While some of what went wrong in the course of the Presidency of the EU in the first half of 2009 might be attributed to extenuating circumstances, it is still useful to examine the experience of the Czech Republic to extract any lessons to be learned, especially for the sake of other small and new member states presidencies in the future. A new Commentary by CEPS Research Fellow Piotr Maciej Kaczyński identifies five major mistakes committed during those difficult six months.