Arraiolos meeting

The term Arraiolos meeting refers to the multinational informal convention of, both executive and non-executive, presidents of European Union member states, held roughly once in a year. A political forum for the heads of state of parliamentary republics and also some semi-presidential republics (as opposed to constitutional monarchies or countries governed by a presidential system) who according to the respective constitutions and constitutional conventions they may vary in their role from being significantly executive to largely ceremonial, it deals with questions and problems concerning the current state and future development of the EU as well as how to approach the challenges of globalisation.^[1]

The name is derived from the small Portuguese town of Arraiolos, where the first meeting took place in 2003. Jorge Sampaio, then the President of Portugal, had invited the presidents of Finland, Germany, as well as of soon-to-be EU members Hungary, Latvia and Poland to discuss the consequences of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union and plans for a Constitution for Europe.^[2]

Following the 2005 meeting, the seven participating presidents wrote a joint article titled "Together for Europe" about their conception of the European community. It was published on 15 July 2005 by Diena, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Gazeta Wyborcza, Público, Helsingin Sanomat, la Repubblica and Der Standard, leading newspapers of the respective countries.^[3]

Meetings and participants

The table shows which presidents participated in the various meetings.

#	Date Location	Austria	Bulgaria	Estonia	Finland	Germany	Hungary	Italy	Latvia	Malta	Poland	Portugal	Slovenia
1	17–19 October 2003 Arraiolos, Portugal[2][4]	did not participate	not an EU member	did not participate	Tarja Halonen	Johannes Rau	Ferenc Mádl	did not participate	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga	did not participate	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Jorge Sampaio	did not participate
2	22–24 April 2005 Helsinki, Finland[5][6]	Heinz Fischer				Horst Köhler	did not participate				did not participate
3	4–5 February 2006 Dresden, Germany[7][8][9][10]						László Sólyom	Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
4	10–11 April 2007 Riga, Latvia[11][12]		did not participate					Giorgio Napolitano			Lech Kaczyński	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
5	29–30 April 2008 Graz, Austria[13]								Valdis Zatlers
6	12–13 June 2009 Naples, Italy[14]				did not participate
7	8–9 April 2011 Budapest, Hungary[1]				Tarja Halonen	Christian Wulff	Pál Schmitt				Bronisław Komorowski		Danilo Türk
8	10–11 February 2012 Helsinki, Finland[15]								Andris Bērziņš		did not participate
9	8–9 October 2013 Kraków, Poland[16][17][18]	did not participate	Rosen Plevneliev	Toomas Hendrik Ilves	Sauli Niinistö	Joachim Gauck	did not participate				Bronisław Komorowski		Borut Pahor
10	29–30 September 2014 Braga, Portugal[19]	Heinz Fischer					János Áder	did not participate					did not participate
11	21–22 September 2015 Wartburg and Erfurt, Germany[20]						did not participate	Sergio Mattarella	Raimonds Vējonis	Marie Louise Coleiro Preca	Andrzej Duda		Borut Pahor
12	14–15 September 2016 Plovdiv and Sofia, Bulgaria[21]	did not participate		did not participate			János Áder					Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

References

1. "Tagung der Arraiolos-Gruppe in Budapest" (in German). bundespraesident.de. 9 April 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
2. "Foreign Policy Events, 13–20 October 2003". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
3. "Gemeinsam für Europa". Der Standard (in German). 15 July 2005. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
4. "Press photo taken during the 2003 Arraiolos Meeting". Getty Images.
5. "Photograph of the participants of the "Informal Meeting of the Heads of State in Finland from 22 to 24 April 2005"". bundespraesident.de. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
6. "Fischer bei Fünf-Präsidenten-Treffen in Helsinki". Der Standard (in German). 23 April 2005. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
7. "Presseöffentliche Termine von Bundespräsident Dr. Heinz Fischer in der Woche vom 30. Jänner bis 05. Februar 2006" (in German). Retrieved 5 October 2013.
8. "Bundespräsident Horst Köhler mit sechs Amtskollegen zu Gast im Landtag" (in German). Landtag of Saxony. 5 February 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
9. Block, Simona (4 February 2006). "Gemeinsam für Europa in Dresden". Sächsische Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 15 October 2013.
10. "Staatspräsidenten werben gemeinsam für Europa". Handelsblatt (in German). 4 February 2006. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
11. "Acht Staatspräsidenten diskutieren in Riga über Europas Zukunft" (in German). bundespraesident.at. 9 April 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
12. "European presidents meet in Riga". The Baltic Times (in German). 11 April 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
13. "Acht Staatspräsidenten treffen Ende April in Graz zusammen" (in German). Kleine Zeitung. 28 February 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
14. "Teilnahme von Bundespräsident Dr. Heinz Fischer am informellen multilateralen Treffen in Neapel" (in German). 9 June 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
15. "Arraiolos-Treffen in Helsinki" (in German). bundespraesident.de. 11 February 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
16. ""Arraiolos-Treffen" der Staatspräsidenten in Krakau" (in German). bundespraesident.de. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
17. "Poland hopeful of EU – Ukraine agreement". thenews.pl. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
18. "Arraiolos Group countries hold meeting in Poland to promote economy, relations". xinhuanet.com. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
19. "Cavaco anfitrião de oito chefes de Estado em Braga" (in Portuguese). dn.de. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
20. "Treffen der Arraiolos-Gruppe" (in German). bundespraesident.de. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
21. "Президентът Росен Плевнелиев ще бъде домакин на 12-ата Среща на държавните ръководители на страните от групата "Арайолуш"" (in Bulgarian). president.bg. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.