On 1 July 2021, Slovenia takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the 2^nd time. The Presidency rotates every 6 months and will be held by Slovenia in the second half of 2021. To ensure coherency, three Presidencies are grouped together – Slovenia shares the Trio-Presidency with Germany (2nd half 2020) and Portugal (1st half 2021). The country will also focus on coordinating the next trio of presiding countries – France, Czechia and Sweden. Slovenia is interested in ensuring that the presiding countries will have common and feasible goals and priorities.

On a policy level, four main themes will guide the Slovenian presidency:

• The resilience, recovery and strategic autonomy of the European Union
• The Conference on the Future of Europe
• A union of the European way of life, the rule of law and equal criteria for all
• A credible and secure European Union, capable of ensuring security and stability in its neighbourhood

More precisely, the Slovenian presidency will focus on a green and digital transformation that will be combined with further efforts to strengthen the EU’s resilience to different kinds of crises, which include pandemics, cyber-attacks, migration and economic crises. Regarding cyber-threats it is has been deemed essential for Europe to build its own defence capabilities to be able to respond to cyberattacks. Hence, the EU will become more resilient and able to achieve strategic autonomy.

Besides, and as part of the strategic autonomy, the Slovenian presidency will focus on building a European Health Union and supporting the establishment of a Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). The continuation of the enlargement process for the Western Balkan countries will also be a key priority for the presidency. Furthermore, a stronger and more robust Schengen area should be established, and Slovenia will also put efforts into making progress in the negotiations on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and thus to strengthen EU’s role in the external dimension of migration.

The presidency also coincidence with the Conference on the Future of Europe, and an open space for discussion for all people is one of the objectives that the country has for the Conference. On fundamental rights, like freedom of speech, Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Janša has pointed out that the country will propose the establishment of a European Institute for Constitutional Law.

Overall, under the motto “Together. Resilient. Europe.”, Slovenia hopes to contribute to a resilient, digital and green Europe.

The official website of the Slovenian Presidency is available here