EU – Video conference between Amélie de Montchalin and the Danish, Swedish and Finnish European affairs ministers (21 Apr. 20)

Amélie de Montchalin, Minister of State for European Affairs attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, is meeting via videoconference today with Jeppe Kofod, the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs; Hans Dahlgren, the Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs; and Tytti Tuppurainen, the Finnish Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering. Held in a “Nordics + France” format, this meeting follows on from a previous meeting held in that format in Copenhagen on January 31 and will focus on the European response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Discussions will deal with the European response to the crisis with a view to coordinating strategies to end quarantines and lay the groundwork for economic recovery. In this regard, the four ministers will discuss the development of a European economic recovery plan that France wants to be ambitious and characterized by solidarity, in order to preserve jobs and the economy. They will discuss the need to ensure that this recovery plan is consistent with European priorities, particularly the fight against climate change and the digital transformation.

The ministers will also address the lessons to be learned from this crisis in order to rebuild Europe, making it more sovereign, more responsive and characterized by greater solidarity, with strategic autonomy in key sectors. The Conference on the Future of Europe will play an important role in bringing citizens into this discussion.

Respect for the rule of law and individual liberties within the European Union amid a health crisis and the future relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom will also be on the agenda.

The goal of the meeting, for all of these issues, is to create greater convergences and bring positions closer together ahead of the videoconference between the 27 European foreign ministers on April 22 and that of the heads of state and government on April 23.