Council of Europe: forthcoming summit on migration, reform of the asylum system and Brexit

(Brussels) This will be a very busy week for the EU institutions, with the plenary session of the European Parliament – in Strasbourg from today to 15^th December – and the Council of Europe, which this time will take place on one day only. The heads of State and Government will be meeting in Brussels on Thursday 15^th (at first a standard 2-day summit had been planned), with an agenda that will be as demanding as usual. The first item will be migration: the leaders of the 28 member states “will take stock of the progress made in partnerships on migration and the results of the agreements with selected African countries”; “will consider the progress made across the European Union in the law-making process for third-party investments, the quick adoption of which will be encouraged by the co-legislators”; “will look into the implementation of the EU-Turkey statement”; will discuss the reform of the common European asylum system, “including how to enforce accountability and solidarity principles”. This will be followed by the other items on the agenda, about security and economy (social development, fight against youth unemployment, investments, strategies for the single market). It will then be the turn of external “relationships”, focussed on Russia and relations with Ukraine. The summit will start at 11.00 am and will end at about 07.00 pm. It will be followed by an informal meeting of the 27 leaders, i.e. without British prime minister premier May, about Brexit.