(Brussels) Compared with previous meetings, the heads of State and Government of the EU have taken a couple of hours longer to discuss some domestic and international policy issues, today and tomorrow. At the European Council that will open at 3.00 pm with the arrival of the EU leaders and will end in the midst of the day tomorrow, items on the agenda officially include migration, foreign trade and Russia. While the matter of the “sympathetic” acceptance of migrants – strongly put forward by the Italian Government – will certainly take centre stage, the other items looks extremely important too, with the addition of the situation of Syria and the fight against Isis and terrorism; the difficult economic and employment scenarios of several countries as well as state budgets reviews are left in the background. In the letter of invitation to the heads of State and Government, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, wrote: “As to migration, we are slowly getting to a turning point. Our efforts are more apparent along the Eastern Mediterranean route, where, between September last year and September this year, we have witnessed a 98% decrease in the inflows of illegal migrants. The European institutions have worked harder to help third countries take back their citizens. In June this year, Frontex had already repatriated twice as many illegal migrants as those repatriated all through 2015”.
Tusk points out: “We will have a strategic discussion about Russia, in the attempt to look at our global long-term relationships with this important neighbour. In the run-up to the decisions we have to take in December, our main asset in our relationships with Russia is still unity. So far, regardless of our differences, we have always managed to be united. We must go on like this. We should also discuss the tragic developments in Syria in the same context”.