Michel Presidency

It is 76 years since the Schuman Declaration laid the foundation of what is now the European Union and 51 years since the leaders of the member states meeting in Paris decided to establish the European Council, which has since become the cornerstone of the Union’s institutional structure. This collection of reports on almost every formal and informal meeting of the European Council since June 2000 therefore covers a substantial chunk of the EU’s and the European Council’s history. 

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Drawing on rich documentary and oral sources and published within a week or two of the meetings that they discuss, these notes , most of which are 12 to 25 pages long, provide a unique account of discussions at the highest level of the Union during a period in which the EU has faced many unexpected as well as expected challenges, its membership has expanded from 15 to 28 before Brexit and 27 since and the European Council itself has become a Treaty-based institution presided over by a full-time President.