The President of the European People’s Party, (EPP), Wilfried MARTENS, welcomed the conclusions of the European Council, including the granting of candidate country status for Serbia, and also the signing of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (fiscal compact). The conclusions of the European Council largely reflect EPP’s preparatory work, which took place at yesterday’s EPP Summit of heads of state and government, which preceded the meeting of the European Council (photos from the EPP Summit can be found here:  http://flickr.epp.eu/). Wilfried Martens also congratulated Herman VAN ROMPUY who was re-elected by the European Council as President of the institution.

“The signing of the fiscal compact by 25 Members states will reinforce fiscal and budgetary discipline in the European Union. It will also enable a greater convergence of economic policies in the Eurozone. These two essential elements will place the Eurozone and the European Union as a whole, on the path to growth and job creation,” EPP President Martens stated.

“In recent months, Serbia has made significant progress in its quest for EU accession, and for this I must congratulate the work of the Serbian government, which includes EPP member-party G17plus. Thus, the decision to grant Serbia the status of candidate country, is an important milestone for Serbia, for the Western Balkans, and for the EU,” the EPP President underlined.

“Finally, I warmly congratulate my longtime colleague and friend Herman Van Rompuy for his re-election as President of the European Council. In his first mandate, Herman Van Rompuy was a steady hand at moments of great difficulty and was able to handle the crisis with consistency and tenacity. His second term will reinforce the new-found stability in the European Union and also in the Eurozone, since he will also chair the Eurozone Summits when the fiscal compact comes into force,” President Martens concluded.

Yesterday’s EPP Summit included the following leaders: Herman VAN ROMPUY (European Council), José Manuel BARROSO (European Commission), Angela MERKEL (Germany), Mariano RAJOY (Spain), François FILLON (France), Traian BASESCU (Romania), Donald TUSK (Poland), Fredrik REINFELDT (Sweden), Enda KENNY (Ireland), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS (Latvia), Viktor ORBÁN (Hungary), Boyko BORISOV (Bulgaria), Lawrence GONZI (Malta), Andrius KUBILIUS (Lithuania), Pedro PASSOS COELHO (Portugal) and Janez JANŠA (Slovenia).
 
Moreover, Deputy Prime Minister Karel SCHWARZENBERG (Czech Republic), Vice-Chancellor Michael SPINDELEGGER (Austria), Deputy Prime-Minister Steven VANACKERE (Belgium), party leaders Antonis SAMARAS (Greece), Silvio BERLUSCONI (Italy) and opposition leader Nicos ANASTASIADES (Cyprus) also attended.
 
Non-EU heads of state and government Nikola GRUEVSKI (FYROM) and Sali BERISHA (Albania), and opposition leaders Jadranka KOSOR (Croatia) and Erna SOLBERG (Norway) also participated at the EPP Summit.

Note to editors:
The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 74 member-parties from 40 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, 17 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.

For more information:
Kostas Sasmatzoglou, EPP Spokesman, Tel. +32-2-2854147
Javier Jiménez, EPP Senior Press and Communication Officer, Tel. +32-475480446