Forward look: 3 March – 16 March 2025
Overview of the main topics and events at the Council of EU and European Council for the coming fortnight.
Justice and Home Affairs Council (Home Affairs), 5 March 2025
Ministers of home affairs will gather in Brussels to discuss the external dimension of migration and the EU’s internal security and to take stock of its actions against drug trafficking and organised crime. The presidency also aims to reach a common member states’ position on a regulation about a progressive start of operations of the Entry/Exit System.
Special European Council, 6 March 2025
EU leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and defence.
Justice and Home Affairs Council (Justice), 7 March 2025
Justice ministers will hold a policy debate about a proposed directive to harmonise certain aspects of insolvency law, one of the key initiatives of the Capital Markets Union action plan.
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (Social policy), 10 March 2025
In the context of the European Semester, the Council will hold a policy debate on ways to mitigate the challenges of the ‘silver transformation’ for the EU’s workforce.
Other topics on the agenda relating to the European Semester autumn package include the employment and social aspects of the 2025 recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area, the 2025 Joint Employment Report, and the aspects of the medium-term fiscal-structural plans that relate to the EPSCO Council.
Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 11 March 2025
Ministers will hold a policy debate on competitiveness and regulatory burden reduction and the Commission will present its ‘Omnibus packages’.
The Council will aim to reach a political agreement on a proposal for a directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC9).
The Council will also aim to approve conclusions on regulatory decluttering in the field of taxation.
Ministers will take note of the state of play of the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
The Council will adopt implementing decisions approving amended recovery and resilience plans submitted by some member states.
Competitiveness Council (Internal market and industry), 12 March 2025
Ministers responsible for industry and the internal market will hold four policy debates. The first will focus on ‘Towards a horizontal strategy for a modernised single market: the need for an action plan for services’. The second will cover the Commission’s first omnibus simplification package, presented on 26 February. Ministers will then continue discussion on ‘For a more competitive European Industry – the competitiveness compass and the clean Industrial deal’. The final debate will address ‘A competitive and decarbonised EU industry in the context of the carbon border adjustment mechanism’.
Other meetings
- Informal meeting of telecommunications ministers, 4-5 March 2025
- Eurogroup, 10 March 2025
- Informal meeting of research ministers, 10-11 March 2025
- EU-South Africa summit, 13 March 2025
