Czech Presidency’s final thanks
On 1 July 2009, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council will pass the relay baton to the Kingdom of Sweden, and so it is now time to say a word of thanks to the whole Presidency team.
Jan Fischer, Prime Minister of the Government of the Czech Republic and President of the European Council
The Czech Presidency of the EU Council was one of the foremost priorities of my government from the very first day of its term of office. We managed to maintain continuity and focus on the agreed Presidency agenda, which was confirmed by the success of the European Council meeting on 18 and 19 June in Brussels. Here, once again and symbolically for the last time, the Czech Presidency succeeded in reaching agreement between the EU Member States on all the items on the agenda: the institutional reform and Irish guarantees, financial and social issues, progress in the work ahead of the Copenhagen conference on the fight against climate change as well as political support for the candidacy of José Manuel Barroso running for re-election as President of the European Commission.
Naturally, the success of the Czech Presidency is built out of the achievements reached by the ministries. Thus the expertise of the members of my government proved an advantage in debates at EU ministerial meetings.
I would like to stress that we managed to round off the Presidency efficiently also, and not the least, thanks to the solid support we received – not only from the European Commission and its President José Manuel Barroso, but also from all my European counterparts. The EU Heads of State or Government expressed their support already during the preparatory talks ahead of the European Council meeting – either personally or over the phone – and the summit itself was an irrefutable proof of their willingness to work together with the Czech Presidency.
I am happy that we have convinced out European partners that the success of the Presidency is a success for all; that the strength of the Presidency does not depend on the size of the country but on the ability to negotiate and moderate the debate in the interest of the European Union as a whole.
As a statistician, European and “outgoing” President of the European Council, I would estimate the rate of success of the Czech Presidency at 100% with a deviation of +/- 5%“.
A message from Brussels, Milena Vicenová, Ambassador
On behalf of my colleagues at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic in Brussels, I would like to thank all those who worked with us during the Presidency. Over the past six months, as a team, we strived to achieve tangible results for Czech people, the Czech Republic and the European Union. The European Union is an unprecedented experiment which gave Europe and its citizens peace and prosperity. I don’t know what the future holds for the European Union; what it will look like in fifty years or in a century. The important thing is that it should be built on cooperation among citizens, nations and governments, and that it should continue to uphold democratic values.
The Czech Presidency helped bring down many a barrier hampering cooperation. This is what the Czech Republic deserves its Presidency to be remembered for.
We have scored points in one area at least. Judging by newspaper headlines both in the Czech Republic and abroad, Czech civil servants keep up with the times and the performance of the Czech public administration is world-class. This is not a small achievement. A modern country can only be run by competent and flexible administration. It is clear that the word “bureaucracy” need not always be pejorative. Besides, from the viewpoint of the country holding the Presidency, the European Union opens up a number of opportunities to influence its functioning in favour of Czech citizens and entrepreneurs. The Czech Republic, its people, businesses and administration are now best placed to make use of these opportunities.
Thanks from the website editors’ team
The editors of the official Presidency website eu2009.cz would like to thank all their readers and colleagues.
In the first place, the editors of the Czech Presidency website thank all the readers who visited the www.eu2009.cz website during the six months from 1 January to 30 June 2009. Our thanks also go to all those who took part in the creation and updating of the website content.
We hope that on the website you always found all the information you needed.
Thank you!
Website editors
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:17
