Remarks by President António Costa at the joint press conference with Federal Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz 21:05 Remarks by President António Costa at the joint press[...]

I would like to thank you for your welcoming and for this opportunity to have an in-depth and a face-to-face exchange on the main political priorities for our European Union.

Germany is a key pillar of our union, of our economy and our capacity to face different challenges in this world.

I'm encouraged about the new dynamism in the engagement in Europe. I believe that it can give Europe a new momentum for our main political priorities. And Germany has been key in our efforts to how to support Ukraine. Your recent pledge to fund 500 million package of military equipment and munitions to Ukraine through NATO is another stark example of these concrete efforts, which will reinforce Europe's security as a whole.

Because Europe's resilience is tied to Ukraine's resilience. Overnight events in Poland are a clear demonstration of this. We stand in full solidarity with Polish people after the unacceptable violation of their airspace.

We are and will remain fully engaged with Ukraine. The Coalition of the Willing has clearly reaffirmed our common goal and commitment to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and provide strong security guarantees to help preventing future attacks.

Having already visited now over half of the European Union member states, it is clear that our main priorities are security and competitiveness. Those are closely interlinked. Without security, we cannot have a robust economy and without a robust economy it is very difficult to improve our common security.

Work is ongoing on policies to boost our competitiveness, but we need to continue giving priority to simplification, reducing regulatory and administrative burdens, lowering energy prices, diversifying our trade relations and mobilising private savings to unlock necessary investment in the European Union economy.

As it is also to enlarge our network of partners across the globe and forge new alliances. The world is changing fast, but the European Union remains a consistent, reliable and predictable partner that strongly supports and promotes a multilateral, rules-based order. And this is an extremely attractive offer.

To be able to play our full role as a geopolitical actor, we also need to increase our defence capabilities. We have made historical progress in 2025; I can only commend the giant steps taken by Germany. And we will continue to do so. The two European Council meetings in October will be crucial to accelerate this work.

We have an ambitious agenda with clear political priorities, and now we need a European long term budget that will match this agenda, our ambitions. A budget fit for purpose, that will allow us to deliver on our priorities. For this, it is important to prepare well our discussions and to have a spirit of collective responsibility when the moment comes to make decisions. This is one of the main topics in my meetings with the 27 leaders during this tour des capitals.

Once again, thank you very much, dear Friedrich, for this warm welcome. Danke schön.