Council of European Union_F&F_2025_Rotation STA

The Council is chaired by a rotating presidency. Each Member State takes a six-month term at the helm, chairing Council meetings as well as the gatherings of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) and the working parties of officials which prepare the Council’s work. To ensure some degree of continuity between Member States’ terms, ‘trios’ covering three successive presidencies over an 18-month period aim to develop and implement joint work programmes. Informal meetings, at ministerial or official level, often take place in the country holding the presidency, providing an opportunity to discuss priority issues, but without formal decisions being taken. (The Foreign Affairs Council and working parties in that field are chaired by the EU’s High Representative or her representatives.)
The graphic below shows the order in which Member States take on the presidency up to 2030, as well as the designated trios. National delegations are seated around the table in order of the rotation, with each moving one place clockwise at the start of every six-month period. In addition, the graphic shows the voting weight of each Member State.