From 1 January to 30 June 1993, the Danish govenerment of Poul Schlüter will take over the presidency of all the institutions and intergovernmental bodies of the European Community: European Council, Council of Ministers, political cooperation, legal cooperation, advisory committees and so on. By alphabetic coincidence the Presidency of the Council of the Community goes to a country a majority of whose citizens rejected the Maastricht Treaty by referendum. This is the fifth time that Denmark will have chaired the Community Council, since its membership on 1 January 1973. The last presidency was the second half of the year 1987 and was marked by the failure of the Copenhagen European Council on the Delors I Package. The fourth Schlüter government was formed after the general elections of 12 December 1990 and followed three governments already chaired by Mr. Schlüter in 1982, 1984 and 1988. This government is a minority govenerment made up of Poul Schlüter's own party, the Danish "Konservative Folkeparti" and

the Liberal Party, "Venstre", of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ellemann-Jensen. The governments commands 61 seats (30 Conservatives, 29 Liberals and 1 MP from greenland and 1 MP from the Faroes Islands ). The opposition holds 69 Social Democrat seats, 15 Socialist People's Party seats, 12 Progress Party seats, 9 Centre Democrat seats, 7 Radical Liberals seats and 4 Christian People's Party seats, plus 1 MP from Greenland and 1 MP from the Faroes Islands. Among the priorities of the Danish Community agenda, there is the Danish .... problem, resulting from the negative answer to the popular referendum of 2 June 1992 on the Treaty of Maastricht. In addition, the Danish presidency will have to implement the decisions taken by the European Council in Edinburgh, in particular those on Community budget (Delors II Package), completion of the Internal Market in respect of free movement of persons and fiscal harmonisation, plus achievement of the social dimension. Concerning the international role of the Commun

ity, the Danish agenda foresees in particular the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, namely how to conduct cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries and, last but not least, the perspectives for enlargement of the Community to the applicant countries: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Malta, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Turkey. As in each presidency, the main event of intergovernmental activity will be the six-monthly meeting of the European Council, which will take place in Copenhagen on 21 and 22 June 1993,unless any extraordinary meeting is necessary. The Danish presidency has already decided to convene forty Council meetings: 7 of Foreign Ministers, 6 of Agriculture Ministers, 5 of Finance Ministers, 3 of Internal Market Ministers, 2 of the Ministers of Transports, Fisheries, Environment, Employment, Research and one of the Ministers of Consumers, Energy, Industry, Telecommunications, Culture, Development, Health, Education and Immigration.

The "who's who" of the Danish Presidency

The Danish Prime Minister, Poul Schlüter, 63, lawyer, has been one of the leaders of the Conservative Party for 48 years. First as leader of the Young Conservatives and then as president of the Party. Member of the Folketing since 1964,in he became, in 1971, spokesman of the Conservative MPs. Since the general elections in 1982, he has chaired all the centre-right coalition governments, which overturned, after 81 years, both the coalition governments and the social-democrats majority governments. As President Mitterrand, Chancellor Kohl and Prime Ministers Gonzales and Lubbers, Mr. Schlüter has more than a decade of experience of European Council meetings. The Foreign Affairs minister, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, 51, journalist and economist, is the president of the Liberal Party and has satin the Folketing since 1977, where he has been spokesman of the Liberal Group and chairman of the European Market Relation Committee. Mr. Ellemann-Jensen was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs during Mr. Schlüter's first ca

binet: he is, therefore, one of the most senior members of the Ministers for foreign affairs sitting in the European Council. The Minister for Finance, Henning Dyremose, 47, chemical engineer, came to the Folketing in 1979 as a Conservative MP. He took Mr. Schlüter's place as spokesman of the group, when the latter formed his first cabinet in 1982. He went back to "his business" in 1984, but returned to the government as Minister for Labour in 1986, before being appointed Minister for Finance in 1989. The Minister for Defence,Kund Engaard, 63, was also an engineer before entering political life as national chairman of Liberal Youth (1959-62) and then as a MP in the Folketing in 1964, where he was chairman of the Liberal Group. Since 1978, he has been Minister for the Interiour, Energy, Economic Affairs and Defence from 1988. The Minister for Education and Research, Bertel Haarder, 48, was elected to the Folketing in 1975., where he was vice-chairman of the Liberal group, chairman of the science committee

and vice-chairman of the parliamentary finance committee until he became Minister for Education and Research in 1982. For a long time he has influenced public opinion in Denmark through numerous articles and books, among those "Tyranny of Institutions" and "Limits to Politics". The Minister for Justice, Hans Engell, 44, has been member of the Folketing for the Conservatives Party from 1984.He was Minister for Defence from 1982 to 1987 and then in 1989 was appointed Minister for Justice. During his political career he was also Chairman of the Conservative Party's Defence Committee, of the NATO Euro-Group and of the Parliamentary Security-Policy Committee in the Folketing. The Minister for the Interiour and Economic Affairs, Thor Pedersen, 47, has been a member of the Folketing for the Liberal Group since 1985. In 1987 he was appointed Minister for the Interiour. The Minister for Agriculture, Laurits Tornaes, 56, spent eleven years in the North Sea as owner of a fishing vessel.Member of the Folketing for the

Liberal Party since 1981, he became spokesman for his group in 1982 and was appointed Minister for Agriculture in 1988. The Minister for Fisheries, Kent Kirk, 44, was a member of the European Parliament during the first legislature (1979-84). He was elected to the Folketing in 1984 and became spokesman of the Conservative group. In 1989 he was appointed Minister for Fisheries. The Minister for Labour, Knud Kikegaard, 50, was a teacher before being elected to the Folketing for the Conservative Party in 1984. He was appointed Minister for Labour in 1989. The Minister for Industry and Energy, Anne Birgitte Lundholt, 4O, (the youngest member of the Government), was an official of the European Commission going back to Denmark to work in the textile industry.Appointed Minister for Industry in 1989, she was confirmed in her task in 1990, during the last Schlüter government. The Minister for Health, Ester Larsen, 56, teacher, was member of the board of the Liberal Party and Chairman of the Liberal Adult Education o

rganisation . In 1989, she was appointed Minister for Health. The Minister for Transport, Kaj Ikast, 57, after a long experience in the Army, became member of the Folketing for the Conservative Party in 1983. Deputy to the board of SAS, he was appointed Minister for Transport in 1990. The Minister for the Environment, Per Stig Moller, 50, had a lectureship at the University of Sorbonne, was vice-chairman and chairman of the Radio Council. In 1984 he became member of the Folketing for the Conservative Party and he was member of the Council of Europe Assembly. In 1990, he was appointed Minister for the Environment. The Minister for Social Affairs, Else Winther Andersen, 51, became member of the Folketing in 1990, after a long professional experience in the field of agriculture. IN 1990 she was appointed Minister for Social Affairs. The Minister for Cultural Affairs, Grethe Fogh Rostboll, 51, was candidate for the Conservative Party at the European elections in 1979 and in the national elections in 1990. She ha

s published numerous books such as "The Language and the EDP-machines","The language and the Poets", "The language in the air", "Linguistic barriers" and "Language and Sex". In 1990, she was appointed Minister for Cultural Affairs.