EU heads of state and government will meet for an extra informal meeting in Brussels on Thursday. The invitations from Fredrik Reinfeldt have been sent out today. The purpose of the meeting is to coordinate the EU's position ahead of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
Today the European Parliament approved José Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission.
When the EU’s ministers for migration meet in Brussels on 21 September, a discussion on a common EU programme for resettlement will be high on the agenda. Other issues that the ministers will discuss are the problem of children who come to the EU without their guardians and the Free Movement Directive, which regulates free movement for citizens of EU countries and their families. Sweden’s Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billström will chair the meeting.
Photo: Gunnar Seijbold/Regeringskansliet
Today the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, President of Estonia Toomas Ilves, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and other representatives of the EU Member States gathered in Stockholm. On the agenda was the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, as well as other similar initiatives in other regions of the EU.
Today, the first Justice and Home affairs council of the Swedish Presidency was chaired by Tobias Billström, Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy. The main point on the agenda was the Commission initiative on a joint EU resettlement programme.
At the meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 24–25 September, the ministers will discuss the EU’s future innovation policy, measures to improve the internal market and the Member States’ work to implement the Services Directive. The ministers will also hold a general discussion on simplified regulation for ‘micro-businesses’. Also on the agenda are the European Research Area, common reporting of consumer complaints and the enforcement of consumer protection legislation.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt has a packed schedule of meetings during his week in New York. Between Saturday 19 September and Monday 28 September, Mr Bildt will have had around fifty different meetings in various constellations. The Minister for Foreign Affairs will meet US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Turkish foreign minister and many others.
Sir Michael Barber, an expert on schoolschooling, is one of the speakers at the informal meeting of education ministers in Göteborg. In one study, he noted that three things are of crucial importance to create successful schools: persuading the best students to choose the teaching profession, making teachers more effective in their teaching role and providing students with the right education based on their abilities. In his speech, Sir Michael Barber focused on the responsibility of head teachers in this work.
