The College of Commissioners and its counterparts from the Belgian Government met in the Egmont Palace in Brussels to discuss the priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU that started on 1 January and will run until the end of June, right after this year's European elections.
After Commissioners and Ministers met in sectoral meetings, they met for a plenary meeting that was co-chaired by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo.
President von der Leyen and Prime Minister De Croo addressed journalists at the end of the day. Highlighting the Belgian aims to "protect, strengthen, and prepare", President von der Leyen laid out the work strands for strong cooperation with the Presidency, namely support for Ukraine, the revision of the EU budget, competitiveness, the fight against climate change, and enlargement.
There was robust agreement on the importance of continuing the EU's support to Ukraine. The President emphasised the need of stabilising financial aid to Ukraine and the Belgian Presidency's key task to finalise the Ukraine Facility as quickly as possible after an agreement is reached in the European Council.
On the wide issue of competitiveness, President von der Leyen expressed her confidence on making progress on the Net-Zero Industry Act, as well as on the modernised rules on economic governance, following the Council agreement reached at the end of December.
The President also advocated for promoting strong social dialogue. "First, because long-term competitiveness relies first and foremost on Europe's main talent: and that is the people and their skills. Second, because competitiveness is a tool to ensure prosperity, and this is prosperity for all," she said, also underlining her expectations for the upcoming Val Duchesse Summit of social partners, which she announced in her State of the Union Address last year.
The Commission President took the occasion to highlight two policy announcements for 2024. She said the Commission would come forward with an initiative on 2040 climate targets, following the EU's success in bringing the world together in setting new global targets on renewables and energy efficiency at the COP28.
Likewise, the President confirmed the Commission would put forward a roadmap for policy reviews in the framework of preparing for an enlarged Union, saying "before we get bigger, we have to get better".
Tribute to Jacques Delors
The activities of the day ended with a concert at Brussels's Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar), with the attendance of Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians.
It was the proper moment to pay tribute to former Commission President, and the last Honorary Citizen of Europe, Jacques Delors, who passed away on 27 December.
President von der Leyen reminded that it was in the same hall that President Delors had given his legacy speech 30 years ago, highlighting that "we all owe so much to Jacques Delors". Notably, the President invited the audience to take inspiration from Jacques Delors and from what he believed in: peace, mutual respect and dialogue between nations, solidarity as a way to ensure cohesion and fair distribution of wealth between Europeans, and especially, Europe. The President concluded saying: "Jacques Delors believed in Europe. He trusted our democratic values and traditions. He trusted our way of life, our attachment to fairness and our commitment to freedom to be a unique source of positive influence in the world. And he trusted that we are never as powerful as when we act all together as Europeans, united behind a common purpose."
