Brussels, 11/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - As usual before the European Council, the European Peoples' Party presided over by Wilfried Martens will hold its own summit, on 14 June in Gothenburg, before the Gothenburg European Council on 15 and 16 June. The Spaniard Jose Maria Aznar, Jean-Claude Juncker, from Luxembourg and the Austrian Wolfgang Schüssel, will be taking part, while the Head of another EU government, Silvio Berlusconi, is also expected. Moreover, taking part in the EPP summit as "invited by the President", in particular, are the President of the FRY, Vojislav Kostunica, and the Prime Ministers from the FYROM, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Malta.
The European Liberal Democrats, Presided over by Werner Hoyer, will also have their traditional pre-European Council summit, on 14 June in Gothenburg, with the participation of the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. The summit will be dedicated to the future of the European Union.
As we previously indicated (see EUROPE of 18/29 May, p.4), the European Socialist Party will also gather at the Gothenburg summit on 14 June, under the Presidency of its new President Robin Cook, and with the participation, among others, of the European Council President Goran Persson and other Socialist and Social Democratic Heads of Government.