The Ambassador of Belgium to Greece Marc Calcoen in an interview with Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Sunday said that the Belgian EU Presidency program is centered around three words: protect (in relation to our security), strengthen (in relation to our prosperity) and prepare (the future of the EU).
The purpose is to decide what kind of EU we want, in view of threats, challenges and means at hand, to respond to the legitimate expectations of citizens and companies and to give Europe a better say in the global world.
The Ambassador's full interview follows:
As a new ambassador in Athens, what does it mean to you to be the Belgian Ambassador in Athens?
Athens is my last posting in a long diplomatic career. We have a saying : “to end in beauty”. Therefore, I am glad both professionally and personally to end my career here in Greece. Personally because Greece offers so much to see and do, with a long history, interesting cultural mix of different civilizations and a combination of nature and city life.
Professionally, Greece has left its most difficult years behind and is on an uphill trajectory in terms of political stability and economic success. It remains in the center of a volatile and difficult region, the Eastern Mediterranean. It is therefore a good place to observe what is happening in this part of the world.
Belgium took over the EU rotating Presidency on January 1st. What are the key priorities of Belgium during its term as the presidency of the European Union?
Like all presidencies, we come in at a challenging time. Internally in the EU, we will have European elections in June, which could possibly alter the composition of the European political landscape. We also have national and regional elections in Belgium on the same day 9 June. In the wider world, we have two wars going on, in Ukraine and in the Middle East. We had our lot of crises, from which we haven’t fully graduated yet : the pandemic, the energy crisis, the cost-of-living crisis. But we are experienced since Belgium has the EU presidency already for the 13th time and Europe is in our DNA. We are recognized to be masters in making compromises and at being an honest broker, which is what a presidency should be about.
Timewise, in the first months, we will work to get as much left-over legislative work done, in collaboration with the European Parliament, before it adjourns in April to prepare for these elections. More than 150 files are still on the table, and it will be necessary to make choices. Finalizing and starting implementing the Asylum and Migration Pact will be of the highest priority, as it aims to offer a good combination of a proper and efficient management of asylum requests, with solidarity between member states while protecting the rights of asylum seekers; here there is already an agreement between the Council or the EU member states and the European Parliament. So will be the economic governance review, where a political agreement between member states was found at the end of December 2023 and talks are now ongoing with the European Parliament. This review wants to ensure sound budgetary policies over the medium term. I can also mention issues like artificial intelligence or air quality or packaging waste.
In the last months, we will turn to the future and concentrate on the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, which will give the guidelines for the work program for the next EU Commission which will be appointed after the European elections and which will be adopted in June 2024. We will also start work on the Future of Europe, which is similar like the Strategic Agenda-exercise but form a longer-term perspective and to prepare an efficient EU in the view of the next, important enlargement with the Western Balkan countries and countries like Ukraine or Moldova. The purpose is to decide what kind of EU we want, in view of threats, challenges and means at hand, to respond to the legitimate expectations of citizens and companies and to give Europe a better say in the global world. It means deciding what we want to do together, how we want to do it, how we can pay for that and finally how the institutional framework of the EU should be to tackle these questions.
The Belgian Presidency program is centered around three words: protect (in relation to our security), strengthen (in relation to our prosperity) and prepare (the future of the EU, what I just explained). Protecting our people is related to migration, the fight against terrorism and organized crime and also security and defense. The presidency will stimulate reflections on the future of European security and defense with a shift towards a more integrated Union approach. Protecting our people also means the rule of law, strengthening compliance with our commitments to democracy and fundamental values. It finally implies giving more emphasis to the social and health agenda, working towards an ambitious social agenda (we will have a few social summits, also with trade unions and employer organizations). In health, it means evaluating the EU’s crisis preparedness, strengthening the supply of medicines and developing a strategy to boost the EU’s health workforce. Strengthening our economy and implementing the green deal on the other hand relate to competitiveness, the internal market, trade and the digital transition. We have to complete work on a good functioning internal market, with a level playing field, inside and outside the EU, between bigger and smaller countries, between richer and less rich countries. This topic also deals with the energy policy, where the geopolitical context has shown us the importance of ensuring the security of supply and of accelerating the energy transition. We must also continue to further implement the Green Deal for 2030, 2040 and 2050, with in particular a discussion of the 2040 targets.
How does the Belgian presidency plan to address ongoing challenges such as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine?
The two conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza are indeed the main priorities in the field of foreign relations or the global Europe. The role of the presidency itself is somewhat less here since the treaty revisions of 2007 that made the High Representative of the EU for foreign policy (currently mr. Josep Borrell) in the driving seat.
On Ukraine, the goal is to maintain political, economic, military, humanitarian and legal support to Ukraine, for as long as it takes. It means first and foremost adopting the Ukraine Assistance Fund in the framework of the revision of the Multiyear Financial Framework. To that end, an extraordinary European Council has been called on 1 February, since Hungarian obstruction impeded an unanimous agreement in December. It is our firm intention to get an agreement with 27 member states for this Fund of 50 bn EUR, of which 17 bn in grants and 33 bn in loans to support Ukraine’s budgetary needs for 2024-2027. It also means working towards the reconstruction and economic recovery of Ukraine. I am happy to note that Greece will organize a conference to that end in February with the Greek business world. It finally means working towards a Council agreement on immobilized Russian assets. Most of those assets happen to be in Belgium (such as securities held by Euroclear which is located in Brussels). We have to act very carefully legally and not to upset the financial Euro system, but on the other hand it is not up to European citizens to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction while we have Russian financial assets in the EU.
