College Read-Out — Wednesday, 25 March 2026

Key Points

• A new financial instrument, Agile, was adopted to support the European defense industry with €150 million funding.
• The Agile program aims to accelerate defense tech innovation, focusing on disruptive technologies and supporting SMEs and startups.
• The Commission encourages member states to allocate at least 10% of armament procurement budgets to emerging technologies.
• A European citizens initiative was registered to promote climate-friendly transportation alternatives, particularly enhancing train travel.
• The Agile program will provide grants of €1-5 million to SMEs within a four-month evaluation period.
• The Commission emphasizes the need for faster, more innovative responses to modern defense challenges and threats.

Full Transcript

Opening Statement

you you you if we could ask you to take your seats please folks good morning thank you for joining us in person and online today is Wednesday the 25th of March 2026 I'm very pleased to be joined on stage by Executive Vice President Virkunen and Commissioner Kobelius who will give today's college readout. EVP the floor is yours.

Thank you very much and good morning everybody and welcome to the readout of our college meeting. Today we adopted a proposal for regulation introducing a new financial instrument to support the European defense industry the program for agile and rapid defense innovation or agile for short. Commissioner Kobelius and I will present this proposal to you very shortly. We also adopted the communication on integrated welfare risk management which Executive Vice President Minzatto and Commissioners Labib and Roswaal will present to you immediately after our press conference on agile. And we also exchanged views on the reprogramming of cohesion policy under the midterm review and this will be a topic of our third press conference of the day with Executive Vice Presidents Minzatto and Fitto. And finally we also registered the European citizens initiative on fast, convenient, affordable and above all climate friendly transportation for all Europeans. The initiative invites the Commission to make travel by train a true alternative to aviation by creating a strong continental network and organization and removing imbalances in the market. The Commission has not analyzed the substance of this initiative at this stage. Registration means that now the organizers can begin the 12 month period for collecting signatures and if they collect at least one million signatures with minimum numbers from at least seven member states the Commission will then to be obliged to take action. The spokesperson service is publishing a press release on this as we speak. With that said I'm now moving to the main topic of this press conference, agile. I want to start by thanking my very good colleague Andrius. Our cooperation on this file has been incredible, smooth and also fitting, very agile. The war in Ukraine has taught us that for the European defense industry to become more competitive we must be faster in our innovation, combining disruptive technologies such as AI, quantum, robotics and cyber to our warfare. And that is why the European Commission has encouraged the member states to use at least 10% of armament procurement budgets to emerging and disruptive technologies. New emerging technologies shape modern warfare. European defense industry has been fragmented and the message we get from our SMEs and startups is that they often face difficulties when they try to get their foot to the door in defense procurement. Up until now the EU has done great work in defense research and development but however as also highlighted in the EU defense industry transformation roadmap we have not been as successful as we want to be when it comes to speed, risk-taking and supporting defense industry SMEs and startups. And that is why and where agile comes in. Agile regulation proposal is our new 150 million euro funding tool and it's a pilot project now lasting a year 2027 and its purpose is to take disruptive defense tech out of the lab and onto the field at record speed. Agile will support between 20 to 30 projects and we are stepping up to cover 100% of the eligible costs. It will be fully aligned with the most pressing needs of EU member states and it will ensure that European defense isn't just innovative but ready to respond to any threat. We want to take our SMEs and startups on board to build needed military capabilities. So agile is the missing piece of the puzzle that helps our defense and its solutions reach the market. It fits right in with our existing programs like the European Defense Fund. For the Commission this is not just a policy it's a strategic priority. Just last week we adopted another landmark proposal for European startups the 28 regime. We want to make things easier for people with good ideas and that is what we also are doing now with our pilot project agile. The world is changing, the threats they are also changing and we are committed to ensuring European defense is ready to respond. Thank you and with that I pass the floor over to Andreas.

