Euro summit

European Union

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The Euro summit (also referred to as the eurozone summit or euro area summit) is the meeting of the heads of state or government of the member states of the eurozone (those EU states which have adopted the euro). It is distinct from the EU summit held regularly by the European Council, the meeting of all EU leaders.

History

The Euro summit began as an off shoot of the Euro Group, which is the meeting of the eurozone member's finance ministers.[1] French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the Euro summit to replace the Euro Group as a "clearly identified economic government" for the eurozone, stating it was not possible for the eurozone to continue without it. The eurozone economic government would discuss issues with the European Central Bank, which would remain independent.[2] Sarkozy stated that "only heads of state and government have the necessary democratic legitimacy" for the role. This idea was based on the meeting of eurozone leaders in 2008 who met to agree a co-ordinated eurozone response to the banking crisis.[3]

They first met in the summit format in October 2008, in response to the debt crisis. Subsequent meetings took place in March 2010, May 2010, March 2011, July 2011 and October 2011.[1] In the October 2011 meeting, it was agreed to formalise the Euro summit, as at least twice yearly meeting, via a possible new treaty change. A Euro summit President, separate from the Euro Group President, would be elected at the same time as the President of the European Council and under the same rules. Until such an election takes place, the European Council President fulfils that role.[4][5]

Meetings

In October 2011, the Eurozone head of states agreed to increase meeting activity to at least two times per year, as part of measures to improve governance of the Eurozone. Meetings have been chaired by president Herman Van Rompuy from March 2010[6] until November 2014, and will then subsequently be chaired by the new elect president Donald Tusk until 31 May 2017.[7] The table below has listed the date and summary report of all previous Euro summits.

# Euro summit dates[1] Conclusions[8] Press conference
1 12 October 2008[9] Launch of a bank crisis solution
2 25 March 2010[10] Statement
3 7 May 2010[11] Statement Video
4 11 March 2011[12] Conclusions Video
5 21 July 2011[13] Statement Video
6 23-26 October 2011[14] Remarks by President,
Statement		 Video: 1 and 2
7 9 December 2011[15] Statement
8 30 January 2012[16] Agreed lines of communication
9 2 March 2012[17] Statement
10 29 June 2012[18] Statement Video
11 14 March 2013[19] New procedure rules for Euro summits,
Remarks by President		 Video
12 24 October 2014[20] Statement Video
13 25/26 June 2015[21] According to a recently written analytical note of the "4 presidents", they have been tasked to complete their report about the "Next steps on better economic governance in the euro area" ahead of the June 2015 European Council, where a "euro summit" is expected to be convened for the purpose of returning a common statement on the recommendations made by the report.[21]

New procedure rules for Euro summits were adopted on 14 March 2013,[22] regulating the Euro Summit shall meet at least twice a year, convened by its President on preferably one of the same dates as the EU summits.[23] However, for unknown reasons, only one Euro Summit meeting per year took place in 2013 and 2014.

President

In its informal capacity, the de facto summit President has been the European Council President, meaning that Herman Van Rompuy chaired all meetings since March 2010 to December 2014. The proposals for formalisation of the summit include electing a President along the same lines (and term) as the European Council President,[24] and until then Van Rompuy continues to chair the summit. On 1 March 2012, he was formally elected as President of the Euro Summit for the term 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014.[6] New president for the term 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017, is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.[7]

