Check against delivery! 

Thank you. It is good to be here again. Thank you, Antonio, for inviting us.  

These topics are very crucial. And I would add actually, to what Mark said: it is going to be a super week, when it starts with the Foreign Affairs Council in Europe and then continues with the NATO Summit as well as the European Council. So, a lot of important decisions coming from there.  

As the Minister has already emphasized today, it is clear that our commitment to our defence is stronger than ever. That means also a stronger Europe. Our €800 billion ReArm Initiative is a crucial step towards enhancing European security. 

Next week, the European Union will also propose greater flexibility for government defence procurement and improved access to financing. These two topics have been some of the issues that the defence industry is raising to make it more agile. 

Why are we doing all these things? Because a stronger Europe also means a stronger NATO and more reliable partner also to our allies.  

Of course, we are going to discuss also Ukraine today. Russia is carrying the largest strikes against Ukrainian civilians since the war began. While Russia is dangerous, we all know that, its behaviour is also predictable.

This means that Russia responds to strength and nothing else, not empty slogans and not just talk. But strength. And that is why we have proposed a new sanctions package. Every sanction weakens Russia's ability to fight this war. This week, we proposed sanctions on Russian banks and the energy sector, as well as the military industry. 

Russia has lost billions of euros in oil revenues, its sovereign wealth fund declined by 6 billion last month only. So, Russia is bleeding cash. We need to cut the flow of cash to Moscow's army even further, because we want this war to stop, and this war will only stop if the pressure is there. 

In parallel, of course, we support Ukraine. In 2025, the European Union provided the most military support since the beginning of the war. But our ambition should be to do even more, because Ukraine is defending itself and Russia shows no sign of stopping. 

The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield today, the stronger they are around the negotiation table. When it comes the day, when Russia is actually ready to talk.  

Thank you. 

Q&A. 

Q. You have referred to new sanctions against Russia. Slovakia is now threatening to put its own veto. Do you think that we may find unity at the EU, next to EU, next week? 

About the 18th package: we put forward a very strong package, including sanctions on banks, full transaction ban – also for the energy companies – as well as the oil price cap and then, addressing military industry as well. The way we work in Europe is that we have 27 countries with 27 different democracies, which means that we always negotiate. We always negotiate. So, that is the proposal on the table every time it changes on the way. And this is how we operate right now. We have the negotiations ongoing. Member States take something out, also propose something new. But we are still – I am still – optimistic that we reach this decision, especially now when we see also signals from the US saying that senators are preparing sanctions packages as well. Thank you.  

Q. There is escalating tensions in the Middle East after the presumed failure of talks between the US and Iran. There is talk of withdrawing non-essential staff, and there is talk of an imminent Israeli airstrike on Iran. Has Europe completely abandoned this fight? Are you doing anything about it?  

We have not abandoned this file. It is true that before, when the JCPOA was negotiated, we worked very closely together with the US. Now, the US is negotiating separately, but we also have our contacts – because we have much larger concerns with Iran than just nuclear. [Also] their support to Russia in this war, also detention of EU citizens in Iran, also the cyber-attacks and hybrid attacks against European countries. We have the snapback mechanism, and the deadlines are approaching. We are in contact with Iran expressing all these worries, and also to really come to the decision regarding the deadlines and the mechanisms in the JCPOA, and we have to do this by the end of this summer. And of course, E3 has a very special role in this. But eventually also the European Union has to agree – all the 27 – to fully lift the sanctions or put the sanctions. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-273736