Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Not to be confused with President of the European Council or President of the European Commission.

Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Emblem of the Council
Flag of Europe
Currently held by Ungarn 1 July – 31 December 2024
Council of the European Union
Seat	Council of the EU: Europa building, Brussels, Belgium Belgian Government: Brussels
Appointer	Rotation among the EU member states
Term length	Six months
Constituting instrument	Treaties of the European Union
Formation	1958
First holder	Belgien
Website	hungarian-presidency.consilium.europa.eu
Presidency trio
Spanien • Belgien • Ungarn

The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. 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 program and facilitate dialogue both at Council meetings and with other EU institutions. The presidency is currently, as of July 2024, held by Hungary.

Three successive presidencies are known as presidency trios. The current trio is made up of Spain (July-December 2023), Belgium (January–June 2024), and Hungary (July-December 2024). The 2020 German presidency began the second cycle of presidencies, after the system was introduced in 2007.

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.

After the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union in 2016 and its subsequent relinquishment of its scheduled presidency in the Council of the European Union which was due to take place from July to December 2017, the rotation of presidencies was brought six months forward. Estonia was scheduled to take over the UK's six-month slot instead. The presidency is currently (as of July 2024) held by Hungary.

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.

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: Formal Trilogue meetings 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 third 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 (for example 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 (for example 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

