Denmark has taken over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union as questions swirl over Europe's security and trade and a war still raging on its eastern flank.
"Europe is at a defining moment in time," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in her welcome message as the country took the helm of Europe's leadership from July 1.
"The world that secured our freedom and made us prosper can no longer be taken for granted."
While there isn’t much Copenhagen can do about some of the issues that will face the 27-nation bloc given the veto power being wielded by some capitals, Denmark is expected to push for the EU to offset diminishing aid coming from Washington.
Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2, the first direct peace talks since the initial weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow launched on February 24, 2022.
The negotiations yielded agreements on prisoner swaps and the exchange of bodies of soldiers killed in the war, but produced no progress toward a cease-fire, let alone a peace deal.
A month later, it seems a peace deal is no closer at hand.
Then there's the transatlantic trade row that risks erupting again next week around the July 9 deadline set by the Trump administration for a deal on tariffs. If no agreement is reached, EU goods going to the US could face 50 percent tariffs.
The European Commission is in charge of what have been intense negotiations between Washington and Brussels on a new longer-term deal.
Denmark’s role will be in the background, trying to get all member states onboard with whatever the Commission compromises on, which can be tough as some countries are more dependent on trade than others.
The same is true for potential trade deals that the Commission can strike later this year with countries such Australia and India. EU countries need to sign off on these deals, but expect a lot of resistance as protectionism grows among some members with major farming sectors.
And then there's the elephant -- in this case the world's biggest island -- in the corner of the room: Greenland.
Denmark wants to avoid any transatlantic dealings in coming months over the island, which is under Danish control but coveted by US President Donald Trump.
The topic reportedly wasn't broached at a recent NATO summit in The Hague that Trump attended, and Danish officials hope this remains the case during the presidency.
A recent election result in Greenland has also strengthened Copenhagen’s hand and there could even be renewed calls for the territory, which withdrew from the European Union back in 1985, to be part of the bloc again.
For now, Denmark at least has the backing of all other member states when it comes to its territorial integrity, but this issue can resurface again at any time, posing numerous awkward questions in Brussels and beyond.
Another issue that will dominate the Danish autumn is the EU’s new long-term budget beginning in 2028.
The European Commission will fire the opening salvo in mid-July by presenting a basic framework for the five-year period and then come back in September with a more developed concept.
Don’t expect a deal any time soon.
The long-term EU budget, which will be a pot of money well north of 1 trillion euros, is the most fought-over issue lingering over Brussels.
It will consume the city and pit institutions and member states against each other for months, even years, to come. Denmark will simply make sure that talks don’t boil over from the get-go.
So what of EU foreign policy and enlargement? On foreign policy, the bloc's top diplomat will help guide potential sanctions on Georgia, which has been criticized for backsliding on democratic reforms and lurching away from Brussels and toward Moscow.
But with Hungary and Slovakia expected to veto any tough measures, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will have a tough time brokering a deal with teeth.
The same is likely to be true of future sanctions on Russia even though the club’s 18th round is expected to be agreed in the coming days, though likely without the signature move to lower the Russian oil cap from the current $60 per barrel to $45 after the idea failed to gain support from Washington.
While Denmark is keen to accelerate EU enlargement and has made it a priority during the next six months, various national vetoes are likely to make progress minimal.
Poland, which had the presidency before Denmark, had big hopes here but ended up with Albania opening some negotiation chapters and Montenegro closing one.
Expect that these two Western Balkan states will continue their steady march toward membership in the coming half a year, but otherwise Denmark will likely face the same frustrations as Warsaw.
Hungary continues to bloc Ukraine from opening accession talks and there is real fear among EU officials that Budapest will continue to do so until its parliamentary election in April 2026.
The tricky question for Denmark will be if it attempts to decouple Moldova from Ukraine as they so far have progressed hand in hand. If it happens, it is likely to be in September just ahead of crucial Moldovan parliamentary elections later that month.
Hungary’s behavior will make calls for the country to be stripped of its voting rights grow, but to do that unanimity is needed, and Slovakia -- and possibly others -- are unlikely to give that a green light.
Backlash to that could come from other countries in the form of reluctance to give the go ahead to open and close accession chapters with “Hungarian favorites” such as Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, while North Macedonia, already blocked by a Bulgarian veto for two years, will wonder why no one is putting pressure on Sofia.
Kosovo, which sent an EU application in 2022, will presumably also see its bid to join club continue to languish in the Council.
Denmark would like to send the application for a European Commission assessment, but there is no consensus among member states, and Copenhagen’s case is not helped by Pristina’s inability to form a government months after a general election.
