Thank you so much, first of all, Mette, thank you so much for the invitation. I think that I speak in the name of all: It is a splendid place, a splendid weather and a fascinating topic you have invited us to. So thank you very much for that.

And it is urgent, you just said it. We see energy prices breaking record after record. The consequences for households and companies are no longer sustainable. And what we see is, yes, an energy crisis, but it is mainly a fossil fuel energy crisis. So we need a green solution against this fossil fuel energy crisis. As you know, on the European level, REPowerEU is part of our answer. We are accelerating the clean energy transition with an interconnected system. And there are three main pillars. First of all, it requires that we are saving energy, mainly fossil fuel energy. At European level, we have agreed that all Member States jointly save 15% of energy between this August and March 2023. The second pillar is: We need to diversify away from Russian fossil fuels to reliable, like-minded sources, mainly also to fill our storages. And here is good news: We have reached now in the European Union an average storage filling of 80%. So we basically have reached already the amount that we have agreed on for this year. But we know that we will increase the storage filling.

And the third pillar is the main pillar, that is the knowledge that our dependency on Russian fossil fuels will only be over if we invest massively into renewable energy. And that is why we are here today. So we need clean, we need cheaper and we need home-grown power. We need it big and we need it fast. That is why we propose to further increase our 2030 target for renewable energy to up to 45% now. This means a renewable energy capacity of around 1,250 gigawatts by 2030. Just to put it in a frame: Today, we have 340 gigawatts of wind and solar in the European Union – or 500 gigawatts if you take biomass into the calculation. So it is thanks to you, today, too, that the European Union goals are totally within reach.

The Declaration that you will sign today here commits to multiply by seven the current offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea region – that is amazing – to up to 20 gigawatts by 2030. This is already one-third of the overall EU ambition for offshore wind by 2030 – one-third.

So it is evident: By working together, we can achieve more and quicker, that is the task of the day. The benefits of regional cooperation are immense. When offshore wind turbines are connected to multiple countries, the costs are reduced, the impact on the environment is minimised, and the energy production never goes to waste because it can flow towards different markets at different times. This is where solidarity meets sustainability and security of supply. Now, we, at the European Commission, will be supporting your work in every possible way – from planning, to permitting, to financing. We back with full support the regional cooperation initiatives like this.

Since 2008, we have worked closely together through the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan – you all know it as BEMIP high-level group. This exemplary cooperation is on track to fully integrate the electricity systems of the Baltic states with the rest of the European Union by 2025 already. I know, we have to accelerate. That is also the goal, to be faster there. So we did a lot of smart brains and, of course, of financing to accelerate that goal. This Baltic electricity system integration has received continuous support from the European budget, with more than EUR 1.2 billion in financing. Here in Copenhagen, today, we are just building on that momentum.

I want to highlight, at the very end, three specific points where we can accelerate the investment in offshore wind. First, let us agree to make hybrid projects a priority when planning interconnectors and offshore generation. Hybrid projects, which connect wind farms to more than one Member State, save up to 10% of the total project costs. The Commission is ready to work with you to identify the incentives and, of course, to overcome the possible bottlenecks – there are always bottlenecks. So let us know so that we work on that. A great example of cross-border cooperation is the ELWIND offshore wind project between Estonia and Latvia. And I have good news: Today, the Commission selected ELWIND as a so-called important cross-border project, so a PCI. And you know, this is good news because this makes it eligible for EU funding.

Secondly, let us make rapid progress with grid network development plans, based on common offshore commitments. The Commission, with ENTSO-E, will prepare by September technical guidance to support you in this work. And finally, let us provide the political backing to accelerate the permitting. We all know that this is one of the biggest bottlenecks. We have put forward a proposal on the table with REPowerEU. You, the Member States, define the go-to areas. And if you have done that, then the deployment of renewables and their connection to the grid is an overriding public interest. That is important because then we can fast-forward the permitting within one year. So this should qualify for the most favourable procedures available in your country.

Let us make it real, let us do it fast.

Thank you very much Prime Minister, dear Mette,

It is wonderful to be here with you, the Leaders. And I think that the Baltic Sea Leaders' Summit shows that a wind of change is blowing across Europe. We are harnessing the power of wind to break free from Russian fossil fuels and to become climate-neutral. And offshore wind energy can make a huge contribution to that. With the targets that have been set today, Baltic Sea offshore wind will cover the energy consumption of around six million households by 2030. That is more than the number of households in Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia combined. That is amazing. And we can do so much more. We now need regional cooperation to realise the full potential of offshore wind in Europe. So the European Commission strongly supports the regional cooperation initiatives – such as this one.

We are making available EUR 5.6 billion from NextGenerationEU for the deployment of offshore and onshore wind in Europe. I encourage Member States to work together in using these funds. The cross-border projects are so important. We want to prioritise hybrid projects, which link offshore wind farms with more than one Member State. Because hybrid projects will save space, they will save money – they can cut up to 10% of projects' costs. And indeed, a great example, dear Kaja, is the ELWIND offshore wind project. And I am very glad that today, we could select ELWIND as an important cross-border project – PCI. Because it makes it eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility, and that is good news.

One more important point is: We will accelerate the permitting process. We know that it is far too long – it takes many, many years, six to nine years. In the REPowerEU plan, there is a proposal to speed up this permitting process. I encourage Member States to endorse the proposal and implement it. Then we could guarantee that the permitting process takes less than one year.

Now, I think that it is important, indeed, that we look at the different topics that bring us to the electricity price situation that we are in right now. And dear Prime Minister Morawiecki, dear Mateusz, I am with you on one point; I am not so much with you on another point. If I may mention that first, we need the Emissions Trading System to cut CO2 emissions because it is the CO2 that causes climate change. And we know how much the negative impact, the devastating impact of climate change is already threatening us. We just have to look at the droughts this summer.

But the real driver for the increase of electricity prices is somewhere else. That is gas, and mainly Russian gas that has been manipulated by Putin. Putin, who uses gas as a weapon. And you can see that in the figures. If you look at the electricity price, 94% of the electricity price is composed of other things, mainly gas, than ETS. ETS is only 6%. Or if you look at the evolution of the price: Compared to last year, ETS increased by 58%, mainly because more coal is used, but gas increased by 580% – tenfold. So we should really address the driver of this electricity price increase. That is what we need to tackle. And I think that climate policy is security policy because if we invest in renewables, they are home-grown, they are clean, they are cheaper and they make us independent.

Where I am absolutely with you, Prime Minister Morawiecki, dear Mateusz, is on the pricing mechanisms of the electricity market. And you know that I have announced yesterday that we are looking into it, to develop an emergency tool and to work for a long-term structural reform of the electricity market. This has to be addressed. The electricity market is no longer a functioning market because there is one actor, Putin, who is systematically trying to destroy it and to manipulate it. So we really have to react to that. And that is why we are addressing now the composition of the electricity market. And there, I am with you, Mateusz.

Last but not least, Putin's attempt to blackmail us with fossil fuels is failing. We are accelerating the green transition. We are getting rid of the dependency of Russian fossil fuels. And we are accelerating the clean, cheaper and home-grown renewable energy.

Thank you.