How to navigate Ireland’s EU presidency policy agenda like a pro
Ireland takes the reins of the Council’s policy negotiations at a moment of political possibility.
Illustration by Eoin Ryan for POLITICO
Ireland is stepping into its role as chair of the EU’s policy agenda at a moment when Europe’s politics are, for once, helping rather than holding it back.
With Hungary’s Viktor Orbán no longer a thorn in the EU’s side, the expectations are high for progress on multiple fronts. But there’s also a looming deadline. Mindful of the French presidential election coming in mid-2027, in which the far-right National Rally currently leads the polls, politicians are eager to wrap up discussions on policy files large and small by the end of the year.
It means there’s a lot to do.
The biggest task is the EU’s next long-term budget, which will determine the bloc’s financial firepower from 2028 to 2034. But the list is long, encompassing everything from enlargement to tech sovereignty, innovative medicines and tweaks to the bloc’s flagship climate law.
Here’s POLITICO’s guide to the some of the main items that will keep Ireland busy.
Agreeing a 7-year budget
Why it matters: The EU budget, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework, governs the bloc’s central spending on everything from agricultural subsidies to defense projects. It is one of the toughest nuts to crack in the Brussels machine because it is approved by unanimity and involves meshing the conflicting priorities of 27 governments.
State of play: Dublin is set to chair budget discussions among EU governments and circulate a new negotiating document with revised spending figures in October. That will pave the way for the final furlong of the negotiations, which will be handled by the President of the European Council António Costa. His goal is to secure a deal among leaders in a December summit.
Fault lines: Wealthy Northern European countries backing a radically smaller budget criticized Cyprus’ negotiating document from last week that proposed a mere 2 percent cut from the European Commission proposal. On the other hand, Southern and Eastern European countries welcomed Nicosia’s changes. Ireland faces the sensitive task of restoring a good balance for both camps that can pave the way for a deal. Good luck with that.
Likely progress: 
— Gregorio Sorgi
Preventing deindustrialization
Why it matters: Europe’s industry is under pressure from a wave of subsidized Chinese exports, high energy prices and a perceived competitiveness lag vis-à-vis the U.S. and China. The Industrial Accelerator Act is the bloc’s attempt to prevent deindustrialization, and is Executive Vice President Stéphane Séjourné’s baby. It introduces a “Made in EU” preference for public procurement in strategic sectors as well as conditions on foreign direct investment to curb Chinese acquisitions of strategic assets.
State of play: EU leaders would like the proposal, unveiled in March, to be ready by the end of the year. Ireland is not shying away from the challenge. “It is a very aggressive roadmap, there is no doubt of that, but in Ireland we are very strong in getting compromises,” Enterprise Minister Peter Burke told POLITICO.
Fault lines: Drawing up a list of “trusted partners” — countries that would enjoy the same status as EU members in public procurement — is the biggest challenge of the IAA. The “Made in EU” concept has met resistance from the Nordic, free trade members of the bloc and export-heavy Germany, while Séjourné’s home country, France, leads the enthusiasts. The file is also the target of intense lobbying by industry sectors, with automotive split between suppliers (who support the act) and manufacturers (who mostly don’t). Last but not least, the proposal will be handled not by one, but three co-lead negotiators at the European Parliament.
Likely progress: 
— Francesca Micheletti
Increasing homegrown tech
Why it matters: After multiple delays, the European Commission finally unveiled its plan to crack down on the bloc’s dependence on foreign tech — a push driven largely by fears that Europe’s overreliance on U.S. firms could be weaponized by Donald Trump. The so-called tech sovereignty package includes the Cloud and AI Development Act — an effort to boost European champions accompanied by new obligations for public sectors to assess vulnerabilities and replace U.S. providers where necessary — as well as a revision of the Chips Act aimed at doubling down on both the production of AI chips and demand for advanced semiconductors.
State of play: EU digital ministers gave the proposals an early, warm reception, but they are still digesting regulations that are heavy on fine print and leave a lot to future secondary legislation and budget. Still, the package marks the first major signal that Europe is confronting its digital dependencies on foreign countries head-on in a new, geopolitically charged context.
Fault lines: The proposals are expected to face heavy lobbying, including from the U.S. administration and industry, which stands to lose the most. The laws will only be as powerful as their enforcement with much discretion being left to EU capitals on the most sensitive issues, although the Commission would gain some powers to overrule them — a provision that could be struck down during negotiations.
Likely progress: 
— Mathieu Pollet
Restricting social media use
Why it matters: Restricting the age of social media users is one of the biggest changes in internet regulation in decades, reminiscent of the 1990s crackdown on tobacco companies for creating addictive products. Globally, the tone around social media use for kids has drastically changed, with Australia introducing the first age restrictions in December 2025. Other countries are following suit, including Denmark, France and Greece. The European Commission is looking at similar measures, in part due to pressure from national governments.
