Prime Minister Sipilä to visit Malta, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä will visit four EU Member States with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations in preparation for Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will begin in July 2019.

Sipilä will hold negotiations on Friday 14 December with Maltese President Joseph Muscat in Valletta, on Sunday 16 December with President of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiádis in Nicosia and on Monday 17 December with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in Prague and Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini in Bratislava.

Prime Minister Sipilä’s discussions with the leaders will address several EU matters that are already relevant for Finland’s Presidency term, such as the EU’s next multiannual financial framework, migration, Brexit and the development of the Economic and Monetary Union EMU. They will also focus on key topics of the upcoming five-year legislative term, such as internal markets and trading policy, climate issues and promoting cooperation in defence and in strengthening preparedness for hybrid threats.

This autumn, Prime Minister Sipilä has already held bilateral discussions on EU matters with the leaders of several EU Member States leading up to Finland’s Presidency. The Prime Minister has met in Helsinki with leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and visits with several EU leaders are planned for February. As part of his preparations for the Presidency, Prime Minister Sipilä also visited Portugal and Spain in October.

Inquiries: Riikka Pakarinen, Special Adviser (EU Affairs), tel. +358 40 580 0833 and Anne Sjöholm, Head of Communications for EU Affairs, tel. +358 40 537 0733, Prime Minister's Office