That was the Belgian presidency, millesime 2024 !

30th June 2024. It's over ? ! Three years ago I joined the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the European Union as spokesperson with one mission: driving the press and communications aspects of the upcoming Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024 . After a long preparation and 6 months of presidency, we can look proudly at the final results.

And what a ride it has been. You probably all heard from this presidency, following it very narrowly or from far away. Here a glimpse of it from my tiny little perspective...

A lot happens within the EU institutions, within our governments, and in the negotiating rooms. As spokespersons, my colleagues Niels Timmermans , David Jordens and I have been the gatekeepers of public communication of this presidency, and more broadly of the work of the Council of the European Union during this semester. Our role was to provide information, transparency and explanation (and a bit of gossips..) to the press and on our own communication channels. Like a greenhouse whose windows are fogged up, we opened the windows of the Council to the outside world, allowing light to pass through on both sides.

Every single day, we have strived for a transparent, fluid, honest and non-discriminatory communication with the media.

More personally, I was responsible for the "Coreper II" files, a barbaric name that covers a whole range of regalian policies. Concretely, I had the privilege to support the work of our experts, of Ambassador Willem Van de Voorde and of our ministers in the fields of foreign affairs, European affairs, trade, budget, enlargement, rule of law with Hadja Lahbib , cohesion policy with Elio Di Rupo , economy and finance with Vincent Van Peteghem , justice with Paul Van Tigchelt , home affairs with Annelies Verlinden , migration with Nicole de Moor and of course the EU summits with Prime minister Alexander De Croo . On all these topics, I have done my best to communicate what was at stake, the state of the most crucial negotiations, explaining the relevance of what we've achieved.

Concretely and in numbers, this is what these 6 months meant for me:

• 21 briefings with our Ambassador on Sundays (mostly rainy) afternoon
• 35 meetings of COREPER (Comité des Représentants permanents, the Ambassadors' meeting), the Council's very impressive machine room.
• 26 meetings of the Council of ministers - therefore also 26 pre-council press briefings and 26 post-council press conferences
• 5 EU summits delivering strategic results for the future of Europe
• 30+ interinstitutional meetings (the so-called 'trilogues', orchestrated by the maestro Joeri Hamvas ), concluded usually late in the night with some "DEAL !" to communicate about
• 100+ press releases explaining all the decisions and agreements
• Although hard to count, it's also thousands of social media publications and articles online, that were all prepared by the fantastic communications team of the presidency. During these 6 months, we have been active on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Threads and Facebook to make the presidency as accessible as possible. With some impressive results in terms of engagement.

The presidency will leave me with some memorable moments like the press trip launching the presidency, in Charleroi, Antwerp and Brussels, with 70 journalists and 20 ministers. Or like that day in Strasbourg where I had to follow 7 trilogues in 22 hours. Like that moving moment when we officially opened the accession negotiations with Ukraine. Like the historic speech of our King in the European Parliament, followed by his visit to our offices. Like that afternoon with Philippe Geluck, or the EU-US Trade & Technology Council in Leuven. But also some more painful moments like that broken finger when I slammed the office door after a long General Affairs Council, or that bike crash on Schuman, killing my brand new suit 5 minutes before the start of an ECOFIN Council...

But the best thing has undeniably been to work with the "Brussels press corps". Hundreds of professional, dedicated, gentle, sharp and challenging journalists from all across Europe and the world. Over the past months, I spent (much) more time with them then with my own family. My phone became my lifeline and sometimes my worst nightmare. More than 2.000 phone calls and more than 18.000 messages with around 600 different journalists. Literally never a dull moment...

LinkedIn post oblige, I cannot close this chapter without thanking and paying tribute to a few people (a non-exhaustive list!). In the first place my amazing team Michel K. , Justine Collard , Livia Monnoye , Victoria-Louise de Muyser Lantwyck and Niels who made it possible, together with our colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the exceptional coordination of Laurens Soenen . Of course to all my colleagues at the PermRep, in the administrations and in the ministerial cabinets, who answered my blurry questions with pedagogy, sometimes late in the night or early on Sundays. Special kudos to those who covered and followed all the meetings with us, in the front or in the backstage: the social media team Homélie Elanga , Sophie Vandecruys , Meryl Scaviner , Simon Vanderlinden , our photographers Julien Nizet and Vlad VDK (watch their 38.000 pictures here ) and the webteam of Florence Vandevondele (website here ).

Often acting in the shadow, I would like to share my enormous appreciation and admiration for the work of the General Secretariat of the Council - just to name a few Nicole Bayer , Rosinska Inga , Preben Aamann , Tarik Meziani , Maciej Bury , Romain SADET , Maria Tomasik , Isabelle Brusselmans and all their colleagues. Cannot name them all, but a huge word of personal appreciation to Liis Jaansalu , Johanna Store , Johannes Kleis , María R. and M. Daniela Lenzu who have been unwavering allies all the way.

Thanks also to my predecessors who intensively coached me: Daniel Prada Jiménez de Cisneros , Sara Keusen , Eva Hrncirova , Jean-No?l Ladois , Damijan Fi?er . You have no idea how precious your support was. And of course good luck now to Anna Maria Atanaszov and Zoltan Marcell Aguera for the Hungarian presidency - I wish you to find it as fun as I did.

Finally, the biggest thanks of all goes to my wife and my kids - even if they're not on this platform - who have lived that presidency in the hardest and most difficult way, supporting me through some of the toughest moments without the slightest reward or recognition. <3

I often say this experience was probably the intellectual Holy Grail of my life, but let's see what the future brings. It has been exhausting, but it has been a privilege. And above all, it was worth it. There's nothing more fulfilling than having the chance to work for Europe and all Europeans !

Ciao #EU2024BE, and merci !

Alexandre

Read some of the closing stories from the presidency:

• Achieving success: highlights of the Belgian presidency ( europa.eu )
• Belgisch voorzitterschap is grand cru geworden: “Belgi? heeft bewezen dat het nog altijd een motor van Europa kan zijn” | De Standaard
• La présidence belge du Conseil de l'UE s'achève, la Belgique a 'fait le job' - RTBF Actus
• Belgi? maakte van EU-voorzitterschap een huzarenstuk | De Tijd
• ??La Belgique a démontré qu’elle était non seulement un Etat fondateur mais aussi un moteur de l’UE?? - Le Soir
• Belgi? krijgt lof voor "uitzonderlijk succesvol" Europees voorzitterschap: "We hebben als land opnieuw getoond wat we kunnen" | VRT NWS: nieuws
• Fin de la présidence belge de l’UE: une moisson d’accords exceptionnelle | L'Echo ( lecho.be )
• La Belgique cède la présidence du Conseil de l'Union européenne avec le sentiment du devoir accompli - La Libre

All pictures from ? Julien Nizet & Vlad Vanderkelen / Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU.