On the first day of the new year, Croatia assumed a six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. The start of the Presidency will be officially marked on 9 January 2020 by the arrival of the European Commission members in Zagreb and a concert at the Croatian National Theater. The international presidency of the Croatian Presidency will be held in Brussels on 15 January.

Croatia has taken over the EU Council Presidency with the slogan Strong Europe in a Challenging World, basing its six-month program in four main areas: an evolving Europe, a connecting Europe, a protecting Europe and an influential Europe.

During the Croatian Presidency, there will be around 1400 meetings at various levels, mostly in Brussels, while a total of 161 events will be held in Croatia, two-thirds of which will be held in Zagreb. The most important among them and the highlight of the presidency will be an informal EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb on May 7th. There are also nine ministerial conferences scheduled, five of which will be in Zagreb and four outside Zagreb.

The EU Council Presidency is an extremely important role for each Member State, which presents numerous challenges and opportunities - both for the Member State and its national administration. For the Republic of Croatia, this role will be further important because this is the first time that it has been in the role of President of the Council, six and a half years after its accession to the EU.