By Tommy Hansen
COPENHAGEN
Foreign ministers from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany are set to convene in Copenhagen on Monday in the first of a new series of informal meetings.
Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard is due to hold talks with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is on his first official visit to Denmark, ahead of the meeting.
The pair is expected to discuss tensions in the Ukraine and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as well as Jean-Claude Juncker's controversial €315bn EU "investment plan".
Tensions in the Middle East are also expected to be discussed.
Martin Lidegaard said on Friday: "Germany is one of Denmark's most important trade partners and, at a European level, one of the key players both politically and economically."
"Therefore, we are discussing the possibilities of growth, based on the Juncker investment plan."
- 'Clear messages'
He said the north European countries and Germany had many common agendas.
"The new team at the EU Commission has had an ambitious line from the start, and it is important to meet and adjust our ideas on the upcoming processes and priorities of the EU," Lidegaard said.
"We need to make a clear Danish-Nordic footprint and also, in terms of the EU's role on a global scale, send clear and unanimous messages regarding the Ukraine-conflict ...," he added.
The meetings are aimed at maintaining focus among Foreign Ministers on EU-issues as well as current global politics.
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