At the General Affairs Council meeting on the 23rd of November 2021, Hungary was represented by Secretary of State Oszkár Ökrös. The Council was chaired by Gašper Dovžan, Slovenian Secretary of State for EU Affairs, and the Commission was represented by Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and Commissioners Olivér Várhelyi and Didier Reynders.
Preparation of the European Council on 16-17 December 2021
The General Affairs Council held an exchange of views about the preparation of the upcoming European Council meeting on the 16th and 17th of December based on the Annotated Draft Agenda. The Ministers focused the discussion on the Covid-19 pandemic, energy prices, crisis management and resilience, security and defence, and external relations.
Conclusions on enhancing preparedness, response capability and resilience to future crises
The General Affairs Council approved conclusions on enhancing preparedness, response capability and resilience to future crises. The conclusions highlight that the EU must be ready to face crises of different nature in the future, which will require cooperation and coordination between Member States.
Enlargement and Stabilisation and Association process
Ministers took stock of the state of play and held an exchange of views on the enlargement and stabilisation and association process with a view of possible steps to take the enlargement process forward.
EU-UK relations
On the basis of Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič’s update, the General Affairs Council discussed the state of play of the EU-UK relations. The debate primarily focused on the ongoing discussions with the United Kingdom on possible joint solutions to the difficulties identified by Northern Irish businesses and citizens related to the implementation of Withdrawal Agreement’s Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. Member States supported the Commission’s approach to seek, as soon as possible, pragmatic solutions within the Protocol and confirmed their commitment to maintaining unity among Member States.
Annual rule of law dialogue: country-specific discussion
In the framework of the annual rule of law dialogue, the General Affairs Council held a country-specific discussion on the rule of law situation in the following five Member States: Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia and Cyprus.
Legislative Programming: Commission's work programme for 2022
The Commission presented its work programme for 2022 in a public session, which will contribute to the development of the joint declaration on legislative priorities for 2022 that will be agreed by the three institutions later this year.
