EU Council Presidency Belgium 2010

The presidency logo: the stylised letters 'EU' and 'trio.be'. Above it, in a semicircle, 'BELGIAN PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU 2010', and below, also in a semicircle, the country name in three languages — 'BELGIË BELGIQUE BELGIEN'. Below the logo, the year 2010 at the centre, with the mint mark to the left and the engraver's mark to the right.

The presidency of the Council of the European Union rotates every six months among the member states — a principle in place since the earliest days of European integration, giving each presiding country considerable diplomatic scope to shape the agenda. Belgium held the presidency in the second half of 2010, facing a demanding agenda: the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis called for coordinated action at EU level, and the recently enacted Treaty of Lisbon had fundamentally reshaped the Union's institutional architecture. As one of the founding members of the European Communities and host to key EU institutions, Belgium brought deep institutional grounding to the task.

With Brussels as the EU's unofficial headquarters, Belgium is bound to the European project in a particular way. The country co-signed the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, placing it among the founding generation of European unification. Belgium held its 2010 EU Council presidency as part of a coordinated trio presidency alongside Spain and Hungary, in keeping with the continuity logic the Treaty of Lisbon had strengthened for the rotating presidency. To mark the occasion, Belgium issued a 2-euro commemorative coin bearing the official logo of its Council presidency.