The President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Wilfried MARTENS, welcomed the conclusions of the European Council and underlined the preparatory role of yesterday’s Party Summit in Meise (see photos here and video report here):

"I welcome the conclusions of the European Council and I am particularly pleased that they largely reflect our own position from yesterday’s discussions at the EPP Summit: the need to implement as soon as possible a permanent crisis mechanism for the Eurozone. The decision of the European Council to move forward with this process is very good news and it clearly strengthens the Euro and the European Union (EU)," said the EPP President.

"The decisions regarding the G20 and the upcoming EU Summits such as the EU-US, also underline the strong and comprehensive positions that the EU is putting forward on the world stage. Furthermore, the commitment to seek in Cancún a binding agreement demonstrates that the EU is at the forefront of fighting climate change," the EPP President added.

Yesterday’s EPP Statutory Summit hosted Nicolas SARKOZY (France), Yves LETERME (Belgium), Viktor ORBAN (Hungary), Jean Claude JUNCKER (Luxembourg), Traian BASESCU (Romania), Fredrik REINFELDT (Sweden), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS (Latvia), Lawrence GONZI (Malta), Boyko BORISOV, (Bulgaria), Iveta RADICOVA (Slovakia), and the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament - Herman VAN ROMPUY, Jose Manuel BARROSO, and Jerzy BUZEK. Jyrki KATAINEN, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Finland and EPP Vice President, and Josef PRÖLL, Vice Chancellor of Austria also attended the Party Summit.

In addition, EPP opposition leaders Enda KENNY (Fine Gael, Ireland) and EPP Vice President, Antonis SAMARAS (ND, Greece), Pedro PASSOS COELHO (PSD, Portugal) and Nicos ANASTASIADES (DR, Cyprus) also attended the Summit. EPP Secretary General Antonio LOPEZ-ISTURIZ and the members of the EPP Presidency attended the Meise meeting.

Note to editors:
The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 73 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the Commission, Council, and Parliament, 14 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.

For more information:
Kostas Sasmatzoglou, Spokesman, Tel: +32-2-2854147
Javier Jimenez, Senior Press Officer, Tel: +32-475480446