European summit

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European Summit or EU summit is an informal designation of important meetings of EU politicians.

The term is mainly used for the at least bi- or triannual main conferences of the European Council - the heads of state or government of the European Union and of the EU Commission's President. By using this term the media prevent a confusion with the Council of the European Union ("Council", or "Council of Ministers").

Contents 1 Conference Places 2 List of summits 1998-2005 3 See also 4 External links and references

[edit] Conference Places

Before 1974, these meetings took place in an irregular sequence, later they were held annually, and at present there are 3-4 conferences per year, which held discussions on the matters of key issues and direction of the EU.

Usually, the informal term EU summit is given in advance to many of these meetings, but later only to those which were able to find agreements in very important topics.

Up to 2000 the summits of the European Councils have been held in the "presidency country" then in office. However, in December 2000 the Nice European Council decided that in the future half the European Councils would be held in Brussels, due to the Belgian experience and a special problem between Jacques Chirac and Belgium, and also due to the impending EU enlargement to 25 or 27 members.

[edit] List of summits 1998-2005

(Important topics are bracketed)

• 1998 Cardiff (June), Vienna (December)
• 1999 Berlin (March), Cologne (June), Tampere (October), Helsinki (December)
• 2000 Lisbon (March, see Lisbon Strategy), Santa Maria da Feira (June), Biarritz (October), Nice (December, see Treaty of Nice).
• 2001 Stockholm (March), Gothenburg (June), Brussels (September, Summit against Terrorism), Ghent (October, informal), Laeken (December, see Laeken European Council.
• 2002 Barcelona (March), Seville (June), Brussels (October), Copenhagen (December)
• 2003 Brussels (February, main topic Iraq), Brussels (March), Athens (April, festival & signing of Treaty of Accession 2003), Thessaloniki (June), Rome (October, extraord. for EU Constitution), Brussels (October), Brussels (December)
• 2004 just Brussels: 25-26 March, 17-18 June, 4-5 November, 16-17 December
• 2005 Brussels 22-23 March, 16-17 June (Constitution referenda, see Plan D).

[edit] See also

• MECP
• Presidency of the Council of the European Union
• Institutions of the European Union

[edit] External links and references

• List of EU summits since 1985
• European Council
• European Council Media site