Well thanks a lot Madam Vice President, dear Jena. I would like to start also from thanking personally you for the leadership in this job. I would like to thank our teams and cabinets and also defense people for this outstanding job. Well I will maybe try not to repeat what you have said in introduction but a few moments maybe really needs to be additional stress. Definitely what we are witnessing that wars and battlefields are changing very dramatically and militaries need new tech, speedy deliveries, very competitive prices. That is why the transformation of defense industry is our strategic priority. That is what the European Union defense industry transformation roadmap of November 19th last year was about, which we approved in the college. And the agile program comes from that roadmap. What we have a situation today. Today about 70-80% of defense procurement in European Union countries, notably large defense spenders, is primarily directed at the top 10 largest contractors, large established companies. This very much contrasts with the United States where less than 40% is directed at the top 10. Usually those large companies are developing what they call themselves haute couture production in defense. It takes a long time to be developed, it seeks technological excellence and the products are really expensive. Such production comes in small numbers and it is really difficult to quickly search such a production. At the moment we have European Union instruments to support haute couture production in defense. For example we have European Defense Fund. The procedures of the fund to approve the projects also are in some way haute couture. Their procedure is very detailed and takes a long time. Today we need to be ready to win the wars of tomorrow, not just to fight the wars of yesterday. In between of tomorrow and yesterday we need to be ready to fight the wars of today. Be able to adapt very quickly to ramp up production immediately. In general we need to be smarter and quicker than our adversaries. That is why we need more innovative SMEs and startups, both from the defense and civilian sector, to help us accelerate our defense readiness. We need more disruptive and low-cost solutions for our armed forces. SMEs and startups can help if we boost them with speedy support and simple rules. That is why we need to create financial instruments to support not only haute couture projects but also good enough projects. Disruptive, able to scale up in a speedy way from startup level to industrial level and to produce massive amounts of cheaper products responding to the needs of modern frontline. That is why we are proposing the Agile program as a booster for innovative SMEs and scale-ups. The goal of Agile? Ambition. months. Speed on the industry side, delivery of disruptive technologies and products with a lead time from six to twelve months or less. Agile ambition, the program will establish a fast-track process for evaluation of applications. The Commission will award grants from one to five million euros for European SMEs within a four-month period. This is unbelievable speed for European Union bureaucracy and decision-making, which means that we should accept a high level of risk-taking on our side, with, for example, preliminary evaluation, self-declaration from applicants on ownership control. Agile will be open to single entities from European Union member states, Norway and Ukraine. The focus will be in principle on new defence players, SMEs, including startups and scale-ups that meet that definition, and including from the civil sector. Creation of consortia is also possible. Agile also will create possibilities for inducement intervention by allowing participants of new defence actors established in said countries, provided they relocate to an eligible country. The program will provide financial support to companies by covering up to 100% of eligible costs of selected projects. Agile, as Vice President mentioned, is a program limited in time and in financial resources, because for 2027 we shall be able to use only 115 million euros for this program. That is all we are able to find available in our current budgets of EDIP, European Defence Fund and Space Program till 2028. We would be very happy to use much more for EDIP and Agile till 2028, but it's for member states to decide. Since we are able to use only 115 million euros for 2027, we can expect that only 20 or 30 European SMEs will be able to enjoy the benefits of the Agile program in 2027. The number is limited, but if we shall manage to assist those companies to become a new European Helsinki or Frankenberg Technologies – very well-known companies which started a few years ago as a start-up – and if those winners will meet the evolving needs of European militaries, that would be a great success for the whole Agile program. Twenty new successful disruptors in the European defence landscape – that would be great. That would be a great booster for our defence. We hope that Agile will demonstrate its success in the one short year of 2027. It will be a good opportunity to test Agile in order to continue with much bigger financial resources during the next MFF period from 2028 to 2035. And we hope that success of Agile program will inspire individual member states to go for the establishment of similar national Agile programs. Some countries at the moment have some similar programs, but Agile is the most ambitious in terms of speed and size of awards. We need to remember that member states, if they will implement NATO pledges by 2035, they will have possibility to spend from 50 to 100 times more for defence than we will spend on the EU level through the next MFF. It means member states can make their Agile agenda 100 times more powerful than we shall be able to do at EU level. Let's make Agile a new symbol of European defence. Many thanks for that presentation, Commissioner. We will now open the floor for your questions. On this topic, starting with David.

Q (David Carretta, Radio Radicale, Italian Radio): Thank you. David Carretta, Radio Radicale, Italian Radio. My first question, I'm not an expert on defence, but how 1 to 5 million euro for project can, let's say, boost in this way disruptive technologies and be a game changer in this field? The second question is to Commissioner Kubilius, if I may. It's on air defence and missiles. Everybody is saying that the EU is lacking missiles, and we are lacking it also for Ukraine. You have done a tour, a missile tour. I would like to know what are the results, what are you going to do? There are reports asking for a new ASAP on this topic. ASAP was a programme successful with clear objective, 1 million rounds of ammunition. Are you going to do the same with air defence and missiles? Thank you very much.

A (Commissioner Kubilius): Yeah, okay, on 115 million. Yes, of course, it would be much better to have, you know, much bigger amounts of money, but we are limited with MFF numbers. And, you know, that is why we were saying very clearly that we expect that around 20 or 30 European SMEs will be able to get those awards, from 1 million up to 5 million. And for start-upper, this is quite a substantial amount of money. So this is one thing. And if you look into the history of successful start-uppers, I mentioned just a few names, like Helsink or Frankenberg Technologies. So if we would be able to create, with our agile awards, at least 10 or 20 or maximum 30 similar companies, it would be a great success. So that's one thing. This is what we need to understand. Now on air defence and our missile tour, which we are now perhaps in the middle of that tour, I would say, to calculate how many countries we visited, we visited Poland, we visited Germany, we visited Italy. Tomorrow we are going, tomorrow and Friday, in Sweden. Then we are going to France, maybe Norway, maybe some other countries. So it's really a very important and timely initiative, which we are doing, because definitely air defence and the production of missiles, first of all for air defence, is a critical story of today, not only for Europe. We need to understand that, especially with the war in Iran, when you know, according to media reports, during the first five days, both American troops and the Gulf country troops used around 800 anti-ballistic missiles produced by Patriot system, 800. And we know how much, you know, what are the needs of Ukraine. Per year Ukraine needs, again, talking about Patriot system, needs around 2,000 of Patriot anti-ballistic missiles. And we know that, according to public sources, the whole production of Patriot anti-ballistic missiles produced in the United States is around 750. So all that arithmetic shows that really we need to, first of all really, to boost production of anti-ballistic missiles in Europe. We are producing some of them for some T-systems. And we need to look into development of new systems. And again, as some experts are saying, it's exactly, it would be possible to develop some of new systems which would match this description good enough. Because now what we have really, we have those, you know, haute couture air defense systems. So good enough systems can be a way how we can really build our capabilities and to develop them. And that is what is among our strategic priorities. First of all, looking into support Ukraine with forthcoming 60 billion Ukraine support loan. Also looking into what now we are able to do with new EDIP program, which started to be operational from the very beginning of this year, which opens the doors. And we were quite happy that member states showed big interest in developing new instruments, so-called European defense projects of common interest. And among them, of course, air defense is featuring as one of them, a very important project. So we are moving ahead. It will take time. I cannot promise you, you know, miracles to happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. But we understand the problem. We have some instruments which we can use. And Agile also is an important instrument in that direction. Okay, thank you. Other questions on Agile for us? Please, go ahead.

Q: of urgency in Ukraine, that Ukraine desperately needs those air defence capabilities, given the situation in the Middle East? Thanks.

A (Commissioner): Well, Ukraine is doing great in developing its own production, and even speaking while we met last time with the Defence Minister a few weeks ago, they were speaking about possibility together with some European companies to develop new anti-ballistic systems. So that's one thing. Now second, definitely it's not only about anti-ballistics, there are different other, you know, systems for air defence, like NASAMS, like other, you know, very well-known productions, which is possible to scale up. We were talking about that with each, you know, industry which we are visiting. There are, you know, issues on the industry side, how to scale up and how to scale up not only their own production, but what is sometimes quite a big issue is how to scale up supply lines, supply chains, where a lot of SMEs are present, and for them it's a little bit different problems, how to have access to finances. It's very important that we should move also with our proposals, which we put on the table even in the middle of last year, for example, simplification in defence, because in order to surge production, industries need to expand their production lines, and for that we need to shorten administrative procedures to issue permits. In some countries, as we were talking last year, in some countries just the permit, to get a permit to build a new factory, it takes four years. Now we propose that it should be not more than 60 days, so we have intensive dialogue with colleagues. I hope that we shall come finally to the positive outcome of that, and in addition to that, again, industries also are asking for more visibility, what is the long-term perspective of the demand on the government side, so there are some issues which we need to resolve, but I hope that all together we shall manage to achieve that not only finances are increasing for defence, but also production, real production will start to increase, because if we shall not achieve that, we shall face some consequences which we need to avoid. For example, lack of production ramp-up can bring to such a situation that production prices will start to increase, and they are increasing, and some ministers are really complaining about that very clearly. Also waiting times will increase, so that is why increase of production for us is not only for missiles, but for all other weapon systems, is one of the critical now strategic priorities. That is why we went into this missile tour, in order really both to encourage industries to ramp-up, but also to understand what still is missing in order to help them to ramp-up. Thank you, Commissioner. Vitaliy.

Q (Vitaliy Syzov, Freedom): Thank you. Vitaliy Syzov, Freedom. As I understood correctly, in this regulation, I see that Ukraine could theoretically participate in this programme. Could you confirm it, and in which capacity Ukraine may participate in this programme, and do you expect participation of Ukraine? Thank you.

A (Commissioner): Well, as I said, Ukraine can participate in the same way as European Union, I mean, SMEs from other European Union countries or Norway, so this is very clear. Ukraine really can participate, and that would be very much appreciated if Ukrainian SMEs will come, because really Ukrainians have some battle-tested experience, and for them this approach of – agile approach to do things very quickly is perhaps daily reality. The same is with – we are very happy that Ukrainians are involved into development of several of those European defence programmes of common interest, including air defence. So again, that knowledge, that experience is very much needed for us for European defence industry. Yes, especially when we look – hi, Chad – yes, especially when we look the role of technologies in the warfare, of course we have to learn from Ukraine and from their experiences, and that's why it's important always when we speak about disruptive technologies, especially in defence sector, that we are learning from the experiences from Ukraine and we are working very closely with them. And we see that this is a new challenge also for our defence industry. So that's why also in our defence industry transformation roadmap that we adopted in November, we were making this recommendation for our member states that now when they are investing hundreds of billions more to defence than earlier, 10 per cent of this investment should be allocated to that kind of new technologies, like to AI, quantum, spac

e technology, cyber security technologies. And here we are also, with this proposal, we are also giving our support really to create ecosystem with our start-ups and with our defence industry and defence needs, because we know that we have thousands of very potential start-ups in the European Union, but often for them it's difficult to access to these procurement processes, and that's why we are also reviewing our procurement rules. And here we are now giving also new funding tool, especially focusing to our SMEs, but also in last week we adopted our 28 regime, where we want to make easier also for our start-ups to scale up in the European markets, because we see that these kind of start-ups, they are very boosting the innovations that are needed now in our defence industry, and creating a very attractive ecosystem is an important priority now for us as a commission, and this is just a pilot project, so when we are now learning from this, we are willing to continue that kind of activities together with our member states and start-up community. Thank you very much, EVP. I have a question online from Nicholas Wallis. Nicholas Wallis, if you want to ask your question, you need to connect now. Can you hear me now? There we go, sorry. I was speaking into the ether. Go ahead. Nicholas Wallis for the Arsenal.

Q (Nicholas Wallis for the Arsenal): The European Innovation Council is already authorised to invest in defence tech start-ups through STEP. Under the commission's proposal for the next budget, it would have a lot more freedom to provide both equity support and grants. The European Defence Fund already provides R&D grants, and a huge chunk of its budget is already reserved for SME actions. My first question is, why do we need a new instrument? I know this is for quick turnaround projects, but why can't those be done through the instruments that the EU already has? And my second question is, if there are defence SMEs out there that are looking at all these EU programmes and trying to figure out which one is relevant to them, how are they supposed to figure that out? Thank you.

A: Well, definitely we have several programmes, as I said, which are devoted to research and development, to innovations, to support, even including to SMEs. But they have some specifics. Their procedures do not allow to have quick decisions on our side, so either we should go into changing their procedures and their goals and their targets, or we can create some kind of new instrument. I do not see here a big difference. We made a choice to go for, in some way, for a new instrument with a very clear goal, really, of speedy decisions, both on our side, but also asking industries or SMEs to realise their projects in quite a short period of time. So this is a different philosophy, and this is what I call a philosophy of supporting exactly this shift, not abandoning this very high-tech excellence projects, which are really very much needed, but we are shifting also our attention towards what we call good enough. So from haute couture we are going to good enough, and that is what we hear, first of all, from industries. Exactly one of the results from our visits to different missile producers, they are saying, yeah, we are... it would be good to have possibilities to look into new developments, learning from Ukraine, which is really very good to produce exactly those good enough products. And that is what demands new dynamic, new decision-making in evaluation of those processes, in award processes, taking risk on our side. So that is why we are coming with this regulation, expecting that it can be really successful, we shall test that in 2027, and then we shall look how we can continue in the next MFF period. Now, definitely, I understand the question also that we have different instruments, CDF, Innovation Council, some other instruments, which would be good to consolidate information package for our defense tech start-uppers. Perhaps we shall look into that, how we can bring appropriate and easy-to-use information. And thanks a lot for your question and for your comment, because I think that this is also very important. Maybe I could add, because it is very clear that historically we haven't been finding very much defense from our EU budget, but now it's one of our main priorities, and that's why we are also now adapting our rules to this new reality. And it's true that now there is many possibilities already to find different dual-use technologies, because nowadays that kind of technologies, they are by nature often dual-use, so you can use them in civilian, but also for defense purposes. And also later today, Vice President Fittö and Minsar today will also tell here about the results of our mid-term review, what we did, for example, with the cohesion policy, because there we also made more possibilities and gave more flexibilities also for regions and member states to invest to new priorities under cohesion policy, and one of the new priorities was defense and military mobility also there. So we have given more opportunities also to invest to dual-use technologies, but when we speak now about this agile, this is poor defense companies we are speaking, defense startups, so often we are speaking about dual-use, but here we are really looking also what kind of needs we have really in defense. And also those startups, they can really respond to these challenges, what member states are also facing now with their defense capacity, that what kind of needs our member states are also having, and our startups, they have also solutions for that in the defense field. Thank you very much to both. Do we have any other questions specifically on agile and related topics? Here at the back. Hello, Sara Bertolli, Focus Europe Italia.

Q (Sara Bertolli, Focus Europe Italia): Following the drone attack in Estonia, I would like to know which stage the implementation of the action plan on drone and counter-drone security, so-called drone wall, has reached, and how in e-fragile intersects also the goals of the action plan? Thank you.

A: Well, very briefly, first of all, as I said, we are moving ahead with so-called European Defense Projects of Common Interest, which is next stage in our flagship development of our flagship projects, which we were speaking in Defense Readiness Roadmap, like Eastern Flank Watch, like Drone Defense Initiative, or Air Defense Shield. So, those flagship projects now are shifting into those CDPCIs, European Defense Projects of Common Interest. So, member states who proposed now or notified us about their interest, they have quite a limited period of time to bring more concrete projects of development of those CDPCIs. So, we see really good opportunity, good success in moving ahead. Again, support from your side will be quite limited because we have very limited financial resources in EDIP, you know, till next MFF, but the beginning will happen. Also, we know that member states are using safe loans now to develop their capabilities for drone defense, you know, in a rapid way, and some of them are really ambitious plans because they have those safe loans, quite a significant amount of money. For example, Poland, at least what I hear, really is going to develop ambitious plan. And second, Agile is here also very much. No, of course, Agile will be operational only in 2027, but the whole philosophy is really, again, you know, to bring very rapid development of the project. Agile is, you know, in a difference from other existing programs, you know, like EDIF or European Innovation Council, is also financing testing of the projects. Also, you know, it relates with procurement. So, I mean, the speed which we are bringing with Agile is very much needed really to respond to those defense issues which are coming now. For example, how to strengthen our defense against drone provocations or drone attacks. So, this is matching, you know, the whole picture. Of course, we want, you know, some achievements to be implemented very soon, like, you know, member states really need to look how they can increase and improve their defense capabilities, not waiting even for EU programs. They can do that. Member states are increasing their defense spending. They can look for development of their capabilities, not waiting only, you know, for EU programs or for EU money. And some countries exactly are doing that. Go ahead. Yeah, as we heard, in the defense part, there's a lot of activities going on because this is one of the most important priorities now in our defense field really to build up our drone and anti-drone capacity. But as you know, one month ago, we also adopted our drone and anti-drone action plan in the European level where we are also combining now our activities in defense part and in civilian part. And we just adopted this one month ago. So now we have started to implement that. And member states, they are in the progress to nominate their contact persons to work together in the European level. And we have called open for member states for external borders now to have drone and anti-drone capacity in our external borders. But the next step is really to start together to test new technologies when it comes to drones and look also at the rules and the cooperation between civilian and defense part because we know that nowadays, often when we are facing drone threats, it's often around our critical infrastructure, so critical areas around our external borders. And that's why it's important that we are also working very closely with the civilian and military side in these processes. Thank you very much, EVP and Commissioner. We have a few minutes left, folks. Are there any other agile questions before we go to other topics? Well, it's not strictly agile. It's on the missile tool. A question for the Commissioner. So I'm Olivier Beau from AFP.

Q (Olivier Beau from AFP): I was wondering, you said you are halfway in your missile tool. Could you please be a bit more specific on the concrete results you – so far you achieved in this first part of your tool? And maybe the agile part. And maybe the expectation you have in the results you want to achieve at the end of it. Thank you.

A: Well, you know, missile tool is – how to say? It will not bring some kind of miracles tomorrow, you know, that I am coming and suddenly, you know, industry factory starts to, you know, produce three times more than they were producing until now. Industries really are doing great, increasing their production. In some cases, it's more easy. In some cases, it's more difficult. As I said, industries also see that issue, how produce not only haute couture, but also to go into production of good enough, cheaper, and more easy to scale up production. So this is what industries are talking about. And we understand really their wish, and that is why we are coming today with those agile proposals. Also, industries are talking about what are the obstacles for them to expand. We are looking for new instruments which we can develop. For example, industries still are feeling deficit of what they call long-term visibility. What will be, you know, how that demand from member state side, how it will go for next, you know, decades. They are worried about that they are not getting long-term contracts. So that is why we are looking for new instruments. are put into EDIP, and we are preparing ourselves to start to use them, for example, to incentivize member states to go for creation of so-called defense readiness stockpiles, which could create some kind of stable demand for many years to come, because stockpiles really are very empty for all the different weapons, including missiles or ammunition. Or, let's say, additional instrument also is so-called contracts for ever warm industrial facilities to be kept, which, you know, during peacetime they can be not used, but when day X is coming, they would be able to search very rapidly. And that, you know, demands specific contracts in between of European Union Commission or governments and industries, and that is a possibility which EDIP is allowing to realize. So we are looking also for that. Of course, a lot of problems are coming from structural problems in general for defense industries, that it's very much fragmented, there is no, you know, defense common market. There are a lot of obstacles, you know, which creates that fragmentation. This is what we are finalizing in our negotiations on defense simplification, omnibus. So as I said, you know, I can talk and talk on the problems which we see, that is for us this tour is really very good to, you know, to feel the basic issues. In some cases we see also the difference in different countries, so we shall have what to think about, and definitely when we shall finish our tour, I think that we shall make some kind of presentation of our, you know, what we find and what we want to do in order really to react to that situation which we are facing. Thank you, Commissioner. We have a few minutes left for other topics. Jorge, go ahead. Hello, Jorge Liboredo with Euronews.

Q (Jorge Liboredo with Euronews): My question is on security, and I think it's inevitable this week because Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Sciarto has openly admitted that he shares information with his Russian counterpart before and after meetings of the EU Council. He says this is normal diplomacy. Do you consider this practice constitutes a security threat to the European Union? And if that's the case, what steps are you willing to take to prevent your sensitive information from reaching the Kremlin? Thank you.

A: These reports of the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs disclosing to his Russian counterpart the closed-door ministerial-level discussions, of course these are greatly concerning. A relationship of trust between our member states and between them and also between the institutions is very fundamental for the work of the European Union. So it's clear that we expect the Hungarian government to provide clarification for us. Many thanks, EVP. Do we have other questions for the EVP or the Commissioner today? I don't see hands raised in the room. I have Stefan online. Stefan, last question to you.

Q (Stefan): Yes, thank you, Mr. Eurotable. I just wanted to be sure this money for this agile instrument is coming from EDIP, or is it additional money, or is it fresh money, or is it from one of the existing parts? And on the missile tour, if I may, I mean, the analysis is quite known, so the question would be how fast Europe could actually fill the gap of the missing interceptors, et cetera, that we see especially in Ukraine. Thank you.

A: Well, on resources, yes, the majority of the money is coming from EDIP, but also some money from the European Defense Fund and some money from space programs. But as I said before, everything since we are coming to the end of this MFF, so everywhere the money is very, very limited. I would remind that for EDIP, we have now, if I am correct, $1.2 billion for the remaining period of time. So it's really quite a limited amount of money in general. So that is why we are able to combine, to consolidate only limited resources for this new Agile program, but it's enough for us to test it and to see how successful it can be. Now, on, yeah, what, you know, definitely we know the numbers, how much missiles Ukraine needs, for example, and those numbers are very clear. Last year, Ukraine faced 2,000 missile attacks, among them more than 900 were ballistic missiles. Russians managed to modernize their ballistic missiles. Those missiles now are able to change the trajectory, which means that anti-ballistic defense is becoming less effective. That is what we got from Ukrainians directly, that information. So you need to use more of the anti-ballistic missiles in order to destroy one ballistic missile. And it means that Ukrainians need, you know, perhaps per year around of 2,000 anti-ballistic missiles. So those numbers are quite clear. I could add additionally, Mark Rutte, General Secretary of NATO, always is using some description of where we are with our air defense. And he says that in Europe we need to increase our air defense capabilities by 400 percent. Again, that shows us where we are and what we need to build. And definitely, you know, air defense means of different layers. We need to start from, you know, we can start from drones, finish with defense against ballistic missiles. That's a big task. It's, you know, really demanding task. Industries are responding. In some cases, they are increasing their production quite substantially. But still, we see the lack and that challenge. And we shall work on that, you know, with all our abilities to propose some significant, you know, ideas how this problem can be, in the nearest possible future, to be resolved. Thank you very much, Commissioner. Thank you, EVP. With this, we will conclude the first part of our press arrangements for today. Please stay tuned because the press conference will follow immediately afterwards with EVP Minzatu and Commissioner Slapi, Ben Roosevelt, on the communication on integrated wildfire risk management. Thank you very much.

you you you you you Good afternoon, everybody. Our next topic today is wildfires, how to be stronger, tackling the wildfires around Europe. We have Executive Vice President Roxana Menzatu on the podium, Commissioner Haja Labib and Commissioner Jessica Roswell. It's my great pleasure to be here with them. And without further ado, I give the floor to Executive Vice President. Please.

