Presidency of the Council of the European Union

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Presidency of the Council of the European Union is a responsibility over the functioning of the Council of the European Union which is rotated between European Union member states every six months. There is no single president but rather the task is undertaken by an entire national government, which hence allows that state to influence the direction of European Union policy for their term. Although it rotates every six months, as of 2007 every three presidencies have been co-operating on a common political programme.

Functioning

The Presidency, which is sometimes informally called the EU Presidency, has as its primary responsibility to organize and chair all meetings of the Council. However, working out compromises capable of resolving difficulties is in practice also a primary responsibility. The post as President of the Council of the European Union is for each separate meeting held by the responsible government minister of the member state holding the Presidency.

Triple presidencies

The presidency in some regards is now being executed in a shared manner in order to cope with the rather short six month term of the presidency. Three successive presidents forming a "triple-shared presidency" work together over a 1.5 year 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. However, it should be noted that the legal structure has not officially been modified; rather, it is a de-facto method of operation. This process also allows new member states to hold the presidency sooner, and at the same time the triplets are arranged so that, in each of them, there are both new and old member states, with the assumption that the old member states will pass their experience to the co-presidency new-members.

European Council

Separate from the Council of the European Union there is also the European Council, which meets at European summits at about four times per year. The task as President of the European Council, is similarly performed by the head of government or head of state of the member state holding the Presidency. The President is primarily responsible for preparing and chairing Council meetings, and has no executive powers. As of 2009, under the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Council would no longer use the Presidency system of the Council, rather it would have a full time President who would not hold any national office.

List of rotations

1958 to 2006

The Council of the European Union is presided over for a period of six months by each member state of the European Union in turn, in accordance with a pre-established rota unless the Council makes a new decision.

year half-year Presidency holder Website Responsible national minister Insignia
1958 Jan-Jun N/A Victor Larock

