Which country assumed the Presidency of the European Union on 1st. July 2009?
"in 1973 and Sweden and Finland in 1995). The European Union's application to become a “permanent observer” in the Arctic Council was blocked in 2009 by Canada in response to the European Union's ban on the importation of seal products. The Arctic is an area of growing strategic importance. The European Union supports the successful Arctic co-operation and in helping to meet the challenges that now confront the region. The European Union is the world's strongest proponent of greater international efforts to fight climate change. It has three (and if the accession of Iceland to the European Union occurs, potentially"
"in France voted to reject the European Constitution which meant that the EU could not ratify the treaty because support was not unanimous. On 1 January 2010, Spain assumed the Presidency of the European Union for the first six months of the 18-month 'Trio' along with Belgium and Hungary. The development of the Stockholm Programme Action Plan, the impulse for the EU adhesion to the European Convention on Human Rights, the setting up of the new plan for effective equality between women and men, and the political decision to promote the European protection order, were all important advances achieved under"
"in 2009. The ""Lisbon Treaty"" finally came into force on 1 December 2009. It created the post of President of the European Council and significantly expanded the post of High Representative. After much debate about what kind of person should be President, the European Council agreed on a low-key personality and chose Herman Van Rompuy while foreign policy-novice Catherine Ashton became High Representative. Ashton was given the task of drawing up the plan for the new European External Action Service (EEAS) and soon received criticism on her abilities, her diplomatic decisions and her plans for the EEAS though many dismissed"
"the member state holding the semiannually rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union at any given time. However, since the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, article 15 of Treaty on European Union states that the European Council appoints a full-time president for a two-and-a-half-year term, with the possibility of renewal once. Appointments, as well as the removal of incumbents, require a double majority support in the European Council. On 19 November 2009, the European Council agreed that its first president under the Lisbon Treaty would be Herman Van Rompuy (European People's Party, Belgium). Van Rompuy took office when the"
"Reinfeldt also presided over the final negotiations surrounding implementation of The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, resulting in the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council and Catherine Ashton as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The boost in perceived statesmanship that Persson enjoyed hosting the EU Presidency in 2001 largely evaded Reinfeldt however, and in opinion polls ahead of the 2010 general election support for his government continuously trailed that of the Social Democratic opposition. The Social Democrats joined forces in December 2008 with the"
"of the European Union since 2009. The European Parliament's 2009 resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism, co-sponsored by the European People's Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, The Greens–European Free Alliance, and the Union for Europe of the Nations, called for its implementation in all of Europe. The establishment of 23 August as an international remembrance day for victims of totalitarianism was also supported by the 2009 Vilnius Declaration of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. 23 August was chosen to coincide with the date of the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a 1939 non-aggression pact between the USSR"
"European Union. It was later ratified by 18 member states, which included referendums endorsing it in Spain and Luxembourg. However the rejection of the document by French and Dutch voters in May and June 2005 brought the ratification process to an end. Following a period of reflection, the Treaty of Lisbon was created to replace the Constitutional Treaty. This contained many of the changes that were originally placed in the Constitutional Treaty but was formulated as amendments to the existing treaties. Signed on 13 December 2007, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009. The drafting for European"
"post of President of the European Council and significantly expanded the post of High Representative. After much debate about what kind of person should be President, the European Council agreed on a low-key personality and chose Herman Van Rompuy while foreign policy-novice Catherine Ashton became High Representative. The 2009 elections again saw a victory for the European People's Party, despite losing the British Conservatives who formed a smaller eurosceptic grouping with other anti-federalist right wing parties. Parliament's presidency was once again divided between the People's Party and the Socialists, with Jerzy Buzek elected as the first President of the European"
"Slovenia joined the Union. In 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became EU members. The same year, Slovenia adopted the euro, followed in 2008 by Cyprus and Malta, by Slovakia in 2009, by Estonia in 2011, by Latvia in 2014, and by Lithuania in 2015. On 1 December 2009, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and reformed many aspects of the EU. In particular, it changed the legal structure of the European Union, merging the EU three pillars system into a single legal entity provisioned with a legal personality, created a permanent President of the European Council, the first of which was"
"meetings and with other EU institutions. The presidency is currently (as of July 2018) held by Austria. Three successive presidencies are known as ""presidency trios"". The current trio (2017-18) is made up of Estonia (Jul-Dec 2017), Bulgaria (Jan-Jun 2018) and Austria (Jul-Dec 2018). When the Council was established, its work was minimal and the presidency rotated between each of the then six members every six months. However, as the work load of the Council grew and the membership increased, the lack of coordination between each successive six-month presidency hindered the development of long-term priorities for the EU. In order to"
"Policy. The presidency has been held by Austria since 1 July 2018. The ""European Commission"" (EC) is the executive arm of the Union. It is a body composed of one appointee from each state, currently twenty-eight, but is designed to be independent of national interests. The body is responsible for drafting all law of the European Union and has the ability to propose new laws (bills). It also deals with the day-to-day running of the Union and has the duty of upholding the law and treaties (in this role it is known as the ""Guardian of the Treaties""). The Commission"
"entering into force on 1 January 2009. This plan failed however, primarily due to the initial rejection of the Treaty in 2008 by the Irish electorate in a referendum, a decision which was reversed in a second referendum in October 2009. Ireland, as required by its constitution, was the only member state to hold referendums on the Treaty. In the UK, the European Union (Amendment) Bill was debated in the House of Commons on 21 January 2008, and passed its second reading that day by a vote of 362 to 224; Prime Minister Gordon Brown was absent that day; the"
"and 19 October 2007, Portugal, which succeeded Germany as holder of the Presidency, did however insist that the Treaty be signed in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. This request was granted, and the Treaty was thus to be called the Treaty of Lisbon, in line with the tradition of naming European Union treaties. The Portuguese presidency was appointed to the job of organising a programme and a ceremony for the signing of the treaty in late 2007, later specified to 13 December. At 10:00 the plenipotentiaries from the 27 member states, as well as the presidents of the three main EU"
"of the Council of the EU), which is usually chaired by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Presidency of the Council of the European Union has been held by Austria (and by extension Chancellor Sebastian Kurz) since 1 July 2018. In protocol (ceremonial) terms, it is the President of the Parliament who comes first, as it is listed first in the treaties. However, on the world stage, the principal representative of the EU is considered to be the President of the European Council, but the President of the European Commission, as head of"
"Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009 with a term stretching until 31 May 2012. His term was later extended with a second period ending on 30 November 2014. The current president, for the term 1 June 2017 until 30 November 2019, is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He was reelected on 9 March 2017. The first meeting of all EU (then EC) heads of state or government was held in 1961 as an informal summit, but only became formalised in 1974, when it was baptised ""European Council"" by the then French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing."
"the White House and then in the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 23 September 2009. Reinfeldt was President of the European Council from 1 July to 1 December 2009. The signing of the Treaty of Lisbon was Reinfeldt's role as President of the Council, which also occurred on 13 December 2009. Reinfeldt was also responsible in this role to put EU's efforts to get into a binding agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009 but this did not succeed. After defeat in 2014, Reinfeldt announced he would step down as both Prime Minister of Sweden"
"also led to their rejection. On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy, at that time Prime Minister of Belgium, was appointed the first full-time President of the European Council. The formal decision on the appointment was made after the Treaty of Lisbon came into force on 1 December 2009. The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said that he had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels on the evening of 19 November 2009. Brown praised Van Rompuy as ""a consensus builder"" who had ""brought a period of political stability to his country after months of"
"the European Union. One of these core ideas was to abolish the pillar structure, and replace it with a merged legal personality for the Union. This idea was included in the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009. With a legal personality, ""Union"" is, for instance, able to be part of international treaties. The Treaty of Lisbon also states that ""the Union shall replace and succeed the European Community,"" with the effect that, once the Treaty entered into force, the EU obtained the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which had belonged to the European"
"for Education and Skills. On 29 October 2009, it was announced that he had written to the Ambassadors to the United States of the 27 members of the European Union expressing his interest in applying for the position of President of the European Council following implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Bruton was very much an outside shot for the position as EU leaders firmly indicated they want a chairman-style president rather than a high-profile figurehead to fill the post. Herman Van Rompuy, the then Belgian Prime Minister, was appointed President of the European Council on 19 November 2009 and took"
"Council configuration from the General Affairs configuration and created the position of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. After the United Kingdom's Brexit vote in 2016 and its subsequent relinquishment of its scheduled presidency in the Council of the European Union which was due to take place from July to December 2017, the rotation of presidencies was brought six months forward. Estonia was scheduled to take over the UK's six-month slot instead. The presidency is currently (as of July 2018) held by Austria. The Council meets in various formations where its composition depends on the"
"(February 2009); Costa Rica, Mauritius, Morocco and Peru (March 2009); the Dominican Republic (November 2009); Senegal (February 2011); Argentina and Cabo Verde (March 2011); Panama (July 2013); Côte d'Ivoire, Kazakhstan and Tunisia (January 2015); the People’s Republic of China (July 2015); Ghana and Uruguay (October 2015); and Paraguay (March 2017). The European Union also takes part in the work of the Governing Board. ""Participating OECD members:"" Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom."" ""Participating non-OECD members:"""
"Jerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of Poland and member of Solidarity Electoral Action, was elected as the first president from the central and eastern European countries which joined in the 2000s (more precisely, he is the first person from a country that joined the EU after 1986 to hold the post). The two major factions of the European Parliament, the EPP and the S&D, have reached a formal agreement to share the presidency under the 2009–2014 term. Under the agreement, Jerzy Buzek will be president in the first half of the term and a S&D member would be elected in"
"Union. The treaty was ratified on time and entered into force on 1 May 2004 amid ceremonies around Europe. European leaders met in Dublin for fireworks and a flag-raising ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish presidential palace. At the same time, citizens across Ireland enjoyed a nationwide celebration styled as the ""Day of Welcomes"". President Romano Prodi took part in celebrations on the Italian-Slovenian border at the divided town of Gorizia/Nova Gorica, at the German-Polish border, the EU flag was raised and Ode to Joy was sung and there was a laser show in Malta among the various other"
"binding on them. The EU attends due to its role in the world economy, and its relevancy increased with the establishment of a single market, common currency and foreign policy. The Paris Summit of 1989 was a landmark year for the EU's participation in the G7, when the G7 asked the EU to assume responsibility for Phare. European Union and the G7 The European Union (EU) is a member of the G7 (formerly the G8). It has been dubbed its ""9th/8th member"", holding all the privileges and obligations of membership but without the right to host or chair a summit."
"the President has attended all sessions of the G7. The EU is currently represented by the Commission President and the President of the European Council. The latter used to be the rotating chair of the council of EU state leaders, with irregular attendance since 1982. The Council Presidency sometimes coincided with one of the G8 members, in which case that leader attended with their national and European mandate. Since 2009, the President of the European Council is a permanent position, who always attends the summits. As the EU is a member, what the Presidents endorse at the G8 is politically"
"for said the government would pass a law to enforce the 500 million euro charge for this year, adding that this could also be contested by GDF Suez."" On 19 November 2009, Van Rompuy was chosen unanimously by the European Council, at an informal meeting in Brussels, to be the first full-time President of the European Council; for the period of 1 December 2009 (the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon) until 31 May 2012. He took up his position officially on 1 January 2010. Gordon Brown also praised Van Rompuy as ""a consensus-builder"" who had ""brought a"
"European Council The European Council is a collective body that defines the European Union's overall political direction and priorities. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also takes part in its meetings. Established as an informal summit in 1975, the European Council was formalised as an institution in 2009 upon the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. Its current President is Donald Tusk, former Prime"
"the European Union"". It was during Prodi's presidency, in 2002, that 11 EU member states ditched their national currencies and adopted the euro as their common currency. This commission (the 10th) saw an increase in power and influence following the Amsterdam Treaty. The treaty was the result of long negotiations which began in Messina, Sicily, on 2 June 1995, nearly forty years after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and reached completion in Amsterdam on 18 June 1997. Following the formal signing of the Treaty on 2 October 1997, the Member States engaged in an equally long and complex"
"and occupation. On 26 March 1995, Portugal started to implement Schengen Area rules, eliminating border controls with other Schengen members while simultaneously strengthening border controls with non-member states. In 1996 the country was a co-founder of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) headquartered in Lisbon. Expo '98 took place in Portugal and in 1999 it was one of the founding countries of the euro and the eurozone. On 5 July 2004, José Manuel Barroso, then Prime Minister of Portugal, was nominated President of the European Commission, the most powerful office in the European Union. On 1 December 2009, the"
"their allegiance to it."" In 2017, president of France Emmanuel Macron signed a declaration endorsing the 2007 statement, so that, as of 2018, 17 out of 28 members have recognized the emblem as a flag representing ""allegiance to the EU"": Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Italy has incorporated the EU flag into its flag code. According to an Italian law passed in 2000, it is mandatory for most public offices and buildings to hoist the European Flag alongside the Italian national flag (Law 22/1998 and Presidential Decree"
"Today it is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. While the current version of the TEU entered into force in 2009, following the Treaty of Lisbon (2007), the older form of the same document was implemented by the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). The signing of the Treaty of Maastricht took place in Maastricht, Netherlands, on 7 February 1992. The Dutch government, by virtue of holding Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the negotiations in the second half of"
"her outspoken speech and her black belt in karate. Grybauskaitė, who speaks Lithuanian, English, Russian, French and Polish, has mentioned Margaret Thatcher and Mahatma Gandhi as her political role models. Grybauskaitė assumed presidential duties on 12 July 2009, and accepted half of her presidential salary (312,000 litas). Her first presidential visits abroad were made to Sweden and Latvia; in April 2011, she made a state visit to Norway. On 19 December 2013, Grybauskaitė decided to boycott the Sochi Winter Olympics together with other Western leaders, including German president Joachim Gauck, French president François Hollande, and the US president Barack Obama,"
"European Union and the G7 The European Union (EU) is a member of the G7 (formerly the G8). It has been dubbed its ""9th/8th member"", holding all the privileges and obligations of membership but without the right to host or chair a summit. As the full name of the G8 is the ""Group of Eight Nations"", the EU has not been included in the number, hence there being nine members in the G8. The President of the European Commission has attended since he was first invited to the third G7 summit in 1977, Roy Jenkins was the then-President. Since 1981"