Belgium took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1, 2024. This small founding country of 11,700,000 inhabitants must set the agenda for the various Councils for the first half of this year. To find out more about the priorities of this Belgian presidency, we welcome the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hadja Lahbib. Former RTBF journalist, member of the centrist liberal party Mouvement Réformateur, which belongs to the Renew group in the European Parliament, she was appointed head of diplomacy by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo in July 2022.
With the European elections in June 2024, Belgium is not inheriting an easy period for its presidency, but more is needed to worry the one who was a war reporter in Afghanistan. “I like challenges, and it’s something you can’t refuse,” opens Hadja Lahbib, head of Belgian diplomacy since July 2022.
The war in Ukraine continues and will continue to occupy the Twenty-Seven. An extraordinary summit is also planned for 1er February to discuss an aid plan of 50 billion euros over four years for kyiv, which has been at a standstill since last December due to the blockade of ultranationalist Viktor Orban’s Hungary.
Hadja Lahbib wants to be optimistic: “The vast majority of us are convinced that we cannot let go of Ukraine today. Because if we let go of it, it is our security, our democracies, our system of values and international law who are in danger (…). We want to believe that Hungary will be with us in the near future and that the Council of 1er February will be fruitful and she will rally around this immense majority since she is isolated (…). President Zelenskiy tabled a ten-point peace plan which 80 countries signed on to in Davos, including Brazil and India. Hungary should not isolate itself and be on the wrong side of history.”
For his part, Viktor Orban suggests dividing the sum into several parts, paid annually, in order to be able to exercise his veto each time. To get around the problem, some European leaders are considering an agreement of 26, that is to say outside the budget. But for Hadja Lahbib, “there is only one solution, that is for the Twenty-Seven to agree (…). I have witnessed lively debates for a year and a half, which obviously lead to extremely divergent interests, and that is normal. But I am convinced that we will get there (…) and I hope that we will further strengthen the European Union, which precisely needs to be more united than ever in the face of an increasingly polarized and polarizing world.”
Furthermore, Hungary is still awaiting the payment of 20 billion euros from the recovery plan, still withheld to sanction Budapest’s deviations from the rule of law, which is one of the “priorities” of the Belgian presidency: “At a time when we are seeing a decline in democratic values, fundamental freedoms, the independence of justice and the media, we cannot trifle with the rule of law! And as long as Hungary does not make the necessary efforts, the funds will not be released.”
The Commissioner for Industry, Frenchman Thierry Breton, proposes that the next Commission provide the EU with a defense fund of 100 billion euros to develop common infrastructures. For the minister, “it is more than desirable for the European Union to coordinate and have a real Defense industry.” Because in this area, the expenditures of the member countries represent are today higher than those of China and three times higher than those of Russia, “but we are less effective because we are not coherent”, regrets Hadja Lahbib.
In the east of the EU, states including Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are calling for import duties to be imposed on Ukrainian grain, citing the risk of agricultural dumping. This is also one of the reasons why farmers are demonstrating almost everywhere in Europe currently. For Hadja Lahbib, this grain and seeds crisis is the consequence of the blockages imposed by “Putin’s Russia, which is scoring points, and it is against it that we must fight (…). We must overcome our differences and find ways to ensure that these cereals do not invade the European Union. It also recalls the need to always transport these cereals to African countries.
The head of Belgian diplomacy defends the famous Migration Pact, which is in the process of being finalized: “We now have a pact, with the Twenty-Seven on the same line”, she welcomes. But around twenty NGOs denounce a poorly designed, costly and cruel system. Hadja Lahbib rejects these accusations, while conceding that “implementation does indeed require a budget: we must manage to treat migration in a responsible, united and humane manner. And all the criteria will be there for us to continue to accept, welcome into our territories people who are fleeing mistreatment, who are fleeing inequalities because they belong to minorities who have the right to find asylum with us, while allowing rapid return of those who are not entitled to this asylum .” She pleads for a better partnership with the countries where these migrants come from: “No one leaves their home, their origins, their roots, with joy of heart. They flee because they no longer have a political horizon, because they are in danger. We must therefore also work to stabilize these regions, whether in the Middle East or in Ukraine.”
One of the other major ambitions of the Belgian presidency is to advance the Green Deal by April, when the European Parliament will interrupt its work. The right and the far right have already blocked very symbolic laws. “We cannot afford to stand still,” asserts Hadja Lahbib. “Everyone is aware that there is an emergency, that there is a real climate upheaval, that a transition must be put in place.” But she qualifies: “There is no question of a break, but we must also not make a transition that leaves part of the population behind.”
The President of the European Council, the Belgian Charles Michel, announced his candidacy as head of the Reform Movement list for the European elections, ending his functions from June, while his mandate runs until November 30, 2024. Several European commissioners are also planning to embark on the European campaign. This does not scare Hadja Lahbib, quite the contrary: “That they go and confront their voters, that they remember their good memories, that they finally come and say what they did, that is good for the health of democracy.”
She took the opportunity to appeal to voters: “In today’s world, with extremism on the rise, with the decline of fundamental freedoms, of fundamental rights that took years and decades to acquire, make hear your voice. Every voice counts, it’s important. And don’t give in to the simplistic solutions provided by extreme parties who, when they come to power, are finally confronted with reality and are incapable of implementing their promises.”
Program prepared by Isabelle Romero, Perrine Desplats and Sophie Samaille