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Thank you.

I will now open the floor for questions, and I will start with you.

So let me ask in Greek, please, Q Mr.

President, Cyprus lived the consequences of the situation in the Middle East, but was also able to get help from the European Union,

especially now that we are at the helm of the European Union,

and you talked about Article 427 and the clause for mutual assistance.

Member states would like to have a specific process for this article.

Could you describe the next practical steps and if you think that this conversation on Article 427 will be a legacy for the Cyprus Presidency?

I will reply in Greek if you don't mind, since the question is in Greek.

For Cyprus, and not only Cyprus,

things are clear.

Article 427 cannot just be something in theory. It must have substance. It should be fully operational and credible.

Many times,

also as a deterrent to the need to use the Article.

As the President of the European Commission mentioned, the High Representative and the competent Commissioner have started working on it,

and I would also like to say that today,

Member States from all geographical areas of the European Union will address the President of the Commission.

For specific ideas on what I mentioned, the need for an operational plan on the way the European Union works,

we have a very good President,

the civil protection mechanism and this could be a blueprint on how we are going to work.

It is very important to say that we see some countries, and I can say this in public we see countries that fully.

We support NATO are at the core of NATO.

I'm talking about Poland which are talking about the need to go ahead and give substance and an operational plan for Article 42.7.

The European Union has Member States that are not Member States of NATO, and besides these Member States, we have Member States that are very close to NATO,

fully support NATO, like Poland,

and they also support the need for the European Union to go ahead with an operational plan for the specific article.

We cannot be talking about autonomy of the European Union if we don't have a specific plan in these sectors and we don't know how to move.

As I said with some Member States who are already in contact from all geographical areas of the European Union,

we are going to address the President of the Commission with very specific ideas. Thank you. Next, António.

Hello, thank you Antonio Herman for the Spanish news agency FA.

Two questions if I may 1st one, several member states have advocated for,

a greater fiscal flexibility regarding investment in the green transition and energy grids.

Based on the discussions at the summit, how would you assess the level of support among the member states for such exemptions?

And is the Commission open to integrating these proposals into the current fiscal framework?

And second, in the context of context of discussions on strategic autonomy and the mutual defense clause,

there are new reports on the US considering punitive measures against allies who declined to support the Middle East campaign and more specifically regarding potential suspension of Spain's NATO membership.

How concerning is this for the EU and do you think it's this strengthens the case for accelerating European defense cooperation and to reduce dependence on external partners? Thank you.

I start with the fiscal flexibility you called it, I think.

First of all, yes, it is very important that we invest massively in energy infrastructure.

We've spoken a lot about the energy sources, but I have not spoken enough about the fact that we need the grids, the interconnector, we need massive research and development in storing batteries,

and the so called flexibility that is artificial intelligence,

managing that the energy flows best where it's needed most,

and that the energy mix is optimal. This needs lots of investment.

We have looked at how much the current MFF has provided.

If you look at Next Generation EU, the cohesion funds, and the Modernisation Fund,

it's around about €300 billion that were available for energy investments.

95 billion of these are not used yet.

So I called upon the Member States to use these funds. It is very important to do that.

Second, we have presented a grids package that works with all the topics that I have just spoken about,

including the permitting process that everything goes faster. We have presented this in December.

The initial plan of the co-legislators was to be ready with this package at the end of this year.

We have asked whether we can accelerate, and this is something the co-legislators are thinking about to move this package forward so that we have the final decision on it earlier so that we can implement it,

because it helps a lot with the investment in the infrastructure.

This is Not directly, only related to flexibility in the budget.

If you're speaking about the general escape clause,

this can only be activated in the case of severe economic downturn in the euro area or in the European Union as a whole.

Thankfully, this is not the situation we are currently in.

But we keep monitoring the developments very closely,

and the Ecofin will be discussing the matter in detail, so we are staying alerted.

One element I should also add to that,

we have just flexibleized the state aid framework for these types of investments or support in the situation with energy scarcity and high energy prices too.

So a whole mix that you see how to address the topic, and, as I said, we keep monitoring the development very closely.

We have our headquarters in the same city as NATO, but we are an independent institution.

We cooperate with NATO, but we don't discuss the internal issues of NATO.

Then what we are doing and what the High Representative updated the leaders yesterday is about the ongoing process to discuss how to operate the mutual assistance clause.

The mutual assistance clause is in the Treaty, and as President Christodoulides explained, of course we need to know how to trigger,

how to use this, and we are designing the handbook on how to use the. This mutual season close.

In fact, we have had in practice a first test here in Cyprus.

When Cyprus was eaten by Hezbollah, immediately Greece and then France, Italy,

Spain and the Netherlands mobilized military equipment and forces to come to Cyprus to help Cyprus to defend from the external attacks. OK, Oscar.

Thank you Ansk Hase German press agency DPA.

A question to all of you, yesterday the German government offered to support an easing of EU sanctions against Iran.

If there is a comprehensive agreement that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,

so I would like to know what you think of this move.

Do you think it's possible to have such an agreement with the regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people? I start. What then? That's not fair.