List of rotations

Period		Trio	Holder	Head of government
1958	January–June		Belgien	Achille Van Acker Gaston Eyskens (from 26 June)
	July–December		West Germany	Konrad Adenauer
1959	January–June		Frankreich	Charles de Gaulle* Michel Debré (from 8 January)
	July–December		Italien	Antonio Segni
1960	January–June		Luxemburg	Pierre Werner
	July–December		Niederlande	Jan de Quay
1961	January–June		Belgien	Gaston Eyskens Théo Lefèvre (from 25 April)
	July–December		West Germany	Konrad Adenauer
1962	January–June		Frankreich	Michel Debré Georges Pompidou (from 14 April)
	July–December		Italien	Amintore Fanfani
1963	January–June		Luxemburg	Pierre Werner
	July–December		Niederlande	Jan de Quay Victor Marijnen (from 24 July)
1964	January–June		Belgien	Théo Lefèvre
	July–December		West Germany	Ludwig Erhard
1965	January–June		Frankreich	Georges Pompidou
	July–December		Italien	Aldo Moro
1966	January–June		Luxemburg	Pierre Werner
	July–December		Niederlande	Jo Cals Jelle Zijlstra (from 22 November)
1967	January–June		Belgien	Paul Vanden Boeynants
	July–December		West Germany	Kurt Georg Kiesinger
1968	January–June		Frankreich	Georges Pompidou
	July–December		Italien	Giovanni Leone Mariano Rumor (from 12 December)
1969	January–June		Luxemburg	Pierre Werner
	July–December		Niederlande	Piet de Jong
1970	January–June		Belgien	Gaston Eyskens
	July–December		West Germany	Willy Brandt
1971	January–June		Frankreich	Jacques Chaban-Delmas
	July–December		Italien	Emilio Colombo
1972	January–June		Luxemburg	Pierre Werner
	July–December		Niederlande	Barend Biesheuvel
1973	January–June		Belgien	Gaston Eyskens Edmond Leburton (from 26 January)
	July–December		Dänemark	Anker Jørgensen Poul Hartling (from 19 December)
1974	January–June		West Germany	Willy Brandt Walter Scheel (7–16 May) Helmut Schmidt (from 16 May)
	July–December		Frankreich	Jacques Chirac
1975	January–June		Irland	Liam Cosgrave
	July–December		Italien	Aldo Moro
1976	January–June		Luxemburg	Gaston Thorn
	July–December		Niederlande	Joop den Uyl
1977	January–June		Vereinigtes Königreich	James Callaghan
	July–December		Belgien	Leo Tindemans
1978	January–June		Dänemark	Anker Jørgensen
	July–December		West Germany	Helmut Schmidt
1979	January–June		Frankreich	Raymond Barre
	July–December		Irland	Jack Lynch Charles Haughey (from 11 December)
1980	January–June		Italien	Francesco Cossiga
	July–December		Luxemburg	Pierre Werner
1981	January–June		Niederlande	Dries van Agt
	July–December		Vereinigtes Königreich	Margaret Thatcher
1982	January–June		Belgien	Wilfried Martens
	July–December		Dänemark	Anker Jørgensen Poul Schlüter (from 10 September)
1983	January–June		West Germany	Helmut Kohl
	July–December		Griechenland	Andreas Papandreou
1984	January–June		Frankreich	Pierre Mauroy
	July–December		Irland	Garret FitzGerald
1985	January–June		Italien	Bettino Craxi
	July–December		Luxemburg	Jacques Santer
1986	January–June		Niederlande	Ruud Lubbers
	July–December		Vereinigtes Königreich	Margaret Thatcher
1987	January–June		Belgien	Wilfried Martens
	July–December		Dänemark	Poul Schlüter
1988	January–June		West Germany	Helmut Kohl
	July–December		Griechenland	Andreas Papandreou
1989	January–June		Spanien	Felipe González
	July–December		Frankreich	Michel Rocard
1990	January–June	Irland	Charles Haughey
	July–December	Italien	Giulio Andreotti
1991	January–June	Luxemburg	Jacques Santer
	July–December	Niederlande	Ruud Lubbers
1992	January–June	Portugal	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
	July–December	Vereinigtes Königreich	John Major
1993	January–June	Dänemark	Poul Schlüter Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (from 25 January)
	July–December	Belgien	Jean-Luc Dehaene
1994	January–June	Griechenland	Andreas Papandreou
	July–December	Deutschland	Helmut Kohl
1995	January–June	Frankreich	Édouard Balladur Alain Juppé (from 17 May)
	July–December	Spanien	Felipe González
1996	January–June	Italien	Lamberto Dini Romano Prodi (from 17 May)
	July–December	Irland	John Bruton
1997	January–June	Niederlande	Wim Kok
	July–December	Luxemburg	Jean-Claude Juncker
1998	January–June	Vereinigtes Königreich	Tony Blair
	July–December	Österreich	Viktor Klima
1999	January–June	Deutschland	Gerhard Schröder
	July–December	Finnland	Paavo Lipponen
2000	January–June	Portugal	António Guterres
	July–December	Frankreich	Lionel Jospin
2001	January–June	Schweden	Göran Persson
	July–December	Belgien	Guy Verhofstadt
2002	January–June	Spanien	José María Aznar
	July–December	Dänemark	Anders Fogh Rasmussen
2003	January–June	Griechenland	Costas Simitis
	July–December	Italien	Silvio Berlusconi
2004	January–June	Irland	Bertie Ahern
	July–December	Niederlande	Jan Peter Balkenende
2005	January–June	Luxemburg	Jean-Claude Juncker
	July–December	Vereinigtes Königreich	Tony Blair
2006	January–June	Österreich	Wolfgang Schüssel
	July–December	Finnland	Matti Vanhanen
2007	January–June	T1	Deutschland	Angela Merkel
	July–December		Portugal	José Sócrates
2008	January–June		Slowenien	Janez Janša
	July–December	T2	Frankreich	François Fillon
2009	January–June		Tschechische Republik	Mirek Topolánek Jan Fischer (from 8 May)
	July–December		Schweden	Fredrik Reinfeldt
2010	January–June	T3	Spanien	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
	July–December		Belgien	Yves Leterme
2011	January–June		Ungarn	Viktor Orbán
	July–December	T4	Polen	Donald Tusk
2012	January–June		Dänemark	Helle Thorning-Schmidt
	July–December		Zypern	Demetris Christofias*
2013	January–June	T5	Irland	Enda Kenny
	July–December		Litauen	Algirdas Butkevičius
2014	January–June		Griechenland	Antonis Samaras
	July–December	T6	Italien	Matteo Renzi
2015	January–June		Lettland	Laimdota Straujuma
	July–December		Luxemburg	Xavier Bettel
2016	January–June	T7	Niederlande	Mark Rutte
	July–December		Slowakei	Robert Fico
2017	January–June		Malta	Joseph Muscat
	July–December	T8	Estland	Jüri Ratas
2018	January–June		Bulgarien	Boyko Borisov
	July–December		Österreich	Sebastian Kurz
2019	January–June	T9	Rumänien	Viorica Dăncilă
	July–December		Finnland	Antti Rinne Sanna Marin (from 10 December)
2020	January–June		Kroatien	Andrej Plenković
	July–December	T10	Deutschland	Angela Merkel
2021	January–June		Portugal	António Costa
	July–December		Slowenien	Janez Janša
2022	January–June	T11	Frankreich	Jean Castex Élisabeth Borne (from 16 May)
	July–December		Tschechische Republik	Petr Fiala
2023	January–June		Schweden	Ulf Kristersson
	July–December	T12	Spanien	Pedro Sánchez
2024	January–June		Belgien	Alexander De Croo
	July–December		Ungarn	Viktor Orbán
2025	January–June	T13	Polen	TBD
	July–December		Dänemark	TBD
2026	January–June		Zypern	TBD
	July–December	T14	Irland	TBD
2027	January–June		Litauen	TBD
	July–December		Griechenland	TBD
2028	January–June	T15	Italien	TBD
	July–December		Lettland	TBD
2029	January–June		Luxemburg	TBD
	July–December	T16	Niederlande	TBD
2030	January–June		Slowakei	TBD
	July–December		Malta	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
• NATO summit

External links

• Presidency of the Council of the European Union
• Logos of the Council Presidencies EuroEsprit.org
• European Council Decision 2009/881/EU of 1 December 2009 on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council
• Council Decision 2009/908/EU of 1 December 2009 laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council Decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council, and on the chairmanship of preparatory bodies of the Council