From the 1st of January, Belgium , as President of the Council, will lead the European agenda and promote cooperation among the Member States.
The Council of the European Union will be headed by Belgium for the first six months of 2024, a special year for the institution because next June, the citizens of the 27 Member States (nearly 200 million voters in the last elections in 2019) will elect the 720 new Members of the European Parliament.
The Belgian presidency programme sets out the priorities and main directions of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU. The Belgian term takes place from the 1st of January to the 30th of June 2024.
Belgium assumes the rotating presidency for the thirteenth time, at a moment when the European Union stands at a crossroads, dealing with the consequences of the Russian illegal aggression in Ukraine, the pandemic, the energy crisis, disinformation, extreme climate events, and a renewed conflict in the Middle East.
The Belgian presidency will work towards better protecting European citizens, strengthening our cooperation, and preparing our shared future. It will focus on six thematic areas, and will provide particular attention to maintaining our unwavering support to Ukraine.
As the current institutional cycle concludes, the presidency will support a seamless transition to the next one. It will support the adoption of the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 and prepare discussions on the future of the European Union.
As a founder — along with five other countries — of the European Union’s ancestors, first the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community), then the EEC (European Economic Community), Belgium has always been an active and passionate driving force in the construction of this formidable organisation, whose institutions it houses in Brussels.
With its experience in European affairs, its practice of subsidiarity and its ability to find a compromise, Belgium, the very first country to hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in 1958 (thanks to its letter B!), welcomes the return of this democratic responsibility with honour, pride and enthusiasm.
For six months, as an honest and neutral intermediary as the nature of a presidency requires, Belgium will strive to encourage discussions and build consensus between the Member States, between the Council and the other European institutions, and between the European Union and its international partners.
More than ever, in the face of fundamental challenges for peace and prosperity, for the future of our planet as a whole, and in a delicate political, social and economic context, Belgium is aware of the need to find compromises and move the European Union forward. For it is at this level that truly significant decisions may be taken in many areas, leading to European laws that will have a tangible impact on more than 448 million citizens.
Thousands of men and women at all levels — political, diplomatic and administrative — and in all the country’s structures, whether federal, regional or community-based, are uniting and will continue to unite their efforts to help Belgium achieve this goal.
