European Council – 23/24 June 2011: Conclusions

European Council welcomed the near completion of the implementation of the comprehensive package of measures it agreed last March to put Europe back on the path towards sustainable and job-creating growth and strengthen economic governance. It welcomed in particular the agreement reached on the future ESM and the amended EFSF as well as the substantial progress made on the legislative proposals on economic governance. It concluded the first European semester by collectively assessing Member States' programmes on the basis of the Commission's evaluation and by endorsing the country-specific recommendations to be taken into account in upcoming national decisions on budgets and structural reforms. In this context it noted the pledge of Member States
taking part in the Euro Plus Pact to enhance the ambition and precision of their commitments in next year's exercise. The European Council assessed the situation of those Member States with an adjustment programme. Regarding Greece, the euro area Heads of State or Government agreed on a way forward and called on their Finance Ministers to complete work to allow the necessary
decisions to be taken by early July. After an extensive debate, the European Council set orientations for the development of the EU's migration policy, as regards the governance of the Schengen area, the control of external borders, the development of partnerships with the countries of the Southern Neighbourhood and the completion of the Common European Asylum System by 2012. The European Council agreed that the accession negotiations with Croatia should be concluded by the end of June 2011, thus confirming its strong commitment in terms of the enlargement perspective of the Western Balkans. The European Council discussed developments in its Southern Neighbourhood and adopted a separate Declaration on this subject.