List of European Councils

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This is a list of European Councils, meetings of the heads of state and government of the European Union (EU). The body has no formal power, but as the leaders of the EU's member states it acts as the highest authority in EU politics. The table lists the meetings by presidency, date, and location.

The first Councils were held in February and July 1961 (in Paris and Bonn respectively). They were informal summits of the leaders of the European Community, the first influential summit was held in 1969 and the Hague summit of 1969 reached an agreement on the admittance of the United Kingdom into the Community and initiated foreign policy cooperation (European Political Cooperation) The summits were only formalised in 1974, at the December summit in Paris, following a proposal from then-French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.^[1][2]

List

#	Year	Date	Type	Presidency	President-in-Office	Host city
1	1975	10–11 March	―	Ireland	Liam Cosgrave	Dublin	Notes [2] Inaugural formal Council
2		16–17 July	―	Italy	Aldo Moro	Brussels	Notes [3]
3		1–2 December	―			Rome	Notes [4]
4	1976	1–2 April	―	Luxembourg	Gaston Thorn	Luxembourg	Notes [5]
5		12–13 July	―	Netherlands	Joop den Uyl	Brussels	Notes [6]
6		29–30 November	―			The Hague	Notes [7]
7	1977	25–27 March	―	United Kingdom	James Callaghan	Rome	Notes [8]
8		29–30 June	―			London	Notes [9]
9		5–6 December	―	Belgium	Leo Tindemans	Brussels	Notes [10]
10	1978	7–8 April	―	Denmark	Anker Jørgensen	Copenhagen	Notes [11]
11		6–7 July	―	Germany	Helmut Schmidt	Bremen	Notes [12]
12		4–5 December	―			Brussels	Notes [13]
13	1979	12–13 March	―	France	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	Paris	Notes [14]
14		21–22 June	―			Strasbourg	Notes [15]
15		29–30 November	―	Ireland	Jack Lynch	Dublin	Notes [16]
16	1980	17–18 April	―	Italy	Francesco Cossiga	Luxembourg	Notes [17]
17		12–13 June	―			Venice	Notes [18]
18		1–2 December	―	Luxembourg	Pierre Werner	Luxembourg	Notes [19]
19	1981	23–24 March	―	Netherlands	Dries van Agt	Maastricht	Notes [20]
20		29–30 June	―			Luxembourg	Notes [21]
21		26–27 November	―	United Kingdom	Margaret Thatcher	London	Notes [22]
22	1982	29–30 March	―	Belgium	Wilfried Martens	Brussels	Notes [23]
23		28–29 June	―			Brussels	Notes [24]
24		3–4 December	―	Denmark	Poul Schlüter	Copenhagen	Notes [25]
25	1983	21–22 March	―	Germany	Helmut Kohl	Brussels	Notes [26]
26		17–19 June	―			Stuttgart	Notes [27]
27		4–6 December	―	Greece	Andreas Papandreou	Athens	Notes [28]
28	1984	19–20 March	―	France	François Mitterrand	Brussels	Notes [29][30]
29		25–26 June	―			Fontainebleau	Notes [31] British rebate agreed
30		3–4 December	―	Ireland	Garret FitzGerald	Dublin	Notes [32]
31	1985	29–30 March	―	Italy	Bettino Craxi	Brussels	Notes [33] Initiated the IGC leading to the Single European Act
32		28–29 June	―			Milan	Notes [34]
33		2–3 December	―	Luxembourg	Jacques Santer	Luxembourg	Notes [35]
34	1986	26–27 June	―	Netherlands	Ruud Lubbers	The Hague	Notes [36]
35		5–6 December	―	United Kingdom	Margaret Thatcher	London	Notes [37]
36	1987	29–30 June	―	Belgium	Wilfried Martens	Brussels	Notes [38]
37		4–5 December	―	Denmark	Poul Schlüter	Copenhagen	Notes [39]
38	1988	11–13 February	―	Germany	Helmut Kohl	Brussels	Notes [40]
39		27–28 June	―			Hanover	Notes [41]
40		2–3 December	―	Greece	Andreas Papandreou	Rhodes	Notes [42]
41	1989	26–27 June	―	Spain	Felipe González	Madrid	Notes [43]
42		18 November	Informal	France	François Mitterrand	Paris	Notes [44]
43		8–9 December	―			Strasbourg	Notes European Council endorses German reunification despite some Anglo-French opposition. [45] [46]
44	1990	28 April	Extraordinary	Ireland	Charles Haughey	Dublin	Notes [47]
45		25–26 June	―			Dublin	Notes [48]
46		27–28 October	―	Italy	Giulio Andreotti	Rome	Notes [49]
47		14–15 December	―			Rome	Notes [50]
48	1991	8 April	Informal	Luxembourg	Jacques Santer	Luxembourg	Notes [51]
49		28–29 June	―			Luxembourg	Notes [52]
50		9–10 December	―	Netherlands	Ruud Lubbers	Maastricht	Notes [53] Signing of the Treaty of Maastricht
51	1992	27 June	―	Portugal	Aníbal Cavaco Silva	Lisbon	Notes [54]
52		16 October	―	United Kingdom	John Major	Birmingham	Notes [55]
53		11–12 December	―			Edinburgh	Notes [56]
54	1993	21–22 June	―	Denmark	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	Copenhagen	Notes [57] Copenhagen criteria agreed.
55		29 October	―	Belgium	Jean-Luc Dehaene	Brussels	Notes [58]
56		10–11 December	―			Brussels	Notes [59]
57	1994	24–25 June	―	Greece	Andreas Papandreou	Corfu	Notes [60] Signing of the Accession Treaty of Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway (Norway did not ratify).
58		15 July	―	Germany	Helmut Kohl	Brussels	Notes
59		9–10 December	―			Essen	Notes [61]
60	1995	26–27 June	―	France	Jacques Chirac	Cannes	Notes [62]
61		22–23 October	Extraordinary	Spain	Felipe González	Majorca	Notes
