Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic


PROGRAMME & PRIORITIES

In order to ensure a high level of coherence and continuity of the Council´s work, the Lisbon Treaty institutionalised the Trio Council Presidency system. This means that the Council Presidency runs in a group of three consecutive presidencies carrying out its common 18-month political programme.

Unlike previous Presidencies, the outline of our Trio Presidency programme, which we share with the Netherlands and Malta, will be drawn up by the General Secretariat of the Council. Once the draft of the programme is prepared, the Trio countries will comment on it, whereas its final version has to be adopted by the General Affairs Council of the EU in December 2015. Based on the Trio´s programme, Slovakia will also formulate its own 6-month Presidency programme. In spite of great emphasis put on its formulation, the Presidency country in fact only has a limited chance to promote its own national interests, because the Programme generally takes the following format:

Last update 20/03/2015

 

From 1 July 2016 Slovakia holds the Presidency of one of the three main EU institutions, the Council of the EU, representing the 28 Member States of the EU.
For the European Union this is the 116th rotating presidency; for the Slovak Republic it is a historic first and a unique chance to contribute to its operation more than at any previous point and to take greater responsibility for its direction. At the same time it is a unique opportunity, which can contribute to the success story of Slovakia as an EU member country.
The essential substantive framework of the Slovak Presidency is based on the five priorities of the Strategic Agenda for the Union in Times of Change, which was adopted by the heads of state or government of the EU Member States at the European Council of June 2014. The strategic programme emphasises long-term and still current priorities to create new opportunities for EU citizens:

  1. A Union of jobs, growth and competitiveness
  2. A Union that empowers and protects all citizens
  3. An Energy Union with a forward-looking climate policy
  4. A Union of freedom, security and justice
  5. The Union as a strong global actor

The Slovak Presidency's programme is a programme of priorities for the whole Union, which we will promote during our Presidency of the Council of the EU.

 

As regards the lines of the trio Presidency programme and in the framework of environment policy and support for sustainable development, the Slovak Presidency will focus on the following priorities:
1. CLIMATE CHANGE



2. CIRCULAR ECONOMY


3. BIODIVERSITY AND NATURE CONSERVATION

 

4. WATER


In addition to these priorities the Slovak Presidency will focus on the following themes: