On 1st July Belgium assumed the rotating Presidency of the EU, taking over from Sweden which led the Council in the first half of 2001. As announced on more than one occasion by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the government’s main ambition is drafting a document for the Laeken Summit at the end of the year that may represent the agenda of the first Intergovernmental Conference for Institutional Reforms (scheduled for 2003/2004), aimed at examining and giving a precise content to the current debate on the future of Europe. Prime Minister Verhofstadt is due to officially present the programme of the Belgian Presidency to the Assembly in Strasbourg on Wednesday, 4th July.
