Summit focus shifts to situation in Crimea
EU leaders will also discuss climate and banking union.
The leaders of the member states of the European Union face the prospect of yet another EU summit hijacked by current events – this time Crimea – as they meet in Brussels later today (20 March).
Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, acknowledged in his invitation letter on Tuesday (18 March) that the situation in Ukraine would be “most prominent” on the summit agenda and that the EU’s 28 national leaders would discuss their response during dinner today, following up from discussions at an emergency summit on 6 March.
The assembled presidents and prime ministers will then sign the political parts of an association agreement with Ukraine on Friday morning, together with Van Rompuy, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s acting prime minister.
The schedule for the two-day summit foresees an exchange of views at 4.30pm today with Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament – the last such exchange before elections to the Parliament in May. The national leaders will then discuss industrial competitiveness and growth, and hear from Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank.
The leaders will also discuss the long-delayed Single Resolution Mechanism, a core element of the planned banking union that would allow the EU to rescue or close down failing banks. Negotiators from the member states, the European Commission and the Parliament were holding another round of talks on this as European Voice went to press. Another economic issue on the agenda for tonight is the automatic exchange of information on account-holders that is intended to make tax evasion more difficult. Luxembourg and Austria, which have the tightest bank secrecy in the EU, are expected to endorse new rules that in effect abolish bank secrecy.
The agenda for Friday focuses on the EU’s policies on climate and energy, including plans for completing the international energy market this year and for developing interconnections by next year. At the end of their meeting, the leaders will also discuss the EU’s relations with Africa ahead of an EU-Africa summit on 2-3 April.