Portugal took over the EU presidency of Germany yesterday (1 July). Germany has had a very successful presidency. The finishing touch of this presidency was the agreement about the EU treaty, led by Angela Merkel. With this agreement Portugal hoped the EU treaty discussion would be over, but this is not the case.

The Polish president Lech Kaczynski made last week clear he does not agree with the explanation about the distribution of votes which is included in the agreement. He also did not agree with the commitment made by Sarkozy, the French president: after 2014 Poland might, for more than a few months, claim for a procedure for appellate review against specific European decisions. According to the prime minister of Portugal, José Socrates, it is all a misunderstanding and it all will be clarified as soon as possible.

At the end of the year there will be a EU top meeting again, and France is determined discussing the accession of Turkey. Sarkozy does not want Turkey to access the EU but Portugal wants Turkey's membership. Portugal first would like to close the EU treaty discussion before it will start talking about the possible future EU enlargement.

Then there are also the Russia, Kosovo and more other cases, so it will be a challenging and exciting EU presidency for Portugal. In January Slovenia will take over the presidency.

The website of Portugal's EU presidency: www.eu2007.pt