ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_23_2765">press conference together with President of the European Council Charles Michel, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen outlined main EU priorities at three major summits happening from 16-22 May: the Council of Europe Summit in Iceland, the G7 Summit in Japan and the EU-Republic of Korea Summit in South Korea.
Ukraine was the first among the topics she talked about. President von der Leyen underlined the importance of a united response to the Russian invasion as well as of the reliable and continued support for Ukraine. She said that the G7 Summit will take stock of the existing and future measures, reminding that the Commission has last week proposed the 11th package of sanctions focused on enforcement and addressing circumvention. Speaking on the issue of Russia's accountability, the President repeated that the EU would strongly support the creation of a dedicated tribunal for Russia's crime of aggression, and announced that a register of damage would be set up in The Hague, as a 'first step towards Russia's compensation'.
The second key topic of this sequence of summits and meetings is how to manage the relationship with a changing China. "We seek a multifaceted approach to our economic relationship with China. It is characterised by de-risking, not decoupling. At the same time, we will seek to cooperate with China on issues of global concern such as climate change", President von der Leyen said, stressing at the same time the need to strengthen our own 'economic vibrancy'.
Speaking of economic security, the President outlined key actions to enhance the EU's resilience, such as reducing our dependency on critical raw materials, or considering new tools on outbound investment screening, and announced an EU economic security strategy that would be presented in June.
One of the major topics at the G7 Summit will be clean technology. "The common goal must be the build-up of clean-tech capacities. But not at each other's expense, otherwise it is going to end up in a zero-sum game", President von der Leyen said, urging for a 'huge leap in development and roll-out of these technologies' across the globe. "The demand is colossal. So, our incentives should be mutually reinforcing, not competing."
At the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, President von der Leyen will also co-chair with the US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida a side event of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, a flagship G7 initiative aiming to mobilise the private sector. The event will gather leading CEOs to discuss with us concrete proposals and the way forward in achieving the de-risking and the conducive investment environment.
