It was January 1958 when the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Victor Larock, became the first President in office of the Council of Ministers of the European Communities. The Rome treaties were entering into force and the EU institutions were taking root in and around Brussels.

Since then the European Union has evolved beyond recognition. The integration project has been dynamic dealing with challenges and finding creative solutions to the many tests faced.

In some ways this twelfth Belgian Presidency will resemble its first, as the administration will attempt to set Europe on track within a new institutional framework. The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty will be high on the agenda, a move that is expected to bring enhanced institutional efficiency to tackle the economic crisis currently triggering deep EU-wide social concerns.

Consensus building around the new political machinery and the setting of EU priorities through to 2020 will also fall in Belgian hands. Climate change negotiations; justice, asylum and immigration; enlargement and the EU budget will be other major themes of the Belgian political programme, one that will undoubtedly run alongside its own domestic challenges.

This guide focuses on the issues likely to dominate the Belgian Presidency, offering key stakeholder analysis regarding key EU developments to come. Updates and further information will be available via this website.

In his inaugural address on 25 January 1958, Victor Larock stated: ‘The tasks that we share today are mainly economic and social. They will undoubtedly increasingly become political ones, but their significance at the highest level will always be spiritual’. This could be said today.

We look forward to the next six months with optimism, confident that the Belgian Presidency will be able to forge a solid roadmap for Europe.