CONTENTS 1

ITEMS DEBATED

PREPARATION OF THE SPRING EUROPEAN COUNCIL

CLIMATE CHANGE

OTHER BUSINESS

OTHER ITEMS APPROVED

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS

• - 

  EU/US agreement on terrorist finance tracking programme - Termination of application
• - 

  EU/Pakistan readmission agreement

PARTICIPANTS

ITEMS DEBATED

PREPARATION OF THE SPRING EUROPEAN COUNCIL

The Council examined an annotated draft agenda for the spring meeting of the European Council, to be held on 25 and 26 March (doc. 6493/10 ).

The European Council is expected to focus on:

• - 

  preparation of a new EU strategy for jobs and growth; and
• - 

  the follow-up to the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December.

As regards jobs and growth, the European Council will be held to agree on the general framework of the Union's new strategy, on the basis of the Commission's communication on "Europe 2020". It will be called on, in particular, to finalise the governance of the strategy and to agree on a limited number of quantitative targets. The European Council will also take stock of ongoing efforts by the EU and the member states to tackle the economic crisis, and will hold a preliminary discussion on preparation of the next G-20 summit.

On climate change, the European Council will take stock of work on the follow-up to the Copenhagen conference, both as regards the international negotiation process and the Union's relations with its strategic partners.

The Council (General Affairs) will hold a further discussion at its meeting on 22 March, drawing on the work of the other Council configurations involved, in the run-up to the European Council.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The Council held an exchange of views on climate change and the follow-up to the UN conference in Copenhagen (7-19 December 2009).

The discussion focused on the integration of climate change considerations in all EU policies, as well as the need to improve the efficiency of the Union's relations with its partners.

The Council will revert to the issue at its meeting on 22 March. In the run-up to the European Council's meeting on 25 and 26 March, several Council configurations, coordinated by the General Affairs Council, are set to contribute to a reflection on the follow-up to the Copenhagen conference.

The political declaration issued in Copenhagen falls well short of the EU's objective of securing a legally binding agreement that ensures that the average global temperature increase remains below 2° C above pre-industrial levels. The EU however considers it a first step towards a more ambitious agreement and remains fully committed to continuing negotiations in order to conclude a legally binding agreement for the period after 2012 as soon as possible.

Further UN negotiations are scheduled to take place in Bonn from 31 May to 11 June, with a view to the 16th conference of the parties to the UN framework convention on climate change to be held in Cancún, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December.

OTHER BUSINESS

Madeira

The Council expressed its concern at the situation in Madeira following the natural disaster on 20 February and presented its condolences to the victims.

OTHER ITEMS APPROVED

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS

EU/US agreement on terrorist finance tracking programme - Termination of application

The Council approved the text of a letter to be sent to the United States government, notifying it of the termination of the provisional application of an agreement on the processing and transfer of financial messaging data from the EU to the US for purposes of its terrorist finance tracking programme. This follows the European Parliament's refusal to approve the agreement (doc. 6443/10 and doc. 6443/10 COR 1 ) .

The EU/US agreement on the processing and the transfer of financial messaging data was signed on 30 November 2009.

Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the Council can only adopt a decision to conclude such an agreement after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament. On 11 February, the Parliament adopted a resolution refusing to give it's consent to the conclusion of the agreement.

EU/Pakistan readmission agreement

The Council decided to forward to the European Parliament, for its consent, a draft decision aimed at concluding an agreement with Pakistan on the readmission of persons residing without authorization ( doc. 5942/10 ) .

The readmission agreement was signed in Brussels on 26 October 2009.

PARTICIPANTS

The governments of the Member States and the European Commission were represented as follows:

Belgium:

Mr Steven VANACKERE Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Olivier CHASTEL State Secretary for European Affairs

Bulgaria:

Mr Nickolay MLADENOV Minister for Foreign Affairs

Czech Republic:

Mr Juraj CHIMIEL Minister for the European Affairs

Denmark:

Mr Per Stig MØLLER Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Claus GRUBE Permanent Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Germany:

Mr Werner HOYER Minister of State

Estonia:

Mr Urmas PAET Minister for Foreign Affairs

Ireland:

Mr Micheál MARTIN Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Dick ROCHE Minister of State for European Affairs

Greece:

Mr Dimitris DROUTSAS Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs

Spain:

Mr Miguel Ángel MORATINOS Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation

Mr Diego LÒPEZ GARRIDO State Secretary

France:

Mr Pierre LELLOUCHE State Secretary with responsibility for European affairs

Italy:

Mr Franco FRATTINI Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Andrea RONCHI Minister for European Policies

Cyprus:

Mr Nicholas EMILIOU Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Latvia:

Mr M?ris RIEKSTI?Š Minister for Foreign Affairs

Ms Ilze JUHANSONE Head of the European Union Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Lithuania:

Mr Audronius AŽUBALIS Minister for Foreign Affairs

Luxembourg:

Mr Jean ASSELBORN Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration

Hungary:

Mr Péter BALÁZS Minister for Foreign Affairs

Malta:

Mr Tonio BORG Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Netherlands:

Mr Thom de BRUIJN Permanent Representative

Austria:

Mr Michael SPINDELEGGER Federal Minister for European and International Affairs

Poland:

Mr Radoslaw SIKORSKI Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Mikolaj DOWGIELEWICZ Secretary of State for European Affairs

Portugal:

Mr Pedro LOURTIE Secretary of State for European Affairs

Romania:

Mr Teodor BACONSCHI Minister for Foreign Affairs

Slovenia:

Mr Mitja GASPARI Minister for development and European Affairs

Slovakia:

Mr Miroslav LAJ?ÁK Minister for Foreign Affairs

Finland:

Ms. Astrid THORS Minister of Migration and European Affairs of Finland

Sweden:

Ms Birgitta OHLSSON Minister for European Affairs

United Kingdom:

M. Kim DARROCH Permanent Representative

Commission:

M. Maroš SEF?OVI? Vice-Président

Ms Connie HEDEGAARD Membre

Secrétariat Général

M. Pierre De BOISSIEU Secrétaire Général