Merkel, Hollande, European Parliament's Schulz to Meet February 7

BERLIN (Sputnik) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet French President Francois Hollande and European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Strasbourg on Sunday, a German government spokesman said Friday.

"Chancellor Merkel will meet President Hollande and European Parliament President Schulz for an informal dinner, this event will be closed to the press," Steffen Seibert said.

The event will take place ahead of the ministerial meeting in the Normandy Quartet format, including both France and Germany, on Ukrainian reconciliation.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz sits on the podium during the 51. Security Conference Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 07, 2015

© AP Photo / Matthias Schrader

The meeting of the quartet, which also includes Russia and Ukraine, is likely to take place on February 13, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

In February 2015, the Quartet's leaders brokered the Minsk peace deal, later signed by representatives of the Kiev authorities and the eastern Ukrainian militias. The Minsk agreements stipulate a ceasefire, a weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, constitutional reforms to decentralize power in the country, and the granting of a special status to the Donbas region.

The sides to the conflict in Ukraine failed to fulfill the agreements by the end of 2015, as initially intended. The Normandy Quartet agreed to extend the deadline for completion into this year.