With the establishment of the permanent European Council presidency and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the role of rotating presidencies has changed. This will have an impact on the role of the Trio Presidency in future. Does the rotating presidency still matter? In this new edition of Think Global – Act European (TGAE), launched by Notre Europe, 14 Europeans think tanks answer that question by scrutinizing the 18-month agenda of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Trio Presidency. For each specific issue (structural reform, economic governance, energy, climate change, migration, internal security, global governance, foreign policy defence, enlargement, neighbourhood, EU institutions, European political space and budget) they analyse the global context, existing challenges and put forward concrete proposals concerning key initiatives that can be taken by the Trio Presidency during this period. In the sensitive context of the Lisbon Treaty implementation and complex management of the economic crisis, specific attention is given to the decisive coordination role that can be played by the Trio Presidency in defining more efficient – more integrated – European strategies.

With the establishment of the permanent European Council presidency and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the role of rotating presidencies has changed. This will have an impact on the role of the Trio Presidency in future. Does the rotating presidency still matter? In this new edition of Think Global – Act European (TGAE), launched by Notre Europe, 14 Europeans think tanks answer that question by scrutinizing the 18-month agenda of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Trio Presidency. For each specific issue (structural reform, economic governance, energy, climate change, migration, internal security, global governance, foreign policy defence, enlargement, neighbourhood, EU institutions, European political space and budget) they analyse the global context, existing challenges and put forward concrete proposals concerning key initiatives that can be taken by the Trio Presidency during this period. In the sensitive context of the Lisbon Treaty implementation and complex management of the economic crisis, specific attention is given to the decisive coordination role that can be played by the Trio Presidency in defining more efficient – more integrated – European strategies.

This paper was published as a chapter in ‘unlocking a low-carbon Europe: perspectives on EU budget reform’, published by Green Alliance in February 2010 and available to download from Green Alliance Website.