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New order under Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU
What makes this presidency so special?
This is the fourth time that Spain sits on the throne of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. However, unlike its predecessors, the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will not sit in the main office, but will reside in the one next door.
The new incoming country presidency sits behind the permanent government
With the idea of giving more power, unity and external visibility to the European Union, the Lisbon Treaty establishes new positions that could answer the phone when any foreign head of state or government wants to call Brussels. These positions are a stable President of the Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs. Herman Van Rompuy from Belgium and Catherine Ashton from the UK are appointed at these posts (See Figure 1).
According to the new organisation, this function will be taken over by the new president. Herman Van Rompuy will chair all summits of presidents, formal and informal, in Brussels, Luxembourg, and Spain. That means José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will sit beside him for support and will be responsible for dealing with member state issues.
For her part, the holder of the EU diplomacy, Baroness Ashton will remain at the forefront of the meetings of foreign ministers and will chair press conferences at the conclusion of those meetings.
Mrs. Ashton will also benefit from the establishment of the European External Action Service. This diplomatic corps will serve as a ministry of foreign affairs. She will have three months to compose her new team which will consist of ambassadors from the 27 member states.
Another institutional innovation is the formation of the "Trio of Presidencies”. To ensure greater continuity in policy, the legislation establishes political coordination among three consecutive country presidencies. Currently, the order is as follows: Spain, Belgium and Hungary. These countries should work together to provide general guidance to the EU during the next 18 months.
New policies in times of transition
But institutional changes are not the only goal for the next six months. After the financial plague that member states suffered since the fall of 2008, soothing the consequences the economic earthquake is one of the priorities on the Spanish agenda. Thus, Van Rompuy and Zapatero have agreed to develop a draft document that the Commission will use to adopt new measures and legislation to end the crisis.
If the Spanish presidency wants to leave a legacy of success, it also has to ensure better coordination among European financial systems, aid the banking sector, make certain state deficit does not exceed 3%, and adopt a system of financial alerts.
These financial alerts, which would hopefully come to life this semester, aim to create a stable entity whose main task will be to issue warnings if a crisis threatens the financial systems of member states. Furthermore, this body should introduce penalties for those governments that do not respect the established lines of action and jeopardize economic stability in the EU.
In terms of external relations, the Spanish Government presented its intentions to mend relations with countries such as Cuba. The goal of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is to abandon the previous "common position" and give new impetus to EU-Cuba diplomacy.
The "common position" was a stance adopted by the government of José María Aznar, in 1996, when he held the rotating presidency of the Council. According to this position, the EU will only improve its relationship with the Castro government when Cuba upholds democratic principles and gives freedom to political prisoners. Zapatero’s new line of political thinking may, however, meet the reluctance of a number of member states.
To live up to the high diplomatic standards set by its predecessor, Sweden, Spain will have to work hard to bring its rich agenda to a successful end.
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