The three Benelux countries, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, will invite over to the Netherlands in the coming months, “blocs” of countries to discuss Europe’s future. This was indicated by the three prime ministers, Charles Michel, Mark Rutte and Xavier Bettel this morning (Friday).
When saying this, they were at the entrance to the informal summit of the 27 heads of state and government. This includes all EU members (except for the UK) and is given over to the future of the Europe.
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated, “We held a fruitful meeting of the Benelux countries this morning. We have decided to invite the members of the Visegrad group to the Netherlands, and then later in the year the Baltic states.”
When speaking, he was surrounded by his Belgian and Luxembourg counterparts.
The Visegrad group allows the four Central European countries; Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to meet on an informal basis.
Mark Rutte stressed, “We wish to make a positive contribution to the entire debate upon the future of the Europe.”
The objective of today's informal meeting is to prepare for the Rome summit. This takes place on 25th March.
During this summit, heads of state and government of the 27 EU member states - excluding the UK - have anticipated adopting, during the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, a Declaration defining their vision of the future of Europe.
However, the text should be kept very general, says one diplomatic source.
The Brussels Times
