About: Belgian EU presidency Archives

Belgian State Secretary for European Affairs Olivier Chastel says Belgium will give full leeway to the EU's new front men – Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton – when the divided country takes the rotating EU presidency on 1 July. He spoke to EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

The Czech and Polish presidents have little choice left but to complete their countries' ratification processes after the massive 'yes' vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland, according to Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament. He spoke to EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

Perhaps learning from the Czech Republic's experience, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy says he will strive to solve the country's internal tensions by mid-2010 in order to avoid potential problems during the country's EU presidency in the second half of the year.

In the country hosting the EU institutions, European elections are held on the same day as regional elections, with local issues overshadowing the EU poll. Voting is compulsory in Belgium, and over 90% of the population usually participates in the ballot.

With just a year to go until the Belgian EU Presidency, the country's foreign minister denounced the functioning of the Union, which he said is increasingly governed by an "executive board of big countries".

Belgium will mainly focus on finalising the 1999 telecommunications sector review. Other Belgian priorities are UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), .EU, e-government and e-security.

Belgium will mainly focus on a European research area and the 6th framework programme during its presidency of the EU. The presidency of the Research Council will be allocating a specific priority to strengthening relations between science, society and the citizen.

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

Belgian Presidency of the EU will focus on 16 top priorities, among them debate on the future of Europe and enlargement