Belgium’s Council Presidency: Reviewing a Remarkably Stimulating Six Months
- Belgian diplomacy,
- Egmont’s Belgian Presidency Programme,
- EU institutional affairs,
- European Affairs,
From the outset, the context was clear for Belgium: a double end of term, national and European. Whilst possibly a bad omen, by the end of these six months, the facts were clear – far from weakening Belgium’s presidency, these deadlines stimulated it remarkably.
The national election campaign, dominated by predictions of worrying upheavals in the domestic political landscape, in no way disrupted the presidency’s work schedule. The complex structure of Belgian federalism didn’t interfere with the implementation of the European agenda.
Whereas the previous Belgian presidency had been overseen by a caretaker government during one of those interminable political crises that this country is so famous for, it wouldn’t be out of place to assume that this time round federal, regional and community ministers used their initiatives and successes at the European level as fuel for their domestic campaigns. And above all, the administrative machinery – perfectly coordinated by the Permanent Representation – operated at full speed, focusing without qualms on achieving European objectives well integrated into its DNA.
This article was first published on the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) website.
(Photo credit: Lisa Puche)