Greece has set itself ambitious goals for the next six months. Before the elections to the European Parliament are held on 25 May 2014, as many legislative projects as possible are to be finalised.

Greece has set the following priorities for its Presidency:

• Greece will be pushing ahead with the banking union. It also considers the social side of economic and monetary union to be an important issue.

• The compact for growth and jobs is to be further refined to achieve a European investment programme for jobs.

• One policy field that has traditionally been important for Greece is migration. The Greek Presidency will be aiming to tackle the economic and social problems entailed by illegal immigration.

Greece will be endeavouring to keep down the costs of the Presidency. With planned expenditure of 50 million euros, the costs will be lower than has hitherto been the case.

The European Council of heads of state and government is chaired by the President who is elected for a period of two and a half years. By contrast the Presidency of the Council of the European Union is held by each member state in turn for a period of six months. The main duty of the country holding the Presidency is to chair the deliberations of the various minister-level councils, to achieve conclusions and to negotiate with the European Parliament.