18 month programme of the Council of the European Union

02.12.2014. 19:09

Every country which presides over the Council of the EU forms a six-month work programme. The programme is formed in accordance with the various everyday meetings which occur in the Council of the EU, such as Ministry councils, Permanent representative committee meetings, and working groups. In order to achieve a successful presidency, the Lisbon Treaty anticipates that a trio presidency work programme is formed by three successive presidencies parallel to the six-month presidency work plan. In accordance with the Council Decision from the 1st of January 2007 which determined the sequence and put into practice which member states will fulfil the Council Presidency functions, Latvia’s trio presidency partners will be Italy and Luxembourg.

18 month programme of the Council of the European Union (1 July 2014 - 31 December 2015)

  1. The development of the presidency work programme is a multi-step process and many elements interact to form the programme:
  2. Current events in Europe and the world
  3. The European Commission’s long-term plan (legislation, political incentive reassessment, and new incentives)
  4. International organizations’ work programmes
  5. EU member states’ and EU institutions’ interests
  6. Legislation from previous presidencies, unresolved work agenda questions
  7. Presidency priorities

In order to prepare the presidency work programme, the Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU organizes the work in several stages:

  1. Clarification of Latvian interests and priorities:
  • Public debates
  • A collection of information from the line ministries and other state institutions
  • Discussions with the trio presidency countries
  • Consultations with EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, European External Action Service) and EU member states
  • Work Programme development and approval in accordance to the Action Plan of the Latvian Presidency Preparations