Danish Presidency as seen by Danish MEPs

Denmark took over the six-month term presidency of the Council from Poland on 1 January. What are the main issues the presidency will have to tackle and where will it focus its efforts? We asked Danish MEPs from a range of political groups.

What are the biggest challenges facing the EU today?

Bendt Bendtsen (EPP): The biggest challenge is without doubt the economic crisis. Not only in itself, but we also have to manage the crisis, get out of it in a meaningful way, so that we at the same time protect the environment and nurture future innovation in the EU.

Dan Jørgensen (S&D):  The most important challenge that we face in the socialist group in the upcoming year, is to push the growth agenda in a more socially responsible and investment-focused way. The crisis won't be solved, if we only focus on austerity-measures. Furthermore, we need to continue to push for ambitious and far-reaching reforms of the regulation of the financial sector.

Morten Løkkegaard (ALDE): The EU is battling a deep confidence crisis and there is a tremendous task ahead in solving the sovereign debt crisis and keeping the well-known "17 versus 10" together as 27.  There is a big risk of a two-track Europe and the most important measure of success for this presidency is reinforcing the EU while avoiding a split.

Margrete Auken (Greens): The EU finds itself in a four-fold crisis: economic, social, environmental and democratic. Increasingly member states are trying to solve these problems themselves, ignoring the good that a coordinated effort by all 27 states can achieve.

Anna Rosbach (ECR): The financial crisis. For my group it is important, that we don't use the crisis as an excuse for more EU-integration. The crisis should be overcome by lowering public expenditure and by improving competitiveness. This can be done without giving more power to the EU-institutions.

What should the Danish Presidency focus on during the coming six months?

Bendt Bendtsen: Besides focusing on how we resolve the crisis, the Danish Presidency also has to focus on growth in Europe. Growth will ensure our future, but the future puts great demands as to the sort of growth we need - it must be highly sustainable! The presidency must also prioritise negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive, to ensure we hit our European targets.

Dan Jørgensen: The Danish presidency should keep a firm focus on the environmental agenda. This is not only pivotal due to the many grave environmental dangers that we face today. It is also of the utmost importance, because an ambitious green European strategy has the potential of being one of the forces pulling the EU out of its current economic troubles.

Morten Løkkegaard: Many of the important issues are in areas where Denmark has opt outs. Nevertheless, the core of the Danish EU presidency has to be to keep all 27 member states together and also to deliver results outside of the Euro issue - for example on roaming, the (digital) Single market, a European patent and trade agreements. 

Margrete Auken: We know that the economy needs help, but it is vital that this is done in a sustainable way, so that we don't pass the bill on to our children. We therefore need to make sure that new economic growth in Europe is true green growth.

Anna Rosbach: The Danish presidency should of course focus on the financial crisis. But that doesn't mean that everything else is put on hold. There are a lot of important issues, for example the reforms of the Common Fisheries and Agricultural Policies and the issue of energy efficiency. It is very important, that we get as far as possible with these reforms during the presidency.

Morten Messerschmidt (EFD): Regrettably, it seems that the Danish government is planning to introduce the same socialistic alternatives to the EU that they are pushing in Denmark. It is a dangerous strategy as it might weaken the entire EU-level of competition. The Danish presidency should be focused on improving the general level of competitiveness by improving the spending on science and development – for instance by cutting the subsidies to agriculture.