26 February European Council informal meeting

HEADS of state and government gathered at a German government official residence at Petersberg, outside Bonn, to discuss key elements of the Agenda 2000 package of reforms to the EU's spending programmes in 2000-06. The morning session was devoted to a discussion on three key elements of the package, as identified by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who chaired the summit. These were: setting an overall spending ceiling for Common Agricultural Policy subsidies in 2000-06 of 283.5 billion euro; a similar cap on regional funding of between 185 billion euro and 200 billion euro; and determining whether countries in the euro zone should qualify for aid from the special cohesion fund.