Commentary

For the next 6 months, Belgium will hold the (rotating) EU Presidency of the European Council.


Time for concluding legislative efforts is limited. With elections for the European Parliament in June, legislative results will have to be secured in the first 3 to 4 months, with the last session of the European Parliament end of April.


One of the six Belgium priority themes will be concluding the final pieces of the European Green Deal, in particular the Fit-for-55 package on achieving climate neutrality by 2050.


Here are a few of the green ambitions of the Belgium Programme:


The Belgium Presidency wants to finalise the proposal for a certification framework for carbon removals, and the review of the CO2 emission standards for heavy duty vehicles.


Plus make progress on Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, the review of the Air Quality Directive and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, the Green Claims Directive, food waste reduction targets, and the revision on the Regulation on End-of-Life Vehicles.


Belgium also has the ambition to make progress on one of the biggest chemical dossiers of PFAS -- a complex and controversial file that will dominate the EU chemical agenda for the next years.


The Presidency will continue to work on the longer-term environmental agenda, noting the nexus of climate change, the circular economy, biodiversity and pollution. This includes facilitating the discussions on the EU climate targets for 2040, climate related risks, the Industrial Carbon Management Strategy and the mid-term review of the 8th Environmental Action Programme (the EU's 2050 vision and objectives of living within the planetary boundaries).


And there is, of course, the international arena, where Belgium will act and speak on behalf of the EU (often together with the European Commission).


Most COPs are scheduled for the second half of 2024 (Climate COP 29, Biodiversity COP 16, Desertification COP 16). But all of these have intersessional or preparatory meetings in the coming months that require a lot of effort from the EU Presidency -- notably the extensive sessions of the subsidiary bodies of the Climate Change Convention, in June in Bonn.


Already earlier in the year the session of the UN Environment Assembly, with a full agenda (February, Nairobi), and the next negotiating round of the Plastics Treaty (April, Ottawa).


Holding the Presidency is a roller coaster and a lot of hard work -- but it's a great experience and an exciting ride.


I wish Belgium a lot of succes!

For the full Presidency programma of Belgium: https://l1nq.com/4FWY2