 Dear Madam President von der Leyen, liebe Ursula, at a time in history, as we have seen also in the speech of the First Lady, at a time in history during which unprecedented, unimaginable challenges demand exceptional leaders, it is a deep honor to have you with us to present your vision for the future of Europe and Europe's role in the world. I am convinced that your commitment and your visionary leadership to a stronger and closer union, particularly during those times where Europe is really tested, have been so essential your leadership and will continue to be so. Madam President, we are excited to have us with you today. The stage is yours. Dear Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, my dearest Elena, for almost one year now, Ukraine has stunned the world. On that fateful February morning, many predicted that Kyiv would fall in a matter of days. But this did not account for the morale and the physical courage of Ukrainian people. Dearest Elena, you and your people, you have resisted the Russian invasion and pushed back against the aggressor, against all odds. Not even Russia's relentless attacks on civilians, and you have described them, or the specter of a brutal winter have shaken your resolve. In this last year, your country has moved the world and has inspired Europe. And I can assure you that Europe will always stand with you. Many doubted whether that European support would be so unwavering. But today, Ukraine is a candidate country to access the European Union. European countries are providing more and more critical weapons to Ukraine. We are hosting around 4 million Ukrainians in our cities, our homes and our schools. And we have put in place the strongest sanctions ever, which leave the Russian economy facing a decade of regression and its industry starved of any modern and critical technologies. There will be no impunity for these Russian crimes. And my friends, there will be no let-up in our steadfast support to Ukraine, from helping to restore power, heating and water, to preparing for the long-term effort of reconstruction. And to reaffirm that support, we announced yesterday that the Commission is delivering 3 billion euros of financial support. This is the first tranche of our 18 billion support package for 2023, the largest ever macro financial assistance to a third country. This is a strong message. And this will bolster Ukraine's financial stability, help to pay wages, ensure the running of hospitals and housing services and schools. I just want to say my dearest Olena, and I think I can speak on behalf of this hall and this audience here. We are in it for as long as it takes and stand by our Ukrainian friends. And Europe's reaction to the war is the latest example in how our union has pulled together when it matters the most. Take energy. A year ago, Europe had a massive dependency on Russian fossil fuels built over decades. This made us vulnerable to supply squeezes, price hikes, and of course vulnerable to Putin's market manipulation. In less than a year, Europe has overcome this dangerous dependency. We have replaced 80 percent of Russian pipeline gas. In parallel, we have filled our storages. Of course, we have reduced our demand by more than 20 percent in the period from August to November. And through collective effort, we brought down gas prices quicker than anyone expected. From its peak in August, this was 350 euros per megawatt hour. It is now European natural gas prices down dropped by 80 percent by this month. That is below the levels of before the Ukraine war. Europe has once again shown the power of its collective will. Nevertheless, we should be under no illusion how difficult these periods first of pandemic and then followed by a war are for our families and for our businesses. And we will have to show the same resolve as we face up to a collision of crises. Dear Klaus, as your global risk report sets it out, we see rising inflation making the cost of living and the cost of doing business more expensive. We see energy being used as a weapon. We see threats of trade wars and the return of confrontational geopolitics. In addition, climate change already comes with a huge cost. And we have no time to lose in the transition to a clean economy. And that's what I want to speak about. The net zero transformation is already causing huge industrial, economic and geopolitical shifts by far the quickest and the most pronounced in our lifetime. It is changing the nature of work. It is reshaping the nature of our industry. But we are on the brink of something far greater. Just think, in less than three decades, we want to reach net zero. In less than three decades, we have to reach net zero. But the road to net zero means developing and using a whole range of new clean technologies across our economy in transport, in buildings, in manufacturing, in energy. The next decades will see the greatest industrial transformation of our times, maybe of any times. And those who develop and manufacture the technology that will be the foundation of tomorrow's economy will have the greatest competitive edge. So the scale of the opportunity is clear for all to see. The International Energy Agency estimates that the market for mass manufactured clean energy tech will be worth around $650 billion a year by 2030, more than triple today's levels. To get ahead of the competition, we need to keep investing in strengthening our industrial base and making Europe more investment and innovation friendly. And that is what investors are looking closely at in the different markets for clean tech. Here in Europe, we moved first with the European Green Deal to set the path to climate neutrality by 2050. We have cast our net zero target into law to provide the predictability and the transparency business needs. We followed up with our investment firepower of next generation U that is our 800 billion investment plan, the Just Transition Fund and other instruments across the economy. This is unprecedented investment in clean technology across all sectors of the green transition. Clean tech is now the fastest growing investment sector in Europe, doubling its value between 2020 and 2021 alone. And the good news for the planet is that other major economies are also now stepping up. Japan's green transformation plan aims to help raise up to 20 trillion yen, around 140 billion euros, through green transition bonds. India has put forward a production-linked incentive scheme to enhance their competitiveness in sectors like solar photovoltaics and batteries, the United Kingdom, Canada, and many others have also put forward their investment plans in clean tech. And of course, we have seen the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, that 369 billion US dollars clean tech investment plan. That means that together, the European and the United States alone are putting forward almost a trillion euros to accelerate the clean energy economy. This has the potential to massively boost the path to