Finland shows the way for the EU member states for the next six months

Finland's Presidency of the EU will affect the work of Permanent Representation in Geneva in various ways during the next six months.

The agenda of the Presidency, which started in July, is largely dependent on the schedule of the meetings of the UN and other organisations, based in Geneva.

As the EU Presidency, Finland will preside over coordination meetings between the EU Member States, where negotiators seek to arrive in common EU positions to be further discussed with other UN member countries in the subsequent meetings and negotiation processes of different organisations. The Austrian Presidency arranged about 600 coordination meetings. The nature and amount of coordination partly depends on to what extent the issues fall under the EU competence. In trade policy issues, the competent authority with the right of initiative is the EC Commission. Even in this case, Finland will be in charge of the EU's internal preparative meetings. In many other sectors, Finland prepares the EU's views and addressed meetings on behalf of the Union.

Priority issues in Geneva during Finland's Presidency of the EU will be especially the WTO round of negotiations and the new Human Rights Council of the UN. As regards the WTO, the conclusion of the Doha Round requires agreement on the negotiating framework concerning agricultural and industrial products. The next time limit is the end of July and the beginning of August. The situation in the negotiations is extremely problematic: after the round of consultations at the turn of June-July, WTO Director-General Lamy had to concede that the round is in crisis.

In respect of human rights, the start of the Presidency was particularly busy. After the end of the first session of the UN Human Rights Council on 30 June, a decision was made to convene a special session on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The meeting in Geneva on 5 and 6 July required the fresh Presidency hours of chairing of meetings to coordinate the EU's common views. The Human Rights Council will meet for a three-week session in September and hold its third session by convening for two weeks in November-December.

The autumn agenda in the disarmament and arms control sector is also tight. In addition to the regular Conference on Disarmament (CD) sessions, there will be, among other things, a Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and a Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC).

The humanitarian sector, and partly also the health sector, may be the most unpredictable one. Possible natural disasters or conflicts can cause major extra pressure on the EU Presidency.

Coordination of the EU's common positions is also required during the session of the UN Economic and Social Council ECOSOC, convening in Geneva for the month of July. The Council, which has its headquarters in New York, organises its sessions in Geneva every other summer.

Finland's EU Presidency(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)