Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Incumbent The Netherlands
Term length	Six months
Website	www.eu2016.nl
Presidency Trio
Netherlands, Slovakia, Malta

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, the upper house of the EU legislature. It rotates among the member states of the EU every six months. The presidency is not an individual, but rather the position is held by a national government. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the President of the European Union. The presidency's function is to chair meetings of the Council, determine its agendas, set a work programme and facilitate dialogue both at Council meetings and with other EU institutions. The presidency is currently (as of April 2016) held by the Netherlands.

Three successive presidencies, known as presidency trios, the current trio (2016–17) is made up of the Netherlands (Jan–Jun 2016), Slovakia (Jul–Dec 2016) and Malta (Jan–Jun 2017).

History

When the Council was established, its work was minimal and the presidency rotated between each of the then six members every six months. However, as the work load of the Council grew and the membership increased, the lack of coordination between each successive six-month presidency hindered the development of long-term priorities for the EU.

In order to rectify the lack of coordination, the idea of trio presidencies was put forward where groups of three successive presidencies cooperated on a common political program. This was implemented in 2007 and formally laid down in the EU treaties in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon.

Until 2009, the Presidency had assumed political responsibility in all areas of European integration and it played a vital role in brokering high-level political decisions.

The Treaty of Lisbon reduced the importance of the Presidency, significantly by officially separating the European Council from the Council of the European Union. Simultaneously it split the foreign affairs Council configuration from the General Affairs configuration and created the position of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Functioning

The Council meets in various formations where its composition depends on the topic discussed. For example, the Agriculture Council is composed of the national ministers responsible for Agriculture.^[1]

The primary responsibility of the Presidency is to organise and chair all meetings of the Council, apart from the Foreign Affairs Council which is chaired by the High Representative. So, for instance, the Minister of Agriculture for the state holding the presidency chairs the Agriculture council. This role includes working out compromises capable of resolving difficulties.

Article 16(9) of the Treaty on European Union provides:

The Presidency of Council configurations, other than that of Foreign Affairs, shall be held by Member State representatives in the Council on the basis of equal rotation, in accordance with the conditions established in accordance with Article 236 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Each three successive presidencies cooperate on a "triple-shared presidency" work together over an 18-month period to accomplish a common agenda by the current president simply continuing the work of the previous "lead-president" after the end of his/her term. This ensures more consistency in comparison to a usual single six-month presidency and each three includes a new member state. This allows new member states to hold the presidency sooner and helps old member states pass their experience to the new members.

The role of the rotating Council Presidency includes:

• agenda-setting powers: in its 6-month programme, it decides on the order to discuss propositions, after they have been submitted by the Commission in its agenda monopoly powers;
• brokering inter-institutional compromise: trialogues between Commission, Parliament and Council are held to reach early consensus in the codecision legislative procedure; the Presidency takes part to the Conciliation Committee between Parliament and Council in the 3rd stage of the codecision legislative procedure;
• coordinating national policies and brokering compromise between member states in the Council ("confessional system")
• management and administration of the Council, external and internal representation;

Holding the rotating Council Presidency includes both advantages and disadvantages for member states; The opportunities include:

1. member states have the possibility to show their negotiating skills, as "honest brokers", thus gaining influence and prestige;
2. member states gain a privileged access to information: at the end of their term, they know member states' preferences better than anyone else
3. the Council programme may enable member states to focus Council discussion on issues of particular national/regional interest (e.g.: Finland and the Northern Dimension initiative)

The burdens include:

1. lack of administrative capacities and experience, especially for small and new member states; the concept of trio/troika has been introduced to enable member states to share experiences and ensure coherence on an 18-months base;
2. expenses in time and money, needed to support the administrative machine;
3. not being able to push through their own interests, as the role of Council Presidency is seen as an impartial instance; member states trying to push for initiatives of their own national interest are likely to see them failing in the medium run (e.g., the French 2008 Presidency and the Union for the Mediterranean project), as they need consensus and do not have enough time to reach it. This element is particularly substantial: holding the presidency may be, on balance, a disadvantage for member states.

The rotating presidency is probably not needed any more, with the 2009 reforms by the Treaty of Lisbon, but reforming it has proved incredibly difficult: it still enables little states to stand up and try to push forward vital policies; it represents a sharing of administrative burdens, enabling the coordination of policies, the stability of the Council agenda (through the troika) and providing learning and experience for member states' public administrations.

