As of 1 January 2012, Belgium is assuming Presidency of the Benelux Committee of Ministers. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders therefore welcomed to the Egmont Palace in Brussels the Secretary-General of the Benelux, Jan Van Laarhoven, and his Deputies Luc Willems and Alain de Muyser. Together, they form the Board of Secretaries-General of the Benelux.
Didier Reynders defined the main objectives of the Belgian Presidency: the modernisation of the Benelux Court of Justice and the Benelux Parliament, as well as the effective implementation of the new Benelux Treaty. In this regard, a round table on the future of the Benelux and on a 2013-2016 common work programme will be held on 3 February. With today’s meeting, the Minister wished to get the ball rolling with making these goals a reality.
For Didier Reynders, however, the Benelux is more than simply the joint institution of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium. He hopes to make better use of the Benelux as a platform to develop common positions on issues on the European agenda, such as negotiations for a new European treaty on strengthening economic union. The meetings set for the Belgian Presidency, primarily with the Baltic states, the Visegrád countries and the Nordic states, can also help to develop cooperation and common positions on European themes.
