On 1 January 2022, France will take over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Slovenia.
On the basis of a joint programme developed with the Czech Republic and Sweden, France will be responsible for pushing forward the EU’s strategic agenda for six months. Indeed, Member states holding the presidency work together closely in groups of three, called ‘trios’. This system was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The trio sets long-term goals and prepares a common agenda determining the topics and major issues that will be addressed by the Council over an 18-month period.
This key responsibility for France to consolidate its political power at the European level comes, however, in a busy context, as it comes at a time when the campaign for the French presidential election will reach its peak.
The French presidency has not yet formalised its priorities but has already put forward the motto “Recovery, power, belonging”. Due to the global economic context, France has made economic recovery a priority. Although negotiations on key issues related to recovery will take place during the French Presidency, such as the introduction of new EU own resources, the EU’s current flagship policy, the recovery plan, has already been approved. In line with the European agenda, France is expected to put the place the green and digital transitions at the heart of its recovery ambitions.
As usual, EBC will closely follow the agenda set by the upcoming French Presidency to analyse the potential impacts on the built environment and the construction sector.