Belgium will place a strong focus on ensuring the continuation of the European Green Deal and the protection of LGBTIQ+ rights during its EU Council presidency in the first half of next year, Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter told Euractiv in an exclusive interview.
Belgium will embark on its 13th EU presidency in January, taking over from Spain. As the last presidency before the EU elections in June 2024, Belgium will rush to conclude as many legislative files as possible while also having the chance to lay the groundwork for a new configuration of the EU Commission and Parliament.
One of the key priorities for Belgium will be to ensure the continuation of a strong Green Deal, De Sutter told Euractiv.
‘‘We will talk about continuing the Green Deal (…) for us. It’s important that the next Commission continues the work of this Commission and doesn’t go into a completely different direction’, she said.
With voices at the EU and national levels calling for a slowdown in the green transition to protect business, De Sutter says slowing down would be a “terrible mistake” as “every euro invested now will prevent many euros of damage control later if we do not reach ambitions set”.
“So we know that the EU wants to increase its autonomy and have its own industrial policy, which is good, but we really want it also to be in line with the Green Deal that the Commission started in 2019,” she added.
According to De Sutter, Belgium will be able to push for this in drafting the European Council’s five-year strategic plan, as it will be able to play an “active role” as a mediator between member states during its presidency.
At the same time, De Sutter argues that the green transition should be accompanied by a social transition, as “these are two sides of one coin”. It is necessary to address inequalities to prevent the victims of climate change from paying “twice the price”, she said.
“Governments really need to put in place strong social policies to make sure nobody is left behind (…) you cannot talk about ecological policies if you are not talking about social policies”, she added.
LGBTQI+ rights across policy areas
The Belgian presidency is also set to fight for LGBTQ+ rights in all policy areas, even if the issue is not explicitly on the agenda.
“These subjects, which are mostly national competencies, will maybe not be explicitly on the agenda, but I think we have to address them in every policy that we decide”, she said.
Seeing that LGBTQI+ rights are threatened in several EU countries like Italy, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, De Sutter is worried about a “slowing down” and an “attack” on the fight for human and civil rights. In particular, she is concerned that some EU countries are trying to restrict rights through the “back door”.
“I can say that in certain council meetings that were in the domain of telecoms, suddenly certain member states were wanting to write texts or change texts to redefine what a family is. So it can be everywhere. It can be on the table at any moment and everywhere. And we should not let that happen”, she added.
“Restrained” preparation
“Of course, it will be a challenge”, she said, pointing out that “we also had budgetary restraints”.
Belgium has earmarked €100 million in the government budget to finance the presidency and has increased its staff. However, it has had to cut costs by reducing the number of ministerial meetings, resulting in a “realistic programme”.
“We had to cut down on the number of informal and site meetings that we wanted to do because everybody from his or her own portfolio wanted to do a lot of things,” she said.
“Belgium is not too bad at doing these kinds of things. So I hope that we will be successful in our presidency,” she concluded.
(Max Griera | Euractiv.com)
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