Each year one Member State takes over the Presidency in the Strategy. This means overall strategic guidance, facilitation of decision-making and coordination of the NC group with the support from the European Commission and the Baltic Strategy Point. The rotating presidency lasts for one year starting from July and ending in June.

 

The current Presidency holder in the EUSBSR National Coordinators Group is Sweden (July 2022 - June 2023).

 

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SE

 

 

Swedish Presidency of the EU Strategy of the Baltic Sea Region: implementation, visibility, awareness

Sweden holds the Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region from 1 July 2022 until 30 June 2023. Work during the Presidency is mainly focusing on strengthening and developing implementation of the Strategy and its Action Plan, including by developing new forms of cooperation, spreading knowledge of how the Strategy contributes to societal development and creating the conditions that enable more people to take part in cooperation within the Strategy.

 

Focus areas of the Presidency

The Presidencies of the past three years focused on drawing up, gaining acceptance for and formalising a new Action Plan. One important focus of the Swedish Presidency is to ensure that the Action Plan is put into practice and implemented in all policy areas to the greatest possible extent. Regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea region must be developed and supported, and Sweden wants to contribute to this.

Another important issue is to improve the visibility of the Strategy and to communicate it externally.

A third issue that Sweden will particularly focus on is to provide support and awareness raising initiatives. Both institutional and individual capacities must be enhanced. Public authorities and organisations must cooperate to jointly achieve targets and indicators.

The Swedish Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region will promote cooperation on all levels by focusing on strengthening implementation, increasing exchanges of experience, improving communication and offering more professional development.

Among other priorities defined by Sweden for the Presidency year are the following:

  • Funding
  • Capacity building
  • Supporting Ukraine 

 

Read about the Swedish EUSBSR Presidency also on the website of the Governmental Offices of Sweden

 

Upcoming Presidencies:

(according to the Rules of Procedure of the National Coordinators Group):

July 2023 - June 2024      Latvia 
July 2024 - June 2025  Poland 
July 2025 - June 2026  Estonia 
July 2026 - June 2027  Denmark 
July 2027 - June 2028  Finland 
July 2028 - June 2029  Germany 
July 2029 - June 2030  Lithuania 

 

Past Presidencies:

July 2021 - June 2022      Lithuania
July 2020 - June 2021 Germany
July 2019 - June 2020 Finland
July 2018 - June 2019 Denmark
July 2017 - June 2018 Estonia
July 2016 - June 2017 Sweden
July 2015 - June 2016 Poland
January - June 2015 Latvia
July - December 2014 Estonia
January - June 2014 Finland
July - December 2013 Lithuania*

 

*N.b. Lithuania was formally not NC-chair but acted as one and coordinated the Baltic Sea Region Member States as president of the Friends of the Presidency group for macro-regional strategies and helped establish the first “NCP-guidelines” December 2013.