View as a PDF file: Presidencies of EU Council of Ministers since 1958
The Six (1958-72)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
1958 | Belgium | Achile Van Acker | West Germany | Konrad Adenauer |
1959 | France | Charles de Gaulle | Italy | Antonio Segni |
1960 | Luxembourg | Pierre Werner | Netherlands | Jan de Quay |
1961 | Belgium | Gaston Eyskens/Theo Lefèvre | West Germany | Konrad Adenauer |
1962 | France | Charles de Gaulle | Italy | Amintore Fanfani |
1963 | Luxembourg | Pierre Werner | Netherlands | Jan de Quay/Victor Marijnen |
1964 | Belgium | Theo Lefèvre | West Germany | Ludwig Erhard |
1965 | France | Charles de Gaulle | Italy | Aldo Moro |
1966 | Luxembourg | Pierre Werner | Netherlands | Jo Cals/Jelle Zijlstra |
1967 | Belgium | Paul Vanden Boeynants | West Germany | Kurt Georg Kiesinger |
1968 | France | Charles de Gaulle | Italy | Giovanni Leone |
1969 | Luxembourg | Pierre Werner | Netherlands | Petrus de Jong |
1970 | Belgium | Gaston Eyskens | West Germany | Willy Brandt |
1971 | France | Georges Pompidou | Italy | Emilio Colombo |
1972 | Luxembourg | Pierre Werner | Netherlands | Barend Biesheuvel |
EC 9 (1973-80)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
1973 | Belgium | Gaston Eyskens/Edmund Leburton | Denmark | Anker Jorgensen |
1974 | West Germany | Willy Brandt/Helmut Schmidt | France | Valéry Giscard d’Estaing |
1975 | Ireland | Liam Cosgrave | Italy | Aldo Moro |
1976 | Luxembourg | Gaston Thorn | Netherlands | Joop Den Uyl |
1977 | United Kingdom | James Callaghan | Belgium | Leo Tindemans |
1978 | Denmark | Anker Jorgensen | West Germany | Helmut Schmidt |
1979 | France | Valéry Giscard d’Estaing | Ireland | Jack Lynch |
1980 | Italy | Francesco Cossiga | Luxembourg | Pierre Werner |
EC 10 (1981-85)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
1981 | Netherlands | Andreas van Agt | United Kingdom | Margaret Thatcher |
1982 | Belgium | Wilfried Martens | Denmark | Poul Schlüter |
1983 | West Germany | Helmut Kohl | Greece | Andreas Papandreou |
1984 | France | François Mitterrand | Ireland | Garrett Fitzgerald |
1985 | Italy | Bettino Craxi | Luxembourg | Jacques Santer |
EC/EU 12 (1986-94)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
1986 | Netherlands | Ruud Lubbers | United Kingdom | Margaret Thatcher |
1987 | Belgium | Wilfried Martens | Denmark | Poul Schlüter |
1988 | West Germany | Helmut Kohl | Greece | Andreas Papandreou |
1989 | Spain | Felipe González | France | François Mitterrand |
1990 | Ireland | Charles Haughey | Italy | Giulio Andreotti |
1991 | Luxembourg | Jacques Santer | Netherlands | Ruud Lubbers |
1992 | Portugal | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | United Kingdom | John Major |
1993 | Denmark | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen | Belgium | Jean-Luc Dehaene |
1994 | Greece | Andreas Papandreou | Germany | Helmut Kohl |
EU 15 (1995-2003)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
1995 | France | Jacques Chirac | Spain | Felipe González |
1996 | Italy | Lamberto Dini/Romano Prodi | Ireland | John Bruton |
1997 | Netherlands | Wim Kok | Luxembourg | Jean-Claude Juncker |
1998 | United Kingdom | Tony Blair | Austria | Viktor Klima |
1999 | Germany | Gerhard Schröder | Finland | Paavo Lipponen |
2000 | Portugal | António Guterres | France | Jacques Chirac |
2001 | Sweden | Göran Persson | Belgium | Guy Verhofstadt |
2002 | Spain | José-María Aznar | Denmark | Anders Fogh Rasmussen |
2003 | Greece | Costas Simitis | Italy | Silvio Berlusconi |
EU 25 (2004-06)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
2004 | Ireland | Bertie Ahern | Netherlands | Jan Peter Balkenende |
2005 | Luxembourg | Jean-Claude Juncker | United Kingdom | Tony Blair |
2006 | Austria | Wolfgang Schüssel | Finland | Matti Vanhanen |
EU 27 (since 2007)
Year | First six months | Head of state or government | Second six months | Head of state or government |
2007 | Germany | Angela Merkel | Portugal | José Sócrates |
2008 | Slovenia | Janez Janša | France | Nicolas Sarkozy |
2009 | Czech Republic | Mirek Topolánek | Sweden | Fredrick Reinfeldt |
2010 | Spain | José Luis Zapatero | Belgium | Yves Leterme |
2011 | Hungary | Viktor Orbán | Poland | Donald Tusk |
2012 | Denmark | Helle Thorning-Schmidt | Cyprus | Dimitris Christofias |
Source: Martin Westlake and David Galloway, The Council of the European Union, 2006 (charts merged and updated for 2007-12).