BRUSSELS (EJP)---European Union leaders are meeting Thursday and Friday in Brussels for their usual Autumn  Council.

The working session will start at 5.45 pm and will be followed by a working dinner at 8 pm. There will be another working session on Friday morning.

The heads of state or government are expected to focus on economic and monetary policies but will also adopt statements on Syria and Iran.

Earlier this week, EU Foreign Ministers already agreed to extend economic sanctions on the Iranian regime, announcing new restrictive measures targeting “Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programmes and the revenues of the Iranian government for these programmes”.

The measures  are designed to ensure that European funds aren’t enabling the continued development of Iran’s disputed nuclear weapons programme.

The EU will also approved new sanctions against the Syrian regime.