The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member states of the EU every six months. The presidency is not an individual, but rather the position is held by a national government. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the "president of the European Union". The presidency's function is to chair meetings of the council, determine its agendas, set a work program and facilitate dialogue both at Council meetings and with other EU institutions. The presidency is currently, as of July 2026, held by Ireland.
Three successive presidencies are known as presidency trios. The current trio is made up of Ireland (July–December 2026), Lithuania (January–June 2027), and Greece (July–December 2027). The 2020 German presidency began the second cycle of presidencies, after the system was introduced in 2007.
History When the Council was established, its work was minimal and the presidency rotated between each of the then six members every six months. However, as the work load of the Council grew and the membership increased, the lack of coordination between each successive six-month presidency hindered the development of long-term priorities for the EU.
In order to rectify the lack of coordination, the idea of trio presidencies was put forward where groups of three successive presidencies cooperated on a common political program. This was implemented in 2007 and formally laid down in the EU treaties in 2009 by the Treaty of Lisbon.
Until 2009, the Presidency had assumed political responsibility in all areas of European integration and it played a vital role in brokering high-level political decisions.
The Treaty of Lisbon reduced the importance of the Presidency significantly by officially separating the European Council from the Council of the European Union. Simultaneously it split the foreign affairs Council configuration from the General Affairs configuration and created the position of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
After the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union in 2016 and its subsequent relinquishment of its scheduled presidency in the Council of the European Union which was due to take place from July to December 2017, the rotation of presidencies was brought six months forward. Estonia was scheduled to take over the UK's six-month slot instead. The presidency is currently (as of July 2026) held by Ireland.
Functioning
The Council meets in various formations where its composition depends on the topic discussed. For example, the Agriculture Council is composed of the national ministers responsible for Agriculture.
The primary responsibility of the Presidency is to organise and chair all meetings of the council, apart from the Foreign Affairs Council which is chaired by the High Representative. So, for instance, the Minister of Agriculture for the state holding the presidency chairs the Agriculture council. This role includes working out compromises capable of resolving difficulties.
Article 16(9) of the Treaty on European Union provides:
Each three successive presidencies cooperate on a "triple-shared presidency" work together over an 18-month period to accomplish a common agenda by the current president simply continuing the work of the previous "lead-president" after the end of his/her term. This ensures more consistency in comparison to a usual single six-month presidency and each three includes a new member state. This allows new member states to hold the presidency sooner and helps old member states pass their experience to the new members.
The role of the rotating Council Presidency includes: agenda-setting powers: in its 6-month programme, it decides on the order to discuss propositions, after they have been submitted by the Commission in its agenda monopoly powers brokering inter-institutional compromise: Formal Trilogue meetings between Commission, Parliament and Council are held to reach early consensus in the codecision legislative procedure; the Presidency takes part to the Conciliation Committee between Parliament and Council in the third stage of the codecision legislative procedure coordinating national policies and brokering compromise between member states in the council ("confessional system") management and administration of the council, external and internal representation
Holding the rotating Council Presidency includes both advantages and disadvantages for member states; The opportunities include: member states have the possibility to show their negotiating skills, as "honest brokers", thus gaining influence and prestige member states gain a privileged access to information: at the end of their term, they know member states' preferences better than anyone else the Council programme may enable member states to focus Council discussion on issues of particular national/regional interest (for example Finland and the Northern Dimension initiative)
The burdens include: lack of administrative capacities and experience, especially for small and new member states; the concept of trio/troika has been introduced to enable member states to share experiences and ensure coherence on an 18-months base expenses in time and money, needed to support the administrative machine not being able to push through their own interests, as the role of Council Presidency is seen as an impartial instance; member states trying to push for initiatives of their own national interest are likely to see them failing in the medium run (for example the French 2008 Presidency and the Union for the Mediterranean project), as they need consensus and do not have enough time to reach it. This element is particularly substantial: holding the presidency may be, on balance, a disadvantage for member states
List of rotations
