EU-Neighbourhood Policy

Belgium’s twelfth presidency is particularly important and differs from all its former presidencies: it is fully operating under the Lisbon treaty and, for the first time, the Belgians are part of a ‘triple presidency’. The triple presidency began with Spain’s six-month term and will be concluded by Hungary, which will take over from Belgium in January 2011. All this makes the Belgian presidency the first non-traditional rotating presidency or rather the first ‘EU joint team’.

The main challenges confronting the Belgian presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2010 concern the European Union’s economic agenda. The banking crisis, which occurred late in 2008, caused an economic crisis that seriously affected all Member States. It has become clear in recent months that some causes of the crisis should be dealt with at European level. Hendrik Vos

During the second half of 2010 Belgium will hold the presidency of the European Union. It will be the twelfth time it has held this role since the start of European integration in the fifties. Despite the decreased importance of the rotating presidency and reassuring words that Belgian diplomats have a great deal of experience in European matters, it is not ideal to begin a presidency with ministers who have resigned. This will be discussed along with some of the paradoxes in Belgium’s European policy.

Given its traditions as a founder member of the European (Economic) Community and its long standing support of European integration, one can expect the Belgian presidency, in this difficult time of global economic crisis, to implement measures already agreed and develop new ideas for the EU. There are, however, three factors that increasingly limit the rotating presidency’s room for manoeuvre.

In the words of the Polish journalist and dissident, Adam Michnik, 1989 was Europe's annus mirabilis. The peaceful revolution of that year was a miracle effected by the people in central and eastern Europe.

The EU needs to seriously address its democratic deficit and the disillusionment that many Europeans feel for the Union. Dealing with these issues will surely not be an easy task but it will, without a doubt, enrich European democracy and the very ideals that we stand for and wish to promote in the world. By Claude Weinber and Roderick Kefferpütz

Giuseppe Avigliano is one of our Young Voices of Europe.