Belgian EU Council Presidency 2010

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Belgian EU Presidency 2010 logo
logo
country BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Term of office July 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010
Chair Steven Vanackere
Web presence http://eu2010.be/
trio
SpainSpain Spain , Belgium , HungaryBelgiumBelgium HungaryHungary 
chronology
◀   Spain Hungary   ▶

The Belgian EU Presidency in the second half of 2010 refers to the presidency of Belgium in the Council of Ministers of the European Union . Belgium was part of the third trio presidency , which began the previous six months with the Spanish presidency and also includes the Hungarian EU council presidency in the first half of 2011.

The Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere ( CD&V ) took over the chairmanship of the General Affairs Council on July 1, 2010 . After the resignation of the Leterme II government in April and the new elections on June 13, 2010 , the Belgian government was formally only active in an executive role. However, since the formation of a new government in the Belgian parliament did not succeed, there was no replacement until the end of the presidency. In various other council formations , due to the pronounced Belgian federalism, ministers from the national, but from a regional government took the chair.

The presidency of the European Council has not rotated since the Treaty of Lisbon came into force , but is elected for two and a half years. Herman Van Rompuy , who also happens to be Belgian, has been in office since December 1, 2009 . Summits of the European Council took place during the Belgian presidency on September 16, 28/29. October and 16./17. December.

subjects

One of the issues that the European Union faced during the Belgian Presidency was EU enlargement . So were accession negotiations with Iceland formally opened on July 27, the one with Croatia should be completed by the end of the year, but this was not quite reached. At the summit on 16./17. In December, Montenegro was also officially accepted as a candidate country .

The Belgian government also placed research and development and innovation at the heart of the Council Presidency. For example, a new research and innovation plan was debated at the autumn summit of the European Council , which is to be adopted at the December summit . He joined the Europe 2020 economic program , which was adopted in the first half of 2010 as the successor to the Lisbon strategy . The innovation plan has been prepared since the beginning of 2010 by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn , who was responsible for research and innovation in the European Commission . Furthermore, the Belgian government announced that it intends to bring the EU patent project, which has been pursued since 2003, to completion during the Council Presidency. As the project was blocked by Italy and Spain, a group of member states decided to launch it at the December summit as part of enhanced cooperation . Another success in the context of the European single market was the harmonization of consumer rights in door-to-door sales .

2 euro commemorative coin from Belgium, 2010

The Belgian government also announced that it would make social policy issues a priority of the Council Presidency, in particular through the implementation of the poverty reduction goals foreseen in the Europe 2020 program . A list of corresponding measures was at the summit of the European Council on 16./17. December decided.

Furthermore, the euro crisis played an important role for the Belgian presidency. In mid-September, the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs , Olli Rehn , presented a legislative package to tighten the Stability and Growth Pact , the so-called “six-pack”. In mid-October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented joint proposals on this, shortly before Council President Herman Van Rompuy presented the results of a task force on European economic government at the October European Council . The Council for Economic and Financial Affairs agreed on the introduction of a “ European semester ” in which all states have their national budget plans examined by the other EU member states before they are passed by the national parliaments. On the other hand, the German proposal to withdraw voting rights in the Council of the European Union from member states with excessive debt , which was ultimately not taken up by the European Council , caused controversial discussions . Instead, Van Rompuy was tasked with drafting proposals for a "limited treaty reform" of the AEU Treaty . In particular, it should set up a procedure whereby private creditors are involved in the rescue in the event of future debt crises in member states of the European Monetary Union. A concrete text for such a treaty amendment, in which Art. 136 is to be supplemented by two sentences, was at the summit of the European Council on 16./17. Decided December (see European Economic and Monetary Union # Decision on Treaty Reform 2010 ).

In addition to these longer-term reforms, the November crisis also regained immediate importance. Due to the Irish financial and banking crisis (particularly the Anglo Irish Bank ), Taoiseach Brian Cowen applied for guarantees of up to 100 billion euros from the European Stabilization Mechanism on November 21 .

The implementation of the innovations of the Lisbon Treaty also played a role. This is how the European External Action Service (EEAS), the shape of which was decided at the end of the previous Spanish Presidency , was set up. However, there were tensions between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament over the precise design of the EEAS . The Belgian presidency announced its intention to play a mediating role in this interinstitutional conflict. On July 26, the Foreign Affairs Council gave its final approval to the establishment of the service, which was due to start operating on January 1, 2011. In addition, the EU budget for 2011 was agreed during the Belgian Presidency , and when it was drafted, the European Parliament was able to exercise certain additional powers under the Lisbon Treaty for the first time . Due to disagreements between Parliament and the Council, the budget negotiations initially failed on November 15, 2010, so that there were fears that there could only be an emergency budget for the following year for the first time in EU history . This also seemed to jeopardize various new projects, such as the introduction of the EAD or the construction of the ITER nuclear fusion reactor , as no additional funds were available for them. In mid-December, however, an agreement was reached between Parliament and the Council.

