Danish EU Presidency to commence on 1 January 2012
You may remember the words “Ladies and Gentlemen – we have an Agreement”. With these words Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen concluded the Danish EU Presidency at the summit in 2002.Last time Denmark was in charge of the EU Presidency, it concluded with a historic agreement which meant that a total of 10 new countries were to become members of the EU. The background to this agreement was that a number of Eastern and Central European countries had applied for membership of the EU after the fall of the Wall in 1989. As Denmark held the EU Presidency in the second half of 2002, it was Danish government ministers and officials who then, after several years’ negotiations, were responsible for chairing the accession negotiations on behalf of the entire EU.
On 1 January 2012, Denmark will again assume the EU Presidency. It means by and large that the Danish Government is to chair and plan the work in the Council among 27 EU Member States’ governments – ministers and officials. The Council is the institution in the EU where EU Member States’ governments meet to negotiate and discuss EU policies.
What does an EU Presidency mean?
The Member State holding the EU Presidency faces a huge and demanding task. In essence, the main task of the Member State holding the Presidency is to set the agenda in the EU and act as the driving force in the processing of EU matters. It means that the Presidency is to plan and chair the meetings of EU Member States’ ministers, etc. in the Council and all the working teams with officials connected with the Council.
Every Member State holding the Presidency has the opportunity to give priority to some matters and areas which it wishes to focus on in particular during the length of its Presidency. However, a great many matters are taken over from previous Presidencies. In addition, unexpected matters may arise which the EU needs to address.
To ensure coherence in the EU work, Member States are, furthermore, to coordinate and work closely together on the Presidency in groups of three. These “group Presidencies” are known as Trio Presidencies. They cover three Member States’ Presidencies, i.e. 18 months. Denmark is part of a Trio together with Poland and Cyprus. Poland holds the Presidency in the second half of 2011, and Cyprus will hold the Presidency after Denmark in the second half of 2012.
The Presidency is also to work out compromises among the Member States and, following negotiations, to summarise and conclude. This applies both to the meetings of Member States’ ministers and to the meetings of officials in the Council’s working teams. When EU legislation is negotiated, it is the Member State holding the Presidency which, in cooperation with the Council Secretariat and the Commission, will draft compromise texts that may command the support of the necessary majority.
It is also an important task for the Member State holding the Presidency that it represents the Council as an institution in several contexts. This is for example the case during work on the general legislative procedure when the Council meets with the European Parliament in negotiations. The Presidency is to handle contacts with the European Parliament and initiate both formal and informal negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament
Therefore, the Danish EU Presidency will prove a huge task for Danish government ministers and all government department officials who are involved in EU matters.
A different Presidency
Since 2002 when Denmark held the EU Presidency last time, a great many things have changed. In 2002, a total of 15 countries were members of the EU – today there are 27. The mere fact that there are so many new Member States now means that the work of the Presidency is very different. Furthermore, in 2009 new ground rules were introduced for the EU cooperation in the form of a new treaty – the Treaty of Lisbon.
The Lisbon Treaty changed the Presidency in important areas. Member States no longer take turns to chair the part of the cooperation that involves the EU foreign policy. Instead, a special position has been created as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy that chairs the Foreign Affairs Council. Today, the position is held by former British Commissioner Catherine Ashton. However, EU Member States still take it in turns to chair the other configurations of the Council for six months at a time.
Furthermore, the European Council where EU Heads of State or Government convene has got a permanent President who is appointed for two and a half years at a time. It means that the Member State holding the Presidency is no longer to chair the EU Summits of Heads of State or Government. The term of the first permanent President of the European Council expires in 2012. Therefore, it will be the responsibility of the Danish Presidency to chair negotiations among the EU Member States on either to reappoint Belgian Herman van Rompuy or find another candidate for the position.
Nor does the rotating Presidency apply to the Eurogroup where Member States using the euro convene. EU Member States participating in the Eurogroup choose a permanent President among their finance ministers to chair their meetings.
What is going to happen during the Danish EU Presidency?
Basically, hosting the Presidency means that the Danish Government will have the opportunity to prioritise some matters and policy areas that will be in special focus during the six months Denmark holds the Presidency.
