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The Presidency of the council rotates between the Member States every six months: January until June, July until December.
 The Presidency´s role has become increasingly important as the responsibilities of the Union have broadened and deepened. It must:
 
 .	arrange and preside over all meetings;
 .	elaborate acceptabel compromises and find pragmatic solutions to problems submitted to the Council;
 .	seek to secure consistency and continuity in decision-taking.
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