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January 26, 2021 marks the centenary of our country's diplomatic relations with Estonia and Latvia, whose independence Belgium recognized in 1921. Belgium maintained this historic decision during the decades following the Second World War and stood by these countries when they regained their independence in 1991.   Our countries are united both by history and by the construction of Euro...
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Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) hosted its first workshop of 2021 on What legislation for long-term energy storage?. Torben Brabo, GIE President, and Daniel Fraile, Head of Market Intelligence at WindEurope, provided keynote speeches on the growing needs for long-term and large-scale energy storage. Chaired by Dr Axel Wietfeld, President of the European gas storages (GSE), the event has enabled to...
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High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell met today with Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Dimitrov and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani of North Macedonia. HR/VP Borrell reiterated North Macedonia’s clear and uncontested EU accession perspective. He had a frank and open discussion with Deputy Prime Minister Dimitrov and Foreign Minister Osmani on finding a solution to unblock accession ...
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The EU’s first Arabic speaking regional media officer for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) takes office today. Luis Miguel Bueno, an Arabic speaking European diplomat, will be based in Beirut, Lebanon. His role will be to communicate EU priorities, policies, positions and projects, which are of interest to the MENA region, in close engagement and interaction with the local and pan-A...
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Bioenergy Europe welcomes the report by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission on the use of woody biomass for energy production in the EU. With the sustainability of biomass firmly at the centre of media attention, the report calls for an honest and explicit discussion to “de-toxify the debate surrounding the sustainability of wood-based bioenergy”. The bioenergy industry reiterates...
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Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament today urged Pfizer and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical companies to fulfil the obligations they engaged in when they signed the contract with the European Union, following news that their delivery of vaccines may be delayed. The leader of the S&D Group, Iratxe García MEP, said: “It is of outmost importance that these companies comply within ...
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This month, Belgium takes over the presidency of the Benelux for one year. Initially, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès was to present the priorities of this presidency at a ceremony in Brussels, but given the sanitary evolution and the outbreak of new variants, a meeting with her Dutch and Luxembourg colleagues Stefan Blok and Jean Asselborn will be held at a later stage. ...
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Neuroscientist Prof. Pierre Vanderhaeghen is winner of the Generet Prize for Rare Diseases Prof. Dr. Pierre Vanderhaeghen has been awarded the Generet Prize for Rare Diseases for his research into the development of the human brain and ways in which things sometimes go wrong. This prestigious Prize, awarded by the Generet Fund which is managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, is linked to fundi...
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Good morning, This is the first Foreign Affairs Council of the year and we are going to have a very dense agenda. I do not know how we are going to do in order to deal with all these issues. First, we will deal with the worrying events in Russia. More than 3,000 people have been reportedly arrested. This wave of detentions is something that worries us a lot, as well as the detention of Mr [Alex...
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The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) investigation into fraud in EU agricultural payments in Slovakia confirms the need for a direct EU oversight over land grabbing and the misconduct of national authorities. The EPP Group has requested the setting-up of a new contact point at the European Commission to which land grabbing, misconduct of national agricultural authorities, irregularities in...
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