It's a pleasure to be back here in Nicosia.
We held a number of constructive exchanges over the course of this informal ECOFIN meeting.
We started our discussions with competitiveness.
Europe's productivity and growth problems are not new.
But a more unpredictable and challenging world means that the urgency of addressing these issues has increased.
That is why the European Commission has made enhancing Europe's competitiveness a central priority of this mandate.
Today, I presented the Commission's ongoing work in four key areas:
- eradicating barriers in our Single Market so that it lives up to its full potential,
- simplifying our rules to allow our businesses focus on growth and innovation,
- ensuring our savings are channelled towards productive investments,
- and reducing energy costs for households and firms.
Overall, we have made good progress on the implementation of our competitiveness agenda, making more than forty-five major policy proposals.
But we need to retain our ambition and remain focused.
It is also important to add that the Commission cannot build a more competitive Europe alone.
Competitiveness is a shared responsibility of EU Member States and institutions alike.
To succeed, we all need to pull in the same direction.
Then, we held a policy discussion on an interesting topic: How can Europe pay for the things that it cannot afford?
We are faced with new and permanent spending needs, notably related to enhancing our defence capabilities and boosting our competitiveness.
At the same time the available fiscal space is already constrained and debt levels are high.
And population aging is adding to the challenge.
This is not an abstract problem.
It is a very concrete and pressing policy challenge we are facing here and now.
The solution, in short, is more growth and better spending.
More growth obviously brings us back to our competitiveness agenda.
And as regards better spending, the EU's new fiscal framework was designed to help strike the right balance between accommodating higher expenditure in new and urgent priorities, while preserving debt sustainability.
The European Commission's upcoming Spring Semester Package will reflect this need to strike the right balance between fiscal discipline and future-focused spending.
Turning to our exchange on stablecoins.
The European Commission's priority is to continue developing a robust regulatory framework for digital finance.
This should ensure legal certainty and that risks are addressed, while being as open to the use of new technologies.
The EU already has a strong framework under Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA.
We must ensure that it remains innovation-friendly, proportionate, and globally competitive.
This is why we launched a consultation this week to prepare the MiCA review, which is the appropriate place to address any issues also related to crypto-asset frameworks.
Finally, I would like to once again thank the Cypriot Presidency for their warm hospitality and for the excellent organisation of these meetings.