Thank you so much. Today, with our colleagues, we are presenting a new approach to managing wildfire risks in the European Union. Last year, across our union, an area larger than the territory of Cyprus went up into flames. Wildfires are no longer a seasonal southern problem. They are a European reality that is getting faster, hotter and unfortunately more frequent. And this is not only about hectares of burnt land. It is about the lives and livelihoods of our citizens. It is about the threat to our food supplies. It is about 2.5 billion euros in damages to property and infrastructure that we accumulate year after year. Preventing a fire is obviously always cheaper than fighting a fire. And this communication that we present today is about turning our preparedness union strategy into very concrete action. We have three main goals. First, to bring prevention and response together in one coherent approach. Second, in making better use of all EU tools, funding, data, very important, research, so that together they work more effectively. And third, of course, strengthening our cooperation, our solidarity, because wildfires never stop at borders. The preparedness union that we've launched last year is not just a concept. As we many times emphasised, it's a change of mindset. We need to move from a culture of reaction to a culture of anticipation. And it is very important to mention that in this context, we have to look at the causes. Up to 96% of the causes of the fires are man-made, whether it's negligence or whether it'

s simply behaviour. This means that 96% of these disasters are preventable. We want to raise awareness, we want to improve education, and we want thus to turn every citizen into a first line of defence. And we must support those that are also actually on the front line of response. Our firefighters, our volunteers, to whom I express my full appreciation and gratitude. And we need to support them with training, we need to support them with the right equipments, protective equipments, with the protection that they need to continue to be there for us. At the same time, in some regions, we see shortages of trained personnel. And so for this, we need better data, and we need to plan accordingly using this data to address these shortages. But let me be very clear in the end, it's member states that remain at the heart of wildfire management. We are here to support, knowing that yes, there is no one-size-fits-all in terms of anticipation and response, and that regional and local authorities know, communities know their realities best. I close with just this simple thought, if 96% of wildfires are caused by us, by humans, it means that we are also part of the solution. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Vice President. And now over to Commissioner Hajala-Bib. Thank you. Thank you. And I would like to start by thanking Roksana and Jessica for your excellent teamwork on this communication. I think we achieved something very important that will keep the people of Europe safer. So thank you very much. And if there are three of us here in front of you, it is because it is very, very important. Dante's Inferno. That's how Michael Balea, a Maltese firefighter, described the wildfires in Portugal. The smell of smoke, the night sky, glowing red flames stretching as far as the eye could see. Last summer was the worst in decades for wildfires. Over 1 million hectares burned, as Roksana just said, the size of Cyprus. But allow me to add that it was four times more than the year before. Almost every member state was hit. Some faced hundreds of fires in a single summer. In Portugal alone, nearly 3% of the land burned. Wildfires cost the EU nearly 3 billion euros every year. And every year they take lives as well. And this is not a one-off. Climate change is making fires bigger, faster and harder to control. Europe is the fastest burning continent on the planet, and no one is immune. Now we see fires as far north as your beautiful country, dear Jessica, Sweden. So we must be ready before the first spark ignites. And that is why we are taking comprehensive action to manage the increased risks of wildfires. We are looking at the whole picture, prevention, preparedness, response and, of course, recovery. And I know, dear Jessica, that you will say a few words about the importance of prevention. For my part, allow me to briefly focus on three areas. Coordinating, preparing and responding. First, we need to coordinate better. We need to know who has what, and who does what, and where support is needed most. So this wildfire communication is about seeing the full picture and acting as one. Making sure everyone has the tools and resources they need quickly and efficiently. It is about anticipating fires and staying ahead of them and not chasing after them. Our member states are always the first responders, of course, the first to respond on the ground. And we, the EU, stands behind them with a very strong support. We are encouraging member states to coordinate more, to share best practices and to learn from each other. That is how we all get better, of course. And that is why we are supporting a permanent programme to exchange firefighting experts. And we are encouraging stronger coordination across all levels of government, local, national and European. We also need our equipment to work seamlessly together across borders. also need our equipment, of course. And the second priority, of course, is preparedness, getting ready before fires start. Everyone has a role to play, especially our citizens. And we want people not just be safe, but be active in protecting themselves. And that starts with fast and accurate communication. People need to know the risk and they need clear, timely information they can trust. So we are strengthening how we communicate risk, making it clearer and accessible to everyone. No one should be left out. We are also getting the whole community involved in wildfire safety, because to keep everyone safe, everyone must be part of the effort. And this is important in rural areas, but also in cities, as we recently saw in Los Angeles, where wildfires killed over 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes. So we need more education, more training, more real-life simulations. And the better informed we are, the better decisions we make. And for that, we need better data. Our European forest fire information system, based on our Copernicus satellite system, already helps us detect and map fires in real time. It gives emergency teams the information they need to act fast. Now we are strengthening it to provide Europe-wide risk maps and earlier warning system. This will make us more autonomous and better connected with our international partners. And we are using the power also of artificial intelligence. Just like AI helps improve treatments, doctor improve treatments, and farmers protect crops, it can help also us fight wildfires. It can predict, stimulate, simulate how fires will spread, guard firefighters on the ground, and help us take the right decision and act earlier. And of course, this will save lives. A third area of focus is response. We need to respond faster and more effectively. That starts with stronger firefighting capacity. We are adding 12 firefighting planes and five helicopters to our rescue fleet. The first one is already in your country, dear Roxana, in Romania. And we are also opening a new firefighting hub in Cyprus. It will train firefighters and get teams ready for the fire season, together with our partners from across the region, of course. And we will preposition more firefighters in high-risk areas so they are ready before fires spread. I saw this myself last summer in Greece. Czech firefighters working side by side with Greek teams, helping in a crisis while improving their skills. It's good for Greece. It's good for Czech Republic. They can learn from Greece. And an excellent example also of European solidarity. Allow me to end by taking maybe a step back. Tomorrow marks one year since we launched our preparedness strategy. The threats we face are complex and fast-moving, and they are all connected. In Europe, we have a clear choice. Cross our fingers and hope for the best, or we can face the reality and prepare. So we have made the choice, a clear choice we've chosen to prepare. And this wildfire communication is an important part of this effort. So to keep people safe and to keep our societies strong. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner. And prevention, prevention of the fires and work with the environment. That's something what will be addressed by Commissioner Jessica Roswell. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And thank you, Roxana. And thank you, Hadja. Last year, as wildfires tore through Europe, and following up on Dante's Inferno, somebody said that the fear of a forest fire was unlike any other kind of fear that they have never experienced. And of course, nobody should be confronted with such terror. And yet we know that the risk of wildfires are increasing. So we have an urgent duty and a responsibility to take action. And today, the European Commission is taking steps to tackle the growing impact of wildfires. And wildfires is not a new topic. But what is new with today's communication is that it takes an approach where the focus is on the whole chain. Awareness raising, prevention, response and recovery. And that is also how the communication is formed. So let me then focus briefly on prevention and recovery. Our strategy is based on the old age idea that prevention is better than cure. Well-managed and healthy ecosystems are more resilient to wildfires. Active land and forest management is therefore crucial to protect our environment, boost our resilience and strengthen also our competitiveness. And we have simple proven measures that we know works. For example, animal grazing that limits the buildup of vegetation and also lower the fire risks. Controlled and prescribed burning can also help to reduce excess vegetations in a safe and planned way. We talk about mined fires instead of wildfires. And restoring wetlands and natural water retention areas keeps soils and vegetation moist for longer and acts of course then as a natural fire break. Farmers and foresters and rural communities are key partners here. They manage their land every day and we recognize and we support their role in today's strategy. So our efforts today also go beyond protection. This is also about strengthening our rural economies and making better use of Europe's natural resources as a whole. And prevention is not only about land, it's also about people that are being raised here because since most fires are caused by human activity. Awareness and responsibility and enforcement remains critical. At EU level we will support member states with the right tools, with data and with funding. And wildfires risks needs to be managed and of course we know this and adapted locally. And that is why there is no one size fits all solution. Flexible and locally responsive are key. To support implementation on the ground, the Commission is also providing guidance on the Natura 2000 and climate change to help stakeholders better manage wildfire risks. Climate change is affecting our ecosystems and we need to be ready to adjust and to adopt. And now to recovery. Recovery is also about resilience. The priority is to restore destroyed lands and to rebuild communities in a way that strengthens their long-term resilience. Recovery should reduce future risk, not to recreate them. And preventing repeated fires is really essential, otherwise we risk long-term environmental damage and also growing economic losses. Recovery is therefore an opportunity to modernize and invest in more resilient land use and also local economies, including through nature-based solutions. So what comes next? The priority now is to deliver. It's about prevention, it's about preparedness, response and recovery. And these have to go hand in hand. If one is missing, the whole system becomes weaker. Ladies and gentlemen, I have met with firefighters, I have listened to farmers and visited forests across all of Europe. And the growing threat of wildfires looms over all of them. Today is our collective answer to that threat. It's about concrete actions to concrete impacts, continuing funding, technical assistance and guidance and also improved monitoring and risk assessment models. So this communication is one important step towards a more resilient landscape and to an EU that is more proactive, better prepared and more responsive to wildfires. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thanks to all of you for your introduction remarks. Let me say that the press materials were published in our press room. We have prepared press release, questions and answers and fact sheet as usually. But now it's time for you, you can ask your questions. So are there any questions in the room? Or I've seen also some requests via interactio. Any questions here in the room? It's not the case. Oh, yes.

Q (Blaž Mohorčič, Slovenian Press Agency): Thank you, yes, Blaž Mohorčič with the Slovenian Press Agency. I have a question for Commissioner LeBipp about what are the concrete measures to raise awareness among the people on risks, and also what are the measures to support local firefighters that are crucial in fighting the fires? Thank you.

A: Should I answer? Yeah, when it comes to awareness, you know, as it has been said, the share of wildfire ignitions caused by human activity in the EU by far exceeds those from natural causes and could be as high as 96%. So it shows the importance to raise awareness and also education. So we are going to promote and disseminate good practices in wildfires, risk awareness and community involvement, for example, through the UCPM Knowledge Network. We are going to develop a toolkit for supporting resilience building in wildland urban interface areas and to promote volunteering and exchanging opportunities in the field of preparedness. You've heard maybe that we are going to create an Erasmus of preparedness to exchange, you know, young and also volunteer to create awareness and education and engage also with citizens through the online debate on preparedness citizen engagement platform and the dedicated European citizens panel, which will deliberate and address recommendation on wildfires, risk awareness and preparedness. And when it comes to the specific support that we are providing to member states, you know that the UCPM is for all our member states plus participating states, but also abroad. And so we have a pool fund, we have rescue capacities, we are exchanging best practices that Slovenians are prepositioned, also a part of the exchange program and prepositioning of firefighters in high risk areas and so on. So this is a whole program for creating awareness and education in this sector. Thank you.