62		15–16 December	―			Madrid	Notes [63]
63	1996	29–30 March	―	Italy	Lamberto Dini	Turin	Notes
64		21–22 June	―		Romano Prodi	Florence	Notes
65		5 October	Extraordinary	Ireland	John Bruton	Dublin	Notes
66		13–14 December	―			Dublin	Notes
67	1997	23 May	Informal	Netherlands	Wim Kok	Noordwijk	Notes
68		16–17 June	―			Amsterdam	Notes Signed Treaty of Amsterdam
69		20–21 November	Extraordinary	Luxembourg	Jean-Claude Juncker	Luxembourg	Notes Special council on Employment
70		12–13 December	―			Luxembourg	Notes
71	1998	3 May	―	United Kingdom	Tony Blair	Brussels	Notes Special Council on the Euro decides the 11 states which would enter the third stage of EMU.
72		15–16 June	―			Cardiff	Notes
73		24–25 October	Informal	Austria	Viktor Klima	Pörtschach	Notes
74		11–12 December	―			Vienna	Notes
75	1999	26 February March	Informal	Germany	Gerhard Schröder	Königswinter	Notes
76		25–26 March	―			Berlin	Notes
77		14 April	Informal			Brussels	Notes
78		3–4 June	―			Cologne	Notes Details below table
79		15–16 October	―	Finland	Paavo Lipponen	Tampere	Notes Agreement on institutional reform
80		10–11 December	―			Helsinki	Notes
81	2000	23–24 March	―	Portugal	António Guterres	Lisbon	Notes Agreed Lisbon Strategy
82		19–20 June	―			Santa Maria da Feira	Notes Agreement to allow entry of Greece to the Eurozone.
83		13–14 October	Informal	France	Jacques Chirac	Biarritz	Notes
84		7–9 December	―			Nice	Notes Signed Treaty of Nice
85	2001	23–24 March	―	Sweden	Göran Persson	Stockholm	Notes
86		15–16 June	―			Gothenburg	Notes Enlargement, sustainable development, economic growth and structural reform issues in addition to an EU-US summit.
87		21 September	Informal	Belgium	Guy Verhofstadt	Brussels	Notes Emergency council - Terrorism
88		19 October	Informal			Ghent	Notes
89		14–15 December	―			Laken	Notes Details below table
90	2002	15–16 March	―	Spain	José María Aznar López	Barcelona	Notes
91		21–22 June	―			Seville	Notes Decided to reorganise the Council formations in order to achieve greater focus and efficiency.
92		24–25 October	―	Denmark	Anders Fogh Rasmussen	Brussels	Notes
93		12–13 December	―			Copenhagen	Notes
94	2003	17 February	Extraordinary	Greece	Costas Simitis	Brussels	Notes Iraq crisis
95		20–21 March	―			Brussels	Notes
96		16–17 April	Informal			Athens	Notes Signing of the Treaty of Accession 2003
97		20 June	―			Thessaloniki	Notes
98		4 October	Extraordinary	Italy	Silvio Berlusconi	Rome	Notes Beginning of IGC on EU Constitution
99		16–17 October	―			Brussels	Notes
100		12–13 December	―			Brussels	Notes
101	2004	25–26 March	―	Ireland	Bertie Ahern	Brussels	Notes
102		17–18 June	―			Brussels	Notes
103		4–5 November	―	Netherlands	Jan Peter Balkenende	Brussels	Notes
104		16–17 December	―			Brussels	Notes
105	2005	22–23 March	―	Luxembourg	Jean-Claude Juncker	Brussels	Notes
106		16–17 June	―			Brussels	Notes
107		27 October	Informal	United Kingdom	Tony Blair	Hampton Court	Notes Globalisation
108		15–16 December	―			Brussels	Notes
109	2006	23–24 March	―	Austria	Wolfgang Schüssel	Brussels	Notes
110		15–16 June	―			Brussels	Notes Agreement to allow entry of Slovenia to the Eurozone
111		20 October	Informal	Finland	Matti Vanhanen	Lahti	Notes Meeting with Vladimir Putin, held in Sibelius Hall
112		14–15 December	―			Brussels	Notes
113	2007	8–9 March	―	Germany	Angela Merkel	Brussels	Notes
114		21–22 June	―			Brussels	Notes Agreement on basis for the Treaty of Lisbon. Agreement to allow entry of Malta and Cyprus to the Eurozone.
115		18–19 October	Informal	Portugal	José Sócrates	Lisbon	Notes Agreement reached on the Reform Treaty. Also discussed climate change and the US economic crisis[3]
116		14 December	―			Brussels	Notes Signature of Reform Treaty in Lisbon on 13/12, European Council in Brussels the next day.
117	2008	13–14 March	―	Slovenia	Janez Janša	Brussels	Notes Agreed timeframe and principles of energy/climate change policy.
118		19–20 June	―			Brussels	Notes
119		13–14 July	―	France	Bernard Kouchner	Brussels	Notes
120		1 September	Extraordinary			Brussels	Notes Extraordinary summit on EU-Russia relations (Georgia crisis)[4]
121		22–23 October	―			Brussels	Notes
122		7 November	Extraordinary			Brussels	Notes Extraordinary summit on the global financial crisis
123	2009	1 March	Extraordinary	Czech Republic	Karel Schwarzenberg	Brussels	Notes Extraordinary summit on the global financial crisis
124		19–20 March	―			Brussels	Notes
125		5 April	―		Jan Kohout	Prague	Notes US President Barack Obama in Prague
126		18–19 June	―			Brussels	Notes Icelandic application accepted
127		17 September	Extraordinary	Sweden	Fredrik Reinfeldt	Brussels	Notes preparation for the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit
128		29–30 October	―			Brussels	Notes
129		19 November	Extraordinary			Brussels	Notes to choose the first president of the European Council and the first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Details

