Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

The Presidency began 12 days ago. For me, those days have been very full, on various occasions, notably meetings with the European Parliament or the international press to present the key outlines of our programme, but also with specific files, such as the launch of negotiations for the accession of Iceland.

In two weeks’ time, I will be chairing my first General Affairs Council. As always, the preparation work is essential. I therefore invited each of my colleagues to one of the four dinners held over the past few weeks at Val Duchesse.
There, we were able to discuss informally the challenges for the next six months, but also ways of further enhancing the efficiency of our debates and initiatives outside the European Union.