The half-year EU duty Presidency must not be a “period of transition” but rather lead to a “new season” for Europe, as Minister for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini stated today at the end of her 2-day mission to Copenhagen, where she presented the goals of the Italian Presidency to her Danish hosts. In order to create new impetus, what is needed is a “work method” that identifies priorities and the instruments for the 28 Member States to manage them “in the most unified way possible”, she explained. The priorities the minister identified included employment and job creation, especially for young people, and growth.
Meetings on Monday in Rome
The agenda and objectives of the three Presidencies of the Council of the European Union – Italy, Luxembourg and Latvia – will be the focus of Minister Mogherini’s meetings with her colleagues from the two countries scheduled to assume the Presidency after Italy’s. The meeting will be followed by a joint press conference with the three ministers, Mogherini, Jean Asselborn (Luxembourg) and Edgars Rinkevics (Latvia).
International events focus
In the course of her visit to Denmark, Minister Mogherini spoke by telephone with Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu regarding the situation in Iraq. Mogherini said that she and Davutoglu “shared the idea that a new regional security dynamic is needed”, while it was also necessary “to foster and facilitate the formation of a new national unity government in Iraq”. Mogherini also explained that the conversation with her Turkish colleague was one of a series of contacts set up with the principal nations of the region in the conviction that “the region’s actors must have a common interest in ensuring stability”.
