Today's Ecofin meeting was somewhat unique.
It started with a strong social element: employment and social affairs ministers joined Ecofin ministers to debate the role of social investments and reforms for resilient economies.
In today's changing and tense geopolitical environment, it is vital to have the right employment and social policies in place.
We need them to realise the full potential of our workforce, address labour shortages, and equip Europeans with the skills needed to thrive in the green and digital transitions.
This is crucial for inclusive and sustainable growth.
Above all, this is about investing in people.
Here, the European Semester plays an important role.
Over the years, we have been strengthening its employment and social aspects.
This is reflected in the number of country-specific recommendations and the high allocation to employment and social priorities within the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Growth-enhancing investments and reforms must go hand in hand. This has been the spirit of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It will also be the spirit of the fiscal-structural plans under the revised EU economic governance framework, which has a strong social dimension.
Improving how we spend on social priorities to better target those in need and to put more people into employment will contribute to more sustainable public finances.
However, as ministers identified today, this brings its own methodological and data challenges. We should invest here as well, so that we can make the most of Europe's social potential.
I will turn now to the Recovery and Resilience Facility in more detail, where the Commission presented its recent mid-term evaluation.
It shows that the RRF played a key role in the EU's recovery from the harsh social and economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And this ground-breaking instrument continues to benefit people and businesses across Europe.
The RRF is boosting the EU's overall resilience and making our economies and societies more sustainable, more competitive and resilient - with a focus on the green and digital transitions.
We have seen funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and digitalisation projects like never before.
On the ground, the RRF's innovative performance-based approach is bringing real results, with enough flexibility to adapt to new challenges such as high inflation or energy security issues.
Not everything has been plain sailing, however.
There are also lessons to be learned.
We will continue these discussions in the coming weeks, with a view to identifying scope for possible improvements.
However, on the whole, implementation is going ahead.
To date, total disbursements stand at nearly €225 billion to 24 Member States. Still, we need the pace to pick up as we enter the second half of the RRF's lifetime.
And some Member States will also have to catch up on delays.
As investments proceed and the benefits of reforms gradually play out, the RRF's impact on economic growth should increase further over the coming years,
A few words now on Ukraine.
I have just returned from a trip to Kyiv where I went to discuss the situation with EU support for Ukraine - and Ukrainian needs - with officials, experts, students and business.
As you know, the Ukraine Facility entered into force at the start of this month, which paves the way for a €4.5 billion payment of bridge financing, foreseen later this month – and we expect to make another €1.5 billion payment in April.
We now have a firm path forward to help reduce Ukraine's financing gap, with stable and predictable EU payments through to 2027. They will be coupled with a reform agenda to help Ukraine on its path to EU accession as it integrates more closely into the single market.
At the same time, we are working closely with the Ukrainian government to finalise the Ukraine Plan.
This will be the main tool for implementing the Facility itself, setting out the reform and investment priorities for all donors in the short and medium term.
Lastly, on making use of frozen Russian assets.
After Council unanimously adopted our windfall profits proposal, we have the legal clarity and conditions to allow the use of these revenues to support Ukraine.
We are fully committed to moving forward with the next step, to allow redirecting these revenues to the EU budget for the benefit of Ukraine. This will now be discussed with Member States.
