EUROGROUP,COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,update

 

Press material Monday, 15 September 2025

● Eurogroup   15/09/2025 11:35 | Media advisory | Press briefing - Eurogroup meeting of 19 September 2025   The press briefing ahead of the Eurogroup meeting will take place on Wednesday, 17 September at 14.00. The briefing will be "off the record" and will be given by Tuomas Saarenheimo, President of the Eurogroup Working Group. 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. If you haven't registered for one of the previous Eurogroup press events, please use the link below to do so and have the possibility to ask questions remotely. Deadline for registration: Wednesday, 17 September at 13.00 Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants shortly after the deadline. Registration page Media accreditation for journalists   Visit the website

● European Council

15/09/2025 13:02 | Statements and remarks | Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis   Prime Minister, dear Kyriakos, first of all, I would like to thank you - not only for your warm, but friendly, welcome in Athens.  These visits are very important not only for me, but also for the European Union. Because first of all, it's important to bring the European institutions closer to their citizens, to engage with all the leaders. We are a Union in diversity and all the voices, all the leaders, all the member states, matter. We need to work with all to build our unity, because our unity is our strength. Thank you very much for this opportunity. I use also this opportunity to commend very warmly, what Greece has done over the last decade. It is very impressive how you have managed to recover and to reach very sound macroeconomic fundamentals. Now we have clearly two priorities: competitiveness and security, but nothing is possible without sound macroeconomic fundamentals. And what you have done is very impressive and very important for Europe and for the euro area. We focus now on these two main priorities, security and competitiveness. And both are very interlinked because we cannot provide confidence to investors and boost our economy without security. It is very difficult to sustain what we need to invest in security and defence without a stronger economy. When we talk about security, of course, our first idea comes to the Eastern flank and the threat coming from Russia. But we can never forget that we need to have a 360 degree approach to our security. Of course, Russia is a clear threat: this invasion of our airspace in Poland and in Romania is the clearest example. But we have other borders that we need to protect, from Cyprus to Finland, from Portugal to Romania. And for these, it is very important to work together. We need to improve our border management to face illegal migration, to fight smugglers of human beings, and we need to have a strong European political migration policy. I fully agree with Prime Minister Mitsotakis when he said that if we want to have an effective European defence, we need to have common capabilities, and for common capabilities we need to have common funding. The European Commission made a very important step with the SAFE program, but we need to continue on this path because we need to do more and we need to do it together. The member states, at least 23 out of our 27 member states that are NATO allies, and NATO agreed to increase significantly military expenditure. But this is not only about spending more, it is also about spending better. To spend better we need to ensure that we have not only interoperability, not only joint procurement, but also common goods funded by common defence. It is very important to have a rational approach to this huge effort. And to sustain this, we need to have a stronger economy, an economy which produces, which allows our companies to scale up and to create better and more jobs. And for this, we need to use this investment also to improve our defence industry. This is a great opportunity to develop common projects, flagship projects, to improve our competitiveness also in this domain. Finally, Greece is in a very important geostrategic position. It is in the bridge between Europe and the Middle East. We cannot forget that what is happening in the Middle East is challenging for Europe, for our peace, our stability, the capacity that we have to manage migration flows. And for this, we need to be very engaged in the region asking for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking to stop illegal settlements in the West Bank and to create conditions for an effective two states solution to become possible. We also need to look to our partnership with Egypt and at the situation in Syria and in Libya. This is one of the great advantages of our Union, we are 27 with different regional approaches, with different regional ways to look at the world, and different regions to engage with our neighbours in the East, in the North and in the South. Thank you very much dear Kyriakos for this opportunity to work once again directly with you here in Athens.   