 The top five risks for our economy are all climate-related. There is still scope to address these risks, but the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. We have to act now. Dear Madam President, Ursula von der Leyen, dear Ursula, we are just at the beginning of a new decisive decade for Europe. I am convinced, Madam President, that your clearly defined strategy and visionary leadership will benefit the Commission and the future of Europe. The priorities that you have set for the European Union are consequential. Europe has the potential to provide global leadership on the challenges we need to address urgently – climate change, the forced industrial revolution, inclusive digitalisation, gross competitiveness, as well as Europe's role in the world. I deeply believe that reconciling our planet and our economy is the goal of achieving the first climate neutral continent will serve and has to serve as a global role model for sustainable capitalism. I look forward to witnessing the transformational journey under your leadership. Madam President, we welcome you very cordially, not the first time here in Davos, but because you served also in the board of the World Economic Forum, but the first time as the President of the European Commission. Ladies and gentlemen, Excellencies, dear Klaus, thank you very much. It's wonderful to be back here. Indeed, the World Economic Forum stands for multilateralism, for global cooperation, for listening to each other, for new ideas for the future. And I'm very well aware that some say that the global order, as we've built together the last 50 years, is outdated. Whether we agree or not, we all have to recognise that it has been challenged every day. And this is not a question of only one country, or one party, or one president. It is a global phenomenon driven by personal sentiments. People feel that their workplace is changing before their eyes. They're worried about the future of their business, or the future of their families. They stick to all the rules. They give their very best every day. But no matter how hard they try, they feel the world is moving faster. And well, there are different ways to deal with these obvious changes. You can either move forward at the exclusion of others, like restricting the internet, fueling nationalism, building on a narrative us-verbes-them, or you can take an inclusive approach, cooperate with your neighbours, bring to the table all the scientists from all over the world, connect your business and your innovators to create new markets and sustainable jobs. And those are the answers people are asking for. They are ready to change, but they want to see that they can make a decent living. And to find these solutions among nations, I think we need to upgrade and modernise our international fora, and we need leadership to take these topics to the next level. There is no better example for this than climate change. It is a global challenge. Most of us, not all of us, but most of us agree that we need to act. We feel the urgency. I mean, the evidence is overwhelming if you look at the droughts, the floods, the fires, the heatwaves, the rising ocean, the extreme weather situations we've had before, but not as frequent, not as intense as it is today. The World Economic Forum's so-called global risk report identifies that the top five risks for our economy are all climate-related. There is still scope to address these risks, but the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. We have to act now. And this is the reason why the European Commission presented as its first priority the European Green Deal. Europe will be the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050. And it will do whatever it takes to unlock the investment, the innovation, and the creativity that is needed. Over the next decade, the European budget will mobilize one trillion euro of investment. It's going to be European money, national co-financing, private investment. This is you who we need to join. And of course, strongly supported by the European Investment Bank. This is our climate bank. And this will create a green investment wave. And there's a demand for it. Last month, 44 of Europe's largest investors, representing 6 trillion euro of assets, called on the European Union to put climate neutrality into law. They want that law. They say they need that law because it will give them the confidence, the accountability, and the reliability to make long-term investments. The European Green Deal is our new growth strategy. The novelty and the difference to our fossil fuel-based model is that we will foster growth that is not extracting resources, but that gives back to the planet more than it takes away from it. And Europe has the first move advantage and will strengthen it. I think the whole world increasingly needs clean technologies and new solutions because we will all face the same limits of fossil fuel-based growth, and therefore Europe will seize the opportunity, our battery alliance, smart grids, green hydrogen power, offshore wind power, clean steel, decarbonized gas, you name it. This will create innovation, it will create value, and it will create jobs. But there is no point in only reducing greenhouse gas emissions at home if we increase the import of CO2 from abroad. And this is not only a climate issue. It's also a climate issue, but it's not only a climate issue. It is also an issue of fairness. It is a matter of fairness towards our business, of fairness towards our workers, and we will protect them from unfair competition. One way for doing so is a carbon border adjustment mechanism. Frankly, I prefer to encourage our trading partners to work with us for global level playing field for the benefit of all of us. California, for example, is showing the way with an emission trading system that covers 85 percent of CO2 emissions. I also come in China for taking the first steps towards the CO2 pricing system. And these may be only first steps towards the level playing field. But if we achieve a global pricing for CO2 or for greenhouse gas emissions, if it turns into a global trend, we will have a global level playing field where no carbon border tax is needed anymore. And this is an example of a new modern international framework we need. This shows that if you engage with Europe, you