THE AUSTRIAN PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU: ACCOMPLICHMENTS AND CHALLENGES
THE AUSTRIAN PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU: ACCOMPLICHMENTS AND CHALLENGES

Summary/Abstract: During the second half of 2019, Austria exercised the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It was preceded, during the first half of 2019, by Bulgaria, and is succeeded, during the second half of 2019, by Romania.Responding to a generally felt need, the Austrian chose for its Presidency in the Council the motto “A Europe that protects”. The Austrian Presidency focused on the following areas: security and the fight against illegal migration, securing prosperity and competitiveness through digitalisation, stability in the neighbourhood and the strengthening of the principle of subsidiarity. In most areas, progress was made; if it was limited in the reinforcement of FRONTEX and a speedy improvement of its mandate, this was due to the reluctance of just those Member States which would have profited most from this development to hand over additional parts of what they believed to be their sovereignty. This was a wrong approach from the point of subsidiarity, because the protection of the outer borders of the European Union is not of secondary but of primary importance.

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