A few days away from taking over the 10th presidency of the EU Council, between January 1 and June 30 next year, Belgium admits in its program that this leadership comes “at a time when the European Union is at a crossroads is dealing with the consequences of Russian illegal aggression in Ukraine, the pandemic, the energy crisis, disinformation, extreme weather phenomena and a new conflict in the Middle East.”
The Belgian presidency therefore wants to “work towards better protection of European citizens, strengthening cooperation and preparing a common future”, with an emphasis on defending the rule of law, democracy and community unity .
Faced with concerns about the lack of respect for the rule of law in countries such as Hungary, a situation that has already led to the suspension of community funds, Belgium proposes to “defend democratic principles […] and fundamental rights,” the program said.
This also applies to those who want to join the EU: “Enlarging our Union must make us stronger, and that is why the Presidency is determined to support the candidate countries in their accession efforts.”
In this scenario of pre-enlargement to countries like Ukraine and Moldova and also the Western Balkans, with an EU that could have more than thirty Member States in the coming years, the Belgians still want to ‘prepare the policies, resources and decision-making’ . structures the Union’s decision with a view to future accessions’.
The Belgian presidency guarantees that it will “advance the ongoing work on enlargement” and will celebrate in early May the twentieth anniversary of what was the largest expansion of the community bloc, “a milestone for unity and prosperity across the continent” . “, when ten new countries and almost 75 million people joined the EU.
After a long accession process and on the basis of merit, three former Soviet republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), four former satellite countries of the Soviet Union (Poland, the Czech Republic) joined the EU in May 2004, Hungary and Slovakia) in this fifth enlargement. , a former Yugoslav republic (Slovenia) and two islands in the Mediterranean Sea (Cyprus and Malta).
A week ago, the European Council decided to open formal EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, the institution’s president announced, expressing a “clear sign of hope” for these countries.
However, this decision was marked by criticism from Hungary, which resorted to Article 235 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU not to participate in the European Council’s decision to open formal accession negotiations with Ukraine, and abstained from vote despite unanimity.
Earlier, in mid-November, the community council recommended to the Council to open these formal negotiations due to Kiev’s efforts to respect democracy, the rule of law and human rights, although conditions were imposed such as the fight against corruption.
The European Commission stressed that Ukraine needs to make progress, which will be assessed in a report to be published in March 2024, after which a negotiating framework for the enlargement will be created and an intergovernmental conference will take place to officially start discussions.
Another priority of the Belgian presidency is increasing European competitiveness.
“We live in dangerous times with many tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Things are calmer in the energy field, but there are still risks in terms of supply,” said Belgium’s permanent representative to the EU. Willem Van de Voorde, in a meeting with the press in Brussels.
Due to this geopolitical context and also the rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Belgian presidency wants to focus on strengthening the internal market, which means creating “an environment of equality for European companies” within and outside the EU, According to the programme, there must be a “reliable regulatory framework” and economic security must be guaranteed by avoiding “harmful dependencies” on third countries, especially in crucial sectors such as technology and energy.
However, as this takes place at a time of institutional change, given the European elections in June 2024, the Belgian Presidency will focus in the first two months on “doing everything possible to complete the EU legislative agenda”, especially after preliminary agreements on important matters. such as the world’s first legislation for artificial intelligence, the new pact on migration and asylum and the reform of budget rules, according to Willem Van de Voorde.
Source: DN
