The Diplomat
The Belgian ambassador to Spain, Geert Cockx, called for “preventing” illegal immigration through agreements with third countries during the presentation in Barcelona of the priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which took over from Spain on 1 January.
The ambassador assured that during the next six months, the presidency that his country is beginning will work on the external dimension of immigration because, he explained, “the best situation is to prevent irregular immigration with agreements with third countries, organising a regular flow of migration“.
Accompanied by the Head of the European Parliament Office, Sergi Barrera, and the Director of the European Commission Representation in Barcelona, Manuel Szapiro, as well as the Belgian Consul in Barcelona, Pierre-Emmanuel Brusselmans, and the Government Delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, Geert Cockx also referred to EU support for Ukraine, which he said would last “as long as necessary”.
For this reason, he stressed his desire for an agreement to be reached at the next European summit on the proposal for defence funding because, in his opinion, it is essential to strengthen the European security and defence dimension in order to “strengthen the European leg of NATO”.
Finally, he indicated that the Belgian Presidency has already prepared a roadmap for EU enlargement, which will be one of its main challenges and which must be done in parallel with EU reform. “We must intensify the reform processes. We have to take up our share of the effort, put our house in order so that enlargement strengthens and does not weaken the European Union,” he said.
