2023-12-24 07:07:00
How to succeed in your European presidency in three lessons
Born in 1964, he developed a taste for international politics very early on. “In 1979, there was the Iranian revolution. I was fifteen years old. We had a little newspaper at school. I wrote a short analysis on Khomeini’s revolution,” recounts this fifty-year-old, brimming with energy despite the late hour. Although he studied law at university, he never practiced it. Three weeks spent in Washington, in the company of a friend of his parents, at the time number two at the Belgian embassy in the United States, finally convinced him to take this path. “He kindly tried to discourage me from becoming a diplomat,” laughs Mr. van de Voorde, who passed the diplomatic exam during his military service.
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For me, the European Union is my family, my home. This is the place where I feel comfortable.
“It’s a rewarding, human profession,” he explains in perfect French with a slight Flemish accent. And to also admit, humbly, to wanting to “contribute just a little bit to improving the world”. He notably passed through Tokyo, as deputy ambassador. “It was one of the most beautiful periods of our lives”, remembers the Belgian permanent representative, who left Berlin for the Japanese capital with his wife and four children in 2004. An experience which “shaped” him, being the only one of his career outside of Europe. Returning to Belgium, where he notably served as deputy chief of staff to Didier Reynders, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, he left as ambassador for Vienna and then, again, for Berlin. This stay in Germany will only last a year and a half, while we begin to “pull his sleeves” so that he takes on, in 2020, the position he occupies today.
How the EU works ©IPM Graphics
An “absorbing” job
Since then, “I have always experienced a European crisis”, that of Covid-19 having given way to the war in Ukraine. “It’s very absorbing. We really live for the profession,” he notes, also referring to his wife who has despite everything managed to “have a professional life” as an orthodontist. And the pace has intensified further in the run-up to the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU. From January 1, Belgium will lead negotiations between member states, in the last months before the European elections in June 2024, a task which will rest heavily on the shoulders of Willem van de Voorde. It is therefore a key moment, “formidable from a professional point of view”, but also synonymous with a certain “responsibility” for moving forward legislative files and reflections on the future of the Union. When asked what it represents in his eyes, he spontaneously answers: “My family”. “It is a peace project”, undoubtedly “unique in human history”, where “we collect tensions and channel them towards solutions”, finally corrects the one who describes himself as a “strong supporter of an enlargement of the Union well thought out and well supervised”. “It’s a historic mission,” he assures.
Given the challenges on the table, free time may be scarce over the next six months. When he finds it, Willem van de Voorde seeks connection with nature, whether abroad, or in Brussels, where he walks at least one hour a week in the Bois de La Cambre. He also tries to continue to invest in culture, working to support the activities of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel or the Klarafestival. “I like the artistic world, it’s another, impertinent, look at life.” Between Christmas and New Year, he will also pop over to Paris to visit the Rothko exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Right before the presidential marathon begins.
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