Meeting of the Secretaries of State for European Affairs of the Spain – Belgium – Hungary Trio, Madrid
With the Belgian Presidency due to be launched on 1 July, Olivier Chastel, Secretary of State for European Affairs, was eager to consult his trio counterparts Diego Lopez Garrido, Spanish Secretary of State, and the future Hungarian Secretary of State Gyori Eniko. The invitation by the Spanish Secretary of State to a working meeting was also an opportunity to present the Spanish Presidency’s record of achievement.
Olivier Chastel listened to his Spanish and Hungarian colleagues and asked them questions about the seven subjects that will dominate and be prominent within the Belgian Presidency of the European Union:
- the future of Europe’s economy and economic policy: on the agenda is sketching out a new long-term ‘EU 2010’ strategy and putting in place financial supervision and regulation
- the kind of budget the EU will need in the future
- the social dimension and employment within the economy
- issues relating to climate, the environment and energy
- the Stockholm programme on justice and home affairs, particularly immigration and asylum issues
- the enlargement of the EU to include Iceland, the Balkan countries and Turkey
- the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon, including the creation of the European diplomatic service and the European citizens’ initiative
The Belgian Presidency will also devote itself to legislative work, since the EU has accumulated a backlog in legislative work resulting from the change in Commission and European Parliament in 2009. In addition, Belgium will do all it can to ensure that the European institutions operate smoothly following the innovations brought in by the Treaty of Lisbon.
In the view of Olivier Chastel, Secretary of State for European Affairs, ‘the outlines of the legacy of the programme drawn up and passed on from one presidency to the next are quite clear; these issues include legislative proposals and also topics and subjects that are very important for the EU’s political balance and its institutional structure, and for the image and success of our Presidency’. The topics that can be seen as a programme inherited from the Spanish Presidency are: the continuation of efforts to combat the economic crisis, the follow-up to the Copenhagen conference on climate change, the strengthening of the social dimension in the EU, particularly within the context of the European Year for Combating Poverty, the Stockholm programme, the continuation of negotiations on accession to the EU and the further implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon.