EU summit December 2016

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On 15 December 2016 a place in Brussels, Belgium, EU Summit held. The chair was the Polish politician Donald Tusk , President of the European Council since 2014 .

subjects

The December European Council discussed deeper cooperation in security and defense policy , migration partnerships with five African countries and ways of tackling youth unemployment in the EU .

European security and defense policy

The representatives of the member states endorsed the European Union's strategy for internal security 2015–2020. In the field of external security , the summit participants expressed support for joint measures within the framework of the European Defense Action Plan, the EU Global Strategy and the joint declaration by the EU and NATO from July 2016. The heads of state and government present emphasized that dual structures with the NATO should be avoided. In this context, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of permanent structured cooperation. One of the aims of this could be to plan and carry out civil-military missions. Strengthening partner countries such as B. in Africa is another area of ​​responsibility that could be carried out jointly in the future.

migration

As at previous summits in 2016, the political representatives of the EU member states devoted themselves intensively to the issue of migration . In particular, they stated that in view of the generally positive experience with the five African partners, further such collaborations should be examined. In addition, the Libyan government should be supported in fighting smuggling more effectively. The EU organizations in charge of border management should continue to receive sufficient resources to carry out their tasks. According to the summit participants, the measures on the eastern Mediterranean route have been successful and the number of refugees has been drastically reduced by the EU-Turkey agreement . However, new agreements on the distribution of migration were not reached.

economy

The European Council welcomed that the European Fund for Strategic Investments had been extended to invest more than EUR 500 billion in Europe's economy by 2020 . The positive effects of strengthening the internal market and the Energy Union, which should be implemented by 2018, were also discussed.

External relations

By adapting certain regulations, the European Council wanted to ensure that the Dutch government could still approve the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in a referendum despite a negative vote . The Netherlands was the only EU country that did not agree to the agreement. The heads of state and government spoke out in favor of extending the sanctions imposed on Russia by a further six months. The main reason for this was the unsatisfactory progress of the Minsk peace process . The European Council once again drew attention to the extremely precarious situation of the people in Aleppo and called on the Syrian rulers and Russia to stop targeted attacks on population centers.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b European Council, December 15, 2016. Main results. consilium.europa.eu, December 15, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Defense should become more European. Europe wants to work together more closely on security and defense policy. bundesregierung.de, December 16, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
  3. ↑ The last EU Council Summit in 2016 - Positive mood and energetic decisions. At the December summit of the European Council, the subject of "economy" is traditionally the focus. kas.de, December 16, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
  4. ↑ "Investing in Europe's Youth": Youth policy as a top priority. The Commission presents an overall paper on youth policy from 2017. jugendpolitikineuropa.de, December 22, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
  5. ^ At a loss in Brussels. The heads of state and government of the EU made little decisions at their summit. zeit.de, December 16, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
  6. ↑ EU summit: This is what the meeting of heads of state and government is all about. On Thursday, the 28 heads of state and government will meet in Brussels for the annual December meeting of the European Council. euractiv.de, December 15, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Migration of the external dimension. (PDF) The European Council recalls its October conclusions on the Eastern Mediterranean route. consilium.europa.eu, December 15, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2019 .