EU summit February 2016

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The February 2016 EU Summit took place from February 18-19, 2016 in Brussels , Belgium . It was chaired by EU Council President Donald Tusk .

subjects

Central themes of the summit included the refugee crisis and efforts to keep the United Kingdom in the EU .

Great Britain

After lengthy negotiations, the heads of state and government of the EU agreed on a reform package for Great Britain . "We have made some progress, but a lot still needs to be done," said EU Council President Donald Tusk.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was mostly positive about the agreement with British Prime Minister David Cameron , but said that some compromises had not been easy for her, especially with the British exit from the obligation to further deepen the EU, which the UK had refrained from. It was agreed that this exception rule for Great Britain should be anchored in an EU treaty amendment.

Furthermore, there was debate about Cameron's demands to withhold certain social benefits from immigrant EU citizens for a period of up to four years. It was finally agreed that the social benefit "emergency brake" should apply for a maximum of seven years. Central and Eastern European countries in particular criticized Cameron's demands. EU parliamentary leader Martin Schulz said: "This means that governments, who have to fear that citizens of their countries are treated like second-class citizens, ask three times in this exceptional situation."

Furthermore, Cameron had called for a say in decisions in the Eurozone , if these had an impact on London . France and Belgium, in turn, contradicted London's desire for a stronger say in decisions by the euro countries and exceptions to European banking supervision . The prime minister was not given a direct right of veto .

Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized after the negotiations: "I think we haven't given the UK too much." Cameron said that he now wanted to use the reform package in the upcoming referendum to encourage the UK to remain in the EU. He negotiated a special role for his country in the EU. "I have negotiated a deal that will give the UK a special status in the EU". So he wanted to prevent the so-called Brexit . Chancellor Merkel pointed out that the agreements were linked to the UK remaining in the EU.

Refugee crisis

Another topic at the summit was the refugee crisis. A planned visit by the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu because of the crisis was canceled by the Turkish government because of the terrorist attack on a military convoy in Ankara .

The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had made commitments in connection with the refugee crisis a prerequisite for his consent to negotiations with Great Britain. Greece was the first country to openly link the refugee crisis to another issue. Tsipras had called for no borders to be closed to refugees until the next summit. "If not, the Greek government will not approve the final text." Hundreds of thousands of refugees had been able to take the Balkan route northwards via Greece unhindered. The Visegrad states and Austria had declared that they wanted to close the border between the non-EU country Macedonia and Greece.

Austria was criticized by other summit participants for the plan to allow only 80 asylum seekers into the country per day. "This is a decision by Austria," said Merkel. "It surprised some, especially on the Western Balkans route." The EU Commission had already announced before the beginning of the summit that the limit on the number of asylum applications in Austria was in contradiction with the European Convention on Human Rights , the Geneva Convention and Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights . Austria finally declared that they wanted to wait until a special summit in mid-March before the upper limit was implemented, at which important issues were to be discussed with Turkey.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Motionless in Brussels. EU summit. zeit.de, February 19, 2016, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Drama ended, reform package in place. EU summit. zeit.de, February 20, 2016, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c Cameron wants to promote EU membership after the summit agreement. Brussels. spiegel.de, February 19, 2016, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  4. ↑ EU summit is being extended. Brexit. faz.net, February 19, 2016, accessed January 27, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b EU and Cameron agree. Brexit summit. faz.net, February 19, 2016, accessed January 27, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b Tsipras makes yes to “Brexit” deal dependent on open borders. EU summit. faz.net, February 19, 2016, accessed January 27, 2019 .
  7. ↑ EU and Cameron agree on Brexit negotiations. EU summit. sueddeutsche.de, February 19, 2016, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b Drama behind the scenes. EU summit on Brexit. faz.net, accessed January 27, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Merkel insists on a special meeting in Turkey at the beginning of March. EU summit in Brussels. spiegel.de, February 19, 2016, accessed on January 27, 2019 .