The trio of current and subsequent EU Council Presidencies, Romania, Finland and Croatia, have made “the Union as a strong global actor” a priority for their 18 months of action.
In their programme, the three Presidencies announce that they will work “in close collaboration” with the Member States and the High Representative, in particular to advance the agreed priorities of the EU's overall strategy, ensure the coherence of the EU's external policies and strengthen the appropriate links between the Union's internal and external policies. "They shall seek to ensure that the Union is equipped in the period 2021-2027 with all the necessary funding and legal instruments to perform these tasks”, the document states.
Support for enlargement
The three countries make enlargement policy a priority, describing it as “a key policy of the European Union in particular in view of providing a credible enlargement perspective, within the agreed parameters for the Western Balkans”. A new EU-Balkan summit is expected to be held under the Croatian Presidency in the first half of 2020. “Turkey is a candidate country and remains a key partner for the EU”, the Presidencies add, without further detail.
With regard to neighbourhood, the trio intends to strengthen “the political, economic, social and cultural links between the Union and its neighbours in the East and South”. The three Presidencies will support the High Representative's work to address long-standing political tensions, strengthen the partners' capacity to resist external pressures and safeguard their ability to make their own diplomatic choices. The trio says that it will maintain the unitary and principled approach in its policy towards Russia. It also wants to seek “collaborative approaches to maintaining the security of the EU's borders and addressing the shared challenges of migration”.
“In the context of growing trade tensions", the three Presidencies are “committed to preserving and deepening the rules-based multilateral trading system, including work towards the modernisation of the WTO". They support "the negotiation of ambitious, high-quality, balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreements with key partners across the world, accompanied by political agreements that promote the EU's values and standards and stimulate greater cooperation on issues of common interest”.
The trio also wants to help the High Representative forge closer ties from region to region, particularly in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Arab world. The transatlantic partnership, “the cornerstone of security and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic", is promoted, as is the development of cooperation with “other advanced economies [that] share the Union's interest in an effective rules-based systems, the rule of law, human rights and democracy ". “This will also include the establishment of a very close partnership with the UK after its departure from the EU”, the programme says.
The three Presidencies will also support the EU's "continued leadership" in development policy and humanitarian aid.
In terms of the Common Security and Defence Policy, the trio wishes to continue work within the EU, while strengthening relations with NATO. The topics currently on the agenda are highlighted, including permanent structured cooperation, coherence and alignment of defence capabilities development, the European Defence Industrial Development Programme, the European Defence Fund, military mobility, capacity building in the fight against hybrid and electronic threats, strengthening military planning and conduct capability (MPCC) and the revitalisation of the civilian CSDP. The trio also wants to support an enhanced capacity of the Union for conflict prevention, mediation and peacebuilding.
Finally, the Presidencies intend to strengthen and maintain the rules-based multilateral system with the United Nations at the heart of the system. Moreover, if the Union is seeking multilateral solutions to common problems, it must also strengthen its ability to secure its interests in an autonomous way when necessary, the document adds. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)