This transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.

Thank you.

I will now open the floor for questions.

Tonight we have interpretation in German, English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and Dutch,

so free to ask your questions in any of those languages. The first one goes to Euronews. Hello Jorge Liboreiro with Euronews.

3 months ago you were in this room and you announced that the European Union had agreed to provide Ukraine with a €90 billion loan. We committed, we delivered, you said.

Yet 3 months later, the loan, as you said, is.

Completely paralyzed by one leader, Viktor Orbán, over a completely unrelated dispute regarding the Drzba pipeline.

You say the veto is unacceptable, but at the same time it's been accepted because there are no consequences against Orbán.

You're even considering paying for the repair of Drusba with European money.

So how can you explain that Viktor Orbán can hold hostage the entire decision making process,

and how can you explain that European money from European taxpayers will be used to fulfill his demands? Thank you.

Well, The European Council discussed and agreed by consensus.

18th of December To give a €90 billion loan to Ukraine backed by the headroom of the EU budget.

Now We need to deliver on this, and as the President said,

by one way or the other way, we will deliver on this.

Today, of course, we don't, we didn't discuss what we have already discussed last December. But the leaders take the floor.

To clearly condemn The attitude from Viktor Orbán.

To remember that once a deal, a deal is a deal.

And all the leaders need to honor their word. And nobody can blackmail the European Council.

Nobody can blackmail the European Union institutions, and we need to deliver on this.

And we welcome The efforts and the commitment of Ukraine.

To repair The Drsburg pipeline destroyed by Russia.

And we welcome the public commitment from President Zelensky.

To repair in the coming 6 weeks, the, this Drisburg pipeline.

The European Commission offered The technical support, the financial support to Ukraine to ensure that the pipeline will be repaired,

but We can take into account That is not acting With good faith When you put the condition.

That neither the European Union Northern member states can ensure.

Because only Russia is willing to decide if they try again to destroy the Jerusale pipeline. Or don't destroy again the Druel pipeline. Russia attacked 23 times the Druzel pipeline. For the 23rd time.

Ukraine will repair again, once again, this salem pipeline.

Of course, this is not the responsibility of Ukraine, this is not the responsibility of the European Union,

this is not the responsibility of the Commission, the European Council, any Member State.

And that's why it's completely unacceptable what angry is doing,

and this behavior cannot be accepted by the leaders.

And that's why the leaders were very clear today in the Council condemning clearly the behavior of Hungary in this in this matter. OK, next question goes to answers.

Thank you, Valentina Bonnici from Anna-Kaisa Italian News Agency. A question for, Madam President.

In the conclusions, there is a reference to targeted measures,

on, energy to ease energy costs on bills.

So, I was wondering if the Commission in this context,

Can see in favor a decree proposed by the Italian government to ease the cost of energy on bills. And another question for Mr.

President, do you think that green targets are green targets are still Something achievable also in view of the division among the 27 or 32 ambitions.

So, as I've said, because of the very different energy mix in different Member States,

you cannot have an approach that is one size fits all, but the approach has to be very targeted.

Tailored to the situation in the different Member States and temporary, and in this context, as you ask for the Italian situation,

we are committed to working very closely with the Italian government on this Italian decree,

according to the ECO conclusions guidance, as you have just cited.

From Monday on, consultations will start,

and we are positive to make progress to address the Italian specific problems in the short term.

In the medium term, I also believe that the upcoming ETS review will address other specific issues that are important for Italy, such as the extension of free allowances for energy intensive industries or the volatility of ETS prices,

and today I must say,

was a day that our European Council meeting that was very positive for the emissions trading system because against the backdrop.

Of the crisis,

it was clear to see that we are vulnerable because we are dependent on the global fossil fuel prices volatility.

And what we import as fossil fuels is driving the prices up because we have the merit order in the energy system.

The emission trading system over round about 20 years now has decreased emissions while the economy has grown, but most importantly,

it was a strong investment incentive in the clean technologies,

and the clean technologies is the low carbon energy sources like nuclear and renewables.

And you can see on the map of the different member states with the different energy mix, the more you have renewables,

the more you have nuclear, the lower the prices because these energy sources are homegrown and are not volatile.

The other way around is also true the more you have gas as an energy source,

the higher the prices and the higher the volatility. What we experiencing. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And what we are now experiencing with this crisis in the Middle East, that we need to accelerate our energetic transition because it's the only way to decrease our dependencies,

to become more autonomous, more independent, more secure, and we need to invest in our energetic security.

And for this we need to increase the production of homegrown energy.

We have a technological neutral approach could be nuclear, could be renewables,

but we need to increase our homegrown production.

It's the only way to be to be independent and to have energetic security in Europe. OK.

The last question goes to the Financial Times.

Financial Times Henry Foy, thank you so much.

Today European gas prices closed up 15% higher and roughly 1/5 of Qatari LNG production capacity was destroyed.

President von der Leyen, you yourself said there are future. Supply risks.

Given this now appears to be no longer a cost crisis but a supply crisis, can you tonight definitively rule out any delay to the full phase out of Russian LNG imports,

even if that meant energy curfews in Europe rather than importing more Russian gas? Thank you.

So we have our clear targets and we're sticking to our targets, very important was the discussion, and you just er reiterated it,

how important it is that we,

Do the transformation in the energy sector to the clean homegrown energy sources. This is for us extremely important.

Therefore, all the incentives we have set with the emission trading system,

I think today in the European Council it was impressive to see there was a clear majority clearly asking for. The substance of the emissions trading system.

Also you mentioned a few factors like being homegrown or preventing the volatility of prices,

but also because the investment.

Of the business case needs stability and predictability,

so we are on track on the mid and the long term, and our goals are very clear. OK,

we'll have to leave it here. Thank you very much for your attention. Have a good evening. Bye bye. Hold on, hold on.