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This is a list of meetings of the European Council (informally referred to as EU summits); the meetings of the European Council, an institution of the European Union (EU) comprising heads of state or government of EU member states. They started in 1975 as tri-annual meetings. The number of meetings grew to minimum four per year between 1996 and 2007, and minimum six per year since 2008. From 2008 to 2015, an average of seven council meetings per year took place (see list below).
Contents
Since 2008, an annual average of two special Euro summits were also organized in addition - and often in parallel - to the EU summits. As the agenda of Euro summits is restricted solely to discuss issues for the eurozone and only invite political leaders of the eurozone member states, such meetings are not counted as European Councils.
List
The first seven summit meetings were held between 1961 and 1974, but this was before the formal establishment of the European Council. Some sources however consider them to be the informal seven first meetings of the European Council.
2010–present
Since 2010, all Council meetings took place in Brussels. In February 2010 the exact location was the Solvay Library, while all subsequent meetings took place at the Justus Lipsius building.
Meetings are always called and organized to the extent found needed by the European Council president. The upcoming ordinary meetings are scheduled by the end of each semester for the third following semester (minimum one year in advance), and can take form either as "scheduled ordinary meetings" (resulting in a published document entitled "conclusions") or "informal ordinary meetings" (resulting in a published document entitled "statement"). A called scheduled/informal ordinary upcoming meeting might occasionally be moved or cancelled within a short notice, with such change then being notified by the Council president through the issue of a revised calendar plan for the ordinary meetings within the semester in concern. If extra meetings are called outside the procedure of notification minimum a half year in advance, they are referred to as being "extraordinary meetings".
Cologne 1999
The European Council met in Cologne, Germany, on 3–4 June 1999 to consider issues after the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force. Romano Prodi presented his plan for the future Commission's work and reform program. The Council called for an EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The Council designated Javier Solana for the post of Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (with Pierre de Boissieu as his deputy) and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It decided on a common policy on Russia (first use of the CFSP). Adopted the declaration on Kosovo. In relation to the European Security and Defence Policy, a major element of the CFSP, the council declared that the EU "must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO". (Declared in St Malo by France and Great Britain)
Laeken 2001
The Laeken European Council was held at the royal palace at Laeken, Belgium, on 14–15 December 2001.
The Laeken European Council dealt with:
The Laeken Declaration on the Future of Europe established the European Convention, presided over with former President of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, as President of the Convention, and former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato and former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene as Vice-Presidents. The Convention was tasked with drafting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, and would have about 60 members, drawn from national governments, national parliamentarians, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, and include representatives from the candidate countries. The declaration reviews the progress of European integration over the last fifty years, tracing it back to its origins in the horrors of World War II, and poses a number of questions to be answered by the Convention.