Brussels, 15/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The next European summit will take place at the end of January or start of February 2012 to examine the debt crisis, the economy, competitiveness and jobs, explained the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, at a press conference on Thursday 15 December. The summit will also examine decisions made at the December European summit on the intergovernmental treaty particularly concerning a new budget pact.
Speaking in Brussels after the EU-Russia summit (see other articles), Van Rompuy said the date of the next European Council had yet to be decided. The heads of state of all 27 member states will be invited, not just the eurozone leaders, he said, anxious to ensure cohesion and avoid creating disparities between the 17 eurozone nations and the other 10 member states. In Paris on 15 December, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said he had agreed with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to convene a summit of eurozone leaders every month. The summit at the end of January or beginning of February is not expected to make any decisions. Another summit of EU27 heads of state, decided a long time ago, will take place in Brussels on 1 and 2 March 2012. Van Rompuy said that at the top of the agenda would be the format of the decisions taken at the October and December 2011 summits, but one of the most important points is the budget stability pact and the intergovernmental treaty on which all member states bar the United Kingdom had agreed last week, he added. Van Rompuy said this would be followed by points that could not be raised at the most recent European Council on the economy, competititiveness and jobs. He said that it was important to discuss such matters in this time of stagnation and recession. (LC/transl.fl)