List of rotations

Period		Trio	Holder	Head of government [note 1]	Website
1958	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Achille Van Acker Gaston Eyskens (from 26 June)
	Jul–Dec		West Germany	Konrad Adenauer
1959	Jan–Jun		France	Charles de Gaulle*
	Jul–Dec		Italy	Antonio Segni
1960	Jan–Jun		Luxembourg	Pierre Werner
	Jul–Dec		Netherlands	Jan de Quay
1961	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Gaston Eyskens Théo Lefèvre (from 25 April)
	Jul–Dec		West Germany	Konrad Adenauer
1962	Jan–Jun		France	Charles de Gaulle*
	Jul–Dec		Italy	Amintore Fanfani
1963	Jan–Jun		Luxembourg	Pierre Werner
	Jul–Dec		Netherlands	Jan de Quay Victor Marijnen (from 24 July)
1964	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Théo Lefèvre
	Jul–Dec		West Germany	Ludwig Erhard
1965	Jan–Jun		France	Charles de Gaulle*
	Jul–Dec		Italy	Aldo Moro
1966	Jan–Jun		Luxembourg	Pierre Werner
	Jul–Dec		Netherlands	Jo Cals Jelle Zijlstra (from 22 November)
1967	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Paul Vanden Boeynants
	Jul–Dec		West Germany	Kurt Georg Kiesinger
1968	Jan–Jun		France	Charles de Gaulle*
	Jul–Dec		Italy	Giovanni Leone Mariano Rumor (from 12 December)
1969	Jan–Jun		Luxembourg	Pierre Werner
	Jul–Dec		Netherlands	Piet de Jong
1970	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Gaston Eyskens
	Jul–Dec		West Germany	Willy Brandt
1971	Jan–Jun		France	Georges Pompidou*
	Jul–Dec		Italy	Emilio Colombo
1972	Jan–Jun		Luxembourg	Pierre Werner
	Jul–Dec		Netherlands	Barend Biesheuvel
1973	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Gaston Eyskens Edmond Leburton (from 26 January)
	Jul–Dec		Denmark	Anker Jørgensen Poul Hartling (from 19 December)
1974	Jan–Jun		West Germany	Willy Brandt Walter Scheel (7–16 May) Helmut Schmidt (from 16 May)
	Jul–Dec		France	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing*
1975	Jan–Jun		Ireland	Liam Cosgrave
	Jul–Dec		Italy	Aldo Moro
1976	Jan–Jun		Luxembourg	Gaston Thorn
	Jul–Dec		Netherlands	Joop den Uyl
1977	Jan–Jun		United Kingdom	James Callaghan
	Jul–Dec		Belgium	Leo Tindemans
1978	Jan–Jun		Denmark	Anker Jørgensen
	Jul–Dec		West Germany	Helmut Schmidt
1979	Jan–Jun		France	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing*
	Jul–Dec		Ireland	Jack Lynch Charles Haughey (from 11 December)
1980	Jan–Jun		Italy	Francesco Cossiga
	Jul–Dec		Luxembourg	Pierre Werner
1981	Jan–Jun		Netherlands	Dries van Agt
	Jul–Dec		United Kingdom	Margaret Thatcher
1982	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Wilfried Martens
	Jul–Dec		Denmark	Anker Jørgensen Poul Schlüter (from 10 September)
1983	Jan–Jun		West Germany	Helmut Kohl
	Jul–Dec		Greece	Andreas Papandreou
1984	Jan–Jun		France	François Mitterrand*
	Jul–Dec		Ireland	Garret FitzGerald
1985	Jan–Jun		Italy	Bettino Craxi
	Jul–Dec		Luxembourg	Jacques Santer
1986	Jan–Jun		Netherlands	Ruud Lubbers
	Jul–Dec		United Kingdom	Margaret Thatcher
1987	Jan–Jun		Belgium	Wilfried Martens
	Jul–Dec		Denmark	Poul Schlüter
1988	Jan–Jun		West Germany	Helmut Kohl
	Jul–Dec		Greece	Andreas Papandreou
1989	Jan–Jun		Spain	Felipe González
	Jul–Dec		France	François Mitterrand*
1990	Jan–Jun	Ireland	Charles Haughey
	Jul–Dec	Italy	Giulio Andreotti
1991	Jan–Jun	Luxembourg	Jacques Santer
	Jul–Dec	Netherlands	Ruud Lubbers
1992	Jan–Jun	Portugal	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
	Jul–Dec	United Kingdom	John Major
1993	Jan–Jun	Denmark	Poul Schlüter Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (from 25 January)
	Jul–Dec	Belgium	Jean-Luc Dehaene
1994	Jan–Jun	Greece	Andreas Papandreou
	Jul–Dec	Germany	Helmut Kohl
1995	Jan–Jun	France	François Mitterrand* Jacques Chirac* (from 17 May)
