The Danish EU presidency 2012

In the first half of 2012, Denmark held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It was the seventh time Denmark held the EU Presidency since joining the European Community in 1973.

The Presidency rotates between all EU member states and in the first six months of 2012, Denmark organized and led the work of the Council of Ministers. This was the first Danish presidency since the Lisbon Treaty, that changed the institutional landscape in the EU, has come into force.

Firstly, the Treaty has established new institutional actors, namely the permanent President of the European Council (Herman Van Rompuy from Belgium) and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (Catherine Ashton from the UK). While Van Rompuy leads the work in the European Council and Ashton organizes the work of EU foreign policy in the Foreign Affairs Council, Denmark was in charge of all other policy areas and worked closely with Van Rompuy and Ashton.

Secondly, Denmark was a part of the so-called trio presidency where three presidencies work together to ensure a higher degree of coordination and consistency. Denmark joined a trio with Poland (who had the Presidency before Denmark) and Cyprus (who currently has the Presidency). The three member states agreed on a common trio program for the 18 month period from 1st of July 2011 to 31st of December 2012. The trio program does not replace the national programs. Each Presidency still set its own priorities for the six months it holds the presidency. Hence the trio-program should rather be seen as an overarching common framework for work of the three Presidencies.

Thirdly, the Lisbon Treaty has given the European Parliament a more influential role as co-legislator on almost all new legislation. This means that cooperation with the Parliament and other institutions was an important task during the Danish Presidency in 2012.