New Benelux treaty to be signed next month
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux) will sign a new reciprocal treaty in The Hague next month, the Benelux Treaty.
“The old treaty has yielded much for our countries, the new one modernises and strengthens the partnership,” Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen announced yesterday in Brussels after a meeting with his Belgian and Luxembourg counterparts. “The cooperation on more areas than the economic union brings with it a change in the official title of the Benelux from Benelux Economic Union to Benelux Union.”
With the new treaty, “the Benelux countries want to continue to play a pioneering role within the European Union and more in the area of economy, sustainable development, justice and home affairs.” In all these areas “there will be a multi-year communal working programme that will be continuously adapted to current events.”
The Benelux, in existence since 1958, also remains politically important. “In an enlarged European Union of 27 countries there is every incentive to speak with one voice,” said Verhagen. “We will therefore also dovetail our positions for the longer term and exercise more influence on EU decision-making.”
The new Benelux treaty is to replace the present treaty in 2010. The text will be solemnly signed by the government leaders of the three countries in the Knights Hall in The Hague on 17 June.
Source: NIS News, 28 May 2008
