SUPPLEMENT / “europe/documents” no. 1596

Slovak Presidency of the Council to work for positive results to restore the citizens' confidence in the European project (Dossier by Camille-Cerise Gessant)

I- INTRODUCTION

A member of the EU since 2004, of the Schengen Zone since December 2007 and of the Eurozone since January 2009, Slovakia, a central European country with 5.5 million inhabitants, will be taking the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU for the first time ever in the second half of 2016.

This Presidency comes at a time when the European Union is sailing in strong adverse winds: a rise of Euroscepticism, even of Europhobia, the consequences of the victory of the Leave...