Remarks by Commissioner Dombrovskis at the ECOFIN press conference

Thank you, Minister. Good afternoon, everyone.

Let me just start by saying that I look forward to working closely with Minister Lose and the Danish Presidency on our joint priorities over the next six months.

The Danish Presidency today presented its ECOFIN work programme.

We welcome the strong focus on securing Europe's defence capabilities, defence industry, strengthening security and strengthening competitiveness, as well as moving forward with our simplification agenda.

Allow me to begin with the historic news for Bulgaria.

ECOFIN has today approved Bulgaria becoming the 21^st member of the euro area.

This completes the legislative process.

We will have a dedicated ceremony after this press conference, so let me just to mention a few brief points.

Joining the euro area is about much more than replacing the lev with the euro.

It is about building a brighter and more prosperous future for Bulgaria and its citizens at the heart of Europe.

The euro will bring new opportunities, investment, jobs and growth.

That has been the experience of people in other euro area Member States and it will also be the case for Bulgaria.

Then today we discussed the economic situation.

While the EU economy is showing resilience, the outlook is clouded by policy uncertainty, including around US tariffs. 

Our understanding is that the US extended its deadline for imposition of tariffs to 1 August.

Nonetheless, EU and US negotiations continue at political and technical level to push for an agreement in principle before then.

Moving to the other items on today's agenda.

The ECOFIN has today adopted a decision establishing the existence of an excessive deficit in Austria, and a recommendation for it to correct the excessive deficit by 2028.

With regard to Romania, Minister Nazare provided an update on the significant fiscal consolidation measures recently adopted by the Romanian Government.

This is an important and positive step towards complying with the new Excessive Deficit Procedure recommendation, provided that all measures are fully and swiftly legislated and implemented.

We will monitor progress closely and come forward with our assessment in autumn.

Finally, I welcome the ECOFIN's endorsement of the country-specific recommendations.

These provide Member States with a comprehensive and coherent set of policy actions to maintain macroeconomic stability, enhance Europe's competitiveness and strengthen our security.

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

As regards financing, we are on track.

Approximately €17 billion has now been disbursed to Ukraine, under the G7 ERA loan initiative, with the latest contribution worth €1.4 billion coming from Canada.

We expect the EU's next €1 billion payment to take place this week, bringing the total value of the EU's disbursements under the ERA initiative to €8 billion.

The next payment under the Ukraine Facility is scheduled for mid-August.

I will participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference this week to discuss Ukraine's future financing and defence needs, given that President Putin visibly has no intention to stop his war of aggression.

Our message is clear: Ukraine is not only defending itself, but all of Europe as Russia is a major security threat for all EU countries.

Last night we held an informal discussion on defence spending for Europe and Ukraine.

Specifically, we discussed how to increase defence investments in the context of the NATO 5% targets and our instruments for this, including fiscal flexibility and the SAFE instrument.

We are all aware of the importance and urgency of strengthening Europe's defensive capabilities to provide a credible deterrence to the Russian aggressor.

Today's ECOFIN adopted the Commission's proposals for the national escape clauses of 15 Member States to facilitate a rapid increase in defence spending.

Our challenge now is to invest smarter, together, and for maximum impact.

Finally, the Commission provided an update on RRF implementation.

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

Total disbursements in 2025 have now reached around €11 billion and we are in the process of assessing 18 payment requests, amounting to nearly €72 billion.

I also welcome today's endorsement of targeted amendments to the recovery and resilience plans of Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany and Ireland.

As a reminder, the legal deadline provides that all milestones and targets must be met by the end of August 2026.

We thus reminded ministers of the Commission's June Communication which provides clarity on how Member States can make the most out of the time that is left.

Thank you.