Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

On 7 July, Prime Minister Yves Leterme, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Steven Vanackere and myself went to the European Parliament in Strasbourg for the presentation of the programme of the Belgian Presidency to the Members of the European Parliament.

In the fringes of the plenary session, I had a bilateral meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Mr Jerzy Buzek. With a view to strengthening the links between the two European institutions – the EU Council and the European Parliament – Secretary of State Olivier Chastel agreed that informal meetings should be put in place at two levels.
The first level would involve informal meetings between the Secretaries of State for European Affairs for the Presidency Trio – Spain, Belgium and Hungary – and the Secretary General of the European Parliament, Mr Klaus Welle.
The second level of informal meetings would be between the President of the European Parliament and the Belgian Prime Minister two and four months into the Belgian Presidency.

Given that the co-decision procedure between the EU Council and Parliament had been greatly extended by the Treaty of Lisbon, I felt that it was important to be kept abreast of the latest changes in legislative matters.

I then signed seven legislative acts on behalf of the Presidency of the EU Council. These related to various matters, such as the proposal for a directive from the European Parliament and Council on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and a proposal for a directive on quality and safety standards for human organs used for transplants.

At the next plenary session of the European Parliament, I will respond to oral questions on behalf of the Presidency of the EU Council.