Topics planned and actually discussed at Leaders’ meetings and at European Council meetings

Another difference was the follow-up to leader’s meetings in the European Council conclusions. Figure 2 shows how Leaders’ meetings discussions have been followed, until now, by European Council conclusions. One can observe that there are significant variations as to whether or not there was any follow-up at all, the time span between a leaders’ meeting and the issuing of subsequent European Council conclusions, the number of follow-up conclusions and the substance thereof (see Leaders’ notes section below). While for some topics the follow-up was quite rapid (such as on education and training), as there was general agreement on these issues, other issues took longer (for instance on institutional issues). Most issues addressed at a leaders’ meeting were only addressed at one subsequent meeting, while the very contentious issues of EMU and migration were addressed at several of the following summits.