In Strasbourg the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Jan Fischer, has reported to MEPs on his country's six-month presidency of the European Union, in which the main challenges had been "the three Es": economy, energy policy and the EU's role in the world.

Before looking at the key issues, Mr Fischer was keen to stress that his country's government crisis "did not cause any serious damage to the EU as a whole" and that "we managed the administration of our presidency without any great upheaval".  He also hoped the Czech Republic's recent ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, together with the guarantees for Ireland agreed at the June European Council, had paved the way for Ireland to ratify the treaty.
 
Mr Fischer then turned to the Czech Presidency's three priority areas. On the economy, he listed the measures taken to confront the global economic crisis, including the economic recovery plan, support for the banking sector and the IMF, a rejection of protectionism, lower VAT rates for local services and regulation of financial markets.
 
The "crisis over the supply of Russian gas" meant that the second key issue, energy, had risen up the agenda very early in the Czech Presidency. The EU had taken steps "to strengthen the energy security of the whole EU" by approving €4 billion in funding for energy supply projects and supporting energy diversification plans such as the Southern Corridor. In fact, yesterday the Commission adopted a new regulation to improve security of gas supplies in the framework of the internal gas market. Measures in support of greater energy efficiency were also crucial, he stressed.
 
Lastly, on the EU's external policy, Mr Fischer said that while in the gas crisis the EU was successful thanks to its unity, the Gaza crisis had been more problematic. It "showed once more that the Union must learn to speak with one voice".   What matters is "not who is in charge of the EU but above all agreement for all of the twenty-seven".