Autonomy among priorities for Belgium’s EU presidency

Other research priorities include valorisation of results and closer ties to society

The Belgian government has outlined the research and innovation issues it wants to prioritise during Belgium’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, which started on 1 January. They include strategic autonomy, valorisation of research results and engagement of research with society.

Belgium took over from Spain as the middle host in a trio that will conclude with Hungary’s presidency from July. Presidencies shepherd EU governments to agreement on legislation and policies, and have some scope to set their own priorities in the context of their trio and in collaboration with the European Commission.