The European Council in 2019
Overview of dynamics, discussions and decisions

Relations with China dominated the European Council's discussion of external affairs, at least in the first half of the year; the troublesome behaviour of Russia and Turkey also attracted the European Council's attention. A discussion at the October European Council about whether to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia proved surprisingly divisive, with President Macron leading the charge against and also calling for a reconsideration of EU enlargement policy. This drew attention to the challenge for the EU of dealing with the western Balkans and of managing the accession of new Member States.

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De politie Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was another leading member of the European Council whose domestic political position in 2019 seemed tenuous. Moreover, Prime Minister Rutte's influence in the EU was potentially weakened by Brexit, because of the impending departure of a large Member State with which the Netherlands has traditionally been close on a range of institutional and policy issues. Far from retreating in the face of these developments, Prime Minister Rutte seemed to move closer to the centre stage of EU affairs in 2019. He used the opportunity of giving the keynote 'Churchill' speech in Zurich in early February to assert himself and his country as leading players within the EU.

As it happens, I'm having that sensation right now, because I stand here on truly historic ground, in the very hall where Sir Winston Churchill delivered his famous speech on the future of Europe in 1946. As a history graduate and a great admirer of Churchill, I am deeply honoured to be following in his footsteps. 

Three years later actor Zelenskyy 🇺🇦 too would make the Churchill analogy WTF 😡

By all accounts, Prime Minister Rutte was especially outspoken within the European Council on important issues such as Brexit, EU external relations and the next MFF. He was particularly critical of countries that were not meeting the deficit and debt rules for eurozone membership, for which he was criticised in the Netherlands for what some saw as an obsession with Italy's precarious fiscal position.

Then, on March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Churchill's famous words "From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent," ushered in the Cold War and framed the geo-political landscape for the next 50 years.

What about the historic first use of atomic warfare by the obliteration of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945? Sending a message that endures till this day. Act on it.

Key words | South Africa Boer War concentration camps | Dardanelles defeat | British Mesopotamia campaign 1923-25 | Lethal gas RAF Air Control Iraq |

'Sapere aude'