Check against delivery!  

Good morning.   

So, we are having a Foreign Affairs Council on Development today. This is my first time to chair the Development Ministers’ [meeting].   

We are going to discuss the impacts of USAID withdrawal from the development aid and where we can come in.  

Of course, we have strategic priorities. We cannot fill the void that the US is leaving behind totally, but we are focusing on the priorities that we have, and we will discuss about this. Of course, it will be our neighbourhood. It will be also democracy, media freedom. It will be also priorities like human rights and democracy.   

Then we are going to discuss the [EU-]African Ministerial that we had, and also the preparation for the EU-Africa summit, that we would have concrete deliverables [for]. I am happy to say that we had a very successful ministerial. Many ministers present from Africa, 39 in total, and 15 ministers from Europe. There were a lot of exchange of views, and I think we definitely need to build on that cooperation.  

Then we are going to discuss also the next MFF, and what it means for external action and how we can do it better so that is so more really modernised and more cost effective – because the funds are always limited.   

Of course, in the end, we will also have under any other business Ukraine. These attacks on Kyiv are totally appalling. It is clear that Russia has increased its pressure on Ukraine. It is really bombing Ukraine, and we have seen the deadliest attacks. So, it is up to us to put the pressure on Russia so that it would also want peace. We are ready to do it on the European side, and we are hoping that other international partners will follow suit.  

Thank you.  

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-27241