However, it does not mean that the Danish Government is at complete liberty to decide the agenda. A great many matters are already being handled in the Council and still need to be handled or negotiated with the European Parliament. The decision on what matters to put on the agenda also depends on when the Commission actually presents new proposals from the Commission’s annual legislative programme. Furthermore, altogether new and unexpected matters may arise – e.g. new developments regarding the economic crisis or outbreaks of a particularly contagious epidemic such as avian influenza.
- Restoring growth in the EU and ensuring a sustainable economy
- Climate, energy, the environment and food
- Justice policy, integration policy and immigrants
- The EU in the world
- Negotiations about the EU budget
Compared with the Danish Presidency in 2002, the 2012 Presidency will be very different. In 2002, the overarching goal was to complete the negotiations on the enlargement of the EU. In 2012, the Danish EU Presidency will deal with a great many big and important matters that may not be so immediately easy to address as the issue of the major enlargement of the EU in 2002.
These are e.g. the big and important issues of a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU and the establishment of a new economic framework for the EU in the period 2014-2020. Also, several matters to be chaired by the Danish Presidency will not be completed until later during the Presidencies of other Member States.What will the Danish EU opt-outs mean to the EU Presidency?
As a result of the Danish “No” in the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, Denmark has the following EU opt-outs, which imply that-
Denmark does not introduce the euro as legal tender instead of the krone
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Denmark does not participate in the EU common defence policy
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Denmark does not participate in the EU justice and home affairs cooperation, i.e. the asylum and immigration policy, civil law and police and criminal law cooperation when rules are drawn up that are directly binding on the citizens of EU Member States (supranational cooperation)
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Union citizenship does not replace national citizenship
It is possible for Denmark to take charge of the Presidency in EU matters regarding economic and financial issues when the Council convenes in the configuration known as the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) even though Denmark has a euro opt-out. However, the euro opt-out means that Denmark does not participate in the so-called Eurogroup where the 17 Member States that have adopted the euro are present. As a rule, the Eurogroup convenes the day before the meetings of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, which means that the most important agenda items of these meetings have been dealt with by the Eurogroup prior to the meeting of the Council.
In 2002, the defence opt-out meant that Denmark could not perform the part of the Presidency in the area of defence cooperation. Much of the defence cooperation has now been transferred to the permanent Presidency under the new European External Action Service (EEAS). Regarding the parts of the defence cooperation that do not yet belong under the permanent Presidency, Denmark will, however, once again need to ask another Member State to assume the task of the Presidency.
The justice and home affairs opt-out is not expected to immediately affect the Danish Presidency even if the area covered by the Danish justice and home affairs opt-out has become larger following the Treaty of Lisbon. It will be possible for the Danish Government to perform the part of the Presidency also when the Council convenes in the configuration known as Justice and Home Affairs in spite of the fact that Denmark will not be subject to a number of the rules and regulations to be negotiated.
The Danish Parliament (the Folketing) and the EU Presidency
First and foremost, the EU Presidency is the responsibility of the Danish Government, but the Danish Parliament also plays a role in terms of supporting and developing cooperation among the national parliaments of European countries. The Danish Parliament will therefore host a great number of meetings and conferences where members of European countries’ parliaments are present to discuss current political matters on the agenda of the EU.
One of the important meetings of the European Affairs Committees of national parliaments and members of the European Parliament is the so-called COSAC meeting. The objective of this meeting is for EU Member States’ politicians representing national parliaments and members of the European Parliament to meet and exchange information about and experience of EU work.
The topics of the meeting may be current EU matters and more principled overall subjects such as the role of the national parliaments in the EU, transparency in the EU, etc. Expectations are that one of the overarching themes for the meeting of the Danish Parliament will be the reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
A number of the committees of the Danish Parliament (e.g. the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Committee; the Trade and Industry Committee; the Finance Committee; etc.) will hold meetings during the Presidency with their sister committees from the other EU Member States’ national parliaments. In addition, the Danish Parliament will receive a great number of visitors from EU Member States.
For more information about the parliamentary dimension of the Danish EU Presidency, please see this website.
For more information about the Danish EU Presidency, please see the Danish Government’s official website for the Presidency at http://eu2012.dk/en.