European Union

Herman Van ROMPUY, President of the European Council, visited Berlin yesterday to attend a meeting with Ms Angela MERKEL, Chancellor of Germany.

Speaking to journalists prior to the meeting, ROMPUY stressed “two big challenges facing us which will require the full engagement of the EU at the highest level”: tackling the economic crisis and responding to the climate change.

The President said he “took the initiative to convene an informal meeting of the Heads of State and Government on 11 February, to examine these two issues”.

The first objective of this informal meeting will be “to examine how we can secure a full and lasting recovery in the Union after the crisis”, ROMPUY says. The EU will examine how it will be able to “put in place the structural changes which we had embarked on under the Lisbon Strategy and which are necessary to sustain future economic growth”.

This is the reason why the meeting “will take a close look at formulating a new economic strategy and governance” necessary to help Member States come back to a growth path. Many ideas and suggestions will be put on the table, he adds.

EU’s aim is to “approve the new strategy at our June European Council”, ROMPUY says.

The second important issue which was raised during discussion between ROMPUY and MERKEL was combating climate change and EU’s actions after Copenhagen conference. “Even if the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference certainly fell short of what was hoped, it provides a basis for further work”, ROMPUY argues.

“We will know at the end of January the quantitative targets of the various countries in terms of C02 reductions”, he adds. The next important UN meeting will take place in Bonn at the end of May/beginning June which is halfway to the next UN Climate Conference in Mexico in November 2010, he stressed. Read the full text of Rompuy’s remarks

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