The summit of 14th and 15th December effectively ends the Finnish six months’ presidency that on January 1st will be taken over by Germany. A meeting between the prime minister Vanhanen and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been planned for 19th December. Tonight at the Justus Lipsius palace, the premises of the EU Council in Brussels, Vanhanen will submit, as he explained himself, "a review of the results of the talks of the last few months" about the Constitutional process. The leaders have already agreed on a special summit to be held in Berlin on 25th March 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the signature of the EEC Treaties, during which they will sign a Statement on the future of Europe. The extension of the EU will be high on the agenda of the heads of State and Government. "Following the June Council explains Dando Vanhanen and according to the Commission’s note on the extension strategy and its report on the EU’s ability to take up more states, we will discuss all the aspects of the future extensions. The goal is to confirm a shared view of the future of the extension process". The final document of the summit will be confirmed at tomorrow’s session.
