On Monday 19 December, the Council of Ministers of the EU adopted a decision conferring upon Slovakia or the Netherlands the chairmanship of certain working parties of the Council during the six months of the Maltese Presidency, to run from 1 January to 30 June 2017.
Additionally, under the Maltese Presidency of the Council, the high-level working group on competitiveness and growth will be chaired by the Dutch representative within this group, in line with the arrangements approved by the Committee of Permanent Representatives on 31 October 2014.
The decision of 19 December contains changes applying to 11 working groups, including: - the 'atomic questions' working party (to be held by Slovakia); - the 'export credits' working party (Slovakia); - 'the forestry' working party (Slovakia); - the 'agricultural questions' working party (Slovakia on plant breeder rights); - various subjects of the 'Codex Alimentarius' working party (Netherlands); - various subjects of the 'international environment issues' working party (Slovakia or the Netherlands, depending on the topic). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)