Rotating EU Presidency a great challenge for Cyprus

 Minister of Health, Christos Patsalides addressed today the opening ceremony of a workshop on “The experiences of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia” during the Slovenian presidency of the EU.

In his opening speech the Minister said that “for Cyprus the challenge of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union represents perhaps one of the biggest challenges the country has ever been invited to respond to”.

For this reason Cyprus asked the Slovenian government “to share with us their valuable experiences from the organization of their first Presidency of the Council” back in 2008, in order to be aware of the problems and difficulties in organizing the Presidency.

The Slovenian Presidency was characterized by various partners as a successful one as initiatives had been developed in the member states including Cyprus, especially in the field of cancer, which had been their main priority, the Minister said, adding that Cyprus is invited to run the Presidency under difficult times, which raise major concerns such as the global economic crisis with the slow recovery rate, the demographic changes with the ageing population, the climate change and the new health risks that impose additional burdens on the sustainability of the healthcare systems.

The Ministry is gradually building up a strong EU Presidency team led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Mavronikolas, and efforts are being made to further strengthening the Health Team in the Permanent Representation in Brussels, Patsalides added.

Patsalides underlined the need for building up synergies with previous presidencies in parallel collaboration with the Trio Presidency partners. “Learning from their experiences and avoiding possible mistakes are tools to be adopted by this collaboration”, he added.

Cyprus is due to run the Presidency of the Council of the EU during the second semester of 2012.