Visit the website ● European Council   15/09/2025 16:46 | Statements and remarks | Press remarks by President António Costa following the meeting with President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides   Mr President, dear Nikos, first of all, thank you very much for your warm and friendly welcome to Cyprus, and for this opportunity to work face to face and together to prepare the coming months of the European Union. These visits are very important for me. First of all, because it is important to bring the European institutions closer to the citizens. Secondly, because it is very important to engage with all the leaders in all the member states, because all matter. And now you matter more than usual, because you are going to assume the rotating presidency in the first semester of 2026. And so we have the opportunity to prepare and to plan together this very important presidency. It comes in a critical moment, in a critical moment for peace in Europe, where we need to manage the situation created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We need to increase our investment in our own security, and security means defence capabilities, but also security to protect our citizens and our societies. In this regard, I think it is a very good news what president von der Leyen announced last week to install here in Cyprus a new firefighter hub, to protect all of us from the risk of wildfires. That is a common risk in all the Mediterranean area, it is a great risk in all the Southern countries. And unfortunately, climate change has a strong impact on this. And this is also a reminder that climate change is not a fantasy, but unfortunately it is a reality which is already impacting our lives. This is also an important topic for our discussions and actions in the coming months, because we need to continue to have an ambitious agenda on climate. Of course, taking into account what are the challenges that we need to face to protect the competitiveness of our economy, the competitiveness of our companies and the cohesion in our societies. But we cannot give up in our climate ambition because we are witnessing every year how the risks are increasing in our countries. We have security and defence, and we have competitiveness. And we count on you to push forward what we are doing on cutting red tape, on deregulation, on increasing our capacity to invest on innovation, to promote trade and to develop our Single Market, namely our Savings and Investment Union that is critical for our common future. Of course, each presidency apports its own mark. And, we count on Cyprus to ensure that Europe engages more with the Mediterranean and with the Middle East. You are in a very geostrategic position, very important for the Union as a whole. And we count on you to increase our relationship and to start implementing our strategy for the Mediterranean and to engage with our neighbours, because we need to continue to promote multilateralism and a rules based order to increase peace and stability in the world. And for this, I want to commend your clear position on Gaza and your commitment to ensure this humanitarian corridor from Cyprus to Gaza.   Visit the website ● Council of the EU   15/09/2025 13:35 | Media advisory | Press briefing - Environment Council of 18 September 2025   The press briefing ahead of the Environment Council will take place on Wednesday, 17 September 2025 at 15.00. 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 the link below to register and have the possibility to ask questions. Those who already registered for previous press events of the Environment Council do not need to do it again. Deadline for registration: Wednesday, 17 September 2025 at 14.00 Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants after the deadline. Registration page Media accreditation for journalists   Visit the website ● Συμβούλιο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης   15/09/2025 13:23 | Συνεδριάσεις | Κύρια σημεία της ημερήσιας διάταξης - Συμβούλιο Περιβάλλοντος, 18 September 2025   Οι υπουργοί Περιβάλλοντος της ΕΕ θα συζητήσουν για την τροποποίηση του κανονισμού της ΕΕ για το κλίμα, που καθορίζει στόχο μείωσης των εκπομπών έως το 2040. Θα συζητήσουν επίσης για την επικαιροποιημένη «εθνικά καθορισμένη συνεισφορά» (ΕΚΣ) της ΕΕ με ενδεικτικό στόχο για το 2035, η οποία θα υποβληθεί στην UNFCCC πριν από την COP30.   Ειδική σελίδα συνεδρίασης

● Council of the EU

15/09/2025 17:08 | Media advisory | Media advisory - General Affairs Council and 6th Accession Conference with Albania, 16 September 2025   Indicative programme All times are approximate and subject to change Place: Europa building, Brussels from 09.00 Arrivals (live streaming) In the margins of the General Affairs Council 6th Accession Conference with Albania Chair: Marie Bjerre, Minister for European Affairs +/- 08.00 Beginning of the Accession Conference (roundtable) At the end of the meeting (+/- 09.20) press conference in live streaming. General Affairs Council Chair: Marie Bjerre, Minister for European Affairs of Denmark +/- 09.45 Doorstep by Marie Bjerre (live streaming) +/- 10.00 Beginning of the General Affairs Council (roundtable) Adoption of the agenda Approval of "A" items: non-legislative list legislative list (public session) +/- 10.05 Preparation of the European Council on 23-24 October 2025 +/- 12.00 Legislative programming (public session) Annual rule of law dialogue +/- 15.00 Rule of law in candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) Any other business At the end of the meeting (+/- 16.40) press conference in live streaming. Videos and photos from the event Meeting page – 6th Accession Conference with Albania, 16 September 2025 Meeting page – General Affairs Council, 16 September 2025   Visit the website