On January 1, Spain assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the fourth time. Significantly, this is the first presidency to operate under the rules introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, with the nomination of the first-ever permanent President of the European Council and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

The Spanish presidency is the first of the three within the context of the “trio presidency” whereby three successive Member States work together over an eighteen month period to accomplish a common agenda with the current president continuing the work of the previous "lead-president" after the end of its term. Spain will be succeeded by Belgium and Hungary respectively.

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero explained that his Government is preparing a "very ambitious" Presidency, adding that it will be a "transforming" Presidency and not a "managing one". During its Presidency, Spain intends to push for common economic governance for the twenty-seven Member States in terms of policy coordination and job creation, and the approval of the European strategy for sustainable growth for 2020. The Spanish Government will also give maximum attention to the implementation of the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. In addition to these priorities, the Presidency places European citizens at the centre of EU policy with initiatives designed to develop their rights and freedoms.

Prime Minister Zapatero stated that Spain will work ‘in complete cooperation and loyalty’ with the new posts created by the Treaty by which the traditional functions of the rotating presidencies have been redefined.

To discuss the priorities of the Spanish Presidency, as well as Malta’s priorities within the EU for the next six months, the Embassy of Spain in Malta and the Malta-EU Steering & Action Committee organised a Public Dialogue that was held on Tuesday, 26^th January 2010 in the Ballroom of the Hotel Phoenicia in Floriana.

The Priorities and Programme of the Spanish Presidency were presented by Ms María Isabel Vicandi, Ambassador of Spain to Malta. Dr Tonio Borg, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs provided an insight into Malta’s reactions, perspectives and priorities for this semester. The Ambassador of Belgium to Malta, Mr Jean-François Delhaut and the Ambassador of Hungary to Malta, Mr Miklós Merényi also intervened. This was followed by a question and answer session with contributions from the floor.