Opening remarks by President von der Leyen at the joint press conference with President Michel and Prime Minister Fiala following the meeting of the European Council of 15 December 2022

Let me start by also congratulating you, Petr, and your fantastic team, and thank you for the excellent cooperation and the excellent work that you have done during a very successful Czech Presidency. You took the helm of the Council at a very difficult point in time. The war in Ukraine was and is sending shock waves across the globe and affecting everything from energy to food security. It was essential to maintain our unity of purpose and of action. And you, the Czech Presidency, were instrumental in achieving this, be it on further sanctions against Russia or on support to Ukraine.

The other very salient success I want to thank you for, dear Petr, concerns our most existential priority: And that is the European Green Deal and in particular our Fit for 55 Package. Under your Presidency, the European Union has now agreed on an impressive number of proposals under Fit for 55. Among these, the zero-emission cars as of 2035; the Effort Sharing Regulation; the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism; and yesterday, REPowerEU. And we hope to agree this weekend on the reform and expansion of ETS and on the Social Climate Fund.

I cannot end this list of achievements without mentioning the conditionality mechanism. We have triggered it for the very first time. A clear sign that the European Union is determined to use its prerogatives to protect the rule of law. Dear Petr, Europe owes you and your team a debt of gratitude for this very impressive work that you have done.

I also want to congratulate Croatia for the introduction of the Euro next year, and its full accession to Schengen. And to Romania and Bulgaria, I want to say: We stand fully behind your Schengen accession. We will continue to work tirelessly to enable your accession to Schengen as soon as possible next year. And finally, I want to also congratulate Bosnia and Herzegovina for having obtained candidate status. This is an encouragement to stay the course of reform on the European path.

Now we turn to 2023. I look forward to working with the incoming Swedish Presidency, in particular on Ukraine and on the big topic of competitiveness.

We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. The European Union has, as you know, supported Ukraine financially this year with EUR 19.7 billion. Thanks again to the Czech Presidency, our proposal on an additional EUR 18 billion for 2023 has been adopted today. The EU is at the forefront of support to its neighbour, as it should be, and will remain so.

The war has massive consequences on our economies. And this will continue next year. We face a potential gap of 30 bcm of gas next winter. We can fill it. But we continue to be in a very high energy price environment. Among others, action is now needed on the joint purchase platform. It is important that we do not outbid each other as Member States but that we use the market power to purchase gas. The speeding up of permitting is crucial for the roll-out of renewables. There are many projects to be started, basically sitting in the pipeline, just waiting for the permitting. And with this permitting reform, these projects can go ahead. And of course, action is needed on the market correction mechanism. I am confident that the Energy Council next Monday will reach an agreement on all three. Another success of the Czech Presidency.

But against the backdrop of this very high energy price environment, we face stiffening competition in clean-tech sectors. The United States' decision to invest heavily in these sectors is first of all very welcome. It is good that there is a massive investment in the green field, in clean tech. But on the European side, we also need to act to ensure the European Union keeps its global leadership in the clean-tech sectors. We need to convince cutting-edge industries in the European Union to continue to invest here. This is why I have presented a four-point plan to Leaders that brings together all the main strands of an effective response by the European Union to the United States' Inflation Reduction Act.

First, we are working with the Biden administration on the most concerning aspects of the IRA. Second, we have to adjust our own state aid rules for some years: simpler, faster and even more predictable. Third, we need to boost European investment to accelerate the energy transition. In the short term, this will happen through a reinforced REPowerEU, and in the medium term through a new sovereignty fund. Finally and fourth, we have to speed up the deployment of renewables because the whole topic is about helping our industry to go from a fossil-fuel based energy environment that is high-priced, and to transition towards a renewable energy environment that is affordable, home-grown and secure.

Based on today's discussions, the Commission will now move forward and make concrete proposals. We must and we will act.