Together, resilient, Europe: Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council begins

On 1 July 2021, Slovenia took over the Presidency of the EU Council – set to continue until the end of December 2021.

The new Presidency published its programme under the slogan Together. Resilient. Europe, and based it on the following priorities:

• Facilitate the EU recovery and reinforcing its resilience, with a strong focus on the green and digital transition (e.g., the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA)).
• Implement the Next Generation EU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility to facilitate the adoption of national recovery plans as soon as possible and accelerate the green and digital transition.
• Transpose the set of sustainability objectives into binding European legislation (becoming climate-neutral by 2050 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels).
• Reflect on lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Strengthen the rule of law and European values to promote a rule of law culture in the EU and allow the Member States to learn from each other’s experiences.
• Increase European security and stability. An EU-Western Balkans Summit will be held in the fall with the aim to, among others, build a promising future for young people.

HOTREC hopes that the Slovenian Presidency will follow the Portuguese steps in prioritising the recovery of tourism and hospitality at these challenging times. Now more than ever, the full support of the EU Institutions – with regards to funding, coordination, policy and more – is crucial for our sector to remain open and finally start planning for the long-term.