will find a reliable partner working for a more sustained world. But we ask for fairness in return. And we have a lot to offer. We are the largest single market in the world. We are one of the three largest economies. We are the largest source and destination of foreign direct investment. We have more than 80 free trade agreements and over 700 international economic agreements. And the next negotiations will start in February with our British friends. All these agreements are not just about trade. They are platforms to shape and harness globalization. And they are drivers to build common solutions to challenges such as climate change or digitalization. We will be for sure moving out of an economy based on fossil fuels. And we will be moving towards a sustainable and a digital economy. We are working on this digital economy. And we consider, of course, data as a renewable resource such as wind or sun. Every 18 months, we double the amount of data we produce. Every 18 months, these are industrial data, commercial data, 85 percent of which we never, ever use. And this is not sustainable. Within such data, there are hidden treasures. And there are untapped opportunities for business and for society. And therefore, Europe is going to co-create a framework to allow the use of these data. It should consist of a trusted pool of non-personalized data that governments, businesses, and other stakeholders can contribute to. And thereby, we open up data as a resource for innovation and bring new solutions to the market. And our scientists are already beginning to do this. We are creating a European open science cloud now. It is a trusted space for researchers to store their data and to access data from researchers from other disciplines. We will create a pool of information leading to a web of research insight. And every researcher will be able to better use not only their own data, but also those of others. They will thus come to new insights. They will have new findings, new solutions. This is what we call the European open science cloud. And we are the first in the world to do so. It is being developed in Europe for European researchers, for European solutions. But the idea is that once we have the rules of the game ready, we will open this up to a broader public sector and to business as well so that companies can come in, share the data, and use the data. And the idea is that we will open it up to international players too in the very end. We have the biggest European science organizations like the CERN, or the MBL, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, major national centers, universities, and many, many others. It is from science, for science, but with a clear perspective to open it up to a broader society and economy. Building sharing of non-personal data will be one important pillar of our new data strategy. The other pillar is the protection of personal data. Ladies and gentlemen, for us, the protection of a person's digital dignity is the overriding principle. For us, the individual is not just a mere customer, or not just a data point among others. Within the General Data Protection Regulation, the GDPR, we set the standards for the world. And we have to set a similar frame for artificial intelligence too, a frame that allows progress and allows research while protecting the personal privacy, autonomy, and safety. A frame that allows business and digital solutions to grow in Europe provided that they comply with it. A framework which will also give guidance to international companies, those who want to do business in Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, this is about Europe shaping its own future. But to be more assertive in the world, we know we must step up in some fields. Recent events have exposed where we have to do more. Libya shows the cost of division and hesitation. I just came from the conference on Libya in Berlin last Sunday. It was good to see that the international community took an important step in the right direction. And you can count on the European Commission to strongly support the process towards reconciliation and reconstruction. It takes very little power to break a fragile balance. But the true power lies in putting the pieces together back together again. And during the last decade, Europeans learned the importance of a stable neighborhood. From Ukraine to the shores of the Mediterranean, from the western Balkans to the Sahel, we have learned the importance to invest more in long-term stability and to prevent crises. And this is where Europe can make a real difference. We are the largest donor for development cooperation in the world. In fact, we invest in this more than the rest of the world combined. But we must also do more when it comes to managing crises as they develop. And for that, Europe also needs credible military capabilities. And we have set up the building blocks of a European Defence Union. It is complementary to NATO, and it is different. There is a European way to foreign policy and foreign security policy, where hard power is an important tool without any question. But it is never the only one. Hard power always comes with diplomacy and conflict prevention. It always comes with reconciliation and reconstruction, which is, by the way, something European Americans know very well, because we all have gone through this here in Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, while the world around us is changing, the things we want from life remain the same. We want to take pride in our work. We want to spend time with our loved ones. We want to breathe clean air and to drink clean water. We want to feel at home where we live. We want to feel confident that our children will have all these things we take for granted. And if we want to stay true to all we hold dear, we need to be open-minded. We need to embrace change. We have the collective responsibility to find new ways to make this possible. We need to rediscover the power of cooperation based on fairness, based on mutual respect. And this is what I call geopolitics of mutual interests. This is what Europe stands for. This is what Europe will work for. And with all those who are ready to join, thank you for your attention. Madam President, listening to you as a European, I'm proud, because you give back a kind of, not