On Thursday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will receive European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to inaugurate the Danish half-year as the EU's presidency country. Also present in Aarhus will be King Frederik and Queen Mary.
Formally, however, it starts already from Tuesday. And it happens with a strong start.
The EU countries are only days away from July 9 when the trade war with the US can begin if no sudden agreement can be made. Although the negotiations with the US are handled centrally by the European Commission in Brussels, Denmark will also play a heavy role in getting the EU countries to pull in the same direction.
Disagreement on climate
Another difficult and acute issue is the climate. The center and left parties in the European Parliament accuse the European Commission of having backed down too much on promised climate measures together with the right and far-right lately.
The Commission must change direction now, warned French-Italian liberal Sandro Gozi last week.
New momentum in the battle is expected already on Wednesday when the Commission will present its formal proposal for climate targets until 2040.
The disagreement risks greatly complicating cooperation even between member states and the Parliament and, if so, also affecting other policy areas.
Budget and expansion
Denmark will have to start the laborious work of uniting member states on the new long-term budget that the European Commission will present in mid-July.
Other important issues will be migration, where Denmark has long called for tougher measures, and of course the war in Ukraine and continued EU focus on defense.
New momentum is also expected in the expansion issue, where much suggests that Moldova can soon start negotiating seriously about membership. Most of the EU had hoped that Ukraine would be able to start at the same time, but is forced to acknowledge that Hungary continues to say no to most things related to its eastern neighbor.
Radoslaw Sikorski, Foreign Minister of this spring's presidency country Poland, has a voice that drips with both resignation and irony when he passes the ball on to Denmark.
Good luck, says Sikorski at a press conference in Warsaw.
Wiktor Nummelin/TT
Facts: Important dates for Denmark
TT
Here are some important dates for the EU during the summer and autumn of 2025:
1 July: Denmark takes over as presidency country in the Council of Ministers
2 July: The European Commission presents a proposal for climate targets until 2040
4 July: The European Commission holds a summit with Moldova in Chisinau
9 July: The US "tariff pause" expires
16 July: The European Commission presents a proposal for a new long-term budget (MFF)
28-30 August: The defense and foreign ministers hold an informal meeting in Copenhagen
1-2 October: The heads of state and government hold a summit in Copenhagen, first on their own and then with the leaders of the other European countries
23-24 October: The heads of state and government hold a summit in Brussels
18-19 December: The heads of state and government hold a summit in Brussels
The EU's presidency country has the primary task of leading the Council of Ministers' meetings and ongoing negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission. All regular summits are held in Brussels under the leadership of the Council's permanent president, currently Portugal's former Prime Minister António Costa.
The presidency rotates between all member states for a half-year at a time. This is what the list looks like for the coming years:
2025: Poland (spring), Denmark (autumn)
2026: Cyprus (spring), Ireland (autumn)
2027: Lithuania (spring), Greece (autumn)
2028: Italy (spring), Latvia (autumn)
2029: Luxembourg (spring), Netherlands (autumn)
