On Tuesday 20 January 2015, Flemish deputy minister president Annemie Turtelboom signed the new Benelux Interparliamentary Assemby Treaty. She did this together with federal minister of foreign affairs Didier Reynders and the minister-president of the Government of the German-speaking Community, Oliver Paasch. For The Netherlands and Luxembourg, their respective ambassadors in Brussels signed the treaty. This took place during the startup meeting of the Belgian presidency of the Benelux Union in the Egmont Palace in Brussels.
Since 1955, a "Consultative Interparliamentary Benelux Council" unites representatives of all Parliaments in the Benelux. Since the nineties, members of the Flemish Parliament are part of the council. The new Treaty modernises the methods of the interparliamentary assembly, in line with previous recommendations of the council members. The Treaty is the culmination point of reforms in Benelux, which started in 2009 with the signing of the Treaty on the Benelux Union.
The Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly reinforces the intergovernmental decision-making proces of the Benelux with necessary political incentives and democratic checks and balances. The new treaty will be put to the vote in the Flemish Parliament in the coming months.