a kind of strong feeling of, let's do it, and let's not just complain that we are lagging behind others. We have the capability not only to do it, but to lead it. I think that was the essence of your message. Now, if I'm, I don't want to sound critical now, and to put some, let's say, salt into the water, Europe was built on the notion of unity and diversity. And today we sometimes have the feeling it's more diversity in unity. So my question is, how do you ensure that the political unity and cooperation across European member states will exist to really successful implement your priorities, like the green team, competitiveness, digital agenda, and of course, what you said at the end, the geopolitical commission, if I may say so. Yes, this is the challenge, and this is the beauty of the European Union. Because if you briefly look at the history, when I was born and went to school, there were only six member states. Today, just one life span later. We have 28 member states. And of course, this is always a challenge between the national interests and the common European interests we have to define. And relating to your question, the good part at the moment being is, of course, we had times of hesitation and we had times of division. But we all now feel the urge of having to move forward, not only in the field of the European Green Deal, but also in digitalization, also in the topic of migration, for example. The good part is, I've put forward my political guidelines. But there's also, since summer, the so-called strategic agenda of the European Council. This is all heads of state and government of the member states. And it's strongly overlapping. So in other words, the political chambers have the absolute same agenda. On top comes the European Parliament, with a very strong push towards this agenda, too. But there's one more point where that is more convincing. It's the European people. The European people have understood that we have to step forward with climate change is concerned. European people have understood that in digitalization we have to put our own European way forward. And I think it's very important for politics and policies never to oversee if the people move forward, that we adapt our policies and are delivering what they are asking for. Therefore we are in a fortunate situation that all these different entities of the European Union come together with one very strong call to be the first climate neutral continent in 2050, to step forward in digitalization as I pointed out. And I think this is a very good precondition to really be active and to move forward. I think when you have the right strategy, having been a teacher for strategic management, when you have the convincing strategy, people will follow. But you have one additional obstacle because until the end of this year, the Brexit discussion and maybe even beyond this year, the Brexit discussion will absorb a lot of energy of the Commission. And do you see that this will slow down, particularly in the critical first phase, the ability of implementation of your ideas? A clear answer is no, and I'll explain why. First of all, we have been dealing with the phenomenon of Brexit already since three and a half years now. We have a task force, you all know Michel Barnier. He's heading the task force. So this will be the ongoing task force for the negotiations with our British friends. And this is separated from the daily business we were just talking about. We have to fulfill in the Commission. There are three more points I want to mention. First of all, we do have now the withdrawal agreement, which has gone through the European Parliament and the British Parliament. And within the withdrawal agreement, we've solved the largest, the biggest problem we had ahead of us. The one is citizens' rights. It was very important for us to have clarity on citizens' rights. We have 3.5 million European citizens living in the UK and vice versa, 1.2 million British citizens living in the European Union. It's good for them. They have their rights secured. Second piece on the island of Ireland was of utmost importance for us. We won it and we did protect our member state island. And this is successful done with the withdrawal agreement. And the third point in the withdrawal agreement is the financial settlement. We're fine with that, too. We have on top the so-called political declaration, which is kind of a shampoo that is describing the roadmap we want to go on together. And therefore, I just described that things are very well set for the negotiations. Now we will work day and night to get that done. There's one last point we have to be very clear on. There is a difference whether you are a member state or you're not a member state, what access to the single market is concerned. So the closer the United Kingdom is to the European Union, the better the access to the single market. If it's the UK's choice not to do so, to be more distant to the European Union, well then there will be more distance, of course, to the single market, what level playing field is concerned, and what free movement of goods, capital, and services is concerned. Madam President, see people here in the halls, the business people, say, are very affected positively if you succeed. What would be your message to them? How can they help you to make happen what you have in mind for your... Thank you for giving me these opportunities. The first message is we are friends. I mean I pay tribute to 45 years of contribution of our British friends to the European Union, all these civil servants who shaped this European Union too. We are friends. We share so many of common values and common interests. If you look at the rest of the globe, well, we know that we're sitting on the same side of the table, and we have a lot in common. Now we have to sort out this very clear thing, what I just said, access to the single market. There is a condition. Either you align and you accept the rules, then you're close, or you are more distant. This is the UK's choice, so you can shape this choice too. But the overarching message is we are friends. We have been friends and we will be friends because we have so much in common to defend. So let's conclude this session by saying let's work together to make you wish it happening. Thank you. Thank you so much.