Remarks by Commissioner Dombrovskis at the ECOFIN press conference

Thank you, Minister. Good afternoon, everyone.

First of all, I would like to thank the Polish Presidency for their excellent work during these months.

Minister Domański provided quite a comprehensive overview of what the Polish Presidency achieved over the last six months.

So, I won't repeat, but just to highlight that we have emphasised the two key priorities for the European Union, which are competitiveness and security and defence.

We were fully aligned with the Polish Presidency in driving the work forward with regard to those two key priorities.

From today's ECOFIN, first of all we had a discussion on the economic situation where global tensions and uncertainty remain high, including the escalating conflict in the Middle East between Iran and Israel which also casts a shadow over the economic outlook.

While the EU economy remains resilient, recent developments further underline the urgency of taking decisive action to enhance our competitiveness and security.

The European Semester Spring Package, adopted earlier this month, was an important step in this regard.

Today, I presented ministers with the main elements of the Spring Package which provides a comprehensive and coherent set of policy actions for Member States aimed at maintaining macroeconomic stability while enhancing Europe's competitiveness and security.

Now it is time to focus on implementation.

I also provided the meeting with the regular update on progress with the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

So far, we have disbursed €317 billion to Member States.

But we need to make further progress, as the clock is ticking.

The legal deadline provides that all milestones and targets must be met by the end of August 2026.

This means that we have little more than one year left to submit all outstanding payment requests and supporting evidence.

So, with this deadline looming, I presented today's meeting with the Commission's Communication from earlier this month which provides an overview of the actions that Member States can take to ensure that their recovery and resilience plans are implemented in time.

This includes, amongst other options, revising plans where necessary, simplifying them where possible and taking appropriate steps to prepare for those last payment requests.

The RRF has already had a major impact across Europe.

Now it is time to make sure that it finishes strongly in 2026.

Our Communication provides clarity on how Member States can make the most out of the time that is left.

Then, I welcome today's ECOFIN decision supporting Bulgaria's euro accession as of January 1^st, 2026.

This is indeed a major milestone.

So now this will pass for discussions to the European Council and then come back to the ECOFIN for a final decision at the July ECOFIN.

We also held our regular exchange on developments related to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

It is an especially challenging period for Ukraine, as Russia escalates its vicious missile and drone attacks.

As regards financing, there is some positive news.

Firstly, we welcome the news that the IMF has reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine for the 8th programme review.

This reflects continued reform progress by the Ukrainian authorities, which is even more impressive against the extremely challenging conditions.

Secondly, with regard to the G7 ERA loans initiative, in June we completed an agreement procedure with Japan.

This marked an important milestone.

Now all G7 partners have signed agreements to provide financial support for Ukraine through the ERA loan initiative, totalling of €45 billion.

From the EU side, we have made another disbursement of €1 billion under this initiative last week, bringing the total amount it has now disbursed by now to €7 billion. 

Overall, the message continues to be that the EU and its like-minded partners continue to stand with Ukraine.

We also had a highly relevant informal discussion last night, where we took stock of Ukraine's future needs and committed to explore all possible options for future assistance.

To conclude, on a closely related note, with a word on our exchange this morning on defence issues.

I would like to say thank you to the Polish Presidency and to the Member States, for their efforts to achieve the coordinated activation of the national escape clause and the swift adoption of the SAFE defence loan instrument.

Both initiatives will play a crucial role is enhancing Europe's security and deterring aggression in the years ahead.

Thank you.