The Second Czech Presidency, Europe as a task
The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union (CZ PRES) was marked by this slogan of Václav Havel, when the Czechs, for the second time in history, chaired the meetings of the 27 Member States of the Council of the EU from 1 July to 31 December 2022. The priorities of the Czech Presidency were determined not only by the programme of the Presidency trio, which the Czech Republic formed together with France and Sweden, but also by the tense geopolitical situation, to which it was necessary to respond adequately and quickly. The main programme pillars were thus the reconstruction of Ukraine and the management of the refugee crisis, energy security, the strengthening of European defence capabilities, including cyber space, the strategic resilience of the European economy and the resilience of democratic institutions.
Among the most significant achievements of the Czech Presidency are the approval of three sanctions packages against the Russian Federation, the suspension of the visa facilitation agreement with Russia, the approval of financial support for Ukraine, the accession of Croatia to Schengen and the approval of all climate parts of the Fit for 55 packages. However, we should not forget the whole series of measures in the energy sector, which were aimed at preparing the EU for a winter without Russian gas and at the same time responding quickly and, as it turned out, successfully to extreme energy prices. In order to reach agreement on these points, Czech diplomats in Brussels and government representatives had almost 1,500 working group meetings and less than 50 formal meetings of the Council of the European Union at their disposal.
The Czech Presidency did not take place only in Brussels, Luxembourg or Strasbourg. The Czech Republic hosted 14 informal EU Councils and around 300 other working-level events. The highlight of the Czech Presidency was the meeting of European leaders at Prague Castle, which also included the first ever meeting of the European Political Community (EPC). This meeting gathered 44 European leaders, who had the opportunity to informally discuss current European problems and future cooperation in strategic areas.
Are you interested in the concrete results of the political and diplomatic negotiations of CZ PRES 2022 or would you like to see, for example, what it looked like at Prague Castle during the summit? Everything you need can be found at the links below and on the website of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Czech Presidency Results (europa.eu)
Prague Summit in figures (europa.eu)