Brussels, 04/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - Finnish President Matti Vanhanen and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, underlined their joint intention on Thursday “to work hand in hand” in order to make the Finnish Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2006 a success. At the end of a working lunch with Mr Vanhanen, Mr Barroso informed the press that, “I am delighted with the priorities set out by the future presidency: competitiveness, innovation, research and development, energy policy and justice and security”. He also highlighted the importance of the EU showing “unity” during the G-8 summit in July in St Petersburg where the question of energy will be high on the agenda. Mr Vanhanen stressed that the Finnish Presidency's work programme had not yet been finalised. He also indicated that the October European Council (which is usually held in Brussels) could be transformed into an informal meeting of European leaders, in Finland (following in the line of the Hampton Court meeting under the British Presidency). Vanhanen said that, “We are going to make a decision on this subject once we have more clarity about the meeting's agenda”.