So, can I have first the Portuguese answer?

No, we speak as one, we are both European.

And indeed, as you said, Iran keeps attacking its neighbors and repressing its own people,

so we believe that sanctions relief should be conditional on verification of de escalation.

Particularly on progress on the international effort to contain its nuclear threat.

On a change to the repression of its own people, you described elements of that,

and that was the reason why we adopted the sanctions regime in the first place.

The behavior of the regime, we should not forget that 17,000 young people have been killed in the first month of this year,

so the reason for that has to be.

Ended before we can speak about lifting sanctions. I fully agree it's too early.

We don't have a good experience with Iran.

I remember last summer, some days before the snapback of the sanctions,

I met with President Pesikan in New York.

We try until the last minute to avoid the snapback of the sanctions, but unfortunately,

Iran didn't deliver on what they need to deliver to ensure the international community that they they don't never ever have a nuclear weapon,

and we cannot ignore. The nature of the regime.

The violence of the regime against their people and the thousands of people they killed very recently.

Then I think it's too early to talk about really any kind of sanctions, but of course. We wish that the ceasefire.

Could be last, and open the space for diplomacy and for diplomacy to address the core issues,

and the core issues are not only. The nuclear issue.

We need to address the issue of the ballistic missiles, because these are a key element for the security in the region and also for Europe,

and they need to end the support of the proxies who are destabilizing the region and threatening Europe. So a regional reply.

Without commenting on the issue of lifting the sanctions or no.

But We cannot reach The escalation in Iran in the region without the active participation of the European Union.

This is also we want the message from the countries of the region.

I'm not commenting on their sanctions, but I will say that as a European Union.

We have the tools,

we have the means in order to Safeguard a permanent escalation. Thank you. I will take one final question, Grazia.

Mr President, News Agency, I have a question about Ukraine.

There have been some comments by the German Chancellor, who said there was no prospect of Ukraine's immediate accession to the EU,

but suggested that Kiev could join meetings of the bloc's members. Everyone agrees that.

Or at least perhaps privately and most publicly agree that it's impossible for Ukraine to join the EU immediately.

So I kind of wanted to understand what the path forward then would be, you know, what are the alternatives?

Could you speak to what that would look like and how long would it then take for Ukraine to reach full membership? Thank you. We have written. May I? OK. Not in Germany.

Look, we In June 2022 we approved by unanimity.

To give the status of candidate country to Ukraine.

Since then, Ukraine is working very hard with the European Commission.

In order to implement all the reforms they need to implement.

To To ensure accession to the European Union.

All the Member States know how difficult the accession process.

I don't know how many years Cyprus spent on this. I know my country. 9 years negotiating this, the accession.

After this, with a lot of transitional clauses for a long time. It is always very difficult.

Of course, what is very, very,

very impressive in all the assessments from the European Commission is to see how, in such a difficult situation.

A country in war, suffering a war of aggression.

Is delivering on their capacity to make reforms.

Is not The end of the process It's a long process, a very hard one.

But we cannot try to fix artificial moments to say it in 3 months or in 10 years.

We need to work very hard and to continue to work very hard to deliver on this.

And as soon as possible, and it is the same to Moldova and it is the same to the six Western Balkan countries who are negotiating with us the accession process,

and we will continue on this because for us it's very clear that first,

from our strictly from the economic point of view. It's important to enlarge our single market.

The last moment of great growth in Europe was when, in 2004,

several Member States entered the Union and enlarged our single market,

but now it's also about geopolitical.

When I'm saying that it is about geopolitical,

I'm not saying that we can give up on the criteria and the merit basis process, because this is a merit based process. But what this means is everybody.

The candidate countries and the European Union institutions need to act with a sense of urgency of this process, and of course,

we need to be creative to solve problems, and it is not easy,

as you can imagine, to negotiate 7.

99 9s accession process at the same time.

And especially with a country with a dimension and in the current situation of Ukraine,

but we believe in the future of Ukraine.

And we believe that the future of Ukraine is in the European Union.

I can only echo that because it's very important that we have in 2020 renewed the methodology for the accession process.

So this is also a set of clear rules among us and the potential candidate countries,

and both sides rely on that, so it's a two-way contract if you are a candidate country.

It's hard reforms that the candidate countries have to do.

We expect them to move forward if they deliver on these reforms, but the other way around is also true.

If they deliver on the reforms, they have a certain right to move forward in the process at the very end.

It is a political decision by all Member States because by unanimity, you have to then decide on accession,

but the way forward, the merits based process forward,

has to be respected for both sides to know what to rely on.

I want to say explicitly that Ukraine in the last months, specifically, has worked very, very hard and delivered through the rather important reforms to unlock,

for example, European funding,

and this has to This has to be rewarded on our side too. Mr enough.

Zelensky, sorry, is this good enough for Zelensky? Between between the president.

What,

what is This approach He wants full membership.

But of course he he wants it quickly.

But look, but what we are doing is negotiate all this accession process.

Is towards the full accession of all these member states, these candidate members. That is an ongoing process.

Thank you very much for attending this press conference. Have a good weekend.