And accelerated the clean and digital transitions.

Today, 3.5 million Europeans are employed thanks to Next Generation EU investments.

31 million have benefited from training and education.

Reforms are delivering real change,

quality jobs with open-ended contracts in Spain.

You remember that this was one of the issues in Spain, these short term contracts.

Or take the better reconciliation of work and family in Croatia, for example,

the whole debate about demography, well, better reconciliation of work and family.

Or strong apprenticeships in France or dual vocational training, just to name a few. It delivered concrete results.

Better opportunities and more security for workers,

and that is Europe's social market economy in action.

Today, many are worried about Europe's ability to compete. We all see companies are restructuring.

Industries face intense global competition, often from heavily state subsidized rivals.

Many Europeans are asking how artificial intelligence will impact their future. We face a deep and fast transformation.

So we must stay ahead of the pace of change.

Today I want to focus on 3 priorities.

The first one is completing the single market.

The second is investing in skills and quality jobs.

And the third topic is addressing the affordability crisis. Let me start with the single market.

The single market remains our European engine of growth and competitiveness. It began in 1993.

Since then, the single market has raised GDP in the European Union.

By almost 4% It helped create some 3.6 million jobs.

If we bring the single market to the next level, and that is our game, this could double those gains. Enricoleta, whom you will hear later.

Calls for the principle, as he put it, as one Europe, one market. And he's right, one Europe, one market.

So the first point to address is fragmentation.

Because we have too many fragmentation of 27 different rules in 27 different member states, that's not one Europe, one market.

It cannot be that it is easier for an innovative European company. To scale up across oceans.

Than to scale up across our own single market.

We have to overcome the countless barriers that we have between Member States.

That is why later this month we will propose the twenty-eighth regime.

It will enable companies to operate under one single and simple set of rules across the Union. And let me clarify very clearly.

That our labor standards will not be put into question. The aim is different.

The aim is that businesses can operate across Member States much more easily.

To grow here in Europe in one market.

To create new and more jobs here in Europe.

We will offer a new, a truly European company structure we call it EU Inc.

Entrepreneurs will be able to register a company in any Member State.

Within 48 hours, fully online, wherever they are, same procedure, same rules, fully online. They can operate digitally smoothly across borders.

They can access finance in the start-up and scale up phase operations.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is Europe made simpler.

Excellencies, the single market is not just about companies.

It is also about workers, and you said it, Oksana.

Here too, we can deliver much more if we take serious one Europe, one market.

First, we must make it easier for people to work within the whole single market, one Europe, one market.

Therefore, we are developing new digital tools to simplify, for example, access to social security.

We can make it easier to hire people and to provide services across the European Union.

This goes hand in hand with stronger enforcement through the European labor authorities,

because let me be very clear here too, the rules of our single market are to be respected by all.

My second point We must remove the barriers that workers still face.

When they want to work in another member state. Free movement is a right.

But it is held back by plenty of barriers and unnecessary bureaucracy. Let me just give you some examples.

A nurse Is asked for a local postal address. As a precondition to start work.

Despite not having moved yet, so a typical chicken and egg dilemma again. A secondary school teacher.

Is left waiting 8 months for her diploma to be recognized. This is unacceptable.

A pilot is expected to pay almost €18,000 simply to have his qualification recognized in another member state. My God, we are one union. These are still skills we urgently need. These obstacles are absurd. They undermine mobility.

And they are wasting talent our economies need so much and depend on.

That is why We will put forward a fair labor mobility package this autumn.

Our union needs to revive free movement, ladies and gentlemen.

And that leads me to my second point, skills. And quality jobs.

Across Europe, the speed of change is affecting everyone.

The student wondering whether the entry level job will still exist in an age of AI. The refinery technician.

Asking what the clean transition means for his future.

The assistant watching tasks being automated and asking, where do I fit tomorrow.

In such a moment, skills are the bridge between uncertainty and opportunity.

They are central to our competitiveness and to people's sense of security.

And that is the purpose of the Union of Skills.

To equip Europeans with the skills they need to thrive in a changing economy.

We can already see this approach in action.

In Italy, for example, under Next Generation EU,

600 people are being trained in digital and other in demand skills.

These programs are designed together with employers and social partners.

To ensure they respond directly to our labor market needs.

This is one of many examples across Europe. And we need to go further.

I have high hopes, dear Roxana, for the future skills guarantee.

It will help people to move from sectors in transition.

To those sectors that are facing shortages and are desperately looking for skilled personnel.

The skills guarantee means more investment and upskilling.

It means helping companies to adapt to jobs as they adopt artificial intelligence. It means unions and employers working together. To anticipate changes in the labor market.

This is how we prepare our job market for AI and new technologies.

And of course this is how we turn transformation. Into opportunity by investing in people.

By building on our successful tradition of social dialogue, we know that if we do things together,

we can move mountains, so let's do it again in these times. And Skills must not only be developed. They must be valued.

And they must be rewarded through quality jobs. This is a big topic.

This is why we are working closely with many of you. On the forthcoming Quality Jobs Act.

The aim is simple We want to ensure strong protection for workers. While supporting competitiveness and productivity. In a changing world of work.

These are two sides of the same coin.

Because quality jobs are not only good for workers, they raise productivity,

they attract talent, they build the skilled workforce we need to compete globally.

Quality jobs are good for business and quality jobs are good for Europe, so let's fight for that. Ladies and gentlemen, finally.

Affordability Nowhere is affordability felt more directly than at home.

A home is not just 4 walls and a roof.

It is safety It is warmth It is a place for family and friends. It is belonging.

We all know in these days, for too many Europeans today,

home has become a source of anxiety. It can mean debt and uncertainty.

Across Europe, the consequences are plain to see.

We see students turning down university places for lack of accommodation.

We see young couples delaying starting a family because they cannot afford a place to live.

We see nurses and firefighters unable to live in the communities they serve. This demands action at every level.

That is the purpose of the Affordable Housing Action Plan.

We want to curb short term rentals because they drive up prices.

We are removing unnecessary barriers in planning and permitting.

We have already revised our state aid rules to accelerate investment in housing.

In our long term budget, the next one,

we will make it easier to directly access European funds and put them into affordable housing as a topic.

And we will present a recommendation on fighting housing exclusion.

Because ladies and gentlemen,

today more than 1 million people in Europe do not have a home to return to. We cannot accept this.

Everyone deserves a safe place to call home.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, across Europe today, many are concerned about the future.

And whether their children will have the same opportunities that they did. It is our responsibility to respond.

It is our responsibility to ensure that the industries of the future are built here in Europe.

It is our responsibility to ensure that workers have the skills to succeed.

It is our responsibility to ensure that Europe is affordable and fair.

It's our responsibility to ensure that our social market economy prevails. None of this can be achieved alone. It requires partnership.

With you With the trade union, the employers, our workers,

our governments, the civil society, all working together.

That is Europe's social model in action that has made us successful,

that has made us prevail over the crisis we have met.

This is how we build a competitive economy, and this is how we build hope.

So I thank you and long live Europe. Thanks a lot.