BRUSSELS, Dec. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) have agreed on the order of the next 25 EU presidencies over the coming 13 years.

    The EU presidency is held for six months by each member state on a rotating basis.

    The country holding the presidency hosts the meetings of the EU's decision-making body, the European Council, which represents member states, and arranges and chairs all the council's meetings and working groups. And it is given significant control over how often the council and council bodies meet, what items they discussand what happens during the meetings.

    The unveiled list shows that Germany is likely to have to handle the next round of expansion with the expected accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007.

    France will take over the presidency in the second half of 2008 when the European Commission is expected to publish a review of EUfarm spending, a particularly sensitive issue to Paris, according to the list.

    The full list of EU presidencies in 2006-2018 is as follows:

    Austria: January - June 2006

    Finland: July - December 2006

    Germany: January - June 2007

    Portugal: July - December 2007

    Slovenia: January - June 2008

    France: July - December 2008

    Czech Republic: January - June 2009

    Sweden: July - December 2009

    Spain: January - June 2010

    Belgium: July - December 2010

    Hungary: January - June 2011

    Poland: July - December 2011

    Denmark: January - June 2012

    Cyprus: July - December 2012

    Ireland: January - June 2013

    Lithuania: July - December 2013

    Greece: January - June 2014

    Italy: July - December 2014

    Latvia: January - June 2015

    Luxembourg: July - December 2015

    Netherlands: January - June 2016

    Slovakia: July - December 2016

    Malta: January - June 2017

    Britain: July - December 2017

    Estonia: January - June 2018

    Under the EU constitution, which has been shelved following theFrench and Dutch vetoes earlier this year, the six-month rotating presidency is to be replaced by a permanent president of the European Council, who is to be elected by the EU member states. Enditem