The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, attends the first part of the meeting of the EU Council, which began in Brussels at 5 pm. The first point on the agenda concerns Slovakia’s accession to the euro-zone on January 1st 2009. The meeting of the heads of state and government of the 27 member states will go on with a meeting with the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, who will report about the debate on the future of the Lisbon Treaty, which took place yesterday during the plenary session in Strasbourg. The Council has planned two working sessions, one in the evening and one tomorrow morning. The agenda includes the problem of the defeat of the Treaty by Ireland. But it also includes as recalled by the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the current president of the EU "concrete issues that the citizens are interested in”, such as food and oil prices, about which "the intention of taking short-, medium- and long-term measures" is confirmed. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs will deal with the situation in the Western Balkans. Tomorrow the discussion will be about the euro-Mediterranean process (in the run-up to the special summit due in Paris on 13th July) and the document containing the results of the Council will be drawn up.