Cologne 1999

The European Council met in Cologne on June 3-4 1999 to consider issues after the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force. Romano Prodi presented his plan for the future Commission's work and reform program. The Council called for an EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The Council designated Javier Solana for the post of Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (with Pierre de Boissieu as his deputy) and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It decided on a common policy on Russia (first use of the CFSP). Adopted the declaration on Kosovo. In relation to the European Security and Defence Policy, a major element of the CFSP, the council declared that the EU "must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO." (Declared in St Malo by France and Great Britain)

Laken 2001

The Laken European Council was held at the royal palace at Laken, Belgium on 14-15 December 2001.

The main matters the Laken European Council dealt with were: new measures in the area of Justice and Home Affairs: the European arrest warrant, a common definition of terrorism, and EUROJUST; the seats of 10 new EU agencies -- after hours of disagreement, the European Council failed to reach an agreement and decided to leave the decision until next year; the impending introduction of Euro cash (the European Council met with the Finance ministers to consider this); the progress of EU enlargement; the adoption of the Laken Declaration on the Future of Europe, establishing the European Convention, to be presided over with former President of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, as President of the Convention, and former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato and former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene as Vice-Presidents. The Convention was tasked with drafting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, and would have about 60 members, drawn from national governments, national Parliamentarians, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, and include representatives from the candidate countries. The declaration reviews the progress of European integration over the last fifty years, tracing it back to its origins in the horrors of World War II, and poses a number of questions to be answered by the Convention.^[5][6]

See also

• Presidency of the Council of the European Union
• Protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001

References

External links

• List of European Councils - European NAvigator