Belgium will rotate into the six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, taking the reins of the EU for the first time. The rotation comes at a time of great internal division in Belgium following the resignation of the Belgian government in April 2010 and the June 13 elections. The rotating EU presidency system is designed to give member states the opportunity to lead the EU. This poses problems of continuity, with priorities changing every six months according to the agenda of each new president. Given that each of the 27 member states can only expect a chance to be president every thirteen and a half years, each presidency poses an opportunity to promote pet-projects as quickly as possible during the six month reign. And although Belgium's presidency is expected to be relatively quiet, its successors Hungary and Poland have much busier agendas, including Warsaw's need to boost EU defense capabilities and Budapest's goal of developing the Danube region. This graphic shows the next decade of EU presidency rotations.
