The EU Foreign Affairs Council meets in Luxembourg

Press release 123/2016
17 June 2016

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will meet in Luxembourg on 20 June. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. The agenda will include the EU's Arctic policy, the Sahel and Mali, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Middle East peace process, and the EU-Georgia relations.

High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini will lead the debate on the EU policy guidelines for the Arctic, based on the EU's third Joint Communication on the Arctic, adopted on 27 April. The Council will adopt conclusions on this agenda item.

Additionally, the Foreign Affairs Council will take stock of the EU's comprehensive approach to the Sahel region and Mali in particular. High Representative Mogherini will brief the meeting on the main content of the EU-G5 Sahel joint meeting held on 17 June.  The Council will adopt conclusions on this agenda item.

The political situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will also be addressed.

At an informal lunch, the Ministers will discuss the Middle East peace process, focusing on France's initiative to organise an international conference to activate the peace process.  The Council will adopt conclusions on this agenda item.

In the afternoon, the Foreign Affairs Council will review the visa facilitation question with Georgia as a part of the EU-Georgia relations.

Inquiries: Riikka Taivassalo, Special Adviser to Minister Soini, tel. +358 40 352 4581 and Stefan Lee, Deputy European Correspondent, tel. +358 295 351 467.

The Foreign Ministry's email addresses are of the format [email protected]