State of play: The Commission has tasked a panel of experts with coming up with a recommendation this summer, led by two co-chairs, Maria Melchior and Jörg Fegert. Legislation could follow soon after that, either as a standalone instrument or through proposals already in the works like the Audiovisual Media Services Directive or the Digital Fairness Act, both expected in the second half of the year. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has signaled her preference for age restrictions.
Fault lines: At recent ministerial summits, EU countries have mostly aligned with calls for bloc-wide age restrictions on social media. One country has remained reticent, Estonia. Privacy and child rights experts argue that the bans would harm everyone’s privacy and be ineffective in protecting kids, respectively.
Likely progress:
— Eliza Gkritsi
Loosening emissions rules
Why it matters: The Emissions Trading System is the EU’s most important climate policy. It forces big polluters such as steelmakers, cement manufacturers and chemicals companies to pay a fee for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit. It also caps total CO2 emissions. The idea is to force industry to find nonpolluting business models.
State of play: The European Commission will propose changes to the ETS on July 15, and is planning to modestly loosen the rules. That might include a slower reduction of the total emissions cap, more free allowances, and the use of international carbon credits to offset emissions. Will that be enough for European industry, which is already complaining of high energy prices and competition from China? Probably not.
Fault lines: This is going to be a political knife fight. Some countries — Poland, Italy, Czechia, even, briefly, Germany — have waged outright war on the ETS, calling for it to be weakened or even suspended to help boost EU industry. Lots of others are unlikely to accept that. Ireland, which has kept out of the fray, has promised to be an honest broker, and has plenty of goodwill. But given the depth of feeling on this topic, getting a deal inside the year could be tough.
Likely progress:
— James Fernyhough
Overhauling financial plumbing
Why it matters: Defense, the green transition, digital innovation: These are the kinds of priorities the EU is hoping will be financed via private sector capital if its big swing to unify its money markets to rival Wall Street pays off. The overall project is known as the Savings and Investments Union, but the key legislation on the table right now is catchily titled the Market Integration and Supervision Package, or MISP. Brussels hopes that creating a single market for investment with unified rules will get more financing sloshing around the bloc and help to grow innovative European companies.
State of play: The heads of the three EU political bodies have committed to a target of the end of 2026 for an overall political deal on MISP. But that’s highly unlikely. If governments can set aside their differences to strike a Council deal (and that’s a big if), it will likely be toward the end of the year. For the European Parliament, a political deal is likely to come next spring. That puts the timeframe for an overall EU deal well into 2027 — meaning the best Dublin can do is push for the Council deal during its presidency.
Fault lines: The package is a technical beast full of changes to capital market structure and rules, but the most contentious element is on creating a single EU top cop for the biggest financial plumbing firms. Many countries don’t want to cede power to an EU watchdog, some want to preserve the strength of their national investment ecosystems, while others are impatient for progress on the project and want to push for a deal by any means necessary.
Likely progress:
— Kathryn Carlson
Strengthening trade action
Why it matters: For the first time, all EU member countries are exporting less to China than they are importing — and the bloc’s trade deficit is ballooning. “The last one which didn’t have a deficit was Germany but that has changed also now,” Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told POLITICO. “So it’s important to rebalance this economic relation and for the EU, where necessary, to defend our market.” The European Commission wants to propose new tools, like a diversification instrument, and improve the effectiveness of its existing trade defense arsenal. A Commission proposal is expected in the third quarter — and there’s no shortage of ideas already from the Brussels trade bubble.
State of play: National politicians that are hawkish on trade — like French President Emmanuel Macron or Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever — want stronger trade action from the Commission. The executive itself is understandably more cautious. But with the bloc’s trade defense department scrambling to address incoming complaints, reform is needed to speed things up.
Fault lines: As so often in trade policy, France and Germany are on opposing sides of the debate. However, while the coalition in Berlin might be divided on the issue, the flip from a trade surplus with China to a deficit has Chancellor Friedrich Merz worried about erosion of his country’s industrial base. France, meanwhile, launched a push for stronger trade action in a position paper that was backed by Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Spain initially signed up, before publicly disavowing the document.
Likely progress: 
—Koen Verhelst
Creating EU-level companies
Why it matters: European startups are losing ground to American and Chinese rivals, in part because scaling across the bloc means navigating 27 national company law systems. The 28th regime, branded “EU Inc.,” is the European Commission’s attempt to fix that with an optional EU-wide corporate form that can be registered online within 48 hours, for under €100 and with no minimum capital requirement.
State of play: EU leaders want the file, proposed in March, agreed before the end of the year. A European Parliament own-initiative report drafted ahead of the proposal won a comfortable endorsement in January, auguring a clear path. Lead lawmaker René Repasi’s draft report is due at the end of June, with a committee vote in September.
