
Article 1 

1. The order in which the Member States shall hold the Presidency of the Council from 1 January 2006 is set out in the Annex hereto.
2. The Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Member States concerned, may decide that a Member State may hold the Presidency during a period other than that resulting from the order established in the Annex hereto.
Article 2 
This Decision shall take effect on 1 January 2006.
Article 3 
This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Done at Brussels, 12 December 2005.
For the Council
The President
J. STRAW
ANNEX

Austria January-June 2006
Finland July-December 2006
Germany January-June 2007
Portugal July-December 2007
Slovenia January-June 2008
France July-December 2008
Czech Republic January-June 2009
Sweden July-December 2009
Spain January-June 2010
Belgium July-December 2010
Hungary January-June 2011
Poland July-December 2011
Denmark January-June 2012
Cyprus July-December 2012
Ireland January-June 2013
Lithuania July-December 2013
Greece January-June 2014
Italy July-December 2014
Latvia January-June 2015
Luxembourg July-December 2015
Netherlands January-June 2016
Slovakia July-December 2016
Malta January-June 2017
United Kingdom July-December 2017
Estonia January-June 2018