Taking on the rotating EU Presidency for the first time is a huge challenge (even with the reduced Presidency role following the Lisbon Treaty). And it’s a massive learning opportunity too. Thankfully there are many friends standing by to help out at this difficult time and the UK is one of the foremost.
On previous occasions when New Member States have run Presidencies, we have loaned (or seconded) experts from the UK to work with the EU partner in question alongside their own national staff. These “secondees” are usually sent for a few months beforehand and for the 6-month period of the Presidency to work in one of the Host Government’s Ministries and help out in a particular field. Despite the current austerity programme in the UK (as a result of the economic crisis) we wanted to offer as much assistance to our Hungarian friends as we could this time around and our offer has been gratefully taken up.
Why are secondees important? Because they come from a country that has already had experience of managing a Presidency and can share that experience – not because everyone has to do this in exactly the same way but because it can be useful for first-time Presidencies to know what has worked well (and what hasn’t) for those that have gone before. Also because secondees can provide sector-specific expertise in areas where this may be lacking – and through them the Presidency can have access to more advice and knowledge from the sending country’s capital. And finally of course because national secondees can keep their parent countries in touch with what is going on and ensure we are better informed and therefore able to contribute during meetings held throughout the Presidency.
So in which areas, exactly, is the UK helping out? We are sending 5 or 6 experts. Three are already in place, in the following sectors – covering International Development issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Justice and Home Affairs and Counter-Terrorism at the Interior Ministry; and Financial Services at the Ministry of National Economy. And we have colleagues dealing with Climate Change and Low Carbon who will work with the Ministry of National Development and (hopefully) one who will help the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with English language content of the Presidency website.
Our secondees will be working hard. But we trust they will also enjoy their time in lovely Budapest!