The General Affairs Council, chaired by Greek Deputy Prime Minister and  Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, is taking place today (24.06.2014) in Luxembourg.

The Council will discuss enlargement and the stabilisation and association process, in particular whether to grant candidate status to Albania. It will then turn to the Presidency report on the implementation of European Council conclusions, before discussing the preparations for the upcoming European Council meeting on 26-27 June, on the basis of draft conclusions.

Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Kourkoulas chaired today’s Informal EU General Affairs Council, which was hosted by the Greek Presidency in the wake of the European elections.

The proceedings of the Informal General Affairs Council began with a recommendation from Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos regarding the recent elections for the Members of European Parliament.

An EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Conference was hosted by the Greek Presidency of the Council on 8 May, in Thessaloniki. Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle, Ministers for Foreign and EU Affairs from Member States and the Western Balkans, as well as senior officials from the EEAS and the European Commission participated at the Conference. Representatives of financial institutions and regional organisations attended the conference as well.