President Halonen to attend meeting of nine presidents

Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press Release 6 April 2011

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen will be meeting the presidents of eight other EU Member States in Budapest, Hungary on 8–9 April 2011.

This meeting of presidents will be hosted by Pál Schmitt, President of Hungary, and the other participants are Christian Wulff, Federal President of Germany; Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy; Aníbal Cavaco Silva, President of Portugal; Bronisław Komorowski, President of Poland; Heinz Fischer, Federal President of Austria; Danilo Türk, President of Slovenia; and Valdis Zatlers, President of Latvia.

The agenda includes European regional cooperation, multiculturalism and the European identity, and the future strategy of the EU. President Halonen will also be having private meetings with President Wulff and President Fischer.

This meeting is one in a series of regular meetings of presidents, the first of which was held in Portugal in 2003.

Dr Pentti Arajärvi will be accompanying President Halonen. President Halonen and Dr Arajärvi will return to Finland on 9 April.