Friday

29th Mar 2024

Van Rompuy keen to shift some EU summits out of Brussels

  • EU President Herman Van Rompuy (r) in talks with Chancellor Werner Faymann on his first official visit to Austria (Photo: BKA/Bernhard J. Holzner)

Just four months after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, centralising EU policy-making in Brussels, the union's new president, Herman van Rompuy, has suggested that EU summits should from time-to-time take place in the member state holding the rotating EU presidency.

Speaking to press in Vienna on Tuesday (6 April) during his first official visit to Austria as President of the European Union, Mr Rompuy said:

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"It would be a good idea if at least one major event, such as the European Council, was held in the member state holding the rotating presidency ...That would be a symbol that Europe is not just Brussels, but the 27 member states."

The new treaty does not specify where summits are to be take place. It says that "the European Council shall meet twice every six months, convened by its President." It adds that "when the situation so requires, the President can convene a special meeting of the European Council."

Mr Van Rompuy, a christian democrat politician and the former prime minister of Belgium, has already chaired three EU summits in Brussels since he took office in December 2009. Not afraid to try a new approach, he opted to hold his first summit in an old library in order to create an informal atmosphere.

As Belgium will be the next country holding the EU presidency, Brussels is bound to host all EU summits for the rest of this year, making Hungary the likely place for the first post Lisbon Treaty out-of-Brussels summit in 2011.

"The next presidency is Belgium. We will have to stay in Brussels," Mr Van Rompuy said, according to Austrian media.

Hungary takes over the rotating presidency on 1 January 2011.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us