The EPP Heads of State and Government along with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel BARROSO, and the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert POETTERING, will meet on 19 March 2009 in Brussels.

EPP Heads of State and Government further include François FILLON (France), Angela MERKEL (Germany), Jan-Peter BALKENENDE (The Netherlands), Jean-Claude JUNCKER (Luxembourg), Silvio BERLUSCONI (Italy), Herman VAN ROMPUY (Belgium), Kostas KARAMANLIS (Greece), Fredrik REINFELDT (Sweden), Andrius KUBILIUS (Lithuania), Lawrence GONZI (Malta), Donald TUSK (Poland), Traian BASESCU (Romania), Emil BOC (Romania), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS (Latvia), Ivo SANADER (Croatia), Sali BERISHA (Albania), Yulia TYMOSHENKO (Ukraine), Victor YUSHCHENKO (Ukraine) and Mikheil SAAKASHVILI (Georgia).

Josef PRÖLL, Deputy Prime Minister of Austria; Per Stig MOLLER, Minister for Foreign Affairs (Denmark); Mladjan DINKIC, Deputy Prime Minister (Serbia); Jyrki KATAINEN, Minister of Finance (Finland); Michel BARNIER, Minister of Agriculture (France) and Cyril SVOBODA, Minister for Regional Development (Czech Republic) will be also present.

In addition, EPP Opposition Leaders and chairmen of EPP member parties will participate in the Summit including Janez JANSA (SDS, Slovenia), Nicos ANASTASIADES (DR, Cyprus), Manuela FERREIRA LEITE (PSD, Portugal), Mikulas DZURINDA (SDKU-DS, Slovakia), Mart LAAR (IRL, Estonia), Boyko BORISSOV (GERB, Bulgaria), Viktor ORBAN (Fidesz, Hungary) and Enda KENNY (Fine Gail, Ireland).

The meeting will be chaired by the President of the EPP, Wilfried MARTENS, and assisted by the Secretary General of the EPP, Antonio LOPEZ – ISTURIZ. The Vice Presidents of the EPP, the Chairman of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament, Joseph DAUL, and the Co-Chairman of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), Pier Ferdinando CASINI, will also participate.

On the agenda will be the preparation of the European Council (19 and 20 March) in Brussels.

EPP Summit:

Date: 19 March (from 13:00 hrs to 16:00 hrs) – Arrivals of the leaders from 11:00

Venue: Académie Royale de Belgique
Rue Ducale, 1
1000 Bruxelles

Entrance for the Press: Corner Place du Trône and Rue Ducale (Metro Trône)

NOTE TO THE PRESS:
• There will be photo and TV opportunities during the meeting. Sound recording is not allowed.
• EPP President, Wilfried Martens, will give a press conference at the end of the meeting.
• Television vans may park in the STIB bus stops in Rue Ducale. Please send in advance the number of the license plate to jjimenez@epp.eu
• For security reasons, please ensure that you bring a valid form of identification: journalists and cameramen will be given access to the venue upon presentation of their accreditation badge, issued by the European Council, or their national press ID card. Journalists without one of these documents must contact the EPP Press Officer, Javier Jiménez, (E-mail: jjimenez@epp.eu) Tel: +32 2 285 41 56).