Brussels, 21/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The White House has confirmed that Barack Obama is to come to Europe on Tuesday 21 January. He will be in Brussels on 26 March for the EU-United States summit.
The US president will travel to the Netherlands, Belgium and then on to Italy. He will be in the Netherlands on 24 and 25 March to attend the summit on nuclear security organised by the Dutch government. While there, he will meet the country's officials for discussions. His visit will then take him to Brussels on 26 March where he will meet the presidents of the European Council and the Commission, as well as Prime Minister Elio di Rupo and the Belgian officials and secretary general of NATO. It has not yet been decided which topics will be covered by the EU-US summit but NSA surveillance could be on the agenda (Commissioners Cecilia Malmström and Viviane Reding are expected to be involved in the meeting but this has still to be confirmed). Obama will be at the Vatican on 27 March to meet Pope Francis and to discuss how to address the problem of inequality and poverty in the world. His stay in Italy will end with a meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Enrico Letta. (SP/transl.jl)