EU presidency comes to an end

The Czech Republic ends its six month presidency of the EU at midnight on Tuesday, making way for the next presiding country Sweden. At a ceremony marking the end of the presidency at the Office of the Government Prime Minister Jan Fischer and his predecessor in the post Mirek Topolánek said the presidency had fulfilled its agenda successfully despite the fall of the government halfway through. Mr Fischer drew attention to the success of the EU summit this month which lined up the current EC president for another term and thrashed out assurances for Ireland ahead of another referendum on the Lisbon treaty. The prime minister also highlighted Czech moves to put relations with countries in Eastern Europe on a new footing, prioritise energy security and curb the impact of the world economic crisis.

The present and former prime ministers thanked all civil service employees who were involved in the day to day work and symbolically sliced a cake with the Czech EU logo. The informal meeting ended with the lowering of a white flag with the Czech EU presidency logo and the hoisting of the EU flag. On July 1 the EU presidency will be assumed by Sweden.