climate neutrality, but it is no secret that certain elements of the design of the Inflation Reduction Act raise the number of concerns in terms of some of the targeted incentives for companies. So this is why we have been working with our United States friends to find solutions, for example so that EU companies and EU-made electric cars can also benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act. Our aim should be to avoid disruptions in transatlantic trade and investment. We should ensure that our respective incentive programs are fair and mutually reinforcing. And we should also set out how we can jointly benefit from this massive investment, for example by creating economies of scale across the Atlantic or setting common standards at the heart of the joint vision is our conviction that competition and trade are the key to speeding up clean tech and climate neutrality. And that means that we Europeans also need to get better at nurturing our own clean tech industry. We know that we have a small window to invest in clean energy and innovation and clean tech before the fossil fuel economy becomes obsolete. So we have an industry at the moment being challenged by the pandemic, supply chain issues and price shocks. We see aggressive attempts to attract our industrial capacities away to China and elsewhere. We have a compelling need to make this net zero transition without creating new dependency. We've learned our lessons from the fossil fuels and we know that future investment decisions will be taken now depending on what we do today. We Europeans have a plan, a green deal industrial plan. Our plan to make Europe the home of clean tech and industrial innovation on the road to net zero. Our green deal industrial plan will be covering four different pillars. The regulatory environment, financing, skills and trade. The first pillar is about speed and access. We need to create a regulatory environment that allows us to scale up fast and to create conducive conditions for sectors crucial to reach the net zero goal that we've set ourselves. This includes, for example, wind, heat pumps, solar, clean hydrogen, storage and other topics for which demand is boosted by our next generation EU and repower EU investments. To help make this happen, we will put forward a new net zero industry act. These will follow the same model as our chips act. The new net zero industry act will identify clear goals for European clean tech by 2030. The aim will be to focus investment on strategic projects along the entire supply chain. We will specially look at how to simplify and fast track the permitting process for clean tech production sites in parallel to this net zero industry act. We will reflect on how to make important projects of common European interest, the famous IPCEIs, faster to process, easier to fund, simpler to access for small and medium enterprises and for all our member states. The net zero industry act will go hand in hand with the critical raw materials act for rare earths which are vital for manufacturing key technologies like wind power generation, hydrogen storage, you name it. Europe is today 98% dependent on one country, China, or take lithium with just three countries accounting for more than 90% of the lithium production, the entire supply chain has become incredibly tight. This has pushed up prices and is threatening our competitiveness, so we need to improve the refining process and recycling of raw materials here in Europe. And in parallel, we will work with our trade partners to cooperate on sourcing production and processing to overcome the existing monopoly. To do this, we can build a critical raw materials club working with like-minded partners from the United States to Ukraine to collectively strengthen supply chains and to diversify away from single monopoly. This is pillar one, speed and access through the net zero industry act. The second pillar of the Green Deal industrial plan will boost investment and financing of clean tech production. To keep European industry attractive, there is a need to be competitive with offers and incentives that are currently available outside the European Union. This is why we will propose to temporarily adapt our state aid rules to speed up and simplify them. Easier calculations, simpler procedures, accelerated approvals. For example, simple tax break models. And with targeted aid for production facilities and strategic clean tech valued chains to counter relocation risks from foreign subsidies. But we also know that state aid will only be a limited solution which only a few member states can use. Now to avoid fragmenting of the single market and to support the clean tech transition across the whole Union, we must also step up EU funding. For the medium term, we will prepare European sovereignty fund as part of the midterm review of our budget this year. This will provide a structural solution to boost the resources available for upstream research innovation and strategic industrial projects. But as this will take time, we will look at a bridging solution where it is most needed to provide fast and targeted support. And to support this, we are currently working hard on a needs assessment. So the second pillar is funding and state aid. The third pillar of the Green Deal industrial plan will be developing the needed skills to make this transition happen. The best technology is only as good as the skilled workers who can install and operate it. And with a huge growth in new technologies, we will need a huge growth in skills and skilled workers in this sector. This will cut across all we do, whether it is regulation or finance, and will be the priority of our European year of skills. The fourth pillar will be to facilitate open and fair trade to the benefit of all. For clean tech to deliver net zero globally, there will be a need for strong and resilient supply chains. Our economies will rely ever more on international trade as the transition speeds up to open more markets and to access the input needed for the industry. So we need an ambitious trade agenda, including by making the most, for example, out of the existing trade agreements. For example with Canada, or for example with the United Kingdom, with which we are trying hard to sort out our difficulties. We're working on concluding agreements with Mexico, Chile, New Zealand and Australia, and to make progress with India and Indonesia. And we need to restart a conversation regarding the Mercosur Agreement. Because international trade is key to helping our industry cut costs, create jobs and develop new products. But by the same token, where trade is not fair, we must respond more robustly. China has made boosting clean tech innovation and manufacturing a key priority of its five year plan. That's good. It dominates global production in sectors like electric vehicles and solar panels, which are essential for the transition. But competition on net zero must be based on a level playing field. China has