"At the request of Luxembourg, which will take over the rotating EU presidency tomorrow, the Netherlands will continue to play a coordinating role in emergency aid efforts in the areas ravaged by last week's earthquake. Luxembourg has asked to make use of Dutch facilities, both in The Hague and the affected countries.

Today I met with my colleague Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg. During this meeting, the Presidency was transferred, and arrangements were made about supporting the Luxembourgers in the EU's emergency relief and reconstruction efforts.

Although the dreadful catastrophe in Asia has overshadowed the close of the Dutch EU presidency, it can be said without hesitation that the Netherlands held the presidency at a special moment in the history of the Union.

In 2004, the EU was confronted with major changes both at home and further afield. After the historic accession of ten new member states on 1 May, thoughts turned to the next enlargement. Romania and Bulgaria will accede in a few years. The prospect of membership for Turkey and Croatia is also visible on the horizon; on 17 December, after heated debate, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with those countries in 2005. There were also changes in the Union's institutional order. The Constitution for Europe will make the EU more effective and transparent and lay a firmer basis for future stability, security and prosperity. Its entry into force, expected in late 2006, will make the Union's foundation even more solid. Of course, it will first have to be ratified by all the member states.

The European Union has worked well in the past. It has now brought peace, stability and prosperity to 450 million Europeans. Its success has had a magnetic effect on other countries. More and more want to join the European community of values. If the Union manages to keep those values - freedom, respect and solidarity - alive and to continue putting them into action, future generations will also be able to look forward to security, prosperity, solidarity and respect in Europe. That is what we Europeans are firmly committed to achieving.

It was a great honour and pleasure for us - as one link in a long chain - to lead the way during the last six months of 2004. I would like to extend my warmest thanks to my fellow European leaders and everybody else who worked so hard to ensure the success of this presidency. In closing, let me wish Mr Juncker every success with the EU presidency in the first six months of 2005."

Jan Peter Balkenende

Note from the website staff:

In the past six months, the website for the Dutch EU presidency has had an average of 3,100 visitors a day. Some 1,000 documents have been posted in each language. On top of that, 2,600 people have subscribed to the e-mail service.

The website will not be updated any longer, but it will remain available and all the documents on it can still be viewed. If you would like the latest news from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, you can go to www.minbuza.nl.

Finally, the web team would like to thank everyone who visited the site or worked on the Dutch EU presidency. We wish our colleagues at www.eu2005.lu every success in the next six months.