A wiki extract on what it is all about,,,,,Presidency of the Council of the European Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_the_Council_of_the_European_Union
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.
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: trialogues 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 3rd 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 (e.g.: 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 a 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 (e.g. the French 2008 Presidency and the Mediterranean Union 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 .
The rotating presidency is probably not needed anymore, with the 2009 reforms by the Lisbon Treaty, but reforming it has proved incredibly difficult: it still enables little states to stand up and try to push forward vital policies; it represents a sharing of administrative burdens, enabling the coordination of policies, the stability of the Council agenda (through the troika) and providing learning and experience for member states' public administrations.
Yes we did the job well in organising the meetings but no one should get too exited about much else,,,,,