EU Council Presidency Archives

French presidential candidates have put forward their proposals on how to tackle the country's shortage of healthcare staff across several regions. EURACTIV France reports.

Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas' call on the EU to urgently help the fisheries sector during a Council of EU agriculture ministers on Monday (21 March) was backed by more than 20 block ministers. EURACTIV France reports.

The EU needs to take additional steps to ensure people with disabilities have greater access to jobs and rights across the bloc, Sophie Cluzel, the French Secretary of State in charge of people with disabilities, told her European counterparts in Paris on Wednesday (9 March).  EURACTIV France reports.

EU disability ministers are meeting in Paris on Wednesday (9 March) to take stock of the EU's disability strategy and exchange best practices. EURACTIV France spoke to the French secretary of state in charge of people with disabilities who initiated the meeting within the French EU Council presidency framework.

The International Energy Agency has presented the EU with 10 measures to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas within a year, without it having to abandon its environmental objectives set out in the Green Deal. EURACTIV France reports.

Legislative proposals on the circular economy are expected by the end of March, according to a two-day joint conference organised by the French EU Council, the EU Commission and the Economic and Social Committee (EESC). EURACTIV France reports.

It is important that France conducts "feminist diplomacy" to improve gender equality in Europe and elsewhere, Secretary of State for EU affairs Clément Beaune said at a conference on sexual and reproductive health and rights. EURACTIV France reports.

France, currently at the helm of the EU Council presidency, hopes to make as much progress as possible on the battery regulation in the coming months. EURACTIV France reports.

France announced on Tuesday (8 February) that it has raised more than €3.5 billion to invest in the tech ecosystem, amongst plans to rely on European start-ups to regain the continent's digital sovereignty.

Since January 1, France has held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Media freedom, particularly in Hungary and Poland, will be a key focus of the upcoming Czech European Council presidency, according to the country’s Minister for European Affairs. 

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is building suspense over whether he will run for a second term, has a vision of "refounding" a more sovereign Europe. EURACTIV France reports.

Finding alternatives to plant protection products requires a "coordinated effort" from all member states, French Ecological Transition Minister Barbara Pompili, who presided over the talks with EU agriculture ministers in Amiens from 20-22 January, has said. EURACTIV France reports.

President Emmanuel Macron presented the programme of France's six-month EU Council presidency before very agitated MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday (19 January), but it quickly turned into a sparring match with the French opposition.

The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union began on 1 January 2022. For six months, France will be setting the pace for the legislative agenda and negotiations at the heart of the European institutions.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, presidential candidate of radical left party La France Insoumise, hopes to push member countries to break away from EU treaties "that block us" if he wins the election in April.

Two vaccines will soon be tested in France in response to the worst avian influenza outbreak Europe has ever faced, French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie has announced. The aim is for them to be approved for all 27 EU member states. EURACTIV France reports.

Yannick Jadot, the Green party candidate in the French presidential elections, has put Europe at the core of his presidential project. While this comes as no surprise, seducing the not-so- pro-EU French electorate with such an approach will be difficult.

France took over the rotating EU Council presidency on 1 January, just a few months before the first round of the French presidential elections where Emmanuel Macron will seek reelection against mostly right-wing challengers.

After the defeat in the 2017 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen's right-wing Rassemblement National renewed its discourse about Europe, aiming to appeal to a wider electorate, but it is uncertain if this shift will give Le Pen a shot at winning the keys to the Elysée Palace in April

Following the short-lived controversy that marred the display of the European flag on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, it is clear that the next six months of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union are shaping up to be a delicate political balancing act.

France and Germany bear a "special responsibility" to make the European Union a stronger world power as Paris assumes the bloc's rotating presidency, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told AFP on Friday.

France is intensively preparing for its EU presidency starting in January while working closely with Slovenia, whose stint at the helm of the EU is ending, French Ambassador to Slovenia Florence Ferrari told STA in an interview.

During its six-month EU presidency, Slovenia successfully led the process of adopting European legislation, but that has been somewhat overshadowed by concerns from Brussels about the rule of law in the country, analysts say.