Overview 2008
Presidencies
The Council will be chaired by Slovenia (first semester) and by France (second semester).
Website: "Slovenian Presidency of the EU 2008"
Website: "French Presidency of the Council"
Key events in the area of Development Cooperation
- Joint Parliamentary Assembly ACP-EU (Ljubljana, 15-20 March 2008)
- High-level event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - Recognizing the achievements, addressing the challenges and getting back on track to achieve the MDGs by 2015 (New York, 1-2 April 2008), in view of the High Level Event of 25 September 2008 and other UN events in the course of 2008
- Twelfth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development - UNCTAD XII (Accra, 20-25 April 2008)
- Meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council/Development Ministers (Brussels, 26-27 May 2008)
- Joint Ministerial Council ACP-EU (Addis Ababa, June 2008)
- Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Accra, 2-4 September 2008)
- UN High-Level meetings on Africa's Development needs and on the Millennium Development Goals (22 and 25 September 2008)
- Meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council/Development Ministers (Brussels, 10-11 November 2008)
- European Development Days (Strasbourg, 15-17 November 2008)
- Joint Parliamentary Assembly ACP-EU (Port Moresby, 24-27 November 2008)
- International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus (Doha, 29 November - 2 December 2008)
Key policy issues
The specific programme of each presidency is set out on its website. The Slovenian programme is part of an 18-month programme with Portugal and Germany. The French programme is part of an 18-month programme with the Czech Republic and Sweden.
Based on these programmes, the main challenges for the Council can be summarised as follows:
- Throughout the whole year, the Council will discuss with the Commission the progress of the on-going negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
- Based on several texts received from the Commission in April 2008 and subsequent developments, the Council prepared the EU position for the international events of the second half of the year, notably the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Accra, 2-4 September), UN High-Level meetings on Africa's Development needs and on the Millennium Development Goals (New York, 22 and 25 September), and the International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus (Doha, 29 November - 2 December).
- On 12-13 June, the annual meeting of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers took place in Addis Ababa.