The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr Robin Walker)

The Council discussed an annotated draft agenda for the March European Council. Leaders are expected to discuss jobs, growth and competitiveness; climate change, external relations, tackling disinformation and protecting the democratic integrity of the European and national elections across the EU. The Commission confirmed that industrial policy, single market, capital markets union, and European digital policy should be discussed under the first agenda item. Ministers welcomed the EU-China summit on the agenda, and highlighted the importance of a strong relationship with China for future economic and trade opportunities.

Ministers discussed the Commission’s reflection paper “Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030, on the follow-up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including on the Paris Agreement on Climate Change”. The reflection paper was published in January and served as a basis for the Council’s discussion on what needed to be done to ensure a sustainable Europe by 2030. Ministers underlined the importance of ensuring sustainable development is supported through domestic, regional and global action, in order to achieve the implementation of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development at EU level. This discussion will contribute to the preparation of the March Council conclusions on the Commission’s reflection paper, and sessions of the high-level policy forum on sustainable development in July and September 2019.

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