Fault lines: The Commission built EU Inc. on an internal market legal base that needs only a qualified majority, rather than the unanimity-bound article used for every previous EU company form. To defend that, it keeps handing the hardest questions — worker participation and tax — back to national law, and has dropped contentious features like a dedicated EU Inc. court.
Organized labor meanwhile sees the optional form as a license to shop for the lightest rules and the European Trade Union Confederation has called for the file to be halted until worker safeguards are written in. Mobilization has spread from the Nordics and Austria, but nowhere is it louder than Germany, where there are fears that employee board representation at the heart of its co-determination model could be lost.
Likely progress:
— Jacob Parry
Limiting automotive emissions
Why it matters: After months of political pressure and lobbying, the European Commission put forward an automotive package in December 2025 that does away with its 2035 de facto combustion engine ban in favor of a target to reduce tailpipe emissions by 90 percent. It allows automakers to sell all power trains past 2035 so long as they make investments in green steel and alternative fuels. Separately, the package sets targets for EU countries to electrify corporate fleets — company vehicles that make up 60 percent of car sales across the EU. The Commission’s hope is that corporate fleet decarbonization will make up for the extra CO2 emissions coming from automakers.
State of play: The European People’s Party is the lead negotiator in the European Parliament and submitted a proposal that goes far beyond the Commission’s suggestion: a 73 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions, including various emission offsets for green steel and alternative fuels. The corporate fleets proposal, meanwhile, appears to be dead on arrival in the Council of the EU where it faces staunch pushback from Germany and a coalition of countries led by Poland that opposes binding targets for member countries. Together, the group poses a blocking minority.
Fault lines: The biggest question is whether the EPP will hold its center majority together with the Socialists and Democrats and Renew or partner with the far right to push through its desired outcome. The EPP campaigned on overturning the combustion engine ban — a goal similarly held by the far right. Looming over both files is the Industrial Accelerator Act, which will set the definition of what counts as made in the EU, a provision woven into both regulations.
Likely progress:
—Jordyn Dahl
Championing innovative medicines
Why it matters: The Biotech Act (part one) is an attempt to boost the EU’s biotechnology sector in health care — think rare disease cell therapies, vaccines and targeted cancer drugs. Europe has traditionally been among the world’s leaders in biotech but that position is slipping, with the U.S. and China pulling further ahead.
State of play: Cyprus didn’t get very far with negotiations on the European Commission proposal, with translations only arriving toward the end of its presidency and health ministers discussing the text at a meeting in Luxembourg on June 16. The European Parliament is making quicker progress, with the health and industry committees expected to publish their draft reports this month. MEPs have commissioned the Parliament’s in-house researchers to study the impact of the legislation, since the Commission omitted to publish an impact assessment.
Fault lines: Key to the proposal is a patent extension for EU-made drugs, a perk to attract pharma investment. However, Ireland’s presidency lands in the midst of a transatlantic rift over drug pricing, with the U.S. demanding that financially stretched EU countries pay more for novel drugs. A patent extension would only squeeze the already tight coffers further. Ireland will have to balance larger, pharma-heavy countries’ demands to protect industry with smaller countries’ push to limit monopoly rights and expand medicines access — all while pressure from the U.S. and industry hangs over its head.
Likely progress:
— Rory O’Neill
Rethinking environmental rules
Why it matters: The European Commission’s environmental omnibus proposes sweeping changes to laws on emissions reporting, circular economy, geospatial data collection and environmental assessments. The proposal has become emblematic of growing tension between Europe’s environmental objectives and its push to revive industry.
State of play: The file is divided into three chunks on permitting procedure, emissions reporting and extended producer responsibility schemes, which force companies to pay to deal with their products when they’re thrown out. EU country delegations are poring over the technical details of the Commission’s proposal, under pressure from leaders to finish all simplification packages by the end of the year. But in the Parliament, the file is handled by numerous MEPs and committees, which slows down the process.
Fault lines: EU countries agree with the idea of speeding up environmental permitting procedures, but some are pushing for more EU laws to be reopened — including the bloc’s sensitive birds and habitats rules — to make it happen. That’s angering environmental groups. Some EU members want to retain more control over how they handle their own permitting procedures. EU governments and MEPs disagree with the Commission on how to simplify EPR schemes. Negotiations have stalled on this point as the co-legislators want to wait for an upcoming law on circular economy to decide the best course of action.
Likely progress:
— Marianne Gros
Securing critical infrastructure
Why it matters: The European Union has spent years trying to persuade national governments to kick Chinese tech giant Huawei out of telecom networks over concerns about snooping and data theft. Now, the European Commission has lost patience and wants to force countries to kick out risky vendors — and not just in telecoms. The revamped Cybersecurity Act allows the EU to identify the most important tech used by critical industries, say which countries pose a cybersecurity concern and dictate which suppliers should be banned. It also gives more money and power to EU cyber agency ENISA and overhauls the EU’s much-maligned system of cyber certification.
