Belgium has ambitious goals for EU Council presidency

Asked what makes Belgium especially suited to take over the presidency of the EU Council in January, a smiling Foreign Minster Hadja Lahbib recently said “compromis a la belge [Belgian compromise], that is our secret.” At the December presentation of Belgium’s presidency agenda, she added that “we are better in finding solutions than creating problems.”

Any legislative projects that have not been completed by then will have to be tackled by the next European Parliament and a newly formed EU Commission in the fall.

“That means protecting our people, that means strengthening our economy, that means preparing a shared future,” De Croo said, summarizing Belgium’s agenda for the EU Council Presidency.

“For Belgium it is the 13th time that we will take over the presidency, we should be knowing what we are doing, I am convinced that we have quite some experience.”

Working with euroskeptic Hungary is difficult, but cooperation is necessary because Hungary will take over the rotating EU Council presidency in the second half of 2024, after Belgium

“Are we prepared for such a situation?” He also said that “the old logic no longer works, but the fact that we have at least understood how bad the situation is, that we are more brutally honest, is good news, not bad news.” That is why, he said, strategic discussions are overdue under the Belgian EU Council Presidency.

Prime Minister De Croo, however, does not believe the election campaign will complicate or influence his country’s EU Council Presidency, though he himself is unlikely to return as head of government, as his party, the Flemish Liberals, have plummeted in the polls.