Czech Republic presides over the EU Council from July 1
‘Europe as a Task: Rethink, Rebuild, Repower’
Between July 1 and December 31, the Czech Republic will preside over the Council of the EU, taking over from France as part of the current Presidency Trio, together with Sweden. The Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004 and will be holding the Council presidency for the second time since 2009.
During the next six months, the Czech Republic will chair the meetings at every level in the Council, helping to ensure the continuity of the decision-making process of the EU, together with the European Parliament. Sometimes called Council of Ministers of the EU, this EU institution is composed of ministers of Member States’ governments who meet in configurations according to their portfolios.
The presidency of the Council organises and presides over meetings, works for common positions between Member States, adopts Council conclusions and ensures the coherency and continuity of the decision-making process. It also ensures effective cooperation between all Member States. The Council also holds budgetary powers; it adopts and amends the European budget with the Parliament.
The Council adopts certain decisions as well as non-binding recommendations, concludes international agreements on behalf of the EU, and appoints members of certain institutions such as the European Court of Auditors, European Economic and Social Committee and European Committee of the Regions.
Each Member State holds the presidency of the EU Council for six months on a rotational basis and works in a trio of presidencies, currently composed of France, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
The trio presidency has a common programme that is divided into four priority thematic areas:
- Protecting citizens and freedoms;
- Building economic foundations: European model for the future;
- Building a climate-neutral, green, equitable and social Europe;
- Promoting European interests and values in the world.
The priorities of the trio programme are mainly aimed at addressing and mitigating the negative economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Czech Republic, France and Sweden have agreed that in addition to the above detailed priorities, it is necessary for the trio to work on strengthening the common security and defence policy, with specific focus on the Strategic Compass that will define the direction of EU security up to 2030.
Consequently, the Czech Presidency has set out its priorities for the coming months considering the economic recovery of Europe as well as the current political climate.
During its presidency, the Czech Republic will focus on five closely linked priority areas:
- Managing the refugee crisis and Ukraine’s post-war recovery
- Energy security
- Strengthening Europe’s defence capabilities and cyberspace security
- Strategic resilience of the European economy
- Resilience of democratic institutions
In his message before the start of the Czech Presidency, Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, highlighted that as the Union is built on the fundamental values of freedom and responsibility, the task for the EU and the Czech Presidency for the coming months will be to assist Ukrainians in their fight for freedom to choose their future.
Click here for the website of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council.
The programme of the Czech Presidency for the upcoming months can be found here.