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Slovenia makes ‘resilience’ main focus of its EU presidency

   

Specific aims include supporting EU action on health and boosting bloc’s defences against cyberattacks

The Slovenian government has made ‘resilience’ the main focus of its six-month presidency of the Council of the EU beginning on 1 July, opting for the slogan: “Together. Resilient. Europe.”

“We will strive to facilitate the EU’s recovery [from Covid-19] and reinforce its resilience,” the Slovenian presidency said on its website, which launched on 4 June.

Presidencies chair the collective EU-related work of the bloc’s member states. They pick their priorities in 18-month trios that are strongly influenced by work inherited from predecessors and by external events, but they also have limited scope to put national concerns on the agenda.

More specific plans for Slovenia include strengthening the EU’s capacity to act on health and defend itself against cyberattacks, boosting its autonomy, implementing the planned Covid-19 recovery fund, and developing an ethics framework for the use of artificial intelligence.

R&D priorities have yet to be unveiled in detail, but the first meeting of research ministers under the presidency is an informal one scheduled for 19 July, with a formal meeting on 28 September.