The EU Heads of State and Government and the Leaders of the opposition of the European People’s Party (EPP), along with the Presidents of the European Council, European Commission, and the European Parliament have been invited on 16 June 2010 in Meise, Brussels for the statutory Summit of the Party.

The EPP currently has 14 out the 27 members of the European Council: Nicolas SARKOZY, Angela MERKEL, Fredrik REINFELDT, Jan-Peter BALKENENDE, Silvio BERLUSCONI, Emil BOC, Boyko BORISOV, Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Lawrence GONZI, Jean-Claude JUNCKER, Andrius KUBILIUS, Donald TUSK, Yves LETERME, and Viktor ORBAN.

Wilfried MARTENS, the President of the EPP, will host the EPP Summit. Antonio LOPEZ-ISTURIZ, EPP Secretary General, and the members of the EPP Presidency will be attending.

On the agenda will be the preparation of the European Council meeting of 17 June.

EPP Statutory Summit:

Date:16 June (From 19:30 to 22:00h)

Venue: The Castle of Bouchout, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise (just outside Brussels)

NOTE TO THE PRESS:

• EPP will be offering live info and photo feeds from EPP Summit, at its official Twitter and Flickr web pages. Follow us live on Wednesday 16 June and get an insight on how our leaders prepare the European Council

Twitter: live feeds at http://twitter.com/epptweet

Flickr: live photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/eppofficial

• A bus will be available for the press. Departure from the European Parliament, Rue Wiertz, 60 near Rue Belliard at 17:15h

• For security reasons, please ensure that you bring a valid form of identification: journalists and cameramen will be given access to the venue upon presentation of their accreditation badge, issued by the European Council, or their national press ID card. Journalists without one of these documents must contact the EPP Press Officer, Javier Jiménez, (E-mail: jjimenez@epp.eu) Tel: +32 475 480 446.

Note to editors:

The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 73 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the Commission, Council, and Parliament, 14 EU and 5 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, Spokesman, Tel: +32-2-2854147
Javier Jimenez, Press Officer, Tel: +32-475480446