Estonian govt wants to bring 2031 EU presidency forward due to parlt elections

TALLINN – The Estonian government is planning to bring Estonia's 2031 presidency of the Council of the European Union forward, because parliamentary elections will be held that year and this would make organizing the EU presidency difficult.

According to the current plan, Estonia will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU from January to June 2031, but on March 2 of said year regular parliamentary elections will be held in Estonia, government spokespeople said.

Estonia's task as the presidency holder is, among other things, to organize meetings led by government ministers, but after the elections the ministers change and this will make it difficult to successfully organize and conduct the presidency.

The government has analyzed the possibilities of changing the period of the presidency and the most suitable option would be to switch periods with Malta, which will hold the presidency from July to December 2030.