Foreign Minister Lajčák: EU presidency - an unprecedented challenge for Slovakia

Slovakia plans to hold the most cost-efficient EU presidency among the Visegrad Group (V4) countries, with all costs set to be under €70 million, Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák announced at a press conference on Wednesday. Slovakia will hold the Presidency between July and December 2016. Minister Lajčák calls the EU presidency an unprecedented challenge not only for his ministry and the Government, but for the whole country as well. According to him, Slovakia could be later perceived as a capable and competent country based on the results of the presidency. At the moment the programme of the presidency trio - Slovakia, the Netherlands and Malta is being prepared. Among priorities of the presidency will be the Digital Single Market and support for start-ups. The Government has also created a new post - presidency proxy, which has been taken up by Ivan Korčok who hopes to make use of the expertise that he gained from his time leading the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU in Brussels.