Toespraak van de vicepremier en minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, Europese Zaken en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking

Messieurs les Présidents de la Chambre et du Sénat, Mesdames et Messieurs les Ministres Présidents, Mesdames et Messieurs les Ministres, Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs les Ambassadeurs et Ambassadrices, Mesdames et Messieurs les Présidents des Parlements régionaux et communautaires, Mesdames et Messieurs les Présidents des Cours, Mesdames et Messieurs les députés, Ladies and gentlemen, Dear friends, Welcome to the Hall of Mirrors. This room lies at the heart of the Egmont Palace. It has seen a great deal of Belgian and European history. For centuries, people came here to talk, to disagree, and, in the end, to reach agreement. Well … if you except the former lord of this palace, the Count of Egmont, who has been decapitated in fifteen hundred sixty-eight (1568), of course.  Anyway, we stand in the middle of Brussels, one of the great meeting points of diplomacy worldwide. And if these mirrors could speak, they would tell you one simple thing. The talks that mattered most in this room were almost never the easy ones. One hundred and ninety-five (195) years ago, King Leopold the First took his oath. He was the first King of a country that had been born just one year before...