Belgium offers to take over UK's EU presidency in 2017

Belgium has offered to assume presidency of the European Union instead of the UK in the second half of 2017, according to foreign affairs minister Didier Reynders.

The UK will likely be negotiating the terms of its release from the EU at that time, and some say a decision on the country's future presidency of the European Union needs to be made soon.

The proposal for Belgium’s take-over of the role arose at a recent Nato summit in Warsaw. "My Estonian colleague came to ask me if it was true that we were planning to take over the presidency from the United Kingdom," said Reynders.

It’s believed that the European Council president, Donald Tusk, and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, would look favourably upon Belgium assuming the presidency role because it has experience in organising and hosting EU conferences.

“We held the presidency in 2001 and again in 2010, and the next is not scheduled until 2024,” Reynders added.

A presidency role in 2017 would not incur too many costs for the country, as Belgium already has the necessary infrastructure in place, he said.