Brussels, 24/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Immigration policy was the subject of quite an intense debate on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen system. A broad trend developed, especially in the thoughts of the Romanian president who felt that some of the sentences in the conclusions were like reprimands to Romania. A solution was found with the inclusion of the phase in the minutes that the text did not call Romania's accession to the Schengen area into doubt, said Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme.
With regard to the Euro+ Pact, Belgium does not want two procedures at the same time, one Community and the other inter-governmental. At the European summit in December, Belgium called for discussion to focus on one single issue: the labour market. Discussion on tax policy was “long”, but Leterme said that he had been proved right: Belgium asked for the common consolidated corporate tax base to be a subject for debate.
In the bilateral meeting between Leterme and David Cameron, the two prime ministers said that progress had been made towards an end to the conflict in Libya. (G.B./transl.rt)