Belgium will take over the six-month EU Council presidency on Monday. Until Sunday, Spain held the rotating presidency among the 27 member states. The functions of the Council Presidency include, among other things, organizing and directing meetings and preparing compromise proposals in case of problems between members or institutions. Also on Monday, Italy will assume the presidency of Japan's G7 group of important industrialized nations.
The G7 includes the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada. The G7 is not an international organization, but an informal forum of heads of state and government. At their annual summits, they agree on common positions on global political issues.
