European Council President António Costa intends to convene EU leaders for an informal retreat in rural Belgium next February to discuss Europe's competitiveness, Politico reports, writes UNN.
Details
The meeting of the bloc's heads of state and government will take place on February 12 at Alden Biesen Castle, a 16th-century moated complex in the eastern Belgian region of Limburg, Costa said in an interview with the Portuguese daily newspaper Expresso.
The informal summit on competitiveness will take place just months after leaders discussed a European Commission proposal to foster a pan-European industrial revival by pooling funds for research, defense, and innovation in the EU's 2028-2035 budget.
Shortly before taking office a year ago, the European Council President stated that he wanted to organize periodic informal meetings of EU leaders where they could discuss broad strategic topics without the need to reach definitive conclusions. The goal was to create a space for the kind of debates that regularly derailed official summits chaired by Costa's predecessor, Charles Michel.
Although Costa wanted to hold these meetings outside the Belgian capital, security concerns forced him to hold the first of these events at the central Egmont Palace in Brussels last February. During that session, EU leaders discussed issues related to the broader topic of European defense. Last week, the bloc's leaders attended an informal meeting in Luanda, Angola, where talks focused on ongoing efforts to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine.
During an extensive interview with Expresso, which marked his first year as President of the European Council, Costa said that the biggest challenge he faced was stabilizing relations between the EU and US President Donald Trump. He said that this goal had been achieved, but he acknowledged that the dynamic between Brussels and Washington was "different" than it once was.
Costa said that it was crucial for the EU to "remain calm, composed, and continue to strive for constructive dialogue" in its relations with Trump, and noted that the relationship between Brussels and Washington is not "a relationship of equals." He pointed out that the EU consists of 27 member states, "each with its own policies and interests," while the US acts as a single federal entity.
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