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Belgium Participates for the First Time in EU Leaders’ Meeting on Migration

by AI | 20.Mar 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Prime Minister Bart De Wever participated in a meeting on migration on Thursday morning prior to the European summit in Brussels. This was learned from a European source. It is the first time Belgium has participated in this.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever in conversation with Kaja Kallas, Luc Frieden, and Olaf Scholz at the EU summit / Photo Belga/Benoit Doppagne

The prime ministers of Italy, the Netherlands, and Denmark (Giorgia Meloni, Dick Schoof, and Mette Frederiksen) have taken the initiative for the meeting. Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Malta, Hungary, Sweden, Greece, and Poland participated, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, according to another source.

This is the third meeting of this type, but it is the first time Belgium has participated, at the invitation of the Netherlands.

During the meeting, De Wever advocated for swift progress and an improvement of the European Migration Pact, with the aim of more and better returns. All this “within the mandate of the coalition agreement,” according to the source. The attendees plan to submit the Commission’s proposals on return policy to the European Parliament “as soon as possible” and strengthen them where possible, it is said.

During the European summit, a number of topics were discussed, including migration. The leaders, among other things, took note of a letter that Von der Leyen provided them on the subject. A diplomatic source indicated that no major discussions are expected on this.