Members

The eurozone
Representative Picture Member State In office since
Faymann, WernerWerner Faymann  Austria 2 December 2008
Michel, CharlesCharles Michel  Belgium 11 October 2014
Anastasiades, NicosNicos Anastasiades  Cyprus 28 February 2013
Rõivas, TaaviTaavi Rõivas  Estonia 26 March 2014
Katainen, JyrkiJyrki Katainen  Finland 22 June 2011
Hollande, FrançoisFrançois Hollande  France 15 May 2012
Merkel, AngelaAngela Merkel  Germany 22 November 2005
Tsipras, AlexisAlexis Tsipras  Greece 26 January 2015
Kenny, EndaEnda Kenny  Ireland 9 March 2011
Renzi, MatteoMatteo Renzi  Italy 22 February 2014
Straujuma, LaimdotaLaimdota Straujuma  Latvia 22 February 2014
Grybauskaitė, DaliaDalia Grybauskaitė  Lithuania 12 July 2009
Bettel, XavierXavier Bettel  Luxembourg 4 December 2013
Muscat, JosephJoseph Muscat  Malta 11 March 2013
Rutte, MarkMark Rutte  Netherlands 14 October 2010
Passos Coelho, PedroPedro Passos Coelho  Portugal 21 June 2011
Fico, RobertRobert Fico  Slovakia 4 April 2012
Cerar, MiroMiro Cerar  Slovenia 18 September 2014
Rajoy, MarianoMariano Rajoy  Spain 21 December 2011
Tusk, DonaldDonald Tusk
Non-voting chair		  European Union 1 December 2014
Notes

    Presidents of other EU institutions, such as the President of the European Commission and the European Central Bank President also attend. Presidents of the Euro Group and of the European Parliament may be invited and the President of the Euro Summit shall present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the Euro Summit. Heads of state or government of non-eurozone signatories to the European Fiscal Compact treaty participate, at least once a year, for those policies of the treaty that apply to them. In some summits, other leaders might attend discussions, for example the British Prime Minister attending the 2008 summit.

    See also

    Wikisource has original text related to this article:

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "History of the Euro Summit". European Council. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
    2. ↑ "Sarkozy pushes eurozone 'economic government', France 24 (21 October 2008)
    3. ↑ Germany rejects idea of eurozone 'economic government': report, EU Business (21 October 2008)
    4. ↑ Possible changes in the EU Treaty, European Council
    5. ↑ EU states to speed up austerity, embrace 'limited' treaty change, EU Observer
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Herman Van Rompuy re-elected president" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Special meeting of the European Council (30 August 2014): Conclusions" (PDF). European Council. 30 August 2014.
    8. ↑ "Council meeting conclusions". European Council.
    9. ↑ "Summit of the euro area countries – Declaration on a concerted European action plan of the euro area countries (12 October 2008)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 12 October 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    10. ↑ "Statement by the heads of state and government of the euro area (25 March 2010)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    11. ↑ "Statement of the heads of state or government of the euro area (7 May 2010)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    12. ↑ "Conclusions of the heads of state or government of the euro area (11 March 2011)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    13. ↑ "Statement by the heads of state or government of the euro area and EU institutions (21 July 2011)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    14. ↑ "Remarks by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy following the meeting of the Euro Summit (26 October 2011)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    15. ↑ "Statement by the Euro area Heads of State or Government (9 December 2011)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    16. ↑ "Agreed lines of communication by euro area Member States (30 January 2012)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    17. ↑ "Statement Euro area Heads of State or Government (2 March 2012)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    18. ↑ "Euro area summit statement (29 June 2012)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    19. ↑ "Eurozone summit family photo (14 March 2013)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
    20. ↑ "Euro Summit (24 October 2014) - Annotated Draft Agenda" (PDF). General Secretariat of the Council. 26 September 2014.
    21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Preparing for Next Steps on Better Economic Governance in the Euro Area (analytical note)" (PDF). General Secretariat of the Council. 12 February 2015.
    22. ↑ "Remarks by President Herman Van Rompuy following first session of the European Council" (PDF). European Council. 14 March 2013.
    23. ↑ "Rules for the organisation of the proceedings of the Euro Summits" (PDF). Council of the EU. 14 March 2013.
    24. ↑ "Euro summit statement (26 October 2011)" (PDF). Council of the European Union. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2013.

    Coordinates: 50°50′29″N 4°22′53″E / 50.8414°N 4.3814°E