	Jul–Dec	Spain	Felipe González
1996	Jan–Jun	Italy	Lamberto Dini Romano Prodi (from 17 May)
	Jul–Dec	Ireland	John Bruton
1997	Jan–Jun	Netherlands	Wim Kok
	Jul–Dec	Luxembourg	Jean-Claude Juncker
1998	Jan–Jun	United Kingdom	Tony Blair	presid.fco.gov.uk
	Jul–Dec	Austria	Viktor Klima	presidency.gv.at
1999	Jan–Jun	Germany	Gerhard Schröder
	Jul–Dec	Finland	Paavo Lipponen	presidency.finland.fi
2000	Jan–Jun	Portugal	António Guterres
	Jul–Dec	France	Jacques Chirac*
2001	Jan–Jun	Sweden	Göran Persson	eu2001.se
	Jul–Dec	Belgium	Guy Verhofstadt	eu2001.be
2002	Jan–Jun	Spain	José María Aznar	ue2002.es
	Jul–Dec	Denmark	Anders Fogh Rasmussen	eu2002.dk
2003	Jan–Jun	Greece	Costas Simitis	eu2003.gr
	Jul–Dec	Italy	Silvio Berlusconi	ueitalia2003.it
2004	Jan–Jun	Ireland	Bertie Ahern	eu2004.ie
	Jul–Dec	Netherlands	Jan Peter Balkenende	eu2004.nl
2005	Jan–Jun	Luxembourg	Jean-Claude Juncker	eu2005.lu
	Jul–Dec	United Kingdom	Tony Blair	eu2005.gov.uk
2006	Jan–Jun	Austria	Wolfgang Schüssel	eu2006.at
	Jul–Dec	Finland[note 2]	Matti Vanhanen	eu2006.fi
2007	Jan–Jun	T1	Germany	Angela Merkel	eu2007.de
	Jul–Dec		Portugal	José Sócrates	eu2007.pt
2008	Jan–Jun		Slovenia	Janez Janša	eu2008.si
	Jul–Dec	T2	France	Nicolas Sarkozy*	ue2008.fr
2009	Jan–Jun		Czech Republic	Mirek Topolánek Jan Fischer (from 8 May)	eu2009.cz
	Jul–Dec		Sweden	Fredrik Reinfeldt	se2009.eu
2010	Jan–Jun	T3	Spain	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero	eu2010.es eutrio.es
	Jul–Dec		Belgium	Yves Leterme	eutrio.be
2011	Jan–Jun		Hungary	Viktor Orbán	eu2011.hu
	Jul–Dec	T4	Poland	Donald Tusk	pl2011.eu
2012	Jan–Jun		Denmark	Helle Thorning-Schmidt	eu2012.dk
	Jul–Dec		Cyprus	Demetris Christofias*	cy2012.eu
2013	Jan–Jun	T5	Ireland	Enda Kenny	eu2013.ie
	Jul–Dec		Lithuania	Dalia Grybauskaitė	eu2013.lt
2014	Jan–Jun		Greece	Antonis Samaras	gr2014.eu
	Jul–Dec	T6	Italy	Matteo Renzi	italia2014.eu
2015	Jan–Jun		Latvia	Laimdota Straujuma	eu2015.lv
	Jul–Dec		Luxembourg	Xavier Bettel	eu2015lu.eu
2016	Jan–Jun	T7	Netherlands	Mark Rutte	eu2016.nl
	Jul–Dec		Slovakia	Robert Fico	eu2016.sk
2017	Jan–Jun		Malta	TBD	TBD
	Jul–Dec	T8	United Kingdom[note 3]	TBD	TBD
2018	Jan–Jun		Estonia	TBD	TBD
	Jul–Dec		Bulgaria	TBD	TBD
2019	Jan–Jun	T9	Austria	TBD	TBD
	Jul–Dec		Romania	TBD	TBD
2020	Jan–Jun		Finland	TBD	TBD
	Jul-Dec	T10	Croatia	TBD	TBD

See also

• List of presidents of the institutions of the European Union
  • President of the European Parliament
  • President of the European Council
  • President of the European Commission
• President of the European Union
• Council of the European Union

Notes

1. Asterisk: Head of government is also head of state. This is the case for France and Cyprus.
2. Germany was due to succeed Austria in 2006 but stepped aside as general elections were scheduled for that period. Finland, as next in line, took Germany's place. Eventually the German elections took place in 2005 due to a loss of confidence vote, but the re-arrangement remained.
3. Subject to result of the planned United Kingdom Referendum on EU Membership in 2016

References

1. "Council of the European Union configurations". Council of the EU.

External links

• Presidency of the Council of the European Union
• Logos of the Council Presidencies
• Council Decision of 1 January 2007 determining the order in which the office of President of the Council shall be held (2007/5/EC, Euratom)
• Implications of the Polish Presidency of the EU for Europe and Transatlantic Affairs, lecture by Maciej Pisarski (Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, DC), delivered at the University of Illinois, 2 December 2011
• Cyprus takes over EU presidency amid doubts