The President of the European Council, António Costa, will visit the EU leaders in their member states during the first three weeks of September. This so-called Tour des Capitales will allow Mr Costa to gather views from the heads of state or government on the situation in the EU. The journey will also prepare the ground for upcoming European Councils and international summits.
In his meetings with EU member states’ leaders, President Costa will discuss all the main political priorities as well as working methods of the European Council. Mr Costa will visit most EU countries between 1 and 19 September. The first meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium, Bart de Wever, was already held on 27 August in Brussels.
Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia, and the Netherlands coming first
During the first week of his tour, President Costa will meet the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, on 2 September. This visit will be preceded by his participation at the Bled Strategic Forum on 1 September where he will deliver a keynote speech.
Croatia, including meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Zagreb, comes next. On Wednesday, 3 September, Mr Costa will travel to Austria to meet Christian Stocker, the Chancellor of Austria, in Vienna.
Thursday will be devoted to Romania and Bulgaria including meetings with the Romania’s president Nicușor Dan and Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov.
In the end of the week President Costa will talk to Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Czechia and to Prime Minister Dick Schoof in the Netherlands (both on Friday, 5 September).
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UN General Assembly and COP30 in Brazil in sight
By the end of 2025, President António Costa will chair two formal European Councils, in October and in December 2025. The Informal European Council will be held in Copenhagen on 1 October. The European Political Community meeting is scheduled to take place on 2 October also in the Danish capital.
President Costa will co-chair the EU-CELAC Summit on 8-9 November in Colombia and the EU-African Union Summit in Angola on 24-25 November. On behalf of the EU, he will also attend United Nations High-Level week and address the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council in September. The president will also participate in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil in November.
