Financial and economic issues, energy and climate change, the Lisbon Treaty and the Europe of Defence: these are the main items on the agenda of the European Council due to take place on December 11th and 12th in Brussels. The heads of state and government of the 27 member states will meet today at 3 pm (usually, the summit starts two hours later), will listen to a speech from the president of the EU Parliament, then to an introduction from the current president, the French Nicolas Sarkozy. The summit will go on tomorrow morning and will end, unless otherwise decided, in the early afternoon, with the adoption of a document named "Conclusions of the Presidency". The current Presidency explained that it has reduced "the agenda to the items that will actually be addressed by the heads of state and government". "The conclusions of the meeting will be brief and will be focussed on the decisions and general direction agreed on" by the summit. As to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, according to the schedule, "the Council will get back to that, in order to outline elements for a solution and a common way to go". For the moment, no operating directions have been given to solve the deadlock nor any timeline for the enforcement of the Treaty. (continued)
