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EUROPEAN COUNCIL: Summit Gets Underway 20 March w/Ukraine Top Of Agenda

EUROPEAN COUNCIL
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The latest European Council summit gets underway in Brussels on 20 March, with EU leaders set to discuss a number of major issues for the Union related to security and finance. Top of the agenda is the war in Ukraine and efforts to both support Kyiv and ensure the EU has a prominent voice as part of ceasefire/peace plan talks. Leaders will also discuss the huge 'ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030' package following the publication of a white paper on 19 March. It should be noted that leaders are not set to formally vote on the defence spending proposals at this summit, with the plans still in their early stages. 

  • The other main foreign policy issues to be discussed is the Middle East amid a breakdown in the Gaza ceasefire, massacres of Alawites and other minorities in Syria, and the risk of a notable escalation in Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea as the US launches strikes on sites in Yemen.
  • On the economic front, EU leaders will hold talks on the next multiannual financial framework (the long-term EU budget) running 2028-2034 and the associated 'Own Resources' (the EU's main source of funds from member state budgets). They will also discuss competitiveness, and hold a Euro Summit in an inclusive format (with non-eurozone leaders present) that will hear from ECB President Christine Lagarde.
  • The summit is due to start at 1100CET (0600ET, 1000GMT). Prior to this, there will be doorstep interviews from all leaders, raising the prospect of a flurry of political headlines hitting wires.

 

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The latest European Council summit gets underway in Brussels on 20 March, with EU leaders set to discuss a number of major issues for the Union related to security and finance. Top of the agenda is the war in Ukraine and efforts to both support Kyiv and ensure the EU has a prominent voice as part of ceasefire/peace plan talks. Leaders will also discuss the huge 'ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030' package following the publication of a white paper on 19 March. It should be noted that leaders are not set to formally vote on the defence spending proposals at this summit, with the plans still in their early stages. 

  • The other main foreign policy issues to be discussed is the Middle East amid a breakdown in the Gaza ceasefire, massacres of Alawites and other minorities in Syria, and the risk of a notable escalation in Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea as the US launches strikes on sites in Yemen.
  • On the economic front, EU leaders will hold talks on the next multiannual financial framework (the long-term EU budget) running 2028-2034 and the associated 'Own Resources' (the EU's main source of funds from member state budgets). They will also discuss competitiveness, and hold a Euro Summit in an inclusive format (with non-eurozone leaders present) that will hear from ECB President Christine Lagarde.
  • The summit is due to start at 1100CET (0600ET, 1000GMT). Prior to this, there will be doorstep interviews from all leaders, raising the prospect of a flurry of political headlines hitting wires.