RECETOX and Czech presidency in the EU Council

On 1 July 2022, the Czech Republic commenced its second Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Council of the EU is one of the three main EU institutions involved in drafting and approving EU legislation. Its Representatives are ministers of the member states, meeting in ten formations. All EU member states hold regular six-monthly rotating presidencies. Their task is to set the agenda and priorities of the EU Council, chair its meetings, seek compromises between the individual states, and represent the Union in negotiations with other EU institutions and external partners. To ensure continuity, Member States form presidency trios to prepare joint programmes. The Czech Republic is a member of a trio with France (January-June 2022) and Sweden (January-June 2023).

The programme of the Czech Presidency was officially presented on 15 June 2022 at the Czech Government press conference and is based on the current needs of the European Union and its Member States and the current international situation. However, every sector within the Presidency has certain priorities, which is no different in science, research, and innovation. The sectoral priorities for research are as follows:

• A European ecosystem of research infrastructures
• Synergies in the funding of science, research, and innovation in Europe
• European Innovation Agenda.

Research infrastructures are a key part of the European Research Area and ensure sharing of expertise, scientific data, and experimental facilities at the regional and global levels. RECETOX will participate in several specific Presidency events as a coordinator of the national RECETOX RI and the European infrastructure for environmental exposure assessment EIRENE. In July, Prof. Jana Klánová will present at the Research Council on the topic of synergies in financing the research and innovation actions on the example of RECETOX research centre. In October, the RECETOX research centre will participate in the International Conference on Research Infrastructures ICRI 2022 in Brno. There, the EIRENE PPP project will be officially launched, the new biobank of the Centre will be inaugurated, and a side event on the role of research infrastructures in exposome research will be organized.

As part of the National Centre for Toxic Substances activities, RECETOX will also support the Ministry of the Environment, particularly in the CZ PRES chemicals team, and will also focus on regional and global environmental issues. Specifically, this will involve RECETOX experts, in particular, Kateřina Šebková and Lukáš Pokorný, in the area of translating scientific knowledge on chemicals into policy or in the area of transboundary effects of industrial accidents. Their involvement will draw not only on their long-standing expertise but also on their experience in managing Member States' policies. Thus, they will be an example of linking science and policy.

At the global level, our colleagues will lead or represent the EU in negotiating the form of the framework instrument for chemicals management that will replace the existing SAICM framework. They will also be at the table for the first negotiations on the nature of the global Science to Policy Panel that will help UNEP accelerate the reduction of environmental pollution and the resulting risks to human health.

RECETOX will actively participate in the Czech Presidency for the second time in its history and will thus be actively involved in developing European legislation, promoting long-term sustainability and management of chemicals, and improvements in the protection of health and the environment from pollution.

Details of our involvement can be found in the new tab on the RECETOX website.