Euro summit explained

The Euro summit (also referred to as the eurozone summit or euro area summit) is the meeting of the heads of state or government of the member states of the eurozone (those EU states which have adopted the euro). It is distinct from the EU summit held regularly by the European Council, the meeting of all EU leaders.

History

The Euro summit began as an offshoot of the Euro Group, which is the meeting of the eurozone member's finance ministers.[1] French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the Euro summit to replace the Euro Group as a "clearly identified economic government" for the eurozone, stating it was not possible for the eurozone to continue without it. The eurozone economic government would discuss issues with the European Central Bank, which would remain independent.[2] Sarkozy stated that "only heads of state and government have the necessary democratic legitimacy" for the role. This idea was based on the meeting of eurozone leaders in 2008 who met to agree a co-ordinated eurozone response to the banking crisis.[3]

They first met in the summit format in October 2008, in response to the debt crisis. Subsequent meetings took place in March 2010, May 2010, March 2011, July 2011 and October 2011.[1] In the October 2011 meeting, it was agreed to formalise the Euro summit, as at least twice yearly meeting. This change was formalised in the 2012 Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. Since this formalisation, Heads of State or Government have failed to meet this target of twice yearly meetings in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.[4] A Euro summit President, separate from the Euro Group President, would be elected at the same time as the President of the European Council and under the same rules. Until such an election takes place, the European Council President fulfils that role.[5] [6]

Meetings

In October 2011, the Eurozone head of states agreed to meet at least twice per year,[7] as part of measures to improve governance of the Eurozone. Meetings were chaired by president Herman Van Rompuy from March 2010[8] to November 2014. Donald Tusk has been the Euro Summit president since 1 December 2014, and ends his term on 31 May 2017.[9] The table below lists the date and summary reports of all previous Euro Summits.

Euro summit datesConclusions[10] Press conference
112 October 2008[11] Launch of a bank crisis solution
2 25 March 2010[12] Statement
37 May 2010[13] StatementVideo
411 March 2011[14] ConclusionsVideo
521 July 2011[15] StatementVideo
623–26 October 2011[16] Remarks by President,
Statement		Video: 1 and 2
79 December 2011[17] Statement
830 January 2012[18] Agreed lines of communication
92 March 2012[19] Statement
1029 June 2012[20] StatementVideo
1114 March 2013[21] New procedure rules for Euro summits,
Presidential Remarks		Video
1224 October 2014[22] StatementVideo
1322 June 2015[23] Website, Presidential remarks on Greece: 1 and 2Video
147 July 2015[24] [25] Website, Eurogroup meeting, Presidential RemarksVideo
1512 July 2015Website, Eurogroup meeting, Presidential Remarks, StatementVideo
1615 December 2017[26] Website, Presidential Remarks
1723 March 2018Website
1829 June 2018Website, Statement
1918 October 2018Website
2014 December 2018Website, Statement
2121 June 2019Website, Statement
2213 December 2019Website, Statement
2311 December 2020Website, Statement
2425 March 2021
Website, Statement
2525 June 2021Website, Statement
2616 December 2021Website, Statement
2724 June 2022Website, Statement
2824 March 2023Website, Statement
2927 October 2023Website, Statement
3022 March 2024Website, Statement
New procedure rules for Euro summits were adopted on 14 March 2013,[27] regulating the Euro Summit shall meet at least twice a year, convened by its president on preferably one of the same dates as the EU summits.[28] However, for unknown reasons, only one Euro Summit meeting per year took place in 2013 and 2014, and none took place in 2016.

President

In its informal capacity, the de facto summit President has been the European Council President, meaning that Herman Van Rompuy chaired all meetings since March 2010 to December 2014. The proposals for formalisation of the summit include electing a President along the same lines (and term) as the European Council President,[29] and until then Van Rompuy continues to chair the summit. On 1 March 2012, according to the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG), he was formally elected as President of the Euro Summit for the term 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014.[8] New president for the term 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017, is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.[9] Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was elected new president on 2 July 2019, taking office on 1 December 2019.[30]

Members

align=left class=unsortableRepresentativealign=left width=50px class=unsortablePictureMember StateIn office since
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain

