COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,update

 

Press material Thursday, 06 March 2025

● European Council   06/03/2025 10:08 | Speech | Video message of President António Costa for the EIB Group Forum 2025   Thank you very much for your invitation to join you in Luxembourg today. Unfortunately, today I need to stay in Brussels for a special European Council meeting. To show our support for Ukraine. And to deliver on European defence. We need to view today's geopolitical changes as a great opportunity to build the Europe of Defence. With new resources, new tools new investments. The EIB will be important in this. Your role has been crucial in the digital, energy and climate transitions. And now, you will have a critical role to play for our security and defence. I would like to welcome the letter from Nadia Calviño to European leaders. It is very important to further adapt the EIB's lending practices – for more loans to the defence sector, for making Europe's peace and security a new transversal goal of the EIB's public policies, for ensuring that excluded activities are more precisely defined and are as limited as possible in scope to align with the new policy priorities of the European Union. And of course, in a manner which safeguards the EIB's operations and financial position. I hope this can be taken forward as quickly as possible by the EIB Board of Directors. As we build the Europe of Defence, we must also push ahead with our competitiveness agenda, and our strategic autonomy agenda – especially on energy and in critical technologies and infrastructures. In fact, we must think them in parallel, and increasingly together: European defence, European shared prosperity and European strategic autonomy. They are about Europe's strength. They are about our common future, about our security, quality jobs and new opportunities for our regions. They go hand in hand. We all know of our innovation gap, of our productivity gap, of our investment gap. So the EIB's latest 'investment report' comes at the perfect time: for making life easier for our entrepreneurs, without giving up on the green and inclusive transition, for integrating our capital markets and mobilising European savings for productive investments, and for making our Single Market more innovative. 2025 needs to be the year when we deliver. For security, prosperity and sustainability. For the current and the next generations. Thank you very much.

● European Council

05/03/2025 20:05 | Meetings | Special European Council, 6 March 2025   Background brief - Special European Council, 6 March 2025   ● Council of the EU   05/03/2025 19:22 | Meetings | Main results - Justice and Home Affairs Council (Home Affairs), 5 March 2025   Ministers of home affairs met in Brussels to discuss the external dimension of migration and the EU’s internal security and to take stock of its actions against drug trafficking and organised crime. The presidency also reached a common member states’ position on a regulation about a progressive start of operations of the Entry/Exit System.

● Council of the EU

05/03/2025 18:48 | Press release | Jordan: Council adopts its negotiating position for further EU assistance of €500 million in loans   The Council adopted its mandate, setting out its position for negotiations with the European Parliament, on a decision to provide up to €500 million in macro-financial assistance (MFA) to Jordan. The EU assistance will bolster Jordan’s economic stability and support its ongoing reform agenda in the face of mounting internal and external challenges. It will help the country meet its outstanding external financing needs while creating the fiscal space necessary to sustain reform efforts. The assistance, provided in response to Jordan’s request for additional support in October 2023, will be available for two and a half years and will be provided in the form of long-term loans, disbursed in three instalments. New support under strict conditions The assistance will be subject to a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to be agreed by Jordan with the Commission. The disbursement of instalments will be strictly linked to Jordan’s progress with the reforms outlined in the MoU. Furthermore, Jordan must continue to respect democratic mechanisms, the rule of law, and human rights throughout the programme's duration. The Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) will monitor the fulfilment of this precondition for the duration of the macro-financial assistance. Economic pressures and regional instability Despite stable economic growth of around 2% over the past five years (excluding the COVID-19 contraction in 2020), Jordan continues to face high unemployment, chronic external deficits, and public debt reaching 88.7% of GDP in 2023. Regional instability in the Middle East have further strained Jordan’s public finances and trade routes. Since 2013, the EU has provided Jordan with €1.08 billion under three previous MFA programmes. The latest MFA-III programme (2020-2023) was initially set at €500 million and topped up by €200 million to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These funds supported key reforms in public finance management, social and labour policy, and governance. Next steps The presidency of the Council will start negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as the latter has defined its position. Background On 8 April 2024, the Commission submitted the macro-financial assistance proposal to the Council. The EU and Jordan have been linked by an Association Agreement since 2002. In 2022, they signed the Partnership Priorities, which aim to strengthen cooperation further and will guide the partnership until 2027. The EU's support to Jordan assists the country in mitigating the impact of the war in Syria and the resulting large number of refugees. Overall, the EU has already mobilised around €4 billion for Jordan since the beginning of this crisis in 2011. Macro-financial assistance (MFA) is a form of financial aid extended by the EU to partner countries experiencing a balance of payments crisis. It is available to enlargement and EU neighbourhood countries experiencing severe balance-of-payments problems. The implementation of the proposed operation is further complemented by EU bilateral cooperation under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe (NDICI-GE). Council decision on macro-financial assistance to Jordan, 4 March 2025 EU’s Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) EU-Jordan Partnership Priorities Council agrees its position on new digital border management system 05/03/2025 | Press release Council agrees its position on new digital border management system The Council under the Polish presidency agreed its position on a law that would allow member states to gradually introduce the Entry/Exit digital border management system (EES) during a time span of six months.   Visit the website 05/03/2025 | Press release Warsaw Call Declaration adopted at the informal TTE Telecom Council on cybersecurity On Wednesday, 5 March 2025, the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw hosted a meeting of EU ministers responsible for cybersecurity in the TTE Council format – the first ever entirely dedicated to the European Union’s cybersecurity. The meeting culminated in the unanimous adoption of the Warsaw Call, addressing key cybersecurity challenges.   Visit the website ● Council of the EU   05/03/2025 14:48 | Media advisory | Press briefing - Economic and Financial Affairs Council of 11 March 2025   The press briefing ahead of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council will take place on Friday, 7 March at 16.30. This briefing will be "off the record". The press briefing will take place in a hybrid format: EU accredited journalists will be able to participate and ask questions either remotely or in person at the Europa building press room. To attend the event remotely, please use this link to register and have the possibility to ask questions. Those who already registered for previous press events of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council do not need to do it again. Deadline for registration: Friday, 7 March 2025 at 15.30 Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants shortly after the deadline.