is much bigger than every single member state and we will achieve better conditions . and we have, of course, already since the beginning of the year started to look out for other more reliable suppliers. and this effort is already paying off. we see it today that the ellen g deliveries from other parts of the world other than russia have doubled in q one in 2022 compared for example to the previous year. the 2nd element we are working on in re power e. u is the security of supply through better interconnections so that the gas can flow wet ever. it is needed. and of course the common objective to have a more strategic storage across a gas storage across the european union. here we have good news. august storage is already filled at 41 percent of the capacity. this is 5 percentage points higher

than it was the case last year at the same date. and then the 3rd is the most important pillum, and this is the massive investment in renewables. it's accelerating the deployment of renewables across the european union. the renewable energy has the big advantage that it is not only good for the climate, but it is also good for our independence and good far as security of supply and it creates jobs at home. so for this plan and we power you, we have been discussing with the council european council, we are proposing to support it with 300000000000 euros from your funding. that different parts that are contributing to this funding. if there are any questions about it, i'm very happy to respond to them, but this is the house of re power you that we have presented and discussed today.

basically, it is solidarity and cooperation that are at the heart of any successful strategy to deal with russia as a non reliable supplier anymore. cooperation for example, as has been demonstrated by denmark, germany, the netherlands, and belgium, who a couple of days ago showed at a joint wind summit. what it means to develop, develop the wind power, the offshore wind power in the north sea. and of course, solitary t. this was a big topic today and showing that in case of a full disruption of gas flows from russia, gas is indeed allowed to flow to wherever it is needed in europe. the 2nd topic was this defense. the war again wasn't, is a stark reminder for member states on the need to strengthen our defense capacities. we have seen positive developments, notably, of course,

we are all aware of finance and sweetness application to join nato. nate are the strongest military alliance in the world. and they will benefit greatly from their membership. but also the fact that since the beginning of the war leaders and the member states stepped up and announced by now 200000000000 euros in extra military spending. now it is important that we ensure that these stepping up and additional investment we get the maximum value out of it. and we all know the challenges that exist within the european union or the european model. on one hand, it is the lack of f investment over the last year, so the gaps have to be filled. but the big challenge is the fragmentation we have within the european defense industry and the doubly cation of weapon systems. here we see that this leads to increased cost to reduce interoperability. so we have to

improve this situation and therefore on it is 1st of all helpful that since the beginning of this mandate, the european defense fund is up and running. it's a strong incentive to work together. the pilot program so far have benefited to more than $600.00 entities. and 26 member states have used so far the european defense fund. this is an encouraging start but there is also a 2nd element. now, when we replenish the military material that has been sent to ukraine, for example, it is important that this is coordinated. and for that were said to setting up a task force to coordinate also to de conflict. the replenishment of the national stock piles. and the commission will propose before end of june, to mobilize 500000000 euros over the next 2 years from the budget to incentivize

the joint procurement by at least 3 member states. this is, let's say, a pilot for a longer term proposal that will come in the course of this year for european defense investment program. finally, the search epic was on foot security shall introduced in the whole topic already. at the moment being we are facing one overriding urgency and that is 20000000 tons of wheat a stuck in ukraine. and they have to get out and therefore we have created and we're working hard on the solidarity lines, lanes that will enable it to bring out parts of this weed through land root and trains towards our parts. it is not trivial, and it is of course, more tedious and expensive, but it is necessary to get this wheat out. the 2nd point that is important,

that we now give relief to the vulnerable populations and the possibility to afford the food for that. we have fledged 2 and a half 1000000000 euros. and we mobilize, we proposed to mobilize reserves from the european development fund to support for example, sub saharan africa. the 3rd element in that is that we step up our own food production. we expect a record export of serials of 40000000 tons in 22 and 23. and with in this scenario we call on all partners not to restrict global trade on agricultural products. so any kind of trade restrictions have absolutely no place in all member states or globally. and finally, that this is the mid and long term. we really have to develop better strategies,

