What is the EU presidency? Every six months, an EU Member State takes on the presidency of the Council of the EU, helping to ensure the smooth running of the EU legislative process. Those Member States holding the presidency work together in a ‘trio’ to ensure the continuity of the EU’s work in the Council and to prepare a common agenda over an 18-month period. They agree on the topics to address during the period and set longer-term goals. Each Member State hosting the presidency prepares a more detailed six-month programme.
Eurofound is committed to improving living and working conditions in the EU. The Agency plays a unique role in providing expertise to support the EU institutions and bodies, Member States and social partners in shaping and implementing social, employment and work-related policies, based on national-level and comparative research.
As part of this, the Agency collaborates with the rotating trio of presidencies of the Council of the EU, providing evidence-based knowledge and expertise at various levels.
Since 2012, Eurofound has been contributing to the relevant rotating Presidency of the Council, coordinating closely with Ministry colleagues in the Member States.
Eurofound provides its expertise for a range of presidency events such as the informal meeting of employment and social affairs ministers (EPSCO), the EU Employment Committee (EMCO) and the EU Social Protection Committee (SPC), as well as presidency conferences and other meetings.
At the request of the presidency, Eurofound prepares background papers or contributes knowledge for high-level meetings or events, as well as customised reports drawing on the findings of existing research. Eurofound staff participate as speakers, moderators or chairs at such events. In addition, Eurofound's work can help to inform the Presidency Council Conclusions. Some examples of our contributions are linked below under each presidency.
In line with the priorities of each presidency, Eurofound can provide valuable evidence from a range of its ongoing research topics linked to employment, social and work-related policies. These include social dialogue, the impact of the green transition on employment, energy poverty and the cost of living, the European Child Guarantee, skills, flexibility in the workplace, boosting women’s labour market participation, platform work, youth unemployment and NEETs, as well as the EU social investment package.
Read more on the presidency priorities(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab on the website of the Council of the EU.
The current presidency trio is made up of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus. Learn more about Eurofound's contributions to each presidency below.
Reach out to the following experts for questions on Eurofound's contributions to EU Council presidencies.
Anna Ludwinek
Liaison Manager - Brussels Liaison OfficeAnna Ludwinek is the Liaison Manager at Eurofound’s Brussels Liaison Office, which she joined in 2019. Her responsibilities focus primarily on coordinating the work of the Brussels office, including the relationship with the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and thinks-tanks. Prior to this, Anna was a research manager in the Social Policies unit with responsibility for work on intergenerational social mobility and equal opportunities, youth inequalities and access to social benefits. Her earlier work at Eurofound involved managing a European network of cities for local integration policies (CLIP), working on issues around diversity, housing, intercultural policies and ethnic entrepreneurship. Other areas of research included reintegration of long-term excluded groups into the labour market and the impact of digitalisation on social services. Anna holds an MA in Political Science from Warsaw University and a BA in International Relations and MA in Social Applied Research from Trinity College Dublin.
Cristina Arigho
Senior Communication ManagerCristina Arigho is Senior Communications Manager and Stakeholder engagement and Promotions Lead in the Information and Communication unit at Eurofound, having joined the Agency in 2012. Previously, she spent almost 20 years in Brussels working in various roles, many of them at the European Commission, including as spokesperson for DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (2010–2012) and for DG Budget (2007–2009). Before joining the Commission’s spokesperson’s service, she was press officer at DG Employment (2005–2007) and speech writer for the Commissioner and Director General at the time (2003–2005). Prior to her years at the Commission, she worked for RTÉ radio and television (Irish national television) in Brussels as a production assistant and researcher, and later as news producer. Cristina is a graduate in Applied Languages from the University of Ulster at Coleraine, Northern Ireland.
