Slovenia and Czech Republic are the first post-communist states that took over the six month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Analysing these two presidencies the book offers one of the first comparative analyses of the EU experience of new, post-communist EU members and the first analysis of their EU presidency experience. It develops a new typology of EU presidency and uses a comprehensive set of analytical tools which are applied to the investigation of case studies dealing with the key issues of each presidency such as administrative co-ordination, economic policy, energy policy, EU enlargement, and justice and home affairs co-operation. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Comparing the EU presidencies: a pragmatic perspective - Petr Drulák 1 Institutional and political background 2. The Czech Republic as an EU-member: four dimensions of Europeanization - Mats Braun 3. Slovenia as an EU-member: a Euroenthusiastic society and political elite - Ladislav Cabada and Šárka Waisová 4. From making troubles to compliance: the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the Czech EU Presidency - Šárka Matějková 5. Public support taken for granted: the Slovenian EU Presidency, the democratic deficit, and the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty - Zlatko Šabič 6. The executive co-ordination of the Czech EU Presidency: unexpectedly effective - Jan Karlas 7. The executive co-ordination of the Slovenian EU Presidency: an honest broker - Damjan Lajh Political priorities 8. Achieving unachievable goals? Impartiality, effectiveness, crisis and economic priorities of the Czech EU Presidency - Štěpánka Zemanová and Josef Abrhám 9. Slovenia and the Lisbon Strategy: a road to a knowledge economy? - Maja Bučar and Boštjan Udovič 10. Europeanists in spite of themselves: energy as an Atlanticist priority of the Czech EU Presidency - Vít Střítecký 11. An industrious but cautious pupil: Slovenia"s capacity to lead in the midst of changing European Energy Policy - Tina Fistravec 12. A cherished child left out in the cold: the Czech Republic and her enlargement priority - Vít Beneš 13. The Slovenian EU Presidency and enlargement: the Western Balkans Agenda - Zlatko Šabič, Mojca Mehikić and Petra Roter 14. The Czech EU Presidency in justice and home affairs: an honest broker - Radka Druláková 15. The Slovenian EU Presidency in justice and home affairs: a view from an insider - David Brozina 16. Conclusions: Czech trouble-makers and Slovenian role models - Petr Drulák and Zlatko Šabič Books and articles Documents, speeches and interviews Index