Eu, Inside Ireland’s Presidency plan: a Single Market roadmap under pressure

di Ross Elwood

BRUXELLES (Public Policy Europe) – Public Policy Europe has this week seen a leaked draft priorities list of the upcoming Irish presidency. The draft is just that and can still have significant changes, but it also acts as an unvarnished version of the presidency’s priorities. Completing the single market roadmap will be the presidency’s main task, and after that it wants to focus on simplification of EU rules, which also folds into competitiveness. It also has other key themes and will soon have a motto to succinctly summarise its priorities, but beyond completing the single market roadmap and promoting simplification there won’t be a lot more it can do to substantially influence EU policy. Normally presidencies are just continuations of the general EU agenda, but they can focus all their political capital on one or two key items, shine a spotlight on them and get them moving.

Main priorities

The overarching key focus is the completion of the single market roadmap timelines for 2026, those being the Industrial Accelerator Act, the Capital Markets Integration and Supervision Package, all omnibuses and the MFF. The Irish presidency is under a lot of pressure from the EU itself to get these priorities completed and all of these files are extremely fraught politically and already look to be delayed beyond 2026. In fact the language used by the Irish presidency on the MFF seems to already deflect some of the blame for achieving that deadline, as the paper notes that the presidency’s aim is to “hand over a sufficiently advanced negotiating box to the President of the European Council so that EU leaders can take the necessary decisions about the Union’s future financing in 2026.” This moves the onus for reaching an agreement onto the President of the Council, not on the Irish presidency. Read our recent analysis on the key issues within the MFF discussions here and here.

The Irish presidency then moves into areas that it cares about itself, beginning with simplification, its own top priority. Interestingly the presidency includes explicit mention of the prioritisation of housing and a wide range of critical infrastructure under the topic of simplification. These are hot topic local issues in Ireland. The presidency will seek to advance this through “more coherent, streamlined and simplified regulatory framework at the EU level for permitting processes”. It also notes the need to tackle overburdensome EU regulation, also a local hot topic.

Somewhat surprisingly, enlargement is also included under these top priorities, with the text noting that the presidency “will prioritise the completion of accession negotiations with Montenegro and will advance the drafting of Montenegro’s Accession Treaty. We will aim to make swift progress in negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova as well as Albania.”
The inclusion of democracy and rule of law as a key priority is very telling. Obviously the Irish government is tying this into its own experience during the recent fuel protests in Ireland that halted fuel distribution in the country and sparked uproar about law and order inside the government. You can see this in the language used under this theme, which highlights “a particular focus on inclusive democratic participation and civic engagement, aiming to reach communities experiencing exclusion and democratic disengagement.” The presidency will move forward with the European Democracy Shield and the Strategy for Civil Society and the European Centre for Democratic Resilience.

EU-UK relations are an obvious key part of the Irish presidency’s priorities, however the section lacks detail, most likely because of the recent political problems in the UK. It notes that the presidency will seek “opportunities to advance the renewed agenda of cooperation”. The EU-UK summit in July was supposed to include big announcements about a closer EU-UK relationship and now that has been put in doubt after Starmer’s future was also put in doubt.

Cohesion is also included as one of the top priorities, however you can see that it was written as an appeasement to the independent and mostly rural members of the coalition government, as it contains classic balanced regional development language that doesn’t really contain much substance. This language is out of date in Europe in terms of cohesion funding, which is now much more about supporting countries that are falling behind in terms of competitiveness. Nevertheless it is a priority and cohesion funding will be a big part of the debate on the MFF.

Ireland has been perceived as weak on defence as EU priorities turn towards security and defence capabilities, and the presidency has decided to focus this on maritime security, its major weak point. It notes that it will support the implementation of the EU Maritime Security Strategy and Action Plan.

Council Breakdown

The priority paper goes into much deeper detail on the breakdown of priorities by council configuration. Presidencies usually highlight a lot of different ongoing files as priorities to keep everyone happy, but some of the key or interesting items in the breakdown are as follows.

In the Foreign Affairs Council there is a heavy emphasis on the Middle East and a “just and lasting peace based on a two state solution”, signalling Ireland’s desire to re-orientate focus back towards Palestine. Open trade, new digital trade agreements and expansion of EU-US trade are key elements here also, and the paper includes a noting of the Florida G20 summit in December 2026 as an opportunity for EU-US relations.

In ECOFIN, competitiveness through simplification is the overarching theme, with the key move being to take forward the Danish presidency’s initiative to ‘examine the economic consequences of EU legislation’. The presidency is already protecting itself from failure on the Market Integration and Supervision Package by stating that in concluding negotiations the “full cooperation of Member States and the institutions will be essential”.

Under Justice and Home Affairs the focus is on migration and the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, as well as keeping a budget line open in the MFF for protecting borders. Protecting children online is also highlighted by the desire to “progress work on the Child Sexual Abuse Directive and Regulation”.

The Competitiveness Council is a key priority for the presidency as it seeks to highlight the competitiveness and simplification agenda. Its key means to do this seems to be through “supporting the development of an innovation-friendly ’28th Regime’”. It notes its key focus is on “creating an environment in which SMEs can grow and scale, emerging technologies can flourish, and public and private investment can collectively support competitiveness.” Also noteworthy is a focus on reviewing the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The Competitiveness Council also includes housing, with a mention of the forthcoming Construction Services Act and Affordable Housing Act.

In telecoms the presidency wants to try to unblock the Digital Networks Act and puts big emphasis on cybersecurity simplification with the revision of the Cybersecurity Act. In transport, the Connecting Europe Facility in terms of the MFF is the top priority, with aviation and maritime agenda being the key focus.

In the Culture Council the presidency highlights the protection of children online and reaching a decision at EU level on the “digital age of majority“. The terminology is notable as the European Commission President herself used the term “social media delay” at the Copenhagen Summit in May 2026, while the more established legal concept is the “digital age of consent” under GDPR. “Digital age of majority” is a broader term implying a threshold of 18, which has been actively promoted by big tech companies. It shifts emphasis from platform obligation and child protection toward parental approval and access rights.

The presidency’s programme should be officially published in mid‑June, while the six‑month presidency will begin on 1 July. (Public Policy Europe)