Flanders and the Belgian EU-presidency: the results
At the end of the Belgian EU-presidency, it is clear that Flanders has been able to attain results and that the final assessment is largely positive. This is demonstrated by the successes achieved in the areas of policy presided over by Flanders on behalf of Belgium.
In Belgium, the confederated regions are closely involved in the European policy. That was certainly true during the Belgian EU-presidency, in which Flemish ministers chaired European Councils of Ministers, specifically the Fisheries Council (Minister-President Peeters), the Environment Council (Minister Schauvliege), the Youth and Education Council (Minister Smet) and the Sport Council (Minister Muyters). Ministers from the Flemish Government thus acted as Belgian chairpersons, which also entailed representing the common position of the EU-member states at international summits.
In this way, the Flemish Government had direct involvement and responsibility in the European policy, which we were able to help shape and direct during the Belgian Presidency.
Fisheries
For Fisheries, over the past few months Minister-President Peeters succeeded with aplomb in having all political agreements on the fishing quotas approved by all member states, with sustainable fish stocks as the common thread. As Flemish Agriculture Minister, he also placed the current critical situation of the pig farming sector on the agenda which will be further addressed by the upcoming Hungarian presidency. Working visits to Flemish agricultural companies during the informal Agriculture Council also offered the chance to gain a good picture of our diverse and high-performance agriculture sector.
Environment
In the area of the Environment, Minister Schauvliege succeeded in reaching a joint position with all 27 EU-member states on biodiversity, so that at the UN-summit in Nagoya (Japan) the EU was able to play a role in achieving a strong international agreement on the protection of biodiversity for the coming decade. In addition, the necessary groundwork was laid for the Climate Summit in Cancun (Mexico) enabling Minister Schauvliege to defend the EU-positions side by side with European Commissioner Hedegaard. Finally, Flanders successfully placed the topic of sustainable materials management on the European agenda, with the informal Environment Council in Ghent and formal Council conclusions, so that in 2011 the European Commission will be able to get started with developing concrete proposals in this area.
Education and Training
Flanders was also able to generate results with regard to Education and Training. The European collaboration on vocational education and training over the past decade was evaluated. Subsequently, the priorities for the next ten years were set down in formal Council conclusions and at the informal Education Council in Bruges. Furthermore ‘Youth on the Move’, one of the seven flagship initiatives of the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ garnered the necessary attention through conferences and formal Council conclusions. Much hard work was also devoted to the issues of social inclusion, education for sustainable development and the importance of basic skills.
Youth
Flemish minister Smet acted not only as Belgian chairperson for Education, but also for Youth. In this area, much effort was focused on youth work, the international policy agendas concerning young people, children and children’s rights, the structured dialogue on youth and employment and job opportunities, young peoples’ access to culture and youth in an urban context. The many initiatives were marked by a high degree of collaboration between the various partners: governments, international organisations, youth organisations, experts and young people themselves.
Sport
Since the Treaty of Lisbon, sport has become an official competency of the European Union. Flemish Minister Muyters was therefore active primarily in helping to get the EU-sports policy off the ground, including holding the first formal Council of Ministers of Sport, the launch of a structured dialogue with the sports sector in the EU, and a better coordination with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In addition, the social role of sport was highlighted extensively.
Plus
Furthermore, the Flemish government organised numerous European conferences and seminars on policy topics of importance to the Flemish government such as science and innovation geared towards the greening of the economy, energy technology, knowledge-based bio-economy, marine and maritime research, sustainable energy and energy efficiency, an active labuor market policy, the fight against poverty and social exclusion, social determinants of health and the approach to health inequality, shipping, heritage, and integration and the role of local and regional governments in a multi-layer administrative context.
Evaluation Flanders and the EU Presidency
