76 posts
Fix My State
Traffic light stuck on amber. For 6 days solid*. And no-one has done a thing. A STIB tram passes this light every 10 minutes – it’s at the southern end of Chaussée de Charleroi. At least one police vehicle will...
Belgian EU Presidency will steer six major projects
The Treaty of Lisbon, the EU 2020 strategy, climate issues, the Stockholm programme, enlargement and revision of the financial perspectives are the six major European projects identified by the future Belgian Council Presidency, which will start on 1...
Storm in a bowl of waaterzoi
Cripes they are all getting a little excited over in Brussels about Nigel Farage's comments yesterday. Now we hear that Yves Leterme, the Belgian PM has demanded in a letter to the President of Parliament that this should not happen again.Meanwhile J...
I don’t want to be rude, but…
More youtube fame for Mr Farage but the “non -country” strikes back: http://idontwanttoberude.com/...
The Belgians
Contrary to what my previous post may have alluded you to think, I’m not Dutch. My passport is issued by the quaint, less organised, little country to the South. Home to the brave, Ceasar called it. Sadly we have lost that epithet a long time a...
The Belgian government is asking for help. Please listen to its call
Found on Twitter thanks to @Maitea6 Fortunately, some good souls, such as @linotherhino, have already started to reply.
The Belgian office for foreigners who live in Belgium
For information about your 'Civil State', including everything from specific details about how someone from your country needs to apply for Belgian citizenship to a VISA, call theService Public Fédéral Etrangères Etat - CivilRue des Petits Carmes,...
We’re going on a flat hunt!
While the debate about whale hunting continues to grab headlines around the EU, it is time to turn our attention to another significant hunting subject which frequently fosters frustration in Brussels: ah yes, flat hunting. The Lobby is currently...
Writing for the EU: