Belgium presiding over the Council of the EU
Since 1 January 2024, Belgium has been in charge of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. For the upcoming six months, they set a number of priorities for the Presidency:
- Defending rule of law, democracy, and unity
- Strengthening EU's competitiveness
- Pursuing a green and just transition
- Reinforcing EU's social and health agenda
- Protecting people and borders
- Promoting a global Europe
During the presidency, Belgium will be emphasising two principles: sustainability and sobriety.
Have a look at how project partners from Belgium work together with others in Interreg Europe.
Belgium involved
Belgium is one of the founding members of the European Union. With its population of over 11 million, it is one of its smaller members. Yet, the involvement of Belgian partners in the interregional cooperation projects is high. After first two calls:
- 67 project partners bring to Belgium new ideas from other corners of Europe and share with others good practices originating in Belgium.
- 59 of the 150 approved Interreg Europe projects have Belgian partner organisations.
- 1 project has a Belgian lead partner.
The cooperation interest of Belgian partners reaches across most topics covered by the programme.
Click through the carousel to see the 25 projects approved in the first call. The second call projects will have their websites available later this year.
Belgian partners improved policies during the previous programme
Belgian partners were actively engaged also in the previous Interreg Europe programme (2014-2020). Thanks to their interregional cooperation and policy learning in 66 projects, Belgium benefited from 26 policy changes and improvements. 20 changes were linked to the Structural Funds programmes. The Belgian project partners mobilised over MEUR 32 of funding to implement the changes. MEUR 14.8 came from the Structural Funds.
You can find out more about all project results from 2014-2020 at our project results page.
Good practices from Belgium
Inspiring good practices from Belgium are manifold and available for all in our good practice database. The Policy Learning Platform experts have validated 115 good practices from Belgium so far.
Click through the carousel to get inspiration from the Belgian good practices.
Belgian good practices
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RSL Op Post
RSL Op Post improves the life standards of citizens by providing for the basic needs in combination with being an experimental, inspirational and creative hub.
Low cost actions to mobilize citizens in climate adaptation
Citizens can help shape the city's climate objectives. To this end, the city is running various actions in which citizens/neighbourhoods can participate.
Platform Energy Brokers
Energy Brokers are intermediators for district heating projects. They are grouped in a networking organization (Platform Energy Brokers) to share knowledge.
Call for projects to support electricity sharing through the creation of energy communities
The call aims to support the development of energy communities & energy sharing, a region-wide expertise on the topic and to raise awareness about them.
Energy sharing based on individually owned facilities
An energy sharing organized within a REC can be based on (existing or new) individually owned facilities. Not only on facilities owned by the REC itself.
Walloon permitting policy for PV facilities
Wallonia has a very flexible permitting policy, especially for rooftop PV facilities, which make quicker their installations and reduces costs for PV.
Community composting
Community composting is stimulated by the city of Mechelen to recycle household biowaste at the source and to strengthen social cohesion in neighbourhoods.
River Contracts in Flanders
River contracts in Flanders allow local stakeholders to collaborate on solutions for water issues like flooding, scarcity, poor quality, and erosion.
ASTER - Access to Sustainability for Tenants through Energy Effective Retrofit
The ASTER cooperative was founded to support the social housing providers in Flanders to make the social housing building stock more sustainable.
Anlehre und Anlehre+ Vocational integration through support in dual training
A program helping young people between the ages of 15 and 25 with placement barriers to prepare for completing a dual vocational training (apprenticeship).
Flemish Action Programme Ecological Defragmentation
VAPEO is a multi-annual programme to combat ecological fragmentation. Based on (GIS-)analysis and reporting, priority bottlenecks are determined and addressed
Sustainability management at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels
Brussels City's Sports Department and Prosport launched an waste sampling initiative at the King Baudouin Stadium to reduce its events' environmental impact
AktiF and AktiF+
AktiF and AktiF + is the employment programme. The aim is to promote employment in East Belgium. This means: 1. fight unemployment 2. increase employment
Composting at home
This good practice encourages citizens to sort out their household biowaste at the source and turn it into compost.
Prevention of biowaste is non-stop communication about more than waste avoidance or home composting.
Flemish biowaste policy focusses on a small and a large cycle, and on several methods of home processing. Ongoing communication about the methods is essential.
Expert support services and Belgium
Three Belgian public authorities have benefitted from our Policy Learning Platform expert support services on a variety of topics such as launching an energy and climate action plan for East Belgium or the management of cultural heritage in Antwerp.
Also, more than twenty Belgian members of the Interreg Europe community have taken part in peer reviews and matchmakings as peers. The Ministry of the German-speaking community, for example, was a peer in a session for the outermost region of La Réunion, bringing expertise on the labour market integration of NEETs.
Finally, on 6-7 March 2024, the Province of East Flanders will be hosting their own peer review on their smart specialisation strategy.
Discover more about Belgian participation in Interreg Europe
Explore Belgian country page with an overview of the country’s involvement in the programme.