XVIII Adriatic and Ionian Council held in Brussels on 13 May 2015

The XVIII Adriatic and Ionian Council (AIC) closing the AII Chairmanship of Bosnia and Herzegovina was held last 13 May in Brussels at the premises of the Baden Wuttemberg State. The venue was chosen to signal the possible synergies among the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). After the meeting, the Heads of Delegations of the two strategies met for a joint lunch at the presence of High level representatives of the European Commission.

The XVIII Adriatic and Ionian Council was chaired by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Josip Brkić.

The Heads of Delegations discussed about the possible evolution from AIC to a joint AIC/EUSAIR Ministerial meeting without losing the intergovernmental character of the AII, but coordinating the political ownership of the two exercises. They decided to "further enhance the interlinks between the AI Council and the EUSAIR, fully recognizing AII's role of intergovernmental anchorage of the EUSAIR". Such coordination is also evident from the Council's endorsement of the overhaul of AII Round Tables that transformed them into an auxiliary body at disposal of EUSAIR Thematic Steering Groups.

The AIC ended with Mr. Brkić handing over the AII Chairmanship to Croatia starting from June 2015. Mr. Hrvoje Marusić, on behalf of Croatia informed the audience about the significance that his Government attach to the AII and the EUSAIR and briefly described the priorities of its program for the year of Chairmanship.

The Brussels Declaration and the overhauled Rules of Procedure of the AII Round Tables are enclosed