BRUSSELS, July 2 (UPI) -- Belgium has formally taken over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency from Spain, promising to deal with the EU's economic troubles.
A founding EU member state, Belgium has held the presidency 12 times, the EUobserver reported Friday. The country says it can handle crises like the economic woes currently besetting Greece and other EU countries.
"September 11th (2001) took place under our last watch," said one senior finance official. "I think we can say we know how to deal with crises."
Belgian diplomats will have a chance to prove they can handle conflict by brokering agreements between member states and the European Parliament on the EU's financial supervisory package -- the bloc's principle legislative response to the economic crisis -- the report said.
Since the measures were announced in September, member states have tried to weaken them while the European Parliament wants to toughen them up before the Jan. 1, 2011, deadline for setting up the new supervisory bodies, the EUobserver said.
Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere said his country was ready to take the lead on the issue.
"We intend to work a lot with the European Parliament," he said.
