The Spring European Council is taking place on March 20-21 in Brussels and is focusing on growth, competitiveness and jobs, climate & energy policy, Ukraine and the preparation for the upcoming 4th EU-Africa summit to be held on April 2 - 3.

On the first day, the European Council reviewed progress on this year's European Semester monitoring exercise and assessed the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy. They also focused on the issue of industrial competitiveness and the developments in Ukraine. 

Upon his arrival to the meeting, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said yesterday that "Europe is called to give a response to the Ukrainian crisis. We sail on troubled seas but we stand united; we are moving toward more and better Europe."

Today, the European Council will hold a first policy debate on the basis of the Commission Communication on a framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030, and will look at the state of implementation of the European Council conclusions on energy, May 2013.

See also: Opening remarks by President Herman Van Rompuy at the European Council (March 20, 2014)