Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I attended the special meeting of the European Council held in Brussels on Thursday, 20 and Friday, 21 February, the first meeting of EU leaders this year. The meeting was convened by President of the European Council, Charles Michel, following our request at the December European Council for him to take forward negotiations on the post-2020 multi-annual financial framework, MFF. When we last met in December, the MFF was discussed but as part of a longer agenda. This included climate action - we endorsed the objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050 - and, of course, Brexit.

Following our request, the European Council President, Charles Michel, presented a revised budgetary proposal or negotiating box on 14 February.

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