The countries of Italy, the Czech Republic and Sweden are set to share the leadership of the European Blockchain Partnership. The trio’s term will run for one year, starting July 2019 and ending in 2020.

The decision was announced after a meeting of the European partnership was held in Brussels.

Italy on the Presidency

Marco Belleza, the coordinator of italy’s delegation to the EU Blockchain Partnership and Minister Di Maio’s adviser on digital innovation and communication, said that Italy taking on the presidency of the blockchain partnership is an acknowledgement of the actions made on this front at the behest of the minister.

Belleza added that Di Maio wanted the country to take on a leadership role with regards to blockchain projects in the region. He also said that the shared presidency gives Italy a one-of-a-kind opportunity to promote the ideas and use of this technology.

Strengthening Cooperation in EU

Belleza also pointed out that the technology will be beneficial to citizens and businesses alike and will strengthen cooperation among the EU.

The European Blockchain Partnership is a body that the European Commission promoted five months ago to become a means of cooperation by Member States.

The group is tasked to exchange expertise and experiences in regulatory and technical fields. It is also helping prepare for the roll-out of EU-centric blockchain applications throughout the Digital Single Market so that both the private and public sectors can benefit.

Italy only joined the European Blockchain group in September 2018.

The country appears to be embracing blockchain tech. Early this year, the country’s House of Representatives greenlighted a bill that defined distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) like blockchain.