A: Vice President, would you like to add something? As to the concrete measures with which the EU supports awareness and education, just to complete what Hadja mentioned, Erasmus, yes, but also the European Social Fund Plus. Later on, we will have another press conference on the midterm review of the cohesion policy, but I can emphasize now how important this fund is, European Social Fund Plus, a fund that invests in skills for preparedness as well, in designing new curricula, in teaching teachers, in delivering educational programs, in organizing awareness campaign. Preparedness is our horizontal focus across our EU policies. So obviously, we have this tool as well to support our member states so that they prepare their citizens better. Thank you. There is another question here in the room, and then we can go to Interactio.

Q (Rihanna Stepanenko, Radio for Europe's Ukrainian Service): Yes, thank you so much. I have a question related to the EU preparedness conference, which has been held just a few days ago to Commissioner Labib, so it's not directly related to the topic. Shall I go ahead? We have a conference on Monday and Tuesday, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, please go ahead. Thank you. This is a… Yeah. Radio for Europe's Ukrainian Service, Rihanna Stepanenko. My question is addressed to Commissioner Labib. After the conference, we interviewed Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba. You've held a bilateral meeting with him, and he said that he heard lots of interesting ideas during the conference, especially given that the European Union is interested in Ukraine's expertise in terms of protection, the critical infrastructure, etc., etc., although he personally has an impression that it's not about EU's preparedness for the war. So would you agree with him that the EU somehow is not prepared for the potential war, or this is the scenario that you actually are preparing for and you are considering the possibility of it? Thank you.

A: So you know that our preparedness union strategy is based on a whole other approach. If you go to the Nordic and the Baltic countries, they are certainly preparing for the war, and you know that in Sweden they are distributing a brochure to every household, and the title is In Case of War. So you can't say that Europe is not preparing for the war. But of course, if you go to Portugal and Spain later on, they are preparing for wildfires. So the perception of the threats are different from one part to another, and it's normal. As Jessica just said, there is no one-size-fits-all, and that's where Europe is a real added value, because we have a comprehensive understanding of the threats. And we are going to deliver, by the way, this risk assessment later this month. And this is part of our strategy, to have all answers, because it can be a cyber attack, it can be a wildfire, it can be a flood, and it can be war. So we have to take every kind of threats today. Thank you. We can go to Irini Kostaki from Cyprus News Agency.

Q (Irini Kostaki, Cyprus News Agency): Irini, can you hear us? I guess we will go back to the topic of natural disasters, of the wildfires, right? Yes, of course. Yes, loud and clear. In terms of funding, what amount is earmarked under the proposal about the European Firefighting Hub in Cyprus, and for what period of time are we talking about, and where do those funds originate from? Thank you very much.

A: Precisely the hub or others? You know, just to be sure, I'm not sure that was the question, but the communication does not impose any cost on member states. On the contrary, it seeks to promote more efficiency and, yes, in wildfire management. So, but when it comes to the hub that we are going to inaugurate in the margin of the informal council on the 23rd and 24th of April in Cyprus, in the Lafos, Paphos, sorry, airport, then it's a co-finance. So Cyprus is, yes, taking care and delivering on the infrastructure, and we are, yes, contributing through the UCPM to training, exchange of best practices, prepositioning, and so on. Thank you. Are there any other questions? We still have time for maybe the last question. Yes, I can see one there.

Q (Vincenzo Genovese, Neuronews): Good morning, it's Vincenzo Genovese from Neuronews. I have a question for Commissioner Labib, but it's not strictly related to the topic, so maybe I should leave the floor for anyone else who wants to ask about it. Any other questions on the fires, preparedness, etc.? I don't see any. No, so we can go ahead with this one. Thank you. Good morning, Commissioner Labib. My question is about the possible ban on conversion therapy. There is a European citizens' initiative which will be discussed today in the European Parliament, and if I'm not wrong, this was also mentioned in your mission letter at the beginning of your mandate. After one year, what's your plan? Are you proposing something concrete on this? Thank you very much.

A: Thank you for raising this question, which is timely, because indeed we have this discussion in the Parliament this afternoon. So I will go there, delivering the opening speech remarks, and I will hear. I met already the citizens who hold this initiative, and yes, it is indeed in my mission letter. So far, I'm consulting the different Member States. We have eight Member States who took law banning the conversion practices, and we are in a period of time where we are recording all the information, having a mapping of what are these practices about, because it's a very vicious and underground practice, because it's on the pretext of psychological support sometimes. So this is the testimony that I have so far, that it's something that can start from psychological support to convince that you are doing wrong. their

gender. And so this is something that we have to understand first, then to know what are these practices about,

to take the lessons learned from the countries who decided to ban these practices.

And I know that the Netherlands are very close to reach an agreement. This is a legislative procedure that will end soon.

So I had already a discussion about this and with other member states.

And we will see what will be the position in the parliament.

And we will go further in delivering our response, for sure.

Thank you, Commissioner. With this off-topic, we can close our presser today.

But you stay in the room because my colleague Maciej will come soon and open another press conference on the cohesion policy.

From my side, I wish you a nice afternoon.

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