Brussels, 06/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Belgian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers has indicated that it has failed to push forward with a proposal aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence. The draft European Protection Order was presented by Spain at the beginning of the year but was met with strong misgivings from the European Commission and several member states (EUROPE 10155 and 10153). In an effort to obtain qualified majority voting on this text, the countries in favour of this project managed to get round the opposition demonstrated by the United Kingdom, by ignoring the latter's vote (this facility is provided in the treaty). The problem now consists of the Netherlands' opposition, due to a change in the country's government which does not support the text. On 3 December, Belgian Minister for Justice Stefaan De Clerck underlined that “the change in the Netherlands' position, is creating a new situation of deadlock”. He also affirmed that Belgium would continue to support this proposal, particularly because the European Parliament gave a firm indication of support for this text. Things could, nevertheless, prove to be more difficult because the future Hungarian Presidency is hostile to the project. As a result, it is now up to the European Commission to take things in hand. Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding has already announced that she would be presenting a legislative package next spring on the protection of victims. She asserted that “this will help us unblock this situation”. (B.C./transl.fl)