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Belgian EU Presidency Business Newsletter Brussels calling 21/12/2010 • Issue 9 Looking back at a successfu l Belgian EU Presidency The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union comes at an end. An excellent opportunity to outline its major achievements relevant for the business world. First, an agreement was reached between the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament on the financial supervision package, with the creation of four new supervisory bodies: the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) for macro-prudential supervision and three European Supervisory Agencies (ESAs) for micro-prudential supervision. On economic governance, the ECOFIN Council endorsed the European semester aiming at impro- ving economic policy coordination. In addition, measures are being taken to strengthen budgetary discipline, growth and macroeconomic stability. The final report of the Task Force on economic governance, chaired by Herman Van Rompuy, was endorsed by the European Council on October 28-29. And at the last European Council during the Belgian Presidency (on December 16-17), a milestone agreement was reached on the creation of a permanent crisis resolution system to safeguard the euro’s stability . Furthermore, on October 11-12, the Competitiveness Council adopted conclusions on the simplification of European research programmes, and encouraged the Commission to make participation in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) less cumbersome. New so-called ‘Integrated Guidelines’ – including new guidelines for the employment policies of the member states – intended to support the realization of the targets fixed by the Europe 2020 strategy, were adopted. Then the TTE Council (October 15) also reached a political agreement on the new Eurovignette directive. The Belgian Presidency prepared the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún, where the EU spoke with one voice and played its role as ‘bridge builder’. Not to speak about the historical breakthrough realized by the Presidency to launch the enhanced cooperation procedure as regards the EU patent (also see the respective articles on the EU patent and climate change further in this newsletter). Moreover, the Foreign Affairs Council (September 16) authorized the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea, the most ambitious FTA ever signed by the EU. Last but not least, the establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the new EU diplomatic service to be led by High Representative Catherine Ashton, was also decided during the Belgian Presidency. Finally, the Belgian Presidency managed to bring the EU budget for 2011 to a good end. Not an easy task in a new institutional environment created by the Lisbon Treaty in which the European Parliament is trying to step up its role and make its voice heard. FEB wants to congratulate the Belgian Presidency for its excellent work! It welcomes the Hungarian Presidency which will ensure the continuity and will focus on the imple- mentation of the decisions taken in 2010. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the last edition of FEB’s Belgian EU Presidency newsletter ‘Brussels calling’. Thank you for reading us. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011! Editorial Brussels calling - 1 - C O N T E N T S Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Competiti veness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 General af fairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 In the spotl ight [EU-In dia Busine ss Summit] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 EU patent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Institutio nal affairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 EU Summit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 In the spotligh t [EU-Russia Industrialists Round T able] . . . . . . . 10 Climate cha nge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Six months of Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU. . . . 14 Hungarian Presidency of the Council. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Team presentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Diane Struyven, Director of the European Department of the FEB Daily updated info on http://eupresidency.vbo-feb.be
