Foreign ministers meet to discuss upcoming Council of Europe presidency

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Slovakia and Malta met on Sunday evening for the first time to discuss the upcoming chairmanship of these countries in the Council of Europe. The ministers met in Luxembourg prior to the session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. "We discussed other areas of which we will shape the agenda and priorities of the trio and national presidencies. We address possible joint initiatives to improve the visibility of our cooperation", said Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák. Ministers of the Netherlands, Slovakia and Malta discuss the current state of preparations for the Presidency, which takes over the Netherlands in January 2016, followed by Slovakia in July and Malta in January 2017. They focused mainly on aspects of the common foreign and security policy.