EU BYTES Leonid Andronov/Adobe Stock
aspects of EU legal competencies, but at the end of the day most, if not all law has to get the thumbs-up from the Council. This is the collection of 27 EU Member State governments, each which went through the national election process which you were most probably allowed to vote in if you are an EU citizen. (Yes, I am looking at you dear pro-Brexiteer.) So, what is the difference between the
European Council and the Council of the EU (CoEU). Well, the European Council is all the highest-level politicians – Angela Merkel, Macron, etc. and it has its own President. The Council of the EU is nearly everything Ministerial and below. So, the Defence Ministers, Trade Ministers, Agriculture Ministers, the Ambassadors to the EU, and so on.
Each six months the Presidency of the
CoEU rotates to another Member State marked by the first of January and first of July of each year. The last Presidency was the German one and now the Portuguese are at the helm. The Presidency itself is responsible for inter alia setting the agenda of the CoEU meetings, functioning as a broker and managing the administration of the body, both internally and externally. But, not all is gold when it comes to the responsibilities. There are many costs, which some countries take onboard when organising all high-level events in their home country as they see it as an excellent opportunity to profile themselves, also for tourism. There are also a lot of burdens for smaller countries when it comes to running the big machine and so policy results can stagnate over the six months. This was one of the reasons the Presidencies started functioning in “trios”, meaning that three consecutive Presidencies would be able to coordinate their work. Currently, it is Germany, Portugal and Slovenia.
So, what’s on the agenda now?
In the last EU Bytes edition, I spoke about the Commission’s work programme for 2021. And, no surprise, there are a lot of common points between the two institutions such as climate change and digital transitions. I guess the Commission and Council must have talked before. Jokes aside, this coordination is highly important even though it might seem obvious for some. Nobody wants resources to be wasted and if anything within current global dynamics a common message and stance is highly significant. Portugal, as an overarching theme has decided on strengthening “Europe’s resilience and its citizens’ confidence in the European social model, promoting a Union based on shared values of solidarity, convergence and cohesion – a Union capable of coordinated action to recover from the crisis”. Sounds highly suitable; and this will be pursued along five lines of action:
(1) Promoting Europe’s recovery, cohesion and values. Interesting here for certain businesses and any EU citizen is the aim to reduce the “EU’s external dependency concerning goods and critical technologies, investing in innovation and improving food security”. Furthermore, and as a separate point, a lot of attention will be paid to “the economic sectors worst hit by the crisis, especially tourism and the creative industries.”
(2) Promoting the EU as a climate action leader. (3) Accelerating digital transformation in the service of citizens and enterprises. There is an ambition to create a European digital identity. This, for some reason, always makes me think of personalised player identity cards.
(4) Promoting and strengthening the European Social Model. Here they include the question of minimum wages, something pushed strongly by the European Commission.
(5) Promoting Europe’s openness to the world. Exciting times ahead. Greetings from Brussels.
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