Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union

Présidence belge Conseil de l'UE - Wallonie FW-B

From 1 January to 30 June 2024, Belgium will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for the 13th time.

As in 2010 during its previous presidency, the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union takes place within the framework of the Spain-Belgium-Hungary trio presidency, as laid down in the Treaty of Lisbon.

A Trio programme has been drawn up by the three Presidencies for a period of 18 months. The programme of the Belgian presidency is in line with this.

Belgium has six priorities for its presidency of the Council:

Defend the rule of law, democracy and unity,
Strengthen our competitiveness,
Pursue a fair ecological transition,
Strengthen our social and health programmes,
Protect individuals and borders,
Promote Global Europe

Around 150 formal and informal meetings of ministers and heads of state will take place under the Belgian presidency.

In all, there will be more than 530 informal meetings and around 2,000 working meetings. They include briefing meetings and informal meetings of national representatives in Council working groups, meetings of Member States' Permanent Representatives to the EU, ministerial meetings and summits, right up to Heads of State and Government.

Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation will therefore work closely with the federal authorities and other federated entities to prepare, chair and lead the Council's working groups, as well as formal and informal ministerial meetings. As such, the Delegation's assistants will be directly involved in the work of the Council of the European Union.

In this context, Wallonia will chair the Council of Ministers on: