Remarks by President Charles Michel before the Special meeting of the European Council

Tonight we will have the occasion to tackle international topics and especially Belarus will be on the agenda. What happened yesterday is an international scandal. Lives of European civilians were at risk yesterday. This is not acceptable and it is why we put the debate on sanctions on the table of the European Council. We are preparing different options, different possible measures and I hope tonight we can take decisions on that.

We will discuss our relationship with the United Kingdom after Brexit. We want a loyal implementation of the agreements that we reached last year.  We will do everything to keep a strong, positive and fruitful relationship with the United Kingdom. But we are also committed to respect the integrity of the Single Market and to guarantee equal rights for all the European member states.

We will also discuss our relationship with Russia, and EU and Russia relations. We want to implement the five principles. We want to demonstrate our solidarity and our unity. We want to be firm in order to defend and to promote our European interests.

And finally, we will discuss the situation between Israel and Palestine.