By Martin Banks - 14th July 2010
Our vision involves a global approach
Melchior Wathelet
A Belgian government minister has told MEPs that "laying the first foundations" for a common EU-wide asylum system by 2012 is a top priority for the Belgian EU council presidency.
Addressing the European parliament's civil liberties committee on Tuesday, Melchior Wathelet said the presidency aims for a "balanced" asylum and immigration policy.
Wathelet, Belgian state secretary for the budget, migration and asylum policy, told MEPs, "Our vision involves a global approach based on solidarity between the member states and with a clear focus on responsibility."
The Belgian presidency, he said, hopes to make progress on four of the six proposals currently at member state level: the Eurodac regulation, the long-term residence directive, the qualification directive and the Dublin regulation.
Two other proposals - on asylum procedures and the reception directives - "haven't gone so far as the others and we feel that we are not going to finalise these two texts" during the Belgian presidency, he added.
He was one of several Belgian ministers who are appearing before parliamentary committees this week to outline the presidency priorities. It is the last week before parliament goes into recess for the summer.
Rudy Demotte, minister-president of the Walloon region and of the French community, told the committee on regional development, the presidency will "deepen the debate on the future of EU regional policy."
Meanwhile, on Monday, Belgian ministers Jean-Claude Marcourt and Benoît Cerexhe presented presidency priorities in the field of industry, research and innovation.
The key tasks, they said, are implementing the EU 2020 strategy, while supporting research, innovation and a durable industrial policy as a basis for lasting development.
MEPs on the committee voiced satisfaction with the emphasis on industrial policy, but urged member states to commit more money for research and cutting red tape.
They said that most EU research programme funding ends up in big enterprises, because small ones cannot afford lengthy and costly application procedures.
