Next three EU Presidencies concluded negotiations on the presidency framework, during a meeting held Friday in Nicosia. The Coordinators of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus reached an agreement in principle on the text of their 18-month Programme, which will have to be approved through the respective national procedures of the three countries and be endorsed by the EU member states at the General Affairs Council of the EU in June 2011.

In a joint press conference, the three Heads of delegations, the Coordinators of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus, have expressed their satisfaction on the smooth conclusion of a year’s long work between the three countries, in consultation with the Council of the EU and the European Commission.

Head of the Secretariat of Cyprus EU Council Presidency Andreas Moleskis, underlined that the goals set in the Presidency Framework are “very ambitious and progressive” but also “attainable”. “The framework is very well balanced and reasonable and it reflects the major issues on the European agenda, as for example the EU Multiannual Financial Framework,” Moleskis added.

“We achieved a tremendous job today. We concluded the work on the trio program and this is something which is crucially important to kick off the work of the trio”, Polish Minister for European Affairs Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said. Under-Secretary for European Affairs of Denmark Kim Jorgensen said that the drafting of the trio programme, on which they have concluded, was a very important task.

The EU trio presidency (Poland-Denmark-Cyprus) will exercise the presidency of the European Council from July 1st 2011 until the end of 2012. This will be the first time that the Republic of Cyprus, since it joined the EU in May 2004, will assume the EU presidency, in the latter part of 2012.