Halfway through the year, it is up to another Member State to take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. This time, Slovenia will be in charge of steering the ship from July to December 2021. As Europe is currently looming an exit of COVID-crisis, the Slovenian Presidency is determined to build on Europe’s resilience, under the motto “Together.Resilient.Together”. The country will round off the work of the current Trio, composed of Germany and Portugal, before passing on the baton to France on 1 January 2022.
The priorities of the Slovenian Presidency are set out in four chapters:
- The resilience and recovery of the European Union. A strategically autonomous 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.
Among those priorities, some policy actions concern more closely the recreational fisheries sector.
Regarding the Common Fisheries Policy, the presidency highlights two key files:
- The revision of the fisheries control regulation. After the adoption of a general approach within the Council (agreement between member states), inter-institutional negotiations will start with the European Parliament. The presidency will work towards the greatest possible progress in the negotiations.
- Slovenia will also lead negotiations on fishing opportunities in 2022 for the North Sea and the Baltic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the Atlantic and deep-sea stocks, and negotiations with the United Kingdom and Norway.
When it comes to biodiversity, the Slovenian Presidency will focus on reducing
biodiversity loss through measures to restore ecosystems and other measures under the
EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. By the end of this presidency, the technical note on criteria and guidance for protected areas designations, prepared within a Commission’s expert group to which member states participate, should be finalised as well as the river restoration guidance.
Finally, Slovenia will also lead the preparations and represent the EU’s ambitions at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), which will be held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021.
Link to the work programme: click
here