State of play: The Commission published its proposal in January and national capitals recently had a first stab at a response, but haven’t yet drafted their own version of the hotly contested text on supply chain issues. Ireland hopes to reach a common position by the end of the year. The European Parliament is aiming for a first proposal by mid-July, with a view to hashing out amendments in the fall and a final vote in the Parliament next spring.
Fault lines: Even before the law was proposed, EU capitals voiced discomfort about what they saw as a possible Brussels power grab. Many governments see decisions about which suppliers to include in their critical supply chains as a national security issue, which the EU isn’t allowed to interfere with. There are also concerns about upsetting China, and the cost of ripping and replacing expensive equipment from massive and complex supply chains. National cyber agencies also want to make sure ENISA doesn’t encroach on their patches.
Likely progress:
— Sam Clark
Rolling out migration rules
Why it matters: After years of bickering, the EU approved a major overhaul of its migration policy in a bid to gain greater control over who crosses into the bloc and send more support to countries that receive the most migrants. The reforms have to help regain people’s trust that EU countries and Brussels are in control of migration at a time when anti-migration parties are riding high in the polls.
State of play: The Pact on Migration and Asylum started applying on June 12 but implementing the massive package of reforms and fixing gaps as they arise will remain high on the agenda. The Irish presidency will also oversee the negotiation of new mandates for Frontex, Europol and Eurojust and even though it won’t be up to Brussels to set up deportation hubs outside EU borders, Ireland’s time at the helm of the Council could nonetheless be marked by countries’ preparations to do so.
Fault lines: Migration policy in the EU has been marked by finger-pointing and not-so-temporary national border controls. Brussels’ overhaul relies on greater trust in frontline countries’ handling of arriving migrants and — in return — greater support for them. But attempts to reboot solidarity remain fragile.
Likely progress:
— Hanne Cokelaere
Opening up defense contracts
Why it matters: Russia’s war in Ukraine and doubts about U.S. support under President Donald Trump are spurring a push to build a thriving domestic defense industry in Europe. But hampering progress is the fact that many countries currently use an exemption in the EU treaties allowing them to favor their home defense industries in arms contracts, meaning there’s no bloc-wide single market for defense. The European Commission tried to discourage the use of this exemption under the original 2009 defense procurement directive — with little success. A review of the directive aims to tackle this again.
State of play: The review is expected to land in the fall, as it’ll only be published after a broader communication on the single market, due next month. That timetable means Ireland has scaled down its ambition. A draft Irish policy program from May, seen by POLITICO, said the presidency would “progress the revision of the Defence Procurement Directive,” while in June the Irish presidency published a document saying that “will advance work” on defense procurement.
Fault lines: Big countries with big industries like France, Germany and Italy don’t have much appetite to open up their defense contracts to non-national companies. And analysts recognize that in some cases, they have a point. If France were to open a public tender for the acquisition of nuclear submarines, for example, “its nuclear weapons programme would effectively be publicly exposed” wrote Daniel Fiott, a highly respected defense analyst. Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has so far spoken about “incentives” to persuade EU countries to avoid using the treaty exemption.
Likely progress:
— Jacopo Barigazzi
Expanding the EU
Why it matters: The EU hasn’t had a new member join in 13 years, but since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, enlargement has been imbued with a new urgency. While the bloc’s main drawcard was once its economic and trade power, countries are now also banging on the door for security and defense reasons, with Montenegro, Ukraine, Albania, Moldova and potentially even Iceland all pushing to move their candidacies forward.
State of play: Montenegro is leading the pack, with 14 of its 33 negotiating chapters closed and an ambitious aim to become the 28th member of the EU by 2028. That’s a tall order given it would need to close the rest of its chapters this year to give EU countries enough time to approve its membership. Work began under Cyprus’ presidency to draft its accession treaty, an important milestone which Ireland will aim to finish. Ukraine, meanwhile, which hopes to join the EU as part of an eventual peace deal with Russia, has yet to close a single chapter, after years of Hungarian resistance under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Iceland is heading to a referendum in August to decide whether to reopen talks to join the EU.
Fault lines: After years of stonewalling by Orbán, many EU countries are reluctant to add new members without reforming the way the bloc makes decisions. With France heading to an election in 2027, Paris is reluctant to make enlargement an issue on which the far right could win votes. And while tiny Montenegro could easily be absorbed by the bloc, other countries have concerns about how Ukraine’s massive agricultural sector could upset Europe’s domestic markets and drain the bloc’s support funds for farmers. One possibility could be drafting different rules for new members, including initially suspending their voting rights.
Likely progress:
— Sebastian Starcevic
