Programme and priorities
In order to ensure the smooth work of the Council of the EU, the three Member States making up the trio presidency set long-term goals and draft a joint programme determining the topics and major issues that will be addressed by the Council over an 18-month period. On the basis of this programme, each of the three Member States also drafts its own, more detailed, six-month programme.
The 18-month programme of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia was presented and adopted at a meeting of the General Affairs Council in June 2020. The trio’s key tasks included addressing the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic, restoring the normal functioning of European societies and the recovery of economies. Measures were envisaged to foster sustainable and inclusive growth, taking into account the green transition and digital transformation. One of the tasks was to improve Europe’s resilience to crises and to devise contingency plans in cases of emergencies such as pandemics, global cyber attacks and migration pressure. Among the foreign policy priorities was pursuit of an ambitious neighbourhood policy towards the East and the South, reaffirming the EU-perspective of the Western Balkans.
The six-month programme was divided into two parts. The first part covered the presidency priorities. The second part, which was considerably more extensive, largely followed the "inherited" agenda. This concerned the acts that were already on the agenda of the Council of the EU or were to be submitted for consideration by the European Commission as part of its work programme during the presidency. Upon assuming office, the Member State holding the presidency presents the programme to the European Parliament and the general public, which Slovenia did.
At the strategic level, consideration of the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU was based on the situation and trends in the EU. Slovenia’s six-month programme of the Presidency of the Council of the EU was based on four priorities. Under the slogan "Together. Resilient. Europe.", Slovenia strived to facilitate the EU’s recovery and reinforce its resilience, reflect on the future of Europe, strengthen the rule of law and European values, and increase security and stability in the European neighbourhood.
During its presidency, Slovenia achieved all the objectives set out in the priorities and in individual Council configurations and EU policies. However, in a few cases where the European Commission had not submitted the originally planned acts to the Council and Parliament for consideration, the objectives of the Slovenian Presidency could not be achieved. With its presidency, Slovenia has made an important contribution to the progress of the EU in a number of important areas of priority also for Slovenia, including crisis management, health union, digital transformation, the rule of law, the process of enlargement to the Western Balkans and cyber security. Through the selected and implemented priorities, Slovenia has also increased its visibility in Europe and beyond.