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Good evening. Let me start with the Middle East.

The situation in the region is extremely serious.

It is causing great instability, suffering and growing risks far beyond the region itself,

and this is why we need de-escalation and maximum restraint,

the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

I want to say a word about our partners and friends in the Gulf and the broader region.

We stand with them in solidarity and in friendship. The European Union is supporting them.

And just this week, the Commission announced over €450 million in humanitarian assistance for the region.

We also discussed the migration aspects of the crisis.

So far we have not seen migratory movements towards Europe, but we, but we must be prepared.

We will not let there be a repeat of 2015.

We have learned the lessons of the past, and today we are better equipped, we have stronger external borders and stronger agencies,

we have a solid legal framework, the Migration and Asylum Pact,

we have strengthened our partnerships with the neighbors in the region.

And most importantly, we are united as Europeans, we know that when we act together, we are stronger.

Cyprus has been directly impacted by this war, more than any other Member State.

And we sent a clear,

united signal the security of Cyprus is the security of the European Union.

I commend the president's handling of the situation and the presidency, which continues to deliver.

As President Christodoulides has said, there is normality and safety in Cyprus,

and I'm very much looking forward to being there in April for the informal European Council. We also discussed energy.

The world's most immediate impact on Europe is on energy.

At present, the European Union's physical security of supply is secure.

However, Europe is not immune to global price spikes,

and as the conflict continues, energy prices continue to fluctuate.

Just today, the gas price went up by 30% after attacks on Qatari gas infrastructure.

These are reckless attacks on infrastructure and unarmed commercial vessels that raise costs and the question of future supply risks.

In order to minimize the impact, we must take action, and we've discussed this at the European Council.

Very important is that the measures are temporary, tailored and targeted.

The logic is written down in a plan that I presented today. We have immediate relief where it's possible.

We have structural changes where it's necessary,

and we will act on all four components that determine the electricity prices.

Let me look a bit deeper into that.

The first component is of course the energy costs themselves.

Which are the largest share, mostly half of the price, round about on average in the European Union, 56%.

Member States can already make use of state aid measures to compensate for the cost increases of the energy source.

We will further flexilize state aid for this purpose.

We also agreed to work closely with the Member States that develop national schemes to further mitigate the impact of fuel costs on electricity generation.

The second component of the price is the grid charges, round about on average 18%.

Here we will prepare a legal proposal to improve the productivity of the grid infrastructure.

And allow the member states to reduce grid charges of energy intensive industries.

The third component of the prices are taxes and levies, round about on average in the European Union 15%.

Here the situation varies greatly between Member States.

In some cases, electricity is taxed much more than gas,

partially up to 15 times more, and this cannot be.

So we will propose to lower tax rates on electricity.

And to make sure that electricity is taxed less than fossil fuels.

The 4th and final component is carbon pricing. The emissions trading system is working.

It has massively reduced gas consumption because of that,

it has reduced our dependency on imports of fossil fuels, and it has reduced our vulnerability.

It also has driven major investments in the energy transition,

in the low carbon energy sources like renewables and nuclear that are homegrown and give us independence.

But we need to modernize it and make it more flexible, and therefore we are preparing 4 measures.

The first is we will update the benchmarks for free allocations and take into account the concerns of industry.

Second, we will increase the firepower of the Market stability reserve to reduce price volatility.

These measures will come in the next days, and then we look at medium term measures.

That's the third point we are working on the ETS review, as you know.

This includes, for example, a more realistic trajectory, free allowances for industries beyond 2035,

and a level playing field for our maritime sector.

Today we have agreed to develop these together with Member States and stakeholders.

Finally, it's also about investment in clean technology and in the decarbonisation.

Therefore, we will provide much needed financial support for our industry.

This is why I proposed, we call it an ETS investment booster.

It will have a budget of around about €30 billion.

It is financed by 400 million ETS allowances,

and the aim is to finance projects for decarbonisation.

The key points here are speed and solidarity.

Speed means first come, first served, and the moment a project is ready, we have to be ready too.

Solidarity is the focus on lower income Member States,

which will have guaranteed access to this important financial support.

Of course, energy is just one element of Europe's competitiveness,

and now we also discussed other topics, for example, simplification.

I will not go into detail,

I will just say one component was that we will soon introduce a simplicity by design approach for future rules so that we improve the governance and the development of legal text.

Second, We are breathing new life into our single market.

You know that the biggest hindering factor in the single market is the fragmentation in the single market,

and that companies often face hurdles when they want to scale from the country where they are at home to other Member States in the European Union.

This is why we have proposed the EU Inc.

It makes it much easier,

faster and cheaper for companies not only to start but also to scale and do business across borders.

We also tabled the Industrial Accelerator Act earlier this month.

Here the aim is to speed up permitting to create lead markets for strategic technologies right here in Europe,

and we will adapt our competition policy.

As you know, we are urgently reviewing our merger guidelines.

The draft will be presented in April because we think that global competition has changed and so must our rules.

Finally, we will continue building the savings and Investment Union,

making Europe's savings finance financing our business.

On the banking union, we had a brief exchange banks are crucial for our competitiveness agenda as one of the main funding sources for our companies,

so we will come with a banking report earlier this summer,

to better position and integrate our banking system. Now what matters is to move fast.

Building on today's discussion, the Commission will soon present its One Europe, One Market roadmap. I think you are familiar with it.

The roadmap will set out key legislative measures with a very clear timeline, targets,

milestones for delivery by the end of the year 2027,

and this roadmap should be agreed by.

The Council, the European Parliament and the Commission,

and we want to sign it and present it at the informal summit in Cyprus in, I think it's April. My final point is on Ukraine.

Let me turn to the €90 billion support loan for Ukraine.

A decision was taken by the European Council in December, and there was one condition.

The condition that 3 countries would not participate in the loan, that condition has been fulfilled.

So let us be clear about where we stand.

The loan remains blocked because one leader is not honoring his word.

But let me reiterate what I already said in Kiev.

We will deliver one way or the other.

So yes, we have challenging tasks ahead of us, but today we have strengthened our resolve.

It was a very good European Council, thank you very much.