Europese Raad top in teken van EU 2020-strategie (en)

After the morning meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations and a joint meeting with the General Affairs Council members, the ministers of Foreign Affairs will work on preparing for the European Council meeting of Thursday 25 and Friday 26 March.

Discussions by the Heads of State and Government will focus primarily on the “Europe 2020” Strategy for sustainable growth and employment over the next decade and the position to be adopted at the November summit meeting in Cancun to bring about global CO2 emissions cuts.

The European leaders may also discuss the economic situation in Greece and the preparatory work done by the European Commission to set up a European mechanism to help the Greek authorities.

They will discuss this issue if it is considered necessary by the permanent President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy i, but it will not be included in the preliminary work being done by the ministers.

The meeting of the European diplomatic heads will end with a working dinner with Van Rompuy.

Croatia

The European Union and Croatia will hold a meeting of the Council of Associations, chaired by the Secretary of State for the EU, Diego López Garrido, first thing on Tuesday morning (08:30).

The parties will analyse progress made to date by Zagreb on Croatia's EU candidate country status, but no new chapters are planned for negotiation.

Afterwards, the EU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which brings together the six countries in the Horn of Africa - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda - will discuss the conflicts in Somalia and Sudan and the role of the EU in both countries, at a ministerial meeting held as part of the political talks held by the parties every year.

The meeting, being held at the request of Catherine Ashton i, will be chaired by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ángel Lossada.