for example, in north african sub saharan africa to increase the production and the resilience with new technologies. precision farming, the nano technologies that out there. so a lot of topics that are combined to this food topic from the urgency to the mit and to the long term we will coordinate all our actions with the team europe approach to feed into this work. i will travel to cairo mid june to discuss all these issues with president, i'll cc, because we have to look at them not only from a european ukraine perspective, but also from a regional and bilateral perspective. many thanks. thank you. matt and presidents and, and still with us are d. w, a brussels bureau chief, alexander von nomine in brussels. and d w. chief, political editor, michelle,

yellow kutner. in our studio, i'm going to start with you in brussels. alexandra, what did you make of the statement? well, i was not surprised that of course, the european commission president as well as the president of the repeal council. both of them were very happy with their results dressing how important it was to stay, remain a re, a united. they talked about the oil embargo and that is going to have an impact, but of course they also stress sta and it was in particular the european commission president was upon the lion who stressed at that europe is well prepared for such a step that they have been thinking about getting prepared to make sure that they won't be any problems with regards to the energy security and another topic that i think it's very important for our audience as well. is how much, how important it was for the european leaders to speak about food security. of

course, they're not concerned about the situation in the european union, but they are concerned about what might be happening soon in their neighborhood. and of course, in parts of africa and asia. alexander, more questions for you, but i want to turn in michelle yellow cove. no. here in the studio for moment, your initial thoughts as well. well, i think it's very interesting that the european union is seeing this as a drive towards a more integrated defense policy within the you. what sounds actually like a bit of a tedious process, the that having several countries together and teaming up to purchase defense goods. that's actually would be a huge breakthrough in european terms that countries don't think and national on that and actually in parallel. that was still the press conference going on of all i've sold and i've been fed bits out of that. and then we've seen that germany is committing to sending a fighting vehicles to grease or grease can supply

a ukraine with their vehicles. this is the question of which models can be used. germany has engaged in quite a few of these chain swap. they're called also with the tech republic when it comes to heavy weapons. so we are seeing a signal there, certainly from the german side of more commitment and more hardware commitment in the drive to get rosser to the negotiating table. because this is also what the driver chances stress is that the sanctions and the phasing out of oil supplies to the you have only that one aim and to get russia to talk. and again, you made a point of pointing out that this is going to take some bit of coordination. there are cynics and doubters out there who have watch this today process. and we'll point to the fact that was very difficult to reach resolution with hungry being a naysayer. what would you say to those folks out there who doubt that this sort of coordination is really going to work when you get to the nuts and bolts of european

union unity is forced through pressure time and time again. i think we've seen that in the early days of the russian aggression on ukraine, and i would expect that to also happen in the future. there's been years of talk now more integrated defense within the u. sandra. self is set to long, tedious meetings on that. and yet it takes a conflict to really am, have europeans at think more concretely on what they need to be doing as a next step. so if anything, this is a pull to you closer together. okay, i want to thank both of you. micaiah lucas, their chief political editor here in the studio with me and of course, our brussels bureau chief alexander vaughan. nomine. there in brussels. many, many thanks. and remind me of the top story we're following for you. e. leaders are wrapping up or to day summit to discuss russia's war on ukraine. the 27 members have agreed to a partial oil band and what's being described by some leaders. as the best

compromise. you're watching d. w. more news at the beginning of the next hour. ah ah ah ah

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ah ah . this is day double the news live from birth in the european union. the grace of ban on most russian oil in ports by the end of the year. it's the harshest measure get imposed to punish moscow for its aggression in de craye. meanwhile, on the ground, the russian forces pushed deeper into the eastern city of santa both the nets authorities fee. it will become another. matthew pope, flattened by the relentless bombardment and wolf crime, under the spotlight ukrainian prosecutors mate with international investigators. but holding the guilty to account could.