been openly encouraging energy intensive companies in Europe and elsewhere to relocate all or part of their production. They do so with the promise of cheap energy, low labour costs and a more lenient regulatory environment. At the same time, China heavily subsidizes its industry and restricts access to its market for European Union companies. We still need to work and trade with China, especially when it comes to this transition. So we need to refocus our approach on de-risking rather than decoupling. This means using all our tools to deal with unfair practices, including the new foreign subsidies regulation. And we will not hesitate to open investigations if we consider that our procurement or other markets are being distorted by such subsidies. We want to cooperate, we want to work together, climate change needs a global approach, but it has to be a fair approach and a level playing field. Ladies and gentlemen, the story of the clean tech economy is still being written. And over the years I have been coming to Davos, I have heard many times that we are on the cusp of a period of creative destruction that the economist Josef Schumpeter spoke of. His idea that innovation and new tech replaces the old, leaving the old industry and jobs behind. In many ways, this dynamic applies to the clean tech revolution of today and tomorrow. But I believe if Europe gets it right, the story of clean tech economy can be one of creative construction, with the right support and incentives for companies to innovate, with the right focus on skills and people, with the right environment to make the most out of our world-leading innovation capacity. Europe already has everything it takes, talent, researchers, industrial capacity, investment. And Europe has a plan for the future. And this is why I believe the story of the clean tech economy will be written in Europe. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Madam President, for this clear, comprehensive, upbeat and future-oriented vision which you laid out for Europe. We have time for just maybe one or two questions, if you agree. And when you were here last time, we started to discuss the need to come together also for reconstruction of Ukraine. And now, of course, it may sound premature, but we have to prepare ourselves. Could you say some words? Absolutely. Absolutely. It is not premature. It is up and running since this month. We started the reconstruction platform because it includes repair and relief right now. And Ukraine needs repair and relief right now. And to go slowly but surely into the reconstruction. And indeed, the political leadership is with G7, the motor, the engine, is with the secretariat with the European Commission in Brussels and in Kyiv together with our Ukrainian friends. And it is of utmost importance that, on one hand, globally, we raise the necessary investment for reconstruction, but that, on the other hand, at the same time we do the necessary reforms to move forward, Ukraine wants to become a member of the European Union. And it is a perfect opportunity to take investment and reform to pave this way for Ukraine towards the European Union. And my call on you is, we need every helping hand on board. Ukraine deserves to have as much support as possible. And what we need is not only investment with the public sector, but the private investment and your knowledge. You know so much in your respective fields. So we need your knowledge. We need every hand on board to really move forward with repair, relief at the very beginning, but also reconstruction. The people of Ukraine really deserve it. Ursula, you have laid out the revitalization efforts for Europe. I would like to come back with maybe the last question to the role Europe is playing globally and in terms of, I mean, the geopolitical leadership, security and values you have touched upon some of those points. But I know in addition to all your different initiatives, it's a global gateway initiative. I think since it concerns many of the partners of Europe, maybe you would like to say something about it. Global Gateway is our 300 billion investment plan for infrastructure abroad for the next five years. There's a huge need for investment and infrastructure. And we want to be the offer as a partner where there is the investment in the infrastructure coupled with the added value that stays locally, transparency and reliability and predictability. And I give you some examples of what the global gateway investment is in, for example. I've spoken about the enormous dependency of the European Union of Russian fossil fuels before Russia unleashed the war against Ukraine. The European Union was the biggest client for pipeline gas worldwide, and Russia was the biggest supplier worldwide. And this huge demand of the European Union is now completely shifted away from Russia. We have completely decoupled and diversified away. But this demand, of course, is looking for new trusted long-term suppliers. And we have to be very careful that we do not create a lock-in effect in fossil fuels, but that we use this opportunity to leapfrog forward into clean energy. And here comes the opportunity of Global Gateway. Our friends, for example, on the African continent, have resources for renewable energy in abundance. What is missing is the infrastructure. And therefore, we have a common interest that Global Gateway is investing in infrastructure for green hydrogen, for example, solar panel, wind, but also other possibilities so that this infrastructure is being built up with a common interest on both sides that we want the added value fairly placed and predictable. Another example is the topic of vaccines. We learned our lesson in the pandemic that it is not sustainable if vaccines have to be donated. The African continent, our African friends, want the technology rightly so. And therefore, the mRNA technology has been brought to different countries. There with private partners, Global Gateway is building up together with our African friends manufacturing capacities for vaccines in order to give the opportunity and have the next time that we have the need for vaccines, the technology on the African continent, vaccines manufactured in Africa for Africa, and all the possibilities that are in this new revolutionary mRNA technology. Two very recent examples that show what Global Gateway is all about. Madam President, in the beginning, and I just said we want to have here at this meeting a let's do it attitude, and we have the capabilities. I think your speech this morning provided the best example of the let's do forward-looking attitude, and we have to be also clear that we have to do the necessary investments that I just want to highlight one point, the necessary investments into skills which we need in the future. So we wish you all a very good, how should I say, progress in all those visionary initiatives, and thank you again for joining us this morning. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.