( dpa ) - Prime ministers and presidents from the European Union's 27 member states gathered in Brussels on Thursday to discuss ways to revive their flagging economies and stop global warming.
The regular spring council, which was due to open in the late afternoon and end on Friday, was also being attended by EU finance and foreign ministers.
According to the meeting's official agenda, leaders will first turn to a discussion on how to make their economies more competitive in the midst of a global slowdown.
Within this context, they will also address how best to strike a balance between making their labour markets more flexible while limiting the spread of insecure and low-paid jobs.
Energy and climate change are also expected to feature prominently in the discussions.
The EU executive, the commission, has recently put forward controversial proposals designed to make energy markets more competitive by splitting up companies which both sell energy to consumers and manage power lines.
Such proposals are resisted by two of the EU's biggest member states, France and Germany.
On climate change, leaders are to hold a first debate on how to cut the bloc's emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) to at least 20 per cent below 1990 levels - a legally-binding goal which EU leaders set a year ago.
While they are expected to broadly endorse a commission proposal presented in January, leaders are expected to steer clear of its most controversial aspect: how to share the burden of meeting that target.
Leaders are also expected to discuss how to make financial markets more transparent in the wake of the recent turmoil and take stock of a number of foreign policy issues, including Afghanistan and the Middle East.
But much of the media's attention is likely to be devoted to French plans to create a union between countries with borders on the Mediterranean Sea.
The plan, which has since been endorsed by Germany, is expected to be presented over dinner on Thursday and be formally launched in July, when France takes over the rotating presidency of the EU.