Speaking at the European Commission's headquarters on Wednesday (26 May), Leterme said the EU presidency had been "well prepared by Belgium for a long time" and would not be affected by the country's political instability.
Leterme, who has led the country in a caretaker capacity since his resignation in April, said Belgium's political transition "does not at all prevent this government from preparing this presidency in depth".
National elections will be held on 13 June, but it is uncertain whether a new government can be formed before the country assumes the EU presidency, which starts on 1 July for a period of six months.
Last time a general election was held, in June 2007, it took nine months for political parties to secure a coalition agreement (EurActiv 19/03/08).
The Belgian prime minister sought to reassure Commission President Barroso and the international press in Brussels that the national elections will not affect the country's EU tenure.
"The Belgian presidency has been subject of a general consensus by the political parties in the government coalition," Leterme said, adding that the cabinet would work "in a community spirit" that fully respects the EU's new powers under the Lisbon Treaty.
This, he said, implies that "the importance of the rotating presidency [is put] into perspective," with EU President Herman Van Rompuy now fully in charge of ensuring continuity in the EU's actions.
"One must leave room to the European institutions after the renewal of the European Parliament, the renewal of the Commission and the investiture of the European Council president [Herman Van Rompuy]," Leterme said.
Barroso also expressed confidence in Belgium's ability to assume the EU presidency. "Frankly, I could work with this government exactly as if it had just been instituted. Europe is also about permanence, continuity. The European project is not determined by electoral terms in a country or another. And in Belgium, we have the chance of having a great consensus for Europe. […] And so continuity will be assured."
"There will maybe be a political rhythm that is going to be different in Belgium internally but that will not harm the demands of the presidency," Barroso added.
Flemish independence party leads
In the meantime, an opinion poll revealed that the biggest party ahead of the 13 June elections is N-VA (New Flemish Alliance), a Flemish nationalist party that seeks independence for Flanders. N-VA, led by Bart De Wever, could obtain 26% in Flanders, far ahead of Leterme's party CD&V, which would get less than 20%.
In third place would be the Open VLD party led by Alexander De Croo, who prompted the early elections, with 12.4% and Vlaams Belang, the successor to Vlaams Blok and an advocate of the independence of Flanders, with 10.3%.
The poll, conduced by the agency Dimarso, is believed to have a margin of error of 2.5%.
Belgium 'concentrating on the programme'
"Right now, we are concentrating on the programme in terms of content," Leterme said, listing the presidency's five priority areas:
- Tackling the ongoing economic crisis, with a package of measures to increase the surveillance of financial markets.
- Social cohesion and the fight against poverty, which Leterme said "is very important in our eyes"as regards the presidency.
- Environment and climate change: Preparing the December UN climate conference in Cancún.
- Justice and home affairs: Implementing the so-called Stockholm Programme launched in 2009 under the Swedish Presidency.
- External relations: Continuing with the EU’s enlargement policy and putting in place the EU’s new diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service (EEAS).
The goals identified by Belgium largely echo the priorities unveiled by the Spanish EU Presidency for the first half of 2010 (EurActiv 09/12/09). It also closely matches the joint programme which Belgium presented along with Spain and Hungary in the new "trio" presidency format (EurActiv 26/01/10).
A more detailed programme is due to be officially adopted on 16 June.
