On 1 July, Sweden took over the Presidency of the EU. "Managing the financial crisis and unemployment and addressing climate change - these will be the two main priorities of the Swedish Presidency," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at a seminar recently in Brussels. The particular circumstances that will characterise the Swedish Presidency include the election of a new European Parliament, a new Commission taking office during the Presidency and uncertainty surrounding the Treaty of Lisbon. Combating climate change, establishing an international climate agreement during the Swedish Presidency and working to tackle the financial crisis.
The previous Czech Presidency from the first half of 2009 collaborated with the French and the current Swedish presidencies for an 18-month "Trio Presidency Programme" to better guarantee the delivery of real results. This collaboration, they say, was designed to ensured that "the priorities of the Czech presidency [were] not only national priorities, but the priorities of the entire European Union." Their motto was "Europe without Barriers," reflecting the four basic freedoms: the free movement of goods, capital, workers, and services. And as their logo is meant to symbolise, there was an additional a symbolic fifth freedom: free movement of information and knowledge.
Spain will take the Presidency on 1 January 2010. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said that a priority when Spain takes over the EU presidency next year will be to give the bloc a more effective economic administration."If the European Union wants to be effective, it must have an economic government that has more power and tools. That is a priority of the Spanish European presidency" in the first half of 2010, he told a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy following a bilateral summit.
Presidency order of rotation
The rota of countries holding the EU Presidency until 2020 is as follows:
Year First half of the year Second half of the year
2009 Czech Republic Sweden
2010 Spain Belgium
2011 Hungary Poland
2012 Denmark Cyprus
2013 Ireland Lithuania
2014 Greece Italy
2015 Latvia Luxembourg
2016 The Netherlands Slovakia
2017 Malta United Kingdom
2018 Estonia Bulgaria
2019 Austria Romania
2020 Finland
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