Czech European Presidency
I wanted my Indian readers to know what’s happening in the continent of Europe and in particular European Union itself.
Information: The 27 European members are as follows in alphabetical order:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
The ones in Blue color are the initial 15 EU members, the ones in green are the 10 next members who became the EU member states in 2004, and rest 2 in maroon in the start of 2007.
Now coming to what I wanted to write about is, from January 2009 till June 2009, Czech Republic takes over EU presidency from France and once Czech finishes its term of six months, it will handover to Sweden.
What does it means to be taking over EU presidency?
It means: Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for 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, hence that state influences the direction of European Union policy during its term. Although it rotates every six months, since 2007 the current presidency has worked with the last and next one 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.
So the Czechs have taken their chance. They will be presiding over the meetings of EU-27 which means 27 Europeans states members.
The main priorities of the Czech Presidency can be summed up as “the 3 E’s”: Economy, Energy and External Relations.
In his speech and introduction by Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolánek, he gives brief introduction about the 3 E’s.
Economy: Ambition to increase Europe’s competitiveness, to enhance consumer confidence, but also the confidence of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market economy, to deal with the financial crisis in an effective and reasonable way, to carry on liberal reforms of the budget and EU policies, particularly the Common Agriculture Policy, and, last but not least, to promote employment.
Energy: The Czech Republic regards the energy policy as a search for balance between the demands of the environment and the preservation of competitiveness and energy security in Europe.
External relations: “External Relations” means the emphasis on Euro-Atlantic relations, which the Czech Republic, together with other EU Member States, considers to be fundamental for their security and economic cooperation. A priority of the same importance for them is the openness and further enlargement of the EU. Czech Republic wants to further the integration of the Western Balkans. The Eastern partnership is another important priority.
Hoping that Czech Republic meets its goals set to itself and sets an example for coming new members.
Also hoping that this will provide basic information to my Indian readers which would further make them to know more about these policies and programmes.
Cheers.
Source: Wikipedia and http://www.eu2009.cz/en/
Information: The 27 European members are as follows in alphabetical order:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
The ones in Blue color are the initial 15 EU members, the ones in green are the 10 next members who became the EU member states in 2004, and rest 2 in maroon in the start of 2007.
Now coming to what I wanted to write about is, from January 2009 till June 2009, Czech Republic takes over EU presidency from France and once Czech finishes its term of six months, it will handover to Sweden.
What does it means to be taking over EU presidency?
It means: Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for 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, hence that state influences the direction of European Union policy during its term. Although it rotates every six months, since 2007 the current presidency has worked with the last and next one 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.
So the Czechs have taken their chance. They will be presiding over the meetings of EU-27 which means 27 Europeans states members.
The main priorities of the Czech Presidency can be summed up as “the 3 E’s”: Economy, Energy and External Relations.
In his speech and introduction by Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolánek, he gives brief introduction about the 3 E’s.
Economy: Ambition to increase Europe’s competitiveness, to enhance consumer confidence, but also the confidence of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market economy, to deal with the financial crisis in an effective and reasonable way, to carry on liberal reforms of the budget and EU policies, particularly the Common Agriculture Policy, and, last but not least, to promote employment.
Energy: The Czech Republic regards the energy policy as a search for balance between the demands of the environment and the preservation of competitiveness and energy security in Europe.
External relations: “External Relations” means the emphasis on Euro-Atlantic relations, which the Czech Republic, together with other EU Member States, considers to be fundamental for their security and economic cooperation. A priority of the same importance for them is the openness and further enlargement of the EU. Czech Republic wants to further the integration of the Western Balkans. The Eastern partnership is another important priority.
Hoping that Czech Republic meets its goals set to itself and sets an example for coming new members.
Also hoping that this will provide basic information to my Indian readers which would further make them to know more about these policies and programmes.
Cheers.
Source: Wikipedia and http://www.eu2009.cz/en/
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