The meeting of the European Council will begin with an exchange of views with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This follows from a letter from the President of the European Council Charles Michel sent to heads of state and government inviting them to the next meeting of the European Council to be held in Brussels on June 27-28. The text of the letter was distributed on Tuesday, UNN reports.
Details
Our meeting will begin on Thursday, June 27, at 14:00 with an exchange of views with President Zelensky. This will be an opportunity to discuss the situation on the ground, as well as to take note of some of the achievements since we last met. In particular, this will be an opportunity for the European Council to welcome the adoption of the negotiation framework and the intergovernmental conferences with Ukraine, Moldova and Montenegro. These are historic steps in support of these countries' respective paths to European membership
The President of the European Council recalled that EU leaders "have shown ambition and courage by channelling the extraordinary proceeds of Russia's frozen assets to support Ukraine this year.
"In the coming years, together with our partners, we will secure loans for Ukraine worth another 50 billion euros. It is also crucial that we step up our military support for Ukraine, focusing on air defense, ammunition and missiles. In addition, we must continue to mobilize broad international support for a just peace in Ukraine based on the UN Charter," he continued.
Michel noted that this meeting of the European Council "will be particularly important, as we have both a substantive agenda and important decisions to consider that will determine our path forward.
"Among these decisions, three stand out: first, we will adopt a Strategic Agenda. True to its role under the Treaty, the European Council will set out the EU's priorities and define the EU's strategic orientation for the next five years, thereby guiding the work of the next institutional cycle. Secondly, we will set the path for further internal reforms and, thirdly, we will agree on institutional appointments," he elaborated.
The issue of the "devastating Middle East crisis" is also on the agenda.