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Prime Minister Sipilä holds negotiations with several EU leaders

Government Communications Department
Publication date 7.11.2018 20.45
Press release 516/2018

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä met today, on Wednesday 7 November, with EU leaders and the heads of five EU Member States in Helsinki. With today’s talks, Prime Minister Sipilä continued his series of meetings in preparation for Finland’s EU Presidency, highlighting questions related to the Presidency in the discussions. Prime Minister Sipilä will meet with the heads of all EU Member States before the start of Finland’s EU Presidency term.

“This was an excellent opportunity to strengthen Finland’s position and readiness ahead of Finland’s third EU Presidency term, which will begin in July.  By strengthening bilateral relationships with the different countries and establishing a unified picture of the situation in the EU, we can create a good foundation for a well-functioning and effective Presidency term. It is also clear that a strong, unified EU is the only way we can respond to the great challenges of the coming years, such as climate change and migration,” Prime Minister Sipilä explained.

Prime Minister Sipilä held discussions at his official residence, known as Kesäranta, with Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, which currently holds the EU Presidency, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as well as with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and EU Commissioner in charge of Brexit negotiations Michael Barnier. Tomorrow the Prime Minister will meet for discussions with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

In addition to Finland’s EU Presidency term, the discussions focused on many topical themes related to the EU, such as developing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), defence cooperation and hybrid threats, climate issues, Brexit, internal markets, international trade, the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations and migration.

Inquiries: Kare Halonen, State Secretary for EU Affairs, tel. +358 295 160 319, 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

Pressemitteilung auf Deutsch

Photos available for the media: https://www.flickr.com/photos/FinnishGovernment

Watch recordings of Prime Minister Sipilä’s media events from today at: vn.fi/live

 
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