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The President of the EU Council, Charles Michel, has postponed the summit of EU heads of state and government scheduled for Thursday and Friday until the beginning of October. This was announced by his spokesman Barend Leyts on Twitter. He referred to a Covid-19 infection in one of Michel’s security guards.
According to the spokesperson, Michel had close contact with the infected person during the last week. Michel is regularly tested for the corona virus, a test yesterday Monday was negative. In accordance with Belgian Crown regulations, Michel went into quarantine on Tuesday and decided to postpone the euro summit for a week from September 24 and 25 to October 1 and 2.
At the special Brussels summit, the EU states wanted to discuss various issues. The agenda included discussions on the EU internal market, industrial policy and digital transformation. In addition, it should be about sanctions for the conflict in Belarus, which is currently blocked by the EU country Cyprus. The current state of the corona pandemic and the EU’s relations with Turkey and China should also be discussed.
The EU had given Turkey an ultimatum in late August due to controversial gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean and threatened additional sanctions. If there is no progress, a list of new punitive measures could be discussed at the special summit, EU foreign policy representative Josep Borrell said at the time. These would also include financial penalties.
Greece and Cyprus have long demanded tougher sanctions against Turkey. They believe that the search for natural gas takes place in their maritime areas and is therefore illegal. Michel had traveled to the region last week due to the conflict, including Cyprus, the Greek island of Lesbos and Athens.
