Council of the EU - 27/05/2025 19:35 | Meetings | Main results - General Affairs Council, 27 May 2025

 Council of the EU

27/05/2025 19:35 | Meetings |

Main results - General Affairs Council, 27 May 2025

 

The Council started preparations for the June European Council, adopted a general approach on the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, discussed the request by Spain to include Catalan, Basque and Galician in the EU’s language regime, held the 8th hearing of Hungary as part of the article 7 TEU procedure and a country-specific discussion on the rule of law situation in Slovakia, Sweden and Belgium.

 

General Affairs Council

General Affairs Council, 27 May 2025

Main results

The Council started preparations for the European Council meeting of 26-27 June, adopted its general approach on the simplification of the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and discussed the request by Spain to include Catalan, Basque and Galician in regulation No 1/1958, which governs the EU’s language regime. As part of the article 7(1) TEU procedure, the Council held the eighth hearing concerning Hungary and, in the context of the annual rule of law exercise, held a country-specific discussion on the rule of law situation in Slovakia, Sweden and Belgium. Finally, ministers discussed a set of conclusions on EU democratic resilience and were informed by the Czech delegation of the Radio Free Europe financial shortfall.

At the beginning of the meeting, among the so-called ‘A’ items (no discussion), the Council formally adopted the new investment programme for defence called SAFE (Security Action for Europe), an unprecedented instrument of €150 billion, which will boost EU defence capabilities.

<p>Adam Szłapka, Minister for the European Union of Poland</p>

Our two priorities are security and deregulation. Today, at the Council, we deliver on both. We adopted SAFE - first large-scale defence investment programme on the EU level, making €150 billion available to boost our defence capabilities. We also agreed the Council’s position on the first simplification package on CBAM. This will reduce administrative burden and support EU companies.

Adam Szłapka, Minister for the European Union of Poland

Preparation of the June European Council

The Council started preparations for the European Council meeting of 26-27 June 2025 by discussing an annotated draft agenda. EU leaders are expected to discuss:

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

latest developments in the Middle East

European security and defence

EU in the world

competitiveness, and

migration

The preparatory work will continue at the next General Affairs Council on 24 June 2025.

European Council, 26-27 June 2025, annotated draft agenda 

Carbon border adjustment mechanism

Ministers adopted the Council’s negotiating position (general approach) on simplifying the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). This simplification is part of the Commission’s so-called ‘Omnibus I’ simplification package.

The proposal seeks to provide simplification and cost-efficient compliance improvements to the CBAM regulation, without compromising its climate goals, as about 99% of embedded emissions in the imported CBAM goods would remain covered. The overall aim is to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden, as well as compliance costs for EU companies, especially SMEs.

Regulation on simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism, Council general approach, 27 May 2025 

Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism, Commission proposal, 26 February 2025 

Omnibus I and II packages (Commission background information) 

Catalan, Basque and Galician

The Council discussed the request by Spain to include Catalan, Basque and Galician in regulation No 1/1958, which governs the EU’s language regime.

Ministers held a constructive exchange of views and decided to continue working on the Spanish request to amend Regulation No 1. The General Affairs Council will remain seized of the matter.

Article 7 procedure concerning Hungary

As part of the Article 7(1) TEU procedure regarding Hungary, the Council held a hearing. This was the eighth hearing of Hungary as part of this procedure. It covered all the issues raised in the European Parliament’s reasoned proposal of September 2018, which triggered the procedure. The aim was to provide the Council an up-to-date picture of the situation in Hungary.

The exchanges focused particularly on the functioning of the constitutional system and checks and balances, the fight against corruption, the protection of civic space, academic and media freedom, and the protection of LGBTQI rights in Hungary.

Reasoned proposal triggering the Article 7 procedure for Hungary 

Standard modalities for hearings referred to in Article 7(1) TEU 

Rule of law (background information)

Annual rule of law dialogue

As part of the annual rule of law dialogue, ministers discussed the rule of law situation in Slovakia, Sweden and Belgium.

For each member state, the Commission presented the main findings of the respective country specific chapter in its 2024 rule of law report. The member state concerned then presented key national developments and particular aspects of their national rule of law framework. This was followed by a round of comments and questions in which other delegations shared their experiences and best practices in relation to the developments mentioned.

2024 Rule of law report (European Commission) 

Rule of law report 2024: with the fifth edition, the EU is better equipped to face rule of law challenges (European Commission press release, 24 July 2024) 

Rule of law (background information)

Conclusions on strengthening EU democratic resilience

As EU democracies are facing serious challenges, the presidency of the Council of the EU proposed drafting to prepare a set of conclusions on strengthening EU democratic resilience. In the absence of consensus on the text, the presidency decided to issue presidency conclusions based on the draft conclusions presented today to ministers at the General Affairs Council.The conclusions are an input to the upcoming Commission’s European Democracy Shield initiative.

The conclusions aim at reinforcing EU’s capacity to address current challenges to democratic resilience. They highlight the importance of the whole-of-society approach, stress the crucial role of civil society organisations and underline the need for appropriate funding for measures to strengthen democratic resilience. Other elements of the conclusions include the need to support democracy via civic education programs, cyber and media literacy campaigns and independent media, the importance of fair elections and the need for measures to actively respond to foreign information manipulation and interference, including disinformation.

Presidency conclusions on strengthening EU democratic resilience (press release, 27 May 2025)

Any other business

Termination of financing of Radio Free Europe

Under ‘any other business’, the Czech delegation provided an update on the current situation regarding the financing of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and possible further steps.

Future of Europe and EU democratic resilience

In an informal breakfast, ministers held an exchange of views on the topic of resilience, and, over an informal lunch, the Council was informed by the Commission on the ongoing preparation of the European Democracy Shield.

‘A’ items

The Council adopted without discussion the regulation establishing the Security Action for Europe (SAFE), a decision launching the sixth wave of projects under the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), and the revised regulation on CO2 emission standards for passenger cars and vans.

SAFE: Council adopts €150 million boost for joint procurement on European security and defence (press release, 27 May 2025)

EU defence readiness: Council launches 6th wave of new PESCO projects (press release, 27 May 2025)

CO2 emissions in cars: Council gives final approval to additional flexibility for car makers (press release, 27 May 2025)

Meeting files