On Gaza, opinions between member states and amongst the general public have varied widely and over time as well. As such, it has proven rather impossible to take a unified stand in the current conflict. The EU has always emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law and international humanitarian law following the brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023. The EU has stressed the need to ensure the protection of all civilians, provide and facilitate humanitarian aid, avoid regional spill-over and to revive a political process towards a two-state solution. We will continue to work along these lines.
Do you think that the EU should play a stronger role in the Middle East crisis? To that end, what's the importance of Greece
I think the EU is already playing an important role in this current crisis, but as in any crisis, your leverage depends on many factors. First on the political will of the parties involved in the conflict to stop it. Second on your own unified stance and on the hard and soft power at your disposal to make the parties involved move their positions. Both individual EU member states as well as Mr. Borrell and his European diplomatic service have daily and numerous contacts with and visits to the Middle East region to put forward the priorities that I just mentioned in the previous question. Mr. Borrell proposed the Peace Day Effort initiative in September 2023 together with Saudi Arabia, the League of Arab States, Egypt and Jordan. Just now, on 22 January 2024, a whole range of foreign ministers from Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and others were invited to the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU. It is clear however that important differences of opinion continue between EU member states as to the ceasefire or the way to proceed for a more lasting solution to the Middle East problem. In my opinion, the most important tasks for the EU are to get as much humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, free the hostages and ensure the strategic supply lines throughout the region towards Europe.
Greece is a part of the Eastern Mediterranean and thus has a great interest in seeing this part of the world evolve in a peaceful way. Greece has been very active in its contacts with all parties in the conflict. It has traditionally very good relations with all parties in the region. As such, I think you have the authority to deliver messages, even if they are not always easy, to all parties involved. Greece, on the substance, shares Belgium’s points of view as to how to tackle the current crisis and how to proceed to find a lasting solution.
Are you concerned about the spillover of the Middle East crisis, particularly in the Red Sea region and Lebanon?
I think everyone is concerned about a spill-over from Gaza to other parts. Lebanon first comes to mind with Hezbollah wanting to show solidarity with Hamas but it seems that they are still refraining from crossing red lines which could lead to a widening of the conflict. Under the surface, the situation on the West Bank is also getting worse by the day, with a surge in violence on both sides. Now the Houthis, taking as an excuse their show of solidarity with the Palestinians, are attacking ships using the crucial shipping lanes through the Red Sea and thus imperiling international trade. The EU is setting up an international mission to help patrol these waters to prevent further attacks. Belgium has announced that it will participate by sending one of our two frigates to that end. Iran has sent missiles to some of its neighbours. We have to continue stress the importance of refraining from these kind of actions to all the parties concerned in the region to avoid a further widening of the conflict. To many people, it is clear that a real solution can only be found if there will be a political solution to the aspirations of the Palestinians.
How will the presidency contribute to the EU's climate objectives and economic recovery?
It is very clear to everyone that the climate challenges are here and here to stay, as we saw here in Greece in the disastrous year 2023 with the forest fires and heavy flooding. Therefore, there cannot be any backpedaling on the climate measures. The Green Deal and the Fit for 55 programs should be finalized. As such and as an example, the presidency already succeeded in obtaining an agreement on 18 January with the European Parliament for the CO2 norms and standards for high duty vehicles such as trucks and buses with for instance 100% exhaust reduction by 2035 for buses. We will also tackle waste and packaging of waste and the air quality directive. A difficult subject will be discussing the 2040 climate targets, for which the Commission has just put its proposals on the table. This was the missing link between the proposals for 2030 and the complete decarbonization by 2050. But it also important to remain realistic and to keep in mind the situation and competitiveness of our European industry so that the economic recovery can also take place. Europe is putting in place supporting measures to help more self-sufficiency for our advanced technologies through the concept of open strategic autonomy so that 40% of those technologies can be sourced from within the EU itself by 2030. The presidency will also be putting special emphasis on competitiveness in general through the strengthening of the internal market. The former Italian prime minister Letta will be presenting his report on that subject in March. The internal market is still incomplete : some sectors are not really included in the internal market such as energy or telecom, there is not always a level playing field within the EU (only think about the question of state subsidies which might distort the internal market and for which not all member states have the same possibilities), the capital market union is far from being a reality, there should be a corollary to the freedom of free movement for those that have no choice but to stay where they are (this also includes small and medium sized companies)... The Belgian presidency will work on all these to respond to the need for a mere efficient and effective working European economy.
What are the prospects of further strengthening diplomatic ties between Belgium and Greece and in which areas?
Belgium and Greece are very good partners in international affairs. We are both longstanding members of the EU and NATO. We share the same outlook on the world and attach the same importance to fundamental values and democracy. In May 2022, we had the state visit from the King and the Queen of the Belgians to Greece. This is normally the apex in the diplomatic ties between two countries and it was the first outgoing state visit by Their Majesties after the corona pandemic. Our ministers of foreign affairs see each other regularly either through bilateral visits or at EU and international meetings. I still see potential in more visits by technical ministers and developing those relations. I have to say though, that, for instance in the field of energy, Belgium has a high interest in developments in Greece as shown by the visit of our minister on 31 October 2023 and an important commercial mission centered on renewable energy also in October 2023.
What are the opportunities for Greece and Belgium to collaborate within the European Union?
Belgium and Greece, as middle size countries, often share the same interests within the EU. Due to our demographic composition or our economic structure or geographic location or history, we might put emphasis on different subjects. In general though, we don’t have any bilateral conflicts or great differences of opinion. But it is never a bad thing to further develop the already existing collaboration even more. That success would also be a good finisher for my job as ambassador to this great country.
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