Press Release: The European Union at the G8 summit in Deauville –shaping and supporting a changing world

The European Union, as a full member of the G8, will push for ambitious answers to common challenges at the G8 summit in Deauville from 26-27 May. It is for the first time that G8 leaders meet since the beginning of the transitions in the Arab world and the disaster that has struck Japan earlier this year. They will discuss how the G8 can support the democratic aspirations in the European neighbourhood and draw the lessons from the nuclear incident in Japan. The European Union is represented at the G8 and G20 summits by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, France holds the G8 and G20 presidency in 2011.