An informal meeting of EU leaders will take place in Sibiu, central Romania, on Europe Day - May 9, 2019, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told the press on Thursday, October 19, before the European Council meeting in Brussels.

Talking about the agenda of the European Council meeting in Belgium, Iohannis said: “The President of the Council, Mr. Tusk, will present what is called the Leaders' Agenda, meaning the agenda of Heads of State and Government, an agenda that shows when and on what topics we’ll meet until 2019, to make the Union more efficient. We are very much interested in this issue, because in the first part of 2019 we will have the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and we will certainly get involved to have very good results.”

He then added: “We agreed with Mr. Tusk to have an informal meeting on May 9, Europe Day, in 2019, in Romania. More specifically, a meeting that will take place in Sibiu and will be the last meeting, one where we will probably draw some conclusions about the future of the Union, the Strategic Agenda as we say.”

In mid-September, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposed the organization of a special EU summit on March 30, 2019, one day after the triggering of the Brexit Article 50, in the Romanian city of Sibiu.

The journalists present at the European Council meeting in Brussels asked Klaus Iohannis if changing the date proposed by Juncker for the Summit in Sibiu is an issue. The Romanian President responded: “It's not a problem, it's an opportunity. If we can celebrate Europe Day with a Summit in Romania, I think it's a great thing to do.”

A European Council meeting took place in Brussels on October 19-20, the agenda including topics such as Brexit, migration, digital Europe, defence, and external relations.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)