News

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In his speech, he reflected on the atrocities committed in the war in Ukraine, addressed the energy crisis and made a plea to continue fighting for human rights and liberal democracy. Belgium is a candidate for membership of the UN Human Rights Council 2023-2025.

The federal government has decided to extend the support measures (VAT reduction and social rate for one million households) to cope with the explosive increase in energy prices. The banks are committed to protecting the most affected families. Measures will be taken to skim off the industry's excess profits to finance a solidarity fund. The government also calls on Belgians and companies to reduce their consumption and set a good example.

Today, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is attending the Offshore Northern Seas Conference (ONS) in Stavanger, Norway. ONS is an international energy conference  that brings together politicians, business leaders, opinion makers and academics on relevant themes in the energy sector. In his keynote speech, the Prime Minister called on the European countries and Norway in particular to work together and reiterated his plea for an intervention in the 'irrational' gas market to protect…

At the request of Foreign Minister Lahbib, the Federal Council of Ministers decided that Belgium will provide 8 million EUR in support to the Ukrainian armed forces through NATO. Our country will make a voluntary contribution to NATO's so-called Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) Trust Fund, which provides non-lethal support  to Ukraine.  More specifically, our country will contribute to first aid equipment (including first aid kits) for the Ukrainian armed forces, winter…

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo participated by video call in the Second Summit of the Crimea Platform, an initiative of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Objective: to co-ordinate the international diplomatic response to the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo took part in a meeting at the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands in The Hague this evening to prepare for the NATO Summit in Madrid later this month. In addition to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg, Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen, Romanian President Iohannis, Portuguese Prime Minister Costa, Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki and Latvian Prime Minister Karinš also took part in the meeting.

The various governments of our country have reached a cooperation agreement on developing a foreign investment screening mechanism in sensitive sectors that are relevant for public order and for our security or strategic interests. The screening should prevent investors that are located outside of the European Union from gaining control, ownership or management in our country’s critical infrastructure.

The corona barometer, which had been at code yellow since March of this year, is deactivated. This has been decided by the Consultative Committee. As a result, as of Monday 23 May, the face mask requirement on public transportation and the Passenger Locator Form will disappear for most trips.

Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are joining forces to make the North Sea the largest source of renewable energy in Europe, as they agreed today at the North Sea Summit in the Danish port city of Esbjerg.

The Kingdom of Belgium, as a founding member and the host nation of both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, welcomes the application of the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to become NATO member. The Finnish and Swedish decisions are the result of a democratic process and are in line with both nation’s sovereign right to choose their own security arrangements.