Non-voting chair
Notes
  1. Web site: History of the Euro Summit. European Council. 18 December 2012. 8 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141008001512/http://eurozone.europa.eu/summits/history-of-the-euro-summit/. dead.
  2. "Sarkozy pushes eurozone 'economic government', France 24 (21 October 2008)
  3. http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1224604923.01 Germany rejects idea of eurozone 'economic government': report
  4. Web site: Meeting Calendar. European Council. 2018-11-09.
  5. http://www.european-council.europa.eu/home-page/highlights/possible-changes-in-the-eu-treaty.aspx?lang=en Possible changes in the EU Treaty
  6. http://euobserver.com/19/114032 EU states to speed up austerity, embrace 'limited' treaty change
  7. Web site: European Council. www.consilium.europa.eu.
  8. Web site: Herman Van Rompuy re-elected president. Council of the European Union. 1 March 2012. 5 May 2013.
  9. Web site: Special meeting of the European Council (30 August 2014): Conclusions. European Council. 30 August 2014.
  10. Web site: Council meeting conclusions. European Council. 15 September 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20150107182753/http://www.european-council.europa.eu/council-meetings/conclusions?lang=en. 7 January 2015. dead.
  11. Web site: Summit of the euro area countries – Declaration on a concerted European action plan of the euro area countries (12 October 2008). Council of the European Union. 12 October 2008. 5 May 2013.
  12. Web site: Statement by the heads of state and government of the euro area (25 March 2010). Council of the European Union. 25 March 2010. 5 May 2013.
  13. Web site: Statement of the heads of state or government of the euro area (7 May 2010). Council of the European Union. 7 May 2010. 5 May 2013.
  14. Web site: Conclusions of the heads of state or government of the euro area (11 March 2011). Council of the European Union. 11 March 2011. 5 May 2013.
  15. Web site: Statement by the heads of state or government of the euro area and EU institutions (21 July 2011). Council of the European Union. 21 July 2011. 5 May 2013.
  16. Web site: Remarks by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy following the meeting of the Euro Summit (26 October 2011). Council of the European Union. 27 October 2011. 5 May 2013.
  17. Web site: Statement by the Euro area Heads of State or Government (9 December 2011). Council of the European Union. 9 December 2011. 5 May 2013.
  18. Web site: Agreed lines of communication by euro area Member States (30 January 2012). Council of the European Union. 30 January 2012. 5 May 2013.
  19. Web site: Statement Euro area Heads of State or Government (2 March 2012). Council of the European Union. 2 March 2012. 5 May 2013.
  20. Web site: Euro area summit statement (29 June 2012). Council of the European Union. 29 October 2012. 5 May 2013.
  21. Web site: Eurozone summit family photo (14 March 2013). Council of the European Union. 15 March 2013. 5 May 2013.
  22. Web site: Euro Summit (24 October 2014) – Annotated Draft Agenda. General Secretariat of the Council. 26 September 2014. 17 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141017083828/http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/EU/XXV/EU/03/94/EU_39488/imfname_10496391.pdf. 17 October 2014. live.
  23. Web site: President Donald Tusk convenes a Euro Summit on Greece Monday 22 June at 19h00. General Secretariat of the Council. 18 June 2015. 19 June 2015. 10 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161010215101/http://www.consilium.europa.eu/press-releases-pdf/2015/6/40802199528_en.pdf. dead.
  24. Web site: Invitation letter by President Donald Tusk to the Euro Summit. General Secretariat of the Council. 6 July 2015. 8 July 2015. 26 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170926230641/http://www.consilium.europa.eu/press-releases-pdf/2015/7/40802200390_en.pdf. dead.
  25. News: fr. Un sommet de la zone euro sur la Grèce se tiendra dès le 7 juillet. Le Monde. 6 July 2015.
  26. News: Non-euro states should take part in euro reform talks - EU's Tusk. 21 October 2017. Reuters. https://web.archive.org/web/20171021115525/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-eurozone-reform-tusk/non-euro-states-should-take-part-in-euro-reform-talks-eus-tusk-idUKKBN1CQ0CI. 21 October 2017. dead.
  27. Web site: Remarks by President Herman Van Rompuy following first session of the European Council. European Council. 14 March 2013.
  28. Web site: Rules for the organisation of the proceedings of the Euro Summits. Council of the EU. 14 March 2013. 28 May 2014. 22 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140422174706/http://eurozone.europa.eu/media/401510/20130314-eurosummits-rules-of-procedures.pdf. dead.
  29. Web site: Euro summit statement (26 October 2011). Council of the European Union. 26 October 2011. 5 May 2013.
  30. Web site: Special meeting of the European Council . 2 July 2019. European Council. 1 January 2023.

Presidents of other EU institutions, such as the President of the European Commission and the European Central Bank President also attend. Presidents of the Euro Group and of the European Parliament may be invited and the President of the Euro Summit shall present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the Euro Summit. Heads of state or government of non-eurozone signatories to the European Fiscal Compact treaty participate, at least once a year, for those policies of the treaty that apply to them. In some summits, other leaders might attend discussions, for example the British Prime Minister attending the 2008 summit.

See also

References

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