The European Council in 2017: Overview of decisions and discussions

This In-Depth Analysis by the European Council Oversight Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) is the third in a series of annual publications examining the activity of the European Council.

Previous titles in the series covered:

+ 2015
+ 2016

The year 2017 was good for the EU, politically and economically. For the first time in almost a decade, the EU was not beset by crises, although Brexit posed a difficult challenge. The European Council met the Brexit challenge by approving guidelines for the negotiations in April 2017, and agreeing to move to a new stage in December 2017, while convening in a new format: Article 50 (TEU) meetings of the EU-27.

The European Council launched another new formal in 2017: Leaders’ Meetings, held under the auspices of the Leader’ Agenda, to discuss challenging issues such as migration and EMU reform.

By the end of the year, the European Council could look back at an eventful but largely successful twelve months.

• Primary Source

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: In-Depth Analysis, June 2018: The European Council in 2017: Overview of decisions and discussions http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2018/621824/EPRS_IDA(2018)621824_EN.pdf

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