Jul-Dec N/A Siegfried Balke
1959 Jan-Jun N/A Maurice Couve de Murville
Jul-Dec N/A Giuseppe Pella
1960 Jan-Jun N/A Eugène Schaus
Jul-Dec N/A Joseph Luns
1961 Jan-Jun N/A Paul-Henri Spaak
Jul-Dec N/A Gerhard Schröder
1962 Jan-Jun N/A Maurice Couve de Murville
Jul-Dec N/A Emilio Colombo
1963 Jan-Jun N/A Eugène Schaus
Jul-Dec N/A Joseph Luns
1964 Jan-Jun N/A Hendrik Fayat
Jul-Dec N/A Gerhard Schröder
1965 Jan-Jun N/A Maurice Couve de Murville
Jul-Dec N/A Amintore Fanfani
1966 Jan-Jun N/A Pierre Werner
Jul-Dec N/A Barend Biesheuvel
1967 Jan-Jun N/A Renaat Van Elslande
Jul-Dec N/A Willy Brandt
1968 Jan-Jun N/A Maurice Couve de Murville
Jul-Dec N/A Giuseppe Medici
1969 Jan-Jun N/A Pierre Grégoire
Jul-Dec N/A Joseph Luns
1970 Jan-Jun N/A Pierre Harmel
Jul-Dec N/A Walter Scheel
1971 Jan-Jun N/A Maurice Schumann
Jul-Dec N/A Aldo Moro
1972 Jan-Jun N/A Gaston Thorn
Jul-Dec N/A Norbert Schmelzer
1973 Jan-Jun N/A Pierre Harmel
Jul-Dec N/A Ivar Nørgaard
1974 Jan-Jun N/A Walter Scheel
Jul-Dec N/A Jean Sauvagnargues
1975 Jan-Jun N/A Garret FitzGerald
Jul-Dec N/A Mariano Rumor
1976 Jan-Jun N/A Gaston Thorn
Jul-Dec N/A Max van der Stoel
1977 Jan-Jun N/A Anthony Crosland, then David Owen
Jul-Dec N/A Henri Simonet
1978 Jan-Jun N/A Knud Børge Andersen
Jul-Dec N/A Hans-Dietrich Genscher
1979 Jan-Jun N/A Jean François-Poncet
Jul-Dec N/A Michael O'Kennedy
1980 Jan-Jun N/A Attilio Ruffini
Jul-Dec N/A Colette Flesch
1981 Jan-Jun N/A Chris van der Klaauw
Jul-Dec N/A Peter Carrington
1982 Jan-Jun N/A Leo Tindemans
Jul-Dec N/A Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
1983 Jan-Jun N/A Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Jul-Dec N/A Grigoris Varfis
1984 Jan-Jun N/A Roland Dumas
Jul-Dec N/A Peter Barry
1985 Jan-Jun N/A Giulio Andreotti
Jul-Dec N/A Jacques Poos
1986 Jan-Jun N/A Hans van den Broek
Jul-Dec N/A Geoffrey Howe
1987 Jan-Jun N/A Leo Tindemans
Jul-Dec N/A Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
1988 Jan-Jun N/A Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Jul-Dec N/A Theodoros Pangalos
1989 Jan-Jun N/A Francisco Fernández Ordóñez
Jul-Dec N/A Roland Dumas
1990 Jan-Jun N/A Gerard Collins
Jul-Dec N/A Gianni De Michelis
1991 Jan-Jun N/A Jacques Poos
Jul-Dec N/A Hans van den Broek
1992 Jan-Jun N/A João de Deus Pinheiro
Jul-Dec N/A Douglas Hurd
1993 Jan-Jun N/A Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
Jul-Dec N/A Willy Claes
1994 Jan-Jun N/A Karolos Papoulias
Jul-Dec N/A Klaus Kinkel
1995 Jan-Jun N/A Alain Juppé
Jul-Dec N/A Javier Solana
1996 Jan-Jun ? Lamberto Dini
Jul-Dec ? Dick Spring
1997 Jan-Jun ? Hans van Mierlo
Jul-Dec ? Jacques Poos
1998 Jan-Jun ? Robin Cook
Jul-Dec ? Wolfgang Schüssel
1999 Jan-Jun ? Joschka Fischer
Jul-Dec presidency.finland.fi Tarja Halonen
2000 Jan-Jun ? Jaime Gama
Jul-Dec ? Hubert Védrine
2001 Jan-Jun eu2001.se Anna Lindh
Jul-Dec eu2001.be Louis Michel
2002 Jan-Jun ue2002.es Josep Piqué i Camps
Jul-Dec eu2002.dk Per Stig Møller
2003 Jan-Jun eu2003.gr George Papandreou
Jul-Dec eu2003.it Franco Frattini
2004 Jan-Jun eu2004.ie Bertie Ahern
Jul-Dec eu2004.nl Bernard Bot
2005 Jan-Jun eu2005.lu Jean Asselborn
Jul-Dec eu2005.gov.uk Jack Straw
Douglas Alexander
2006 Jan-Jun eu2006.at Ursula Plassnik
Jul-Dec 1 eu2006.fi Matti Vanhanen
1 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 their place. In the event, the German elections took place in 2005 due to a loss of confidence vote, but the re-arrangement remains.

2007 onwards

Tri-
plet
Year Half-year Presidency holder Website Minister responsible Priorities Insignias
T1 2007 Jan-Jun eu2007.de Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Jul-Dec eu2007.pt Luís Amado
2008 Jan-Jun eu2008.si Dimitrij Rupel
T2 Jul-Dec TBD TBD

2009 Jan-Jun eu2009.cz TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
T3 2010 TBD TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
2011 Jan-Jun eu2011.hu TBD
T4 Jul-Dec TBD TBD TBD
2012 Jan-Jun TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
T5 2013 Jan-Jun eu2013.ie TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
2014 Jan-Jun TBD TBD
T6 Jul-Dec TBD TBD TBD
2015 Jan-Jun TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
T7 2016 Jan-Jun TBD TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
2017 Jan-Jun TBD TBD
T8 Jul-Dec TBD TBD TBD
2018 Jan-Jun TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
T9 2019 Jan-Jun TBD TBD TBD
Jul-Dec TBD TBD
2020 Jan-Jun TBD TBD

See also

References

External links



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