H.E. Ms Karen Van Vlierberge:

We wrote a letter to the President of the European Council in December. Now in our new role with the Presidency we will work as an honest broker. We think that we need to get a new position because I was referring to the Council conclusions from October. We will do our utmost, but it will not be easy, given the very specific positions of many countries. It is important for Europe to get that unity. We need this if we want to go on to the next steps in the political process on the day after the war. We have a lot of options there. Europe should become more strongly involved in looking for a political solution based on a two-state solution. We will do our utmost but it is a slow process. We were one of only four member states seeking an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. That is changing within the Council. I am a bit hopeful, but if Europe wants to stay relevant in this regard we really need to find consensus within the member states.

Regarding the Deputy's first question, I mentioned that one of our top priorities is to strengthen our competitiveness. It is about making Europe very competitive on the world stage, but it is also about strengthening our internal market and helping our SMEs to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens. We also need to help them in the very difficult process of coping with the green transition. I referred to the Fit for 55 package. It is from the perspective of changing the view of global climate change and is of huge importance. On the other hand, our companies have to remain able to survive and to operate fairly in a Internal Market, which has a level playing field. This topic is on the agenda. I was told, but I will double-check and come back to the committee, that we will aim for a general approach on the topic within the Council. As I was saying, it is true that the transitions are of the utmost importance but they should also be fair, particularly for SMEs. We will come back to the committee on this point.