COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,update

 

Press material Tuesday, 02 September 2025

● European Council   02/09/2025 20:19 | Statements and remarks | Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković   First of all, I would like to thank Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for his welcome and this opportunity to talk in person about the main priorities for the European Union. This visit to the capitals is very important. First of all, because it is my duty to bring the European institutions closer to the European citizens. It is also very important because we need to engage with the different leaders. We are a union of nations, and all the nations count, all voices matters. It is very important to listen to the different leader to design our main priorities and our agenda for the coming months. And finally, it is important to listen to each other, to build unity. Because unity is our main strength in the European Union. We have a strategic agenda focused on our key priorities: first, competitiveness; second, security - both of which are closely interlinked. We must look at security in all its dimensions, including climate change, citizen security, and defence, which in turn drives our competitiveness. And for this, we need to work together, and we must remain very strict in developing our policies. Of course, there are also very important issues, as the Prime Minister raised. First of all, enlargement. Enlargement is by far the most important geopolitical investment we can make in our own security - enlargement to Ukraine, enlargement to Moldova, and, of course, to the Western Balkan countries. It is a very demanding process, but we need to focus on it and prioritise it. We must continue working with all these countries to ensure that, in this institutional cycle, we achieve with success this process. It is always essential to have a robust long-term budget. For this, we have now to work together with the European Commission to approve, in a timely manner, the next multi-annual framework, which is crucial to ensure that we have the effective means to develop our main political priorities - namely competitiveness and security, and to ensure that the cohesion in our union is a reality for all. Thank you, dear Andrej, for this opportunity to talk with you and to work with you, for the common good of our Union.   Visit the website

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02/09/2025 20:09 | Statements and remarks | Press remarks by President António Costa following the joint press point with Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob   Thank you, Prime Minister Robert Golob, for your warm welcome here in Slovenia in the framework of my visit to various European capitals.    These visits are of great importance. First, because we need to bring the European institutions closer to European citizens. Second, because we must engage with the different leaders, as the European Union is a union of nations, and we need to consider the national positions of every country. And finally, because it is is very important to try to build unity among the 27 member states. We had very good exchanges. I took note of the clear priorities of Slovenia for the coming year within the European Union. First of all, to boost competitiveness; and second, to increase our resilience across various dimensions – fighting climate change, ensuring the security of our citizens, and of course, increasing our defence capabilities. Slovenia is a relevant and active player on the international level. It is also championing for European enlargement, not only to the Western Balkans, but also to Ukraine and to Moldova. Slovenia is also the president of the MED-9. It is a current member of the United Nations Security Council. And it plays a leading position to stand for the defence of the people of Gaza. It continues to call for an end to the war, to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the Palestinian people, and to ensure that we can effectively build a two-state solution – the only political solution that can guarantee a lasting peace and stability in the Middle East. Dear Robert, thank you very much for our exchange. It has been very useful in preparing for the coming months, and we can certainly count on Slovenia, as always, to strengthen our European Union. Thank you, Robert.   Visit the website • Council of the EU ­ 02/09/2025 | Press release | Presidency press release: Enlargement of the EU is crucial for a secure and strong Europe On 1-2 September, ministers for European affairs from all 27 EU countries attended an informal ministerial meeting in Copenhagen.    The focus was on the candidate countries' efforts to adapt to the Copenhagen criteria, and the incentives that could accelerate their progress towards EU membership. The 27 EU countries also discussed the rule of law in the EU, and how countries could strengthen their compliance and the work on internal reforms of the EU. Read the full presidency press release in EN.   For general press inquiries, contact media@eu2025.dk.   Danish presidency website     03/09/2025 15:10 | Statements and remarks | Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with the Federal Chancellor of Austria, Christian Stocker   First of all, I would like to thank Chancellor Christian Stocker for this warm welcome during my visit to Vienna. This tour des capitales is a very important moment for me. First, because the European institutions must be close to the different member states. Secondly, because we need to engage with the different leaders. The Union is a union of nations, and all the voices matter. We need to take into account all the different leaderships and national positions to build unity among the 27 member states.    Austria is a very important member of our Union, always very committed - not only to protect their own interests, such as those of Austrian farmers, to protect your borders, and manage migration - but also very engaged in our common challenges: competitiveness, security and defence in Europe, and also promoting the enlargement of the European Union to new member states.    And I want to commend, first of all, Austria on the way that you manage your specific constitutional neutrality while fully engaging in European Security and Defence, and your clear support to Ukraine.    Secondly, we are fully committed to working with you to protect our borders and to manage collectively migration. But we also work together for our main priorities: boost competitiveness, strengthen our single market, promoting trade and promoting innovation. This is a key issue to improve our competitiveness.   Allow me to use this moment to commend the European Commission for approving today the final version of the Mercosur agreement, a new version, who solved many of the previous issues we identified. This agreement will be a great opportunity to boost our competitiveness and open our markets to new products and services.   This is very important for a country like Austria, which already has a trade surplus up to €1 billion with Mercosur countries. Now, with this new Mercosur agreement, I think it is good news for Austria, as it can boost your exports to a very important market.    Finally, as you said, Christian, the next MFF is a great opportunity for all of us. We need a new MFF with a purpose, one that is specifically targeted to support our main policy priorities: competitiveness and security.    And we will certainly focus our work on this in the coming months, counting on your support to deliver on these issues.   Visit the website