Portugal assumes the presidency of the Council of the EU | Tiroler Tageszeitung Online – News from now on!

In early 2021, Portugal assumed the presidency of the EU Council from Germany for a period of six months. The next semester will also be determined mainly by the consequences of the corona pandemic. The focus is on the vaccination campaign and the implementation of the EU’s 1 billion dollar aid package. At the end of the six-month German presidency, a projection flashed at the Brandenburg Gate on Thursday night.

With the slogan “Time to act: for a just, green and digital reconstruction”, the left-wing Lisbon government has adopted the objectives of the European Union’s Corona aid package.

“The next stage is no less demanding,” Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa warned in a guest article in the weekly “Expresso”. Now it is about the implementation of the corona vaccination campaign across Europe and national plans for economic reconstruction.

The Portuguese Presidency has also put European social policy at the top of the agenda. At a social summit in Porto in May, member states should draw conclusions from the corona pandemic and further expand the social rights of Europeans. Portugal also inherits from Germany the difficult problem of migration. Portugal mentions the intensification of relations between the EU and Africa as its own approach.

The Portuguese presidency could benefit from the inauguration of future US President Joe Biden. The EU seeks to improve transatlantic relations, which have suffered greatly under outgoing US President Donald Trump. Trump leaves office on January 20. On this day, his chosen successor, Biden, takes the oath. In the middle of the year, Slovenia will assume the presidency, which changes every six months.