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| Presidency of the Czech Republic in the Council of the EU |
| Prag, 01.01.2009 |
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| The presidency is one of the most important and most taxing tasks of EU membership. The country holding the presidency plays a role that is not only organizational, but also liaising, political and representational.The order in which the Member States assume the presidency was approved by the General Affairs & External Relations Council on 13 December 2004.
The decision lays down the order in which countries hold the presidency up to 2020, and takes special care to alternate countries by size and geographical situation. The Czech Republic will assume the EU Presidency on 1 January 2009. It will take over this role from France, and pass on the baton to Sweden on 1 July 2009. Therefore, the preparations for the Czech Presidency will involve exhaustive communications with representatives of France and Sweden. The Czech Republic will not be the first of the new Member States to hold the EU presidency – that honour will go to Slovenia in the first half of 2008.
The presidency places extraordinary demands on the whole of the presiding country’s state administration. For that reason, the Czech Republic must prepare meticulously for this task, not only to ensure it makes an appropriate choice of priorities, but also to make sure everything is in place technically. The actual preparations for a presidency generally start about two years before the presidency, both at national level and EU level, in the form of cooperation and exchanges of information and experience with previous presiding countries and the General Secretariat of the Council. The preparations can be broken down into three core categories: technical preparation, allocation of financial resources, and choice of priorities.
The further information about the presidencies (2007-2009):
Germany, first half of 2007
Portugal, second half of 2007
Slovenia, first half of 2008
France, second half of 2008
Czech Republic, first half of 2009
Sweden, second half of 2009
Further detailed information concerning the presidency can be found on the following websites:
Euroskop.cz – the portal about the European Union and our EU membership
Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union, Brussels - a website containing a section on the Czech Presidency (EU 2009)
Council of the European Union
The term ‘EU presidency’ generally means the chairing, by a Member State, of the Council of the European Union. The presidency changes hands every six months, which means that two countries hold the presidency each calendar year – one in the first half of the year (January – June), and the other in the second half (July – December). The presidency is not just a run-of-the-mill administrative role. On the contrary, it is one of the most important instruments in promoting the interests of individual EU Member States and in influencing the activities and running of the whole of the European Union.
Today, exactly one month before the start of the Czech Presidency, the official website of Czech Presidency of the EU Council –www.eu2009.cz – was launched in three language versions: Czech, English and French. The launch took place in advance, so that the public can read basic information about the Czech Presidency and journalists can get accredited in time for Presidency events.
Before the Presidency starts on 1 January 2009, the content and functions of the website will be limited. The design is based on the visual identity of the Czech Presidency which was created by the young graphic designer Tomáš Pakosta.
“Today, information tends to spread at the speed of light. The web allows information exchange at maximum speed, and that is why it has become the main communication tool of all Presidencies, including the Czech one. I think we managed to create a userfriendly website that makes great use of the Czech Presidency logo. The website was launched precisely on the scheduled day, also thanks to our team’s outstanding work,” says Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs.
“From 1 January 2009 the website will offer up-to-date news from expert and political meetings that the Czech Republic will chair, as well as sections dedicated to the past and present of the EU and the Czech Republic, written in an interesting and easy-to-read form and complemented with photographs made specially for the website, and with audio and video samples. Readers will have the opportunity to test their knowledge of the European Union in interactive games and in quizzes entitled ‘Across Europe without Barriers’, inspired by the official motto of the Czech Presidency: ‘A Europe without Barriers’ “, adds Veronika Cvejnová, editor-in-chief of the Presidency website, who worked on it for more than a year, together with her team.
The website was designed in such a way as to provide maximum user comfort, organisation simplicity and accessibility. It complies with all W3C recommendations for the XHTML 1.0 Strict format. Much attention has been paid to compliance with all rules of accessibility to people with disabilities. In addition, the editors consulted the independent company H1, one of the leading Czech specialists in this field. The content of the website sections was prepared in collaboration with prominent Czech experts from different fields. The content of the website will be updated every day until the end of the Presidency on 30 June 2009. However, it will remain online at least until the end of 2011.
Accreditation Information:
www.eu2009.cz/journalists-can-get-accredited-here
Questions from the public: public@eu2009.cz
Questions from the media: media@eu2009.cz
Questions about the website: web@eu2009.cz
Contact: Michaela Jelínková, Spokeswoman of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs
tel.: +420 224 002 796, GSM: +420 724 258 939; e-mail: jelinkova.michaela@vlada.cz
Last update: 31.12.2008 15:49
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Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Tel. : +421 33 53 418 53, Fax : +421 33 53 418 52, E-mail : info@eurobrew.sk |
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