Brussels, 26/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - The unstable political situation in Belgium with the government resigning but remaining in place as a caretaker government until special elections are held on 13 June 2010 will not affect Belgium's Presidency of the EU in any way - a presidency that will start on 1 July 2010, explained the Belgian prime minister, Yves Leterme, at a meeting on 26 May with the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. At a press conference after the meeting, Leterme said he had been able to reassure the president of the Commission (if any such reassurance were required) that the fact that the Belgian government was acting as a caretaker would not prevent it from ensuring proper planning of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union. With plenty of EU experience (this will be the 12th time that Belgium chairs the European body) and plenty of administrative and diplomatic capacity, Belgium will be perfectly capable of carrying out its work with aplomb, explained the prime minister, arguing that both the Belgian civil service and Belgian politicians had genuine desire to demonstrate they were up to the task.
José Manuel Barroso said he had never had the slightest doubts and was “convinced that it will be a very successful presidency which will give impetus to our European agenda”. He said: “Belgium is one of the countries most committed to Europe” and he himself would be able to work with the outgoing government as if it were an incoming government.
European-focused Presidency. Yves Leterme said the Belgian government agreed across the board that the Belgian Presidency had to be approached from a European point of view. He said Belgium wanted to implement the Lisbon Treaty to the letter and respect its spirit, meaning that the importance of the rotating presidency had to be kept in proportion so that the European institutions can play a full role. He said the Belgian government therefore had no problem with playing second fiddle in line with the stipulations of the Lisbon Treaty (some might spitefully comment that this suits Belgium's current domestic political situation down to the ground) so that the political arena and room for manoeuvre are left to the EU institutions.
Five priorities. The Belgian Presidency's work programme will be formally approved by the Belgian government in a fortnight's time and discussed with the College of EU Commissioners on 2 July. It will be submitted to the European Parliament on 7 July. It is based on five priorities: 1) Socio-economics. Focusing on solving the financial crisis and ensuring a return to robust, sustainable economic growth. Financial market surveillance and regulation will be very high on the agenda, as will implementation of the new EU 2020 strategy, approval of the employment guidelines, work on the European patent, cutting red tape and developing cross-border infrastructure in areas like energy supplies; 2) Social and welfare. Based on tackling poverty and encouraging social progress. The Belgian Presidency wants to study social convergence by means of targets and indicators, and ensure tangible progress in the debate about services of general public interest. It also wants to encourage a strengthening of social security in the European year of tackling poverty and social exclusion, emphasising the EU's value-added in public health and the ageing population. Belgium plans to pay greater attention to the problem of violence against women; 3) The environment. Based mainly on cutting carbon emissions through preparing for the UN COP16 summit in Cancun where the Belgian Presidency wants ambitious, tangible targets to be decided upon. The Belgian Presidency will also focus on the impact of road transport's external costs on users and prepare for the tenth conference of the parties on biodiversity and improve the EU's environmental legislation; 4) Justice/Freedom/Security. The main aim here is to implement the Stockholm Programme; 5) Foreign policy. The focus will be on setting up the EU's new diplomatic corps, the “European External Action Service” (EEAS). EU accession talks will continue with Croatia (which is hoping the talks can be completed this year) and Turkey. Leterme said that EU enlargement was a key area of work but the enlargement process had to be based on merit and meeting the conditions. Barroso said that key conditions had to be met and the current financial crisis must not be used as an excuse for slacking in efforts to unite the European family, particularly with countries in the Balkans, as long as they do all that is required to meet the accession conditions. He said he through it was likely that the EU would start EU accession talks with Iceland during the Belgian Presidency. (H.B./transl.fl)