Period Trio Holder Head of government Asterisk: Head of government is also head of state. This is the case for Cyprus and was the case for France until October 1958. 1958 January–June Achille Van AckerGaston Eyskens (from 26 June) July–December Konrad Adenauer 1959 January–June Charles de Gaulle* Michel Debré (from 8 January) July–December Antonio Segni 1960 January–June Pierre Werner July–December Jan de Quay 1961 January–June Gaston Eyskens Théo Lefèvre (from 25 April) July–December Konrad Adenauer 1962 January–June Michel DebréGeorges Pompidou (from 14 April) July–December Amintore Fanfani 1963 January–June Pierre Werner July–December Jan de QuayVictor Marijnen (from 24 July) 1964 January–June Théo Lefèvre July–December Ludwig Erhard 1965 January–June Georges Pompidou July–December Aldo Moro 1966 January–June Pierre Werner July–December Jo CalsJelle Zijlstra (from 22 November) 1967 January–June Paul Vanden Boeynants July–December Kurt Georg Kiesinger 1968 January–June Georges Pompidou July–December Giovanni LeoneMariano Rumor (from 12 December) 1969 January–June Pierre Werner July–December Piet de Jong 1970 January–June Gaston Eyskens July–December Willy Brandt 1971 January–June Jacques Chaban-Delmas July–December Emilio Colombo 1972 January–June Pierre Werner July–December Barend Biesheuvel 1973 January–June Gaston EyskensEdmond Leburton (from 26 January) July–December Anker JørgensenPoul Hartling (from 19 December) 1974 January–June Willy BrandtWalter Scheel (7–16 May)Helmut Schmidt (from 16 May) July–December Jacques Chirac 1975 January–June Liam Cosgrave July–December Aldo Moro 1976 January–June Gaston Thorn July–December Joop den Uyl 1977 January–June James Callaghan July–December Leo Tindemans 1978 January–June Anker Jørgensen July–December Helmut Schmidt 1979 January–June Raymond Barre July–December Jack LynchCharles Haughey(from 11 December) 1980 January–June Francesco Cossiga July–December Pierre Werner 1981 January–June Dries van Agt July–December Margaret Thatcher 1982 January–June Wilfried Martens July–December Anker JørgensenPoul Schlüter (from 10 September) 1983 January–June Helmut Kohl July–December Andreas Papandreou 1984 January–June Pierre Mauroy July–December Garret FitzGerald 1985 January–June Bettino Craxi July–December Jacques Santer 1986 January–June Ruud Lubbers July–December Margaret Thatcher 1987 January–June Wilfried Martens July–December Poul Schlüter 1988 January–June Helmut Kohl July–December Andreas Papandreou 1989 January–June Felipe González July–December Michel Rocard 1990 January–June Charles Haughey July–December Giulio Andreotti 1991 January–June Jacques Santer July–December Ruud Lubbers 1992 January–June Aníbal Cavaco Silva July–December John Major 1993 January–June Poul Schlüter Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (from 25 January) July–December Jean-Luc Dehaene 1994 January–June Andreas Papandreou July–December Helmut Kohl 1995 January–June Édouard Balladur Alain Juppé (from 17 May) July–December Felipe González 1996 January–June Lamberto DiniRomano Prodi (from 17 May) July–December John Bruton 1997 January–June Wim Kok July–December Jean-Claude Juncker 1998 January–June Tony Blair July–December Viktor Klima 1999 January–June Gerhard Schröder July–December Paavo Lipponen 2000 January–June António Guterres July–December Lionel Jospin 2001 January–June Göran Persson July–December Guy Verhofstadt 2002 January–June José María Aznar July–December Anders Fogh Rasmussen 2003 January–June Costas Simitis July–December Silvio Berlusconi 2004 January–June Bertie Ahern July–December Jan Peter Balkenende 2005 January–June Jean-Claude Juncker July–December Tony Blair 2006 January–June Wolfgang Schüssel July–December Germany was due to succeed Austria in 2006 but stepped aside as general elections were scheduled for that period. Finland, as next in line, took Germany's place. Eventually the German elections took place in 2005 due to a loss of confidence vote, but the re-arrangement remained. Matti Vanhanen 2007 January–June T1 Angela Merkel July–December José Sócrates 2008 January–June Janez Janša July–December T2 François Fillon 2009 January–June Mirek TopolánekJan Fischer (from 8 May) July–December Fredrik Reinfeldt 2010 T3 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero July–December Yves Leterme 2011 January–June Viktor Orbán July–December T4 Donald Tusk 2012 January–June Helle Thorning-Schmidt July–December Demetris Christofias* 2013 January–June T5 Enda Kenny July–December Algirdas Butkevičius 2014 January–June Antonis Samaras July–December T6 Matteo Renzi 2015 January–June Laimdota Straujuma July–December Xavier Bettel 2016 January–June T7 Mark Rutte July–December Robert Fico 2017 January–June Joseph Muscat July–DecemberT8 Jüri Ratas2018 January–June Boyko Borisov July–December Sebastian Kurz 2019 January–June T9 Viorica DăncilăJuly–December Antti RinneSanna Marin (from 10 December) 2020 January–June Andrej Plenković July–December T10 Angela Merkel 2021 January–June António CostaJuly–December Janez Janša 2022 January–June T11 Jean CastexÉlisabeth Borne (from 16 May) July–December Petr Fiala 2023 January–June Ulf Kristersson July–December T12 Pedro Sánchez 2024 January–June Alexander De Croo July–December Viktor Orbán 2025 January–June T13 Donald Tusk July–December Mette Frederiksen 2026 January–June Nikos Christodoulides* July–December T14 Micheál Martin 2027 January–June TBD July–December TBD 2028 January–June T15 TBD July–December TBD 2029 January–June TBD July–December T16 TBD 2030 January–June TBD July–December TBD
See also List of presidents of the institutions of the European Union President of the European Parliament President of the European Council President of the European Commission President of the European Union Council of the European Union NATO summit
Notes
References
External links Presidency of the Council of the European Union Logos of the Council Presidencies EuroEsprit.org European Council Decision 2009/881/EU of 1 December 2009 on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council