The last sixth

In a month’s time, on Public Officials Day, we will be over with the Presidency. I assume that on 30 June, it will be the only day when many of us can drop their pens at 16:30, the end of normal working hours, and not after supper. It is impossible to tell whether it will be a pleasure or we’ll be missing something, 30 days from now. Admittedly, the task is difficult and the responsibility is great, but by now, we have come to do this job as if we had always been doing so. My colleagues seem to have got the hang of it and to have learned to function in Presidency mode, many of them are clearly enjoying it. We now badly need the experience, as the toughest month is yet to come. I am sure that the issues are serious and hard enough to release the necessary amount of adrenalin, even in those who have become a bit tired.

The next days will decide whether we will reach our goals concerning the central issues and our major priorities, including economic governance, Croatia, Schengen accession, migration issues, Roma Strategy, Danube Strategy and many other co-decision dossiers; something we are continuously discussing with the European Parliament, in search of an agreement.

April and May saw very intense background consultations, (which left me hardly any time for blogging). The achievements of the Presidency team have been reached through working group meetings, (invisible for the general public) and painstaking background work. These will soon appear in the spotlight and on the agenda of the Council’s formal ministerial meetings. Decent preparation will produce palpable results. I hope the press will report on some good news in the coming weeks.