Belgian Presidency details its priorities

Belgian Presidency to focus on euro,
enlargement, EU future, immigration and defence
policies

The Belgian Presidency has to fulfil a long list of tasks,
such as:

• Make sure the euro banknotes and coins are smoothly
  put in circulation on 1 January 2002.
• Achieve progress on the work programme on asylum and
  immigration, adopted by the Tampere European Council of
  October 1999.
• Implement the work programme on sustainable
  development, adopted by the Gothenburg European Council
  of June 2001.
• Establish the European Food Authority.
• Pursue enlargement negotiations according to the
  “Road Map”, adopted by the Helsinki European Council of
  December 1999.
• Prepare ground for the next Intergovernmental
  Conference (IGC) in 2004 where further reforms of EU
  treaties will be introduced in order to cope with
  enlargement and growing scepticism of EU citizens.
• Make EU security and defence policy operational by
  the end of the year.

The Belgian Presidency’s priorities in
relation to external relations are:

• the stabilisation process in the Balkans, especially
  Macedonia;
• the Middle East peace process,
• co-operation with Russia,
• intensified dialogue with the USA on issues such as
  common EU security and defence policy, enlargement and
  environmental concerns.

The highlights of the Belgian Presidency
will be two European Council meetings:

• the informal European Council of Ghent on 19
  October,
• the formal European Council of Brussels-Laeken on 14
  December.

The Ghent Summit is scheduled to deal
with enlargement issues just a month before the Commission
publishes its annual reports on the progress of the 13
candidate countries towards EU membership. The Belgian
Presidency wants to make sure that the enlargement
timetable, set by the Gothenburg European Council of 15-16
June 2001, is respected.

The EU will adopt a declaration at the
Laeken Summit in December which will define the procedures
and the agenda of the next IGC. According to diplomatic
sources, there will probably be a sort of a “convention” of
national parliaments, the European Parliament, the European
Commission and the national governments, which will
influence the agenda of the IGC. However, the IGC,
consisting of the national governments, remains the only
decision-making body on EU treaty changes.

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