The principle of increased focus on the European Union within the administration of Flanders was written in the coalition agreement of 2014-2019. On 3 July 2015 the Government of Flanders has translate this principle into practice.
The Government discerns three action fields, namely prioritising EU policy shortly after publication of the European Commission yearly work programme, strengthening EU-policy influencing and optimizing the transposition of EU directives into Flemish legislation.
Concerning the policy influencing aspect, the focus is on real policy impact rather than on mere follow-up of policy development at EU level. In order to realise this policy impact, two important actions are cited. First, updating the 1994 cooperation agreement between Belgian authorities on the representation and position taking within the Council of Ministers of the European Union to bring it in line with the current political reality. Second, strengthening the General Representation of the Government of Flanders to the EU, to make sure that Flemish EU-interests are being taken into account as efficient and effective as possible at the Belgian and the EU-level.
