The European Affairs ministers of the European Union countries will prepare the discussions of their Heads of State or Government at the European Council on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 June.
On the agenda for the European summit are a number of hot topics relating to external action, including the war against Iran unleashed by Israel supported by the United States, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “the disastrous situation in Gaza”, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and the enlargement of the EU to include Moldova and the Balkan countries.
According to a European source, “Hungary” is maintaining a position of “strategic divergence” on EU support for Ukraine, to the extent that the conclusions on this point will be supported by twenty-six Member States, as was the case in March. Again because of Budapest’s opposition, the Polish Presidency of the Council is unlikely to be able to make any progress in negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, by opening negotiating chapters. It hopes to bring forward, or even complete, the 18th sanctions package before the European summit.
Strengthening the European defence industry, economic competitiveness, notably through the legislative simplification exercise (see EUROPE 13661/11), the migration challenge and security are sectoral policies also addressed in the EU Council’s second draft conclusions, dated Friday 20 June.
To see the draft conclusions of the European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/hhv
Rule of law. The ministers will also continue their annual dialogue on the rule of law, this time focusing on the situation in Finland. At the end of May, they had discussed the situation in several countries - Hungary, Sweden, Slovakia and Belgium - but had not had time to examine the situation in Finland (see EUROPE 13649/1).
European Semester. After an initial passage through the Ecofin Council last week, the General Affairs Council will be asked to confirm the budgetary and socio-economic policy recommendations that the European Commission sent to the Member States at the beginning of June (see EUROPE 13653/2), which provide guidance to the EU27 with a view to preparing the draft national budget plans for 2026. These recommendations will be forwarded to the European Council before being formally adopted by the Ecofin Council on Tuesday 8 July.
See the specific note from the EU Council: https://aeur.eu/f/him (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Solenn Paulic)