How does the Presidency work in practice? What is the ‘Trio’?
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union involves extensive coordination between national ministries, diplomats, civil servants, EU institutions, and political leaders. During its six-month term, the Presidency is responsible for chairing meetings of the Council, coordinating negotiations between Member States, and helping to manage legislative files across a wide range of policy areas.
In practice, the Presidency chairs meetings at multiple levels of the Council system, from technical working groups and preparatory bodies to ministerial meetings involving representatives from across the European Union. Much of this work takes place in Brussels and Luxembourg, where Irish ministers and officials will chair meetings and negotiations on behalf of the Council.
The Presidency also involves a substantial programme of events and political activity in Ireland itself. Ireland’s 2026 Presidency is expected to involve hundreds of meetings, conferences, cultural events, diplomatic engagements, and high-level political gatherings involving European and international leaders. The Presidency also requires extensive logistical and security planning.
The Presidency forms part of the EU’s Trio Presidency system, under which groups of three Member States cooperate over an 18-month period in order to strengthen continuity across successive presidencies. Ireland, Lithuania and Greece will form the Presidency Trio from July 2026 to December 2027.
The trio system was introduced under the Lisbon Treaty to encourage longer-term coordination across the Council’s legislative agenda. While each Member State develops its own six-month programme, the trio prepares a shared 18-month programme setting out broader themes and priorities.
The Ireland–Lithuania–Greece Trio brings together three small maritime Member States located on different geographic frontiers of the European Union. These differing political, economic and strategic contexts are likely to shape each country’s approach to major European debates, including security, enlargement, migration, resilience, and competitiveness.