Brussels, 21/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - European Union leaders meet in Brussels 23-24 June with economic policy and migration topping the agenda. The leaders will devote much of their time to the debt crisis in Greece (see other articles), which has potentially damaging repercussions for Athens' EU partners. Ahead of their talks, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso informed the leaders about an impact assessment the Commission is completing on financial sector taxation, including a so-called Robin Hood tax on financial transactions, some of which could be used to help fight poverty. “To respond to the economic crisis, every sector needs to contribute, none more so than the financial sector”, he said on Tuesday 21 June, in a pre-summit address. “The Commission will present a formal legislative proposal, after the summer, to put in place a financial tax within the European Union.” Over dinner on Thursday 23 June, the leaders will also assess commitments made by EU member states in their national reform and stability and convergence programmes. Barroso said the programmes had been the subject of “very intensive discussions” with EU nations over the last two weeks, but he expects them to be adopted unanimously.
On migration (see other articles), the leaders will assess progress made in implementing asylum and migration policies, and the immigration pressures placed on the EU's borders by the uprisings in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. In a letter to EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Barroso underlined the need for the EU to better coordinate its efforts as it responds to the social upheaval. He said that a new special EU envoy to the southern Mediterranean region would be named, and a task force set up, involving representatives from the EU, member countries, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He noted that Egypt would receive some €449 million in EU assistance from 2011-2013, while Tunisia would get €390 million. The EIB is ready to commit a total of €3.5 billion to them over the same period. Van Rompuy confirmed in his invitation letter to the leaders that they would discuss this cooperation over lunch on Friday 24 June, with special focus on developments in Libya, and also the violence in Syria, and ways to give impetus to stalled moves to promote peace in the Middle East. (LoC)