On January 1, 2024, Belgium became President of the European Union. This honor is given to every country once every 13.5 years. A president is expected to take a neutral position in order to find compromises between the 27 countries and the European Parliament. However, presidents who play their hand smartly can set the European ship on a new course. For example, the Dutch presidency was known for concluding the migration deal with Turkey, and the French presidency for the Declaration of Versailles, which gave impetus to plans to renew strategic products.made in Europe’ to make.
Belgium is also an ambitious chairman. Because European elections will take place on June 9, our country is working on a strategic agenda for the next legislature (2024-2029). This must strengthen the social and health foundations of the Union and support families and companies in the climate transition. She must also give the EU more weight on defense and foreign policy, especially in a scenario where Trump comes to power, and arm us for the competition with China and the US.
It is too early to say whether our country will also be able to count itself among the list of agile presidents. But the chances are good. Belgium has achieved important breakthroughs in various dossiers where stagnation reigned. I will give two examples that I experienced up close.
GAZA
A critical test for the presidency came on January 26, when Israel accused the United Nations Assistance Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) of involvement in Hamas’s crimes on October 7, 2023. Unlike the war in Ukraine, the EU never managed to speak with one voice on the war in Gaza. A number of countries close to Israel, including major donor Germany, immediately announced that they would no longer support the UN organization for the time being. Voices were also raised within the European Commission to temporarily suspend financing.
We must pause for a moment to consider what it would have meant if European donors had frozen their support to UNRWA. Half of all aid to Palestine comes from the EU and its member states. Currently, the UN organization is the only humanitarian partner still present in Gaza. There is no alternative for UNRWA. A funding freeze, even temporary, would most certainly have meant further denial of education, food and medicine to the population. In short: the population would have become the first victim of a polarized debate.
Caroline Gennez immediately brought together Member States and the Commission with the UN to reassure skeptics that UNRWA is taking the necessary precautions against Hamas infiltration.
As Belgian President, Caroline Gennez immediately brought together European member states and the Commission with the UN, to reassure skeptics that the organization is taking the necessary precautions against Hamas infiltration. It was a very emotional meeting with heated discussions between the different camps in the EU. But through discussion, listening and making agreements, they slowly came to the decision that UNRWA can continue to count on European support. It is a Pyrrhic victory in the face of that great, cruel war. But precisely by siding with the victims, Belgium managed to let the EU speak with one voice in this conflict for once.
DRUG SHORTAGE
A second problem facing this presidency is the simmering crisis surrounding medicine shortages. Although this crisis remains somewhat underexposed after the pandemic, wars and energy crisis, it is taking on acute proportions in several European countries. Essential treatments such as chemotherapy, blood thinners and antibiotics are suddenly no longer available. Patients are told that treatment must be postponed or drive thousands of kilometers across Europe to find their medicine.
The basis is a bankrupt economic model that mainly rewards producers for producing cheaply, but does not take into account our security of supply or the environmental and working conditions in which products are made. Today, our essential medicines mainly come from China and India, where there are few environmental regulations and large-scale production can be done for little money. This global dependence on Asia has a dark side: war, a fire in a factory, quality problems or a ship stuck in the Suez Canal can quickly have disastrous consequences for patients all over the world.
I worked with Frank Vandenbroucke on a strategy to re-produce the most important medicines in Europe. That strategy was picked up by the European Commission.
While the European Union had already drawn up plans to reduce our dependence on chips, green energy and batteries, it ignored the medicine problem. That is why I worked with Frank Vandenbroucke for our presidency on a strategy to re-produce the most important medicines in Europe. That strategy was picked up by the European Commission. A ‘Critical Medicines Alliance’ – an alliance of governments, companies, patient organizations, pharmacists and doctors – was set to work to draw up concrete measures that should allow us to secure our medicine supply and build more security for our patients.
PROTECTING EUROPEANS
Medicine shortages and humanitarian aid to Palestinian war victims are just two ways in which Belgium left a defining mark on the European Union. There is the recent La Hulpe Declaration on social rights, a new industrial deal that should strengthen the manufacturing industry in Europe and a strategy on workforce shortages in healthcare. All these things must prepare the way to the European elections and determine tomorrow’s European agenda. Above all, she must protect Europeans in an uncertain world.
Society & Politics, Volume 31, 2024, no. 5 (May), pages 28 to 29
