Good evening everybody. 2026 is the year of European competitiveness. Strengthening our competitiveness is essential,

it is essential to strengthen our economic growth, to ensure the creation of quality jobs,

and to protect the purchasing power, and to strengthen our strategic autonomy in Europe.

In the current geopolitical situation, a strong Europe is more important than ever.

And it's on that basis that it's my pleasure to announce to you that the European leaders have today approved. European single market, it's an ambitious plan. With clearly defined timetables.

Which we need to Implement up to the end of 2027.

And most of it, in fact, this year in 2026.

I can't tell you all the measures, but you can read about them in the conclusions.

But first of all, our conclusion is to complete the single market.

Up to March 2027,

we want to address the terrible 10 barriers in the single market.

But this year we want to take decisions,

first of all to ensure mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

So as to ensure worker mobility across Europe.

By the end of this year we will approve the commission's proposal the Commission has just presented,

which is to create a single voluntary regime for all companies who want to do that. Which will operate across the single market.

By the end of the year we also need to adopt the Specific decisions to Develop the capital markets union.

The savings and Investment Union, particularly when it comes to securities. Pension supplementary regime. And supervision and market interaction.

So by the end of the year we also need to implement measures.

To develop the digital euro and we will Continue with the simplification agenda as well.

First of all, with compromises again to be approved by the end of the year.

With all the omnibus packages that the Commission has already presented.

And we will call upon the Commission to continue its work on simplification.

It's clear that the high energy prices does constitute one of the major challenges for competitiveness in the European Union.

The current Middle East crisis and the impact it has on our energy supply, global energy supply, shows,

confirms that we have chosen the right path, which is we need to become more autonomous. And rely on our own energy sources.

Decarbonisation and using local energy sources is still the right thing to do to limit dangerous dependency and to reduce the cost of energy in the long term.

But at the same time, we need to take immediate actions to protect our citizens and our companies.

So with that in mind, the Commission will present a number of temporary targeted. Measures.

To, on one hand,

to look at the specific situation of the member states and the particular exposure of some industry sectors which are highly energy intensive.

So as to avoid the risk of delocalization and to protect jobs.

On the other hand,

we need To deal with the recent surge in fossil fuels as a result of the crisis in the Middle East.

In our meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres,

we pointed out that the European Union will remain a predictable, reliable, and credible partner.

For the international order based on international rules. And based on multilateralism.

So with these shared challenges, we looked particularly at Ukraine. Our support for Ukraine remains solid.

We want to work towards a fair, sustainable peace in Ukraine based on the principles of the Charters of the European Union and based on international law,

particularly the right to sovereignty, territorial integrity, and respect for internationally recognized borders.

We need to intensify our pressure on Russia so as to weaken their war economy and bring them to the negotiation table.

With that in mind,

we Stressed our concern about this decision taken by the United States to partially lift sanctions already applying to Russia.

As for developments in Iran and the Middle East,

the European Council continues to call for de-escalation and for maximum restraint and to protect civilians and essential infrastructure,

particularly those for the production of energy.

The European Union is with the people of Lebanon and their government.

And calls for an end to hostilities. Thank you. Madam President,