EU-SUMMIT/ROUNDTABLE EU leaders discuss Russia strategy, investment plan at Brussels summit

Record ID: 861035

  • Title: EU-SUMMIT/ROUNDTABLE EU leaders discuss Russia strategy, investment plan at Brussels summit
  • Date: 18th December 2014
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (DECEMBER 18, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL WITH POLICE VANS OUTSIDE BANNER READING (Italian): '2014 Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union'
  • Embargoed: 2nd January 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5XDQC9MVSNTPNYMOGNXX3XR85
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  • Story Text: European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday (December 18) seeking common ground on a long-term strategy to deal with an unfriendly but economically wounded Russia.
    Summit host Donald Tusk, the new president of the leaders' European Council, said before the meeting it was vital for stability on the bloc's eastern borders to start a discussion about how to handle a relationship that some warn risks becoming a new Cold War.
    He noted the tightening of economic sanctions earlier in the day against investments in Crimea, the Black Sea region annexed from Ukraine in March by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini called on Putin and the Russian leadership to reflect on changing its attitude towards the rest of the world and to switch to a cooperative mode as she arrived for the meeting.
    Leaders from former Soviet Union satellites in eastern Europe have expressed concern that fear of provoking Putin and worries about the effect of Russia's financial crisis on other European economies could prompt EU powers to ease sanctions or pull back from political and economic support for Kiev.
    EU leaders are also set to discuss the first proposal of a new EU investment plan to stimulate growth.
    The plan, presented by the executive European Commission last month and set to be endorsed by the 28 national leaders at a Brussels summit, is to use 21 billion euros of EU funds to attract 15 times more private investment in infrastructure, energy projects, research and education.
    The European Commission is expected to present a proposal in January 2015, which the Union legislators will be invited to agree on by June, so that the new investments can be activated as early as mid-2015, according to draft conclusions of the summit seen by Reuters.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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