Belgian Presidency: Meeting of the Spain Belgium Hungary Trio
While attending the General Affairs Council on September 13th, Olivier Chastel, Secretary of State for European Affairs, met with his Spanish and Hungarian counterparts to discuss the progress made on the various team Presidency programme dossiers.
He also addressed the relations between the Council and the European Parliament, and the points raised during the last plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The Hungarian Secretary of State presented the main items of the programme of the upcoming Hungarian Presidency of the Council.
Olivier Chastel told Diego Lopez Garrido and Gyori Eniko that “With respect to financial supervision and regulation, the Belgian Presidency should attain its goal of reaching an agreement, on first reading, with the European Parliament on the legislative texts to create a systemic risk board and micro-prudential supervisory bodies”.
Referring to staff selection for the European External Action Service, Olivier Chastel reiterated the objective of providing the High Representative with a diplomatic service before the end of the year, in time for the anniversary of the Treaty of Lisbon. Still under discussion are the status of employees and financial rules.
The Secretaries of State of the Trio also discussed issues related to energy, the citizen’s initiative and the community patent.
Olivier Chastel then provided a summary of the last plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg: State of the Union address, the situation of the Roma in Europe, the Union budget and employment guidelines.
“With respect to inter-institutional relations, I intend to persevere in my informal contacts with the European Parliament at both the administrative level (Coreper/Secretary-General of the European Parliament) and the political level (President of the European Parliament/President of the Conference of Committee Chairs),” said Secretary of State Chastel. The goal of these meetings is to provide an update on the programme of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the Union.
