Thank you, Vincent. Honourable media representatives.
I will start with the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Along with the regular update on implementation, the Commission presented ministers with the main findings of our recent mid-term evaluation. It is clear that this groundbreaking instrument has brought considerable benefits.
The RRF reassured financial markets on the EU's resolve to tackle the COVID-19 challenges, ensured a rapid flow of funds to Member States at a time of great difficulty, played a key role in preserving public investment, and sustained a solid recovery, returning the EU economy to pre-pandemic levels sooner than expected.
Its design flexibility has helped us to tackle new challenges such as high inflation or energy security issues.
In its current phase, the RRF is boosting the EU's resilience and making our economies and societies more sustainable, especially by supporting the green and digital transformations.
The evaluation has highlighted some important lessons to be learned, so we had quite a lively discussion in Council.
We know that there is scope for improvements.
For example, some Member States have called for more flexibility as well as a better balance between transparency and control, and the administrative costs involved.
We will look into all issues that have been raised. The Commission is exploring possible ways to make RRF implementation easier and to improve efficiency.
We all owe the RRF a great deal.
This unique instrument goes way beyond supporting the EU's economic rebound.
It allows for an in-depth transformation of our economies and societies and promotes more sustainable and inclusive growth.
Let me now give you a brief update on the economic situation.
While economic activity remains subdued in the near term, the weak growth momentum that we saw in the EU at the start of the year appears to be levelling off.
Inflation is continuing its steady downwards path, supporting real incomes and domestic consumption.
Annual inflation in the euro area is estimated to fall to 2.4% in March, down from 2.6% in February and 2.8% in January.
With business sentiment slowly improving and labour markets still strong, the conditions are in place for economic activity to pick up pace during this year.
That said, the EU's economic outlook remains subject to risks and uncertainty. The Commission will update the outlook in its spring forecast due in mid-May.
I will now turn to Ukraine. With the Ukraine Facility now operational, the Commission has made the first payment of €4.5 billion of exceptional bridge financing to Ukraine.
The next payment of €1.5 billion is planned for this month if policy conditions are fulfilled.
This represents a lifeline from the EU at an extremely difficult time to help Ukraine maintain key public services and ensure the functioning of the state as Russia pursues its brutal war.
The Commission also presented the Ukraine Plan, which was submitted a few weeks ago.
It focuses on structural reforms to tackle barriers to growth, investments in key sectors, and measures to promote Ukraine's convergence with EU rules and standards as part of its accession path.
It will be the main tool for implementing the Ukraine Facility.
As for the next steps: the Commission is assessing the Ukraine Plan with a view to drawing up quarterly indicators of reforms and investments to be met to unlock future payments.
We will finalise this work very soon and transmit the assessment to the Council. Once approval is secured, this would pave the way for Ukraine to receive €1.9 billion in pre-financing, most likely in May.
Staying with Ukraine: I warmly welcome today's approval of an important decision that enables the EU to participate in the EBRD capital increase, and I want to thank co-legislators for their speedy work on this file.
This capital increase was agreed by EBRD governors to ensure its continuous support for Ukraine.
And lastly, we had a useful discussion with the European Investment Bank on its ongoing efforts to step up investments in security and defence.
