Wednesday 9 March debate about the European Council

8 March 2011

On Wednesday 9 March, the House of Representatives will debate about the meeting of the European Council on Friday 11 March.

On Wednesday 9 March from 12:45 p.m, the House of Representatives will debate about the meeting of the European Council on Friday 11 March. The European Council will be about the situation in Libya and the Euro. The House of Representatives will debate with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister of Finance Jan Kees de Jager and Minister of Foreign Affairs Uri Rosenthal.




Subjects


De European Council meeting will consist of 2 parts. In part 1, the 27 government leaders of the member states of the European Union will speak about Libya and the southern neighbourhood of the European Union. Afterwards, there will be an informal meeting of the government leaders of the 17 states of the eurozone. This meeting will be about the proposals of the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to strengthen economic policy coordination in the eurozone.

On 3 February 2011, the House of Representatives held the first plenary debate as preparation for the European Council. The House debated with Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Earlier, the House of Representatives discussed the meeting of the European Council during a committee meeting, followed by a plenary discussion. With this new approach, the House of Representatives will have a greater ability to discuss the Dutch stake during the European Council with the government. For example, the House of Representatives will able to put forward motions in order to send the government with a specific message to the European Council.