The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union brings with it the official start - on 1 July - of the shared Presidency of the EUPAN Network, which in this case corresponds to the Directorate-General for Public Governance and the Directorate-General for Civil Service, and which will also be extended during the second half of this year.

EUPAN is a European Public Administration Network of an informal nature, involving the Directorates-General responsible for public administration matters in the EU Member States, as well as the European Commission, and observer countries.

The above-mentioned Directorates-General have been carrying out intensive preparatory work for this Presidency in collaboration with its Swedish and French predecessors, culminating in a programme known as the European Year of the Environment. “Preparing for the Future: Public Administration and Coming Generations” which details the three fundamental pillars on which the Spanish Presidency will be articulated, deployed in five priority thematic areas which will in turn be addressed in 6 key meetings during this period.

Thus, the main axes of the Spanish administration have been: 1) the transformation of public function and human resources policies in the administration; 2) transparent, accessible, resilient and green public services that meet the expectations of citizens; and 3) organizational changes, public innovation, digital transformation and green adaptation of public administrations. These axes will prioritize as thematic areas the promotion of gender equality; consolidated experience in public function as a tool of international cooperation; improvement in levels of trust through open government and innovative public participation; development of digital and inclusive public services; and implementation of the CAF method (“Common Assessment Framework”) in the context of telework, in order to improve resilience and executive capacities of the public sector.