Prior to the regular TEPSA Pre-Presidency Conferences, TEPSA has a tradition of formulating recommendations to present to the incoming Council presidency. At the Danish Pre-Presidency Conference on 22-23 May 2025, TEPSA presented key recommendations to the incoming Danish presidency of the Council of the European Union. These recommendations are formulated by experts from the TEPSA network, without necessarily representing the views of TEPSA or its Member Institutes.

In addition to the introduction penned by TEPSA Board Members Nicoletta Pirozzi (Istituto Affari Internazionali) and Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe), the Danish Presidency is presented with four detailed recommendations:

• “From outlier to driver in European defence policy”, by Christine Nissen, Chief Analyst, Think Tank EUROPA;
• “Supporting Ukraine in the new international context”, by Tyyne Karjalainen, Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs;
• “Charting the EU’s green transition: A call for pace and interconnectedness”, by Federica Prandin, Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs;
• “Europe’s digital quest for competitiveness and sovereignty”, by Seamus Allen, Researcher, Institute of International and European Affairs.

“It goes without saying that the Danish Presidency will be called upon to navigate the European Union (EU) through some choppy waters in the next six months. No presidency is entirely smooth or without its externally generated challenges, but the latter half of 2025 looks set to be especially fraught. Hundreds of articles, statements, policy documents and speeches have already made the point that President Trump’s mercurial and unpredictable external polices present the EU with epoch-defining considerations.

European leaders have, one after another, insisted in recent weeks that the EU now stands at a historic turning point. They have not specified exactly what this means in practice. The sense of dizzying panic triggered by the Trump administration may calm somewhat as the year unfolds, or it may intensify into even more of an existential crisis for Europe. The Danish Presidency will need to be ready to deal with both of these possibilities.

This means that the latter half of the year is likely to be dominated by momentous, overarching debates about the whole shape of European security, in addition to the more normal agenda business that presidencies must manage. It is this combination that will imbue the Danish Presidency with a distinctive feel: the need to proceed with business-as-usual in advancing many important policy files, on the one hand, while governments and the EU institutions reflect on the big shifts that will reshape Europe, on the other hand.”

Watch the formal presentation of TEPSA’s recommendations

On the occasion of the Danish Pre-Presidency Conference, Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe & TEPSA Board Member) formally presented the recommendations from members of the TEPSA network to the incoming Danish presidency of the Council of the European Union. His keynote speech was delivered to the assembled plenary ahead of the conference proper, and immediately preceding an address by Danish Foreign Minister Marie Bjerre. Watch the full address on our YouTube channel, and be sure to head over there and subscribe so you don’t miss out on future videos!