Latvia will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2015, for the first time since it joined the EU in 2004. As the first presidency to fall completely within the new political cycle, the Latvian Presidency’s priorities will be strongly linked to the ones put forward by the new European Commission and the European Council, with a special emphasis on jobs, growth and investment, but also on the digital economy and energy. At this briefing, Permanent Representative of Latvia to the EU Ilze Juhansone presented the priorities of her country’s Presidency and elaborated on some of the issues it will be focusing on.