 Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this press conference in the framework of the visit of the College of Commissioners to the Belgian presidency with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Kro and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Both Excellencies will first give a statement and will then take some questions from you from the ministry on the floor. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Welcome here. Is the microphone working? Yes, the microphone is working. Let me start again. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Welcome here. Ursula, welcome here. Let me start by saying Europe is coming home and we are extremely delighted, of course, to take over this rotating presidency. There have been quite a few starts of this European presidency. Let me say that this really today has been the real start. We've had the occasion to discuss with our government and with the College a number of topics and have to say that we are extremely excited to get to work. The relationship between the presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission is an extremely important one. In the world of today, if you want to realize something, you need to work together and the cooperation between the Belgian government and the College really is a crucial one. Our presidency comes at an important time. More than ever, the European population looks at the European Union. They look at the European Union with clear expectations, with expectations to protect them, with expectations to strengthen our well-being, our welfare, and with expectations to prepare a common future. A common future here in Europe means also, of course, Ukraine in the heart of Europe. It is the best guarantee for our future stability and for collective security, collective security for the population of Ukraine, but also collective security for the European population. After the December decision of the European Council, we will work on the negotiation framework for future enlargement related to Ukraine and Moldova. And this relates to a broader topic, of course. We live in a world that is in turmoil, not only in Ukraine, also in the Middle East and in too many places in the world. We as Europeans too often, we bear the majority of the consequences of what is happening in the world. What we need to do as European Union is also to lead in a discussion, not only lead in a discussion with words, but also lead in a discussion with actions. Not only bear the consequences of what happens, but also try to influence what is happening in the world. We will also prepare the next institutional cycle. We will support the work that is happening in defining the priorities for the next five years. One of those priorities will be on how to make the realization of the Green Deal something where our full population, our full economy, our full industry can be part of this, can see this as an advantage in realizing it, not only for the good of nature and for the good of our environment, but also something that creates prosperity, that creates welfare. That also means that we need to reform the European Union. We know that there is discussions about enlargements at some point. Our message is very clear. Before we get bigger, we need to get better. We need the European Union that is able to decide in a faster way while maintaining its unity, and that is more efficient in the usage of the resources that our European population is giving to them. A number of us this morning were in Green Pass, and we were there for the commemoration of the loss of Jacques Delors. If today the Europeans enjoy the European Union in our daily lives, in our daily lives by using the Euro, by traveling throughout the European Union without borders, by having programs such as Erasmus, Jacques Delors really was one of the architects of the modern Europe that we see today. More than ever, the spirit of Jacques Delors is something we need. A Europe that understands that we are stronger together. A Europe that understands that it is good to have friends in the world of today. So while doing all this, we will keep our citizens at the top priority of all the work that we do. They expect Europe that protects. They expect Europe that strengthens, and they expect a Europe that prepares. So the next six months we will be working together with the European Commission, with the other member states, with the European Parliament as well. Let me conclude by saying it is crunch time. Crunch time means that now it is up to us to deliver. Madam President. Thank you, Alexander. It's a big pleasure for me to be here today as we launch the Belgian presidency of the Council of Ministers, and firstly to be able to benefit from some of the artists that are historical and precious here in Brussels, because even if we live and work here every day, unfortunately, opportunities to benefit from this heritage are far too few. The Belgian presidency therefore welcome to recall for us the exceptional role which Belgium has played in European history. And this role continues with this presidency, which is coming at such an important moment in time. Your presidency will be a presidency when it comes to the landing strip for a whole range of pieces of work which were started under my presidency, and I'm counting on the tablet center, the tablet center of Belgium, known in particular because of the excellence of your sight, is to actually get us through the final furlong. Now, we have got some very important files that we need to process. All of them, for everyone, has to contribute to the aims of your presidency, protect, reinforce, prepare the priorities which you have, ones which I share fully. These priorities, that is the support for Ukraine. We all witnessed Russia's recent brutal airstrikes on civilian targets in Ukraine. And after the historic decision to launch accession negotiations with Ukraine, we must urgently move forward on stabilizing our financial aid to the country. The commission will come to the European Council with operational solutions to ensure that we can agree on the Ukraine facility. And Belgium will then have the key task of transforming the political agreement on the facility through Council and Parliament as quickly as possible. The Ukraine facility is a central element of the revision of the multi-annual budget, but it is not the only one. We need to conclude the revision during the Belgian presidency, and this will give us the means to implement many of the policy priorities that we have identified and on which we have made progress. Take, for example, migration. With the recent political agreement on the pact, we have now the basis for a new and effective policy, and it will be important to bring these files now over the finish line. Another example is competitiveness. I very much look forward to an agreement between Parliament and Council on our proposal for the Net Zero Industry Act, because this will provide our industry with a greatly improved regulatory framework to drive forward the green and digital transition. Of course, competitiveness is a wide theme with many different angles, so we also need modernized fiscal rules that help stimulate sustainable investment throughout Europe. And the agreement in Council a few weeks ago was a very welcome step forward. Now, I am confident that the Belgian presidency can ensure an agreement with the Parliament before the end of this mandate. We also need a very strong social dialogue. First, because long-term competitiveness relies first and foremost on Europe's main talent, and that's the people and their skills. And second, because competitiveness is a tool to ensure prosperity, and this is prosperity for all. So, I am very much looking forward to the Val d'Ichesse Summit to discuss the future of work, and I share your objective to sign an inter-institutional declaration on social Europe in La Ulp with a focus on a new drive for implementing the European pillar of social rights. And I'm also very much looking forward to our discussions on the two reports you mentioned, the RETO report by Enrico Leta on the Single Market and the report by Mario Draghi on competitiveness more generally. I am convinced that these reports will provide inspiration for new initiatives to reinforce our long-term competitiveness. Dear Alexander, one of your presidency's priorities is to prepare for the future, and my college entering its last year of mandate will continue to work hard to do just that. Let me mention two points. We will come forward in particular with a communication on the 2040 climate targets, and after the COP 28 and the success on our European initiative for global targets on renewables and energy efficiency worldwide, it is important for the European Union to continue to set the standards and the trends. And second, following the decision of the last European Council, as you said, we must prepare for an enlarged union, and before we get bigger, we have to get better. So during the Belgian presidency, we will come forward with our roadmap for policy reviews, and I look forward to discussing them with you. The European Union we both are striving for is a union that delivers and a union that empowers, so let's go to work. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Excellencies. We will take some questions now. Please state your name and the media you work for before asking your question. A question to the Prime Minister, perhaps you were in Paris, you mentioned where Prime Minister Viktor Orban was also in attendance. Do you have a feeling that a solution at 27 for financing Ukraine is possible? And Madam President, may I ask, you will have operational solutions ready. What is the earliest date that you can get aid to Ukraine? Thank you so much. Thank you. A great question. Yes, of course, the aim is to come to an agreement with 27 countries. And we've had over the past two years other moments where there was doubt, and I often call it the Brussels doubts. It is a few hours before a European Council, everyone starts doubting if it is possible. And up to now every time we've come with a solution. So I see no reason that besides the Brussels doubts, you will also have the Brussels decisiveness and come to an agreement with the 27 countries. Yes, and indeed, this is the first priority, an agreement to 20 by 27. But of course, we have to prepare for other options. These are the operational solutions that we are preparing right now. Important is to know that we have just released before Christmas, the last tranche of our 18 billion Euro support package for Ukraine for 2023. So this will help Ukraine finance their needs for the beginning of this year. This gives us a little bit of leeway. But of course, we have to work as hard and as fast as possible to deliver. Yes, please. Thank you very much. I have two questions to Madam President and also to Prime Minister. One of the focuses during the presidency will be relationship with China, I imagine, and we have a recent development of starting the anti-dumping investigation against EU leaker. Do you see this as a retaliation? And do you think that this kind of tit for tat can spill over into a bigger trade fight? And a second question, Prime Minister, you have spoken a few times about the importance of not just having the green deal, but also having the industrial deal. What are the particulars? What do you want to see in that industrial act? Thank you. So what our relationship to China is concerned, it is very important to be very frank about the facts. We have a 400 billion trade deficit with China and it increased drastically over the last years. So when I visited China, I was very clear on that, that yes, we like competition, that is good, but it has to be fair. There has to be a level playing field and it has to be transparent. So when it comes to subsidies, for example, we have to have transparency about what kind of subsidies are given and under what circumstances. And this is the discussion we are leading with China. My experience is that the more open, the more frank you are, the more you can really pinpoint on the difficult points in the economic relationship. We have agreed with the Chinese leadership that we will go point by point through all the complaints we have and our companies in China, for example, experience and have and work through them systematically so that we do not only have the complaint on the superficial level, but step by step we go through all the difficulties, for example, European companies face when they want to access the Chinese market. Maybe on the Green Deal and industry and I think too often there are people who try to oppose one against the other and I think that's wrong. And I think it's remarkable what we have done. The European continent has been going through major crisis over the past three years and I'm extremely proud that the Commission was able to maintain the goals of the Green Deal. We were all very clear on keeping the goal. Now that we get into a next phase where we hope we can let the crisis behind us, we have to come into a new phase of policy which means how do we make the Green Deal bankable? How do we make it something where our industry or our population sees it as a source not only for advantage from an environmental point of view, but also competitive advantage, also a source as a better life, a cheaper life and more affordable life for our population. Now how to do this? A few things have already been mentioned and the Coletta is doing great work on the version 2.0 of the single market. We talked about Jacques Delors. What was done more than 30 years ago was visionary, but the world has changed quite a bit since then. Our economy is completely different than anything we could have imagined 30 years ago. The work of Henri Coletta, the work of Mario Draghi is a key input in that. We talked about China and about trade. It is clear that trade policy is a part of industrial policy and we need to better integrate our trade policy in our industrial goals. The European continent is today the continent of innovation, but industrializing that innovation too often is happening in some other places. We are a continent with a lot of financing which is available, but today a big part of our pension funds are being invested in the United States, whereas they could rather be invested in the industrialization of the innovation that is happening here. So that industrial deal is something that is quite broad, but that we finally need to put in a package and help it to become a second phase of really firing up the Green Deal. Okay, time for our last question, Politico. Hi, Peter Haag from Politico. I had a question on the escalation we've seen in the Red Sea the last few weeks. We've seen some member states already speaking out that there would maybe be consequences. Maybe Mr. Prime Minister, do you want to use the presidency to push for a more common EU approach to protect the global trade flows there? In my introduction I talked about the fact that too often when there are worldwide events, we Europeans, we bear the brunt of the consequences. Too often when there are refugee flows because of a conflict, we are the one that take the major part of it. When we see that energy prices go up because of international tensions, we are the one who are paying it. So instead of being a payer, too often we've said we need to be a player. That means that in these situations we need to do a much more proactive effort in trying to get everyone on the same line. Now that is an easy thing to say. We know that conflicts like that are often not the easiest one to get everyone aligned, but yes it is definitely one of our ambitions is to try to work in the most proactive way as possible to get to a common position and to also get to action. Okay. If questions are always hard to answer. Okay, I think your time is up unfortunately, but thank you very much and hope to see you very soon. All right, thank you. Thank you.