The meeting, which is held as part of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council, will focus on the Eastern Partnership, the situation in Venezuela and Syria, and EU-China relations.

In the accepted Gymnich format, the EU foreign ministers will also meet with their counterparts from EU candidate countries. At their joint session, they will be discussing challenges facing the EU and the candidate states in their cooperation with China, among other issues.  

EU foreign ministers’ informal meetings in the Gymnich format are held every six months. They offer a platform for a more open discussion and a strategic reflection that facilitate working out a later compromise at the EU level. The Gymnich format takes its name from a castle near Bonn, which hosted such a meeting for the first time in 1974.

 

MFA Press Office

 

Photo : Tymon Markowski / MFA