On July 1, Slovakia will take its first historical presidency of the EU Council, one of the three main institutions of the European Union, which represent all 28 member states.
This will happen after our 12-year membership in the EU and in the period when it faces most probably the greatest challenges and uncertainties in its nearly 60-year history. Brexit will have the major influence on Slovakia’s presidency but also continuation of the refugee crisis, phenomenon of terrorism and fallen confidence of the public in EU institutions.
This was stated by Slovak Ambassador to Macedonia Martin Bezak at late Wednesday’s ceremony of Slovakia’s assuming EU Presidency from the Netherlands which was held at the Macedonian National Theatre.
Slovakia, as ‘face of EU’ – face that creatively reflects in the logo of our presidency, has ambition to become honest mediator in the dialogue and builder of bridges inside between the EU Council, the European Commission and the European parliament but also outside the EU in the next six months. We will make our best to fully realize the priorities of our presidency, Bezak said.
In regard to Macedonia and the Balkans he underlined that two priorities are important: first – sustainable migration with sustainable asylum policy and second – credible enlargement policy.
The effects of the Slovak presidency will largely depend on the development of what will be achieved here in this country and its institutions. Objectively, the Slovak presidency cannot solve political crisis, or the bilateral dispute between Skopje and Athens. But Slovak presidency can represent ‘face and voice’ of your country in the EU regarding the efforts of moving from a dead point. Slovak presidency would like to accomplish success in unblocking the integration process at the meeting of the European Council in December. Success similar to that of the Finnish Presidency in December 1999 when Slovakia’s integration was unblocked and received an invitation to open accession negotiations, Slovak Ambassador pointed out. He reminded that Slovakia managed to complete accession negotiations in just three years since their launch, which is kind of "speed record" in the history of EU enlargement.
Dutch ambassador to Macedonia Wouter Plomp said that Netherlands presidency despite the achieved results in regard to the migration crisis, agreement with Turkey and efforts to combat terrorism will also be remembered by results from Brexit.
However, despite all this, our presidency may be remembered by the decision of the citizens of the UK to leave the European Union. And As Dutch Deputy President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said "we have to be quite honest with ourselves when we discuss further steps and must rise above our differences and make the best of the current situation,” Plomp said.
In the context of Macedonia he reiterated the message of the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini given last week expressing hope that Macedonian politicians will find a solution to the political crisis in the next few weeks.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ilija Isajlovski noted that after the referendum in the United Kingdom, the European Union is facing serious challenges because its results will reflect the global level that would be felt in Europe, the world and in our region and in Macedonia. In order to ensure long-term stability and prosperity of the region it is especially important to reinvigorate and strengthen the credibility of EU enlargement process of the Western Balkans as one of the most successful policies of the Union.
This is Slovakia’s first presidency of the European Union after joining the EU in 2004. Bratislava will chair the EU from July 1 to December 31, 2016.