Effect of Lisbon treaty on rotating Council Presidency success – the Poland-Denmark-Cyprus trio

The Presidency of the Council of the EU is directly responsible for the functioning of one of the two EU co-legislators – the Council of the EU, by chairing its meetings, setting its agenda and representing it before other EU institutions. However the Lisbon Treaty introduced significant changes in the functioning mechanisms of the Council and its Presidency in particular – the European Council is now separate institution from the Presidency; the European Council and the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) are chaired by permanent Presidents independent from the Presidency; successive Presidencies are split into trios and must cooperate. This thesis is aimed at identifying the determinants for running successful Presidency in the changed post-Lisbon conditions. In order to do so three Presidencies forming a trio – Polish, Danish and Cypriot – are examined separately and then the findings are compared in a cross-case analysis. The findings of the research suggest that, first and foremost, the coordination between the Presidency on one side, and respectively the European Council and the FAC on others, determine whether a rotating Presidency will be perceived as successful or not. The success in negotiations with the more powerful post-Lisbon European Parliament proves also significant but to a slightly less extent. Agenda implementation turns to be no determinant for Presidency success, while there is not enough evidence to make valid conclusions about the potential causal effect of the consistency with other trio members on the Presidency success.