Pressemøde med Costa, von der Leyen og Zelenskyy den 3. juli 2025

Følgende er en transskription af indledningen til pressemøde den 3. juli 2025 med Statsminister Mette Frederiksen, Europa-Kommissionsformand Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraines Præsident Volodymyr Zelenskyy og Formand for det Europæiske Råd António Costa i forbindelse med Danmarks EU-formandskab

Statsminister Mette Frederiksen: Thank you and first of all a very warm welcome to you, President Zelenskyy. Volodymyr. Today we are gathered, we have gathered the European family here in Aarhus and that family would not be complete without you present. In fact, no one is sacrificing more for Europe right now than you and your brave countrymen and women. The blood shed on the fields of Donetsk is Ukrainian but the fight for freedom is Europe's. That is why we need to stop thinking about our European support for Ukraine as donations or gifts and see it as it is for real: the defense of Europe against aggressive Russian imperialism. We, your European family, need to continue and strengthen this support in every way we can and increase the pressure on Russia with more sanctions. It has been said that we live in the age of predators. In this age Europe must not end up being the prey. Instead we need to rise up and show our true strength. Europe is an old and strong continent found on some very crucial values, human rights, rule of law, democracy and freedom. And no predator, no matter the brutality, is to take that away from any of us Europeans. Over the next six months I and the Danish presidency will do all we can to forge a more powerful and a more decisive Europe. A Europe that does not shy away from the many dangers threatening us. A Europe re-armed, ready to defend itself. A Europe prepared to meet whatever may come. Dear Volodymyr, dear Antonio and dear Ursula, the free world needs a stronger Europe and the Europeans, our citizens, need strong political leadership to handle the uncertainty in the world and their uncertainty in their daily life. And with these a few words I would like to give the floor to you, Volodymyr. Welcome.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Thank you so much. Dear Mette, thank you for invitation. Dear Ursula, Antonio, thank you so much for today's meeting. Dear journalists, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. And let me start by congratulations Denmark on the beginning of its presidency of the Council of the EU. We are living in uncertain times and there are many risks and we don't always know what to expect. That's why it's so important to have something we can count on and that is Europe. That's why I wish Denmark a strong and very successful presidency. Our first goal is to put maximum pressure on Russia to stop this war. This pressure means building up our defense and keeping tough sanctions on Russia and we are working hard on both. I thank Denmark and the vast majority of EU countries as well as the European institutions. Thank you, Antonio. Thank you, Ursula, for your support. We expect a strong 18th package of EU sanctions and full coordination of these sanctions across key global jurisdictions. We also discussed defense funding today and it's very important that support remains predictable. There is also clear progress in joint weapons production and this is not only about them. Very good Danish model of investing in Ukraine. We are also preparing agreements for joint production in Denmark. Of course, we expect Ukraine to be a full partner in European programs like SAFE and we must continue directing the profits from frozen Russian assets to support our defense, including by investing those funds in Ukraine's defense industry. The second priority is EU enlargement in today's global competition. Being part of the EU helps every such nation succeed. Ukraine has already done everything required to start accession talks, including being ready to open the first cluster fundamentals and we will be ready for the other clusters later this year. It's time to open the clusters and the short goal is coordination. Now when there are doubts about continued US support for Europe, it's even more important to strengthen our cooperation and coordination through the EU, NATO and also in our direct relations both with each other in Europe and with the United States. Thank you to everyone who's helping with finding common solutions. Mette, I wish you success and thank you so much again. Thank you and all of Denmark for everything.

Statsminister Mette Frederiksen: Thank you and then I would like to pass the floor to the president of the European Council, Antonio.

Formand for det Europæiske Råd António Costa: Thank you, Mette, dear Volodymyr, dear Ursula. It's a pleasure to be here in Aarhus to launch the Danish presidency of the council and let me start for wish to you Mette all the best for this presidency. Denmark has shown unwavering support to Ukraine from day one and you personally have set an example for a strong leadership in Europe and to the world and as you rightly said, Ukraine's fight for freedom is also our fight for freedom. First, Russian invasion of Ukraine remains a major [uhørligt] threat to global peace in the world because this invasion is undermining the international rules-based order because Russia is an intercontinental country threatening not only Europe but also the Pacific region and because Russia is acting in a coalition with countries like North Korea or Iran. Second, a just and lasting peace is urgent global security. I'm deeply disappointed that Russia is not engaging with the efforts of President Trump to achieve a just and lasting peace. While President Zelenskyj has already agreed on an unconditional ceasefire, Russia not only hasn't agreed but even increasing the intensity of their aggression to Ukraine. From our part, we will continue to give full support to Ukraine. Member states have committed an additional 24 billion military support since the beginning of this year and now the European Commission offered to all member states more fiscal space to increase their support and this support counts for the new NATO targets. And we will continue on the other end to put pressure on Russia through sanctions. Last week, we prolonged all our sanctions for another six months and the 18th package of sanctions is underway. Finally, we are looking forward to our common future with Ukraine as a full member of the European Union and I'm very happy with the recent assessment of the European Commission about your impressive work to deliver on reforms in such difficult situations and for sure we have reached the conditions to move forward the ongoing negotiation process to the accession to the European Union. Thank you. 

Statsminister Mette Frederiksen: Thank you Antonio and now President of the European Commission. Dear Ursula.

Formand for EU-Kommissionen Ursula von der Leyen: Yeah, thank you very much Mette and a very warm welcome also to you Volodymyr and to you Antonio. Mette, I want to thank you for your constant support to Ukraine and I'm sure that under your leadership this support will continue. I also want to mention first of all the sanctions. As you know, last week we agreed to renew our sanctions and as a first achievement of your presidency, Mette, you can bring the 18th package to the finish line. I'm confident that this will be possible. We all know that Putin does not want peace so we need to put pressure on him to come to the negotiation table. 18 sanctions packages are biting at the heart of Russia's war economy. It was an eye-opener to hear the Russian Minister of Economic Development saying Russia is on the brink of recession. The interest rate is at 20 percent, inflation is at 10 percent. Russia's overheated war economy is coming to its limits so for us it is important to increase the pressure so that he comes to the negotiation table. My second point is on defense. We will deliver two million shells to Ukraine by the end of the year. We also invested 2.1 billion euros to strengthen Ukraine's defense right now and important is the origin of this money. We're doing this by using the windfall profits from immobilized Russian assets so in practice Russia is paying for the weapons Ukraine is using. But Ukraine needs more and for that we have SAFE. SAFE for joint procurement. This money can be taken by member states and be invested in the Ukrainian defense industry. It will strengthen the defense industry. The products are better, more intelligent, cheaper and come faster so it's to our benefit too and it will increase the income not only of the defense industry but of course then of the government of Ukraine too. I think important is also that there's still spare capacity in the Ukrainian defense industry so it's worth to invest in it. Important is member states can join SAFE, Ukraine can also join SAFE. Finally, a bilateral issue on trade flows for agricultural products. The good news is that we have found an agreement with Ukraine. It will provide long-term and predictable trade relationship on agricultural products and in addition we are giving long-term economic certainty through the Ukraine facility and the G7 loan. We want to gradually bring Ukraine into our single market. A good example is that we are ending roaming charges as of next year also to bring our people closer together. We're working hard on your accession process. We're preparing for your future as a free and modern country inside the European Union.