Brussels, 25/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Union will be playing a full part at the G20 summit in Deauville, France, on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 May, represented by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who will try to ensure that the world's big powers respond ambitiously to the common challenges facing the world. This will be the first G8 summit since the Arab spring, which has opened a period of transition in North Africa and the Middle East, and since the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March and has caused countries to re-consider the use of nuclear power. The G8 will express tangible support from the richest countries for the democratic aspirations of countries bordering on the south and east of the EU, and will learn lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe in the wake of the 7 March natural disaster.
Before travelling Deauville, Van Rompuy said the summit would address the most urgent issues of the day, like the global economic situation and events in North Africa and the Middle East. He said that economic growth was picking up in the EU and around the world, and that his message to the other leaders about the eurozone was that the debt crisis was being tackled with determination and the fundamentals of the economy are still solid. He added that Europe would emerge from the problem stronger and more united. Barroso said that the EU would be presenting the summit on Thursday with the publication by the European Comission of proposals for a new partnership for democracy and shared prosperity with the EU's eastern and southern neighbours. (Gp/transl.fl)