The Presidency will support the development of the EU as a union of equality, taking into account the situation of particularly disadvantaged groups such as the Roma. EU funds as well as several other topics of relevance for Roma equality and inclusion will also be addressed during the Czech Presidency.
Czech Republic will hold the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December 2022. The six-month Czech Presidency follows France, which led the Council in the first half of the year, and will be followed by Swedish Presidency from 1 January till 30 June 2023. Those three states together form the presidency trio and have created a joint programme of their presidencies.
As stated in the Presidency’s programme, “the Czech Presidency will support the development of the EU as a union of equality, taking into account the situation of particularly disadvantaged groups such as the Roma”. EU funds as well as several other topics of relevance for Roma equality and inclusion will also be addressed during the Czech Presidency.
Czech Presidency’s programme
Under the lemma “Rethink, Rebuild, Repower”, the main priorities and directions of the Presidency are included in its programme for the next six months. The programme has two parts:
- Political priorities, as follows:
- Managing the refugee crisis and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine
- Energy security
- Strengthening European defence capabilities and cybersecurity
- Strategic resilience of the European economy
- Resilience of democratic institutions
- Priority sectoral agendas, i.e. the legislative and non-legislative proposals that the Czech Republic will focus on under the relevant Council formations.
Priorities reflect the long-term positions and Czech priorities promoted by the Czech Republic in the EU, but also respond to current geopolitical and economic challenges associated mainly with the current situation in Ukraine.
Relevant initiatives for Roma equality and inclusion
A wide variety of topics and initiatives of relevance for Roma equality and inclusion (at political, legislative and financial level) will be addressed during the Czech Presidency.
The Czech Presidency will support the development of the European Union as a union of equality, taking into account the situation of particularly disadvantaged groups such as the Roma. One of the initiatives organised in the framework of the Presidency will be the 2022 Roma Platform on 25-26 October.
As regards the funding side, while the main objecive of the Presidency is the political discussion on the cohesion policy after 2027 with a view to adopting Council conclusions, it will also focus on the discussions on the mobilisation of EU funds to address the impact of the situation in Ukraine, including the negotiations on the amendments to existing legislation, notably 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 Regulations, and the National Recovery and Resilience Plans.
Other areas include human and fundamental rights issues, energy poverty, child poverty (including through the implementation of the European Child Guarantee), gender equality, migration and asylum policy (with a particular focus on the effective inclusion of refugees, especially women and children from war-affected Ukraine into EU Member States)…In the field of education, discussions on the Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success, which focuses on basic skills and on increasing the number of young people completing secondary education and on reducing early school leaving.
We trust that these initiatives take into account the specific situation of Roma population and contribute to promoting equality and inclusion of the largest minitory in Europe.
Further information