Another topic of the Council Presidency was the future direction of EU regional policy and its budget in the financial perspective for the period 2013-2020. Due to the strong federal structure of the Belgian state , this issue received special attention. The financial perspective was also the subject of controversial debates, as the UK and a few other countries proposed freezing the EU budget from 2013 and cutting EU structural funds, especially from Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries , which are the main net recipients of the structural funds , was criticized. The Commissioner for Financial Planning and Budget , Janusz Lewandowski , also proposed the introduction of new own resources , for example in the form of an EU tax , in August . This was rejected by Germany in particular and was therefore initially not pursued any further. Nevertheless, at the end of November , Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced a concrete proposal for a new own resources directive for June 2011.

In the area of ​​freedom, security and justice , the Council Presidency planned to develop Europe-wide minimum standards in asylum law , but this was rejected by the three largest member states, especially Germany . Ultimately, therefore, there was no progress in this area. However, the Justice and Home Affairs won on one (actually the European economic government dedicated) extraordinary European Council on 16 September surprisingly important, given the short time before the Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding fierce criticism of the French government for the deportation of Roma to other EU Member countries which, according to Redings, violated the principle of free movement of persons . At the summit there was therefore a scandal between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Wiener Zeitung , December 21, 2010: EU professionals without their own government (accessed on November 7, 2013).
  2. ↑ a b EurActiv , June 24, 2010: Belgian regions have a bigger role for regions in mind during the EU Council Presidency .
  3. ↑ EurActiv , July 27, 2010: Iceland storms EU waiting room .
  4. ↑ EurActiv , 23 June 2010: Belgium is taking cautious steps on EU enlargement .
  5. ↑ EurActiv 23 June 2010: Belgian Presidency puts innovation in the spotlight .
  6. ↑ EurActiv , 28 May 2010: Governments want research funding to be the core of the innovation plan .
  7. ↑ EurActiv , June 24, 2010: EU patent crucial for Belgian Council Presidency .
  8. ^ Wiener Zeitung , December 11, 2010: Dispute over EU patent escalated (accessed November 7, 2013).
  9. ↑ EurActiv , June 25, 2010: Belgium will fund an ambitious social agenda with an EU tax .
  10. ↑ EurActiv , December 17, 2010: EU reveals series of proposals for combating poverty ( Memento of the original of May 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / euractiv.com
  11. ↑ EurActiv , June 17, 2010: Commission reveals future euro stability plans .
  12. ↑ EurActiv , October 29, 2010: EU summit: Merkel implements treaty amendment , see also European Council conclusions (PDF; 45 kB), October 29, 2010.
  13. ↑ Der Standard , December 16, 2010: EU summit agreed on permanent crisis mechanism .
  14. ↑ Financial Times Deutschland , November 21, 2010: Europe's problem child: Ireland is fleeing under the rescue package ( memento of November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
  15. ↑ EurActiv 22/06/2010 : Spanish Presidency seals EAD deal .
  16. ↑ EurActiv , 14 Jul 2010: Belgium seeks to ease tensions over the Lisbon Treaty .
  17. ↑ EurActiv , July 27, 2010: EU wants diplomatic service by December .
  18. ↑ Wiener Zeitung , December 24, 2010: The go- ahead for a more uniform EU foreign policy is given (accessed on November 7, 2013).
  19. ↑ EurActiv , November 16, 2011: Great Britain and the Netherlands block EU budget ( memento of the original from November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / euractiv.com
  20. ^ Wiener Zeitung , December 11, 2010: EU has a budget for 2011 (accessed on November 7, 2013).
  21. ↑ EurActiv , December 17, 2010: Cameron gathers troops for a budget fight ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / euractiv.com
  22. ↑ EurActiv , August 9, 2010: Berlin buries EU tax .
  23. ↑ Press release of the European Commission, November 26th 2010: Letter by President Barroso to Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament and Yves Leterme, President of the Council, on the Commission's new proposal for the 2011 Budget .
  24. ↑ Tagesschau , July 15, 2010: Germany blocks EU uniform asylum law .
  25. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 16, 2010: Zoff instead of diplomacy .
predecessor Office successor
Spanish EU Council Presidency EU Council Presidency
July 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010 		Hungarian EU Council Presidency