Three proposals
for what the EU presidency can achieve
Denmark has the EU presidency in 2012 and this will provide unique opportunities. We have proposals from three industry heavyweights concerning how we can benefit from the EU presidency. By Mikkel Ais Andersen Translation: CLS Communication A/S
For the next six months, Denmark will sit at the head of the table at EU Council of Ministers meetings, and last month when Helle Thorning Schmidt (Social Democrats) presented the programme for the EU Presidency, Europe at work, she had this to say: “We are taking over the presidency at a historically difficult period. Like the Polish presidency, our presidency will be defined by
the crisis. But that makes it no less important that the necessary decisions be made.� This means that issues such as research, innovation and health have found their way onto the programme of the Danish presidency even though the allencompassing financial crisis that is affecting the whole of Europe requires a great deal of attention. And if Denmark understands how to exploit the potential, the EU presidency will be a unique opportunity to train the political
spotlight and support Danish positions of strength, thereby boosting growth and funding in the Danish welfare system. We asked Ulf Wiinberg, from Lundbeck, Henrik Vestergaard, from the Danish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Lif), and Antje Marquardsen, from the professional organisation Pharmadanmark, how the industry can benefit most from the EU presidency.
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