Preparations are under way for a European Council meeting in Rome in March 2027. HotNews reported it. Politico quoted an EU official. This is not a summit already held, and not a relocation published as adopted.

The context is the 70th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, signed on 25 March 1957. There were two texts, the European Economic Community and Euratom, not a single founding treaty as a cover label. They opened the path to the EU; they are not identical with the Union of today.

The plan, first reported by La Stampa, was put forward by European Council President Antonio Costa, sources cited by Politico say. European sources, carried by ANSA and HotNews, say the idea came up at last week's Council in Brussels and that Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever had given his assent. Belgian assent does not replace unanimity among the 27.

Formal Councils are held in Brussels. Moving one requires unanimous agreement at ministerial or ambassador level. Politico notes that no final decision has been announced. A single state can block the move.

In March 2017, leaders met in Rome for the 60th anniversary of the treaties. That was a commemorative gathering, not a formal European Council. The regular summit that month stayed in Brussels. Anyone writing that, as in 2017, it is already moved is writing past a difference of status.

Politico adds that hosting in Rome would give Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a stage in an Italian election year, with no ballot date set. The Italian government did not immediately respond. That is political context, not an election calendar.

Image: jensjunge, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, CC0, Wikimedia Commons; the treaty hall, not the 2027 summit.

Sources consulted: Unde se va ține summitul UE din martie. Se împlinesc 70 de ani de la tratatul fondator - HotNews; EU eyes Rome for 2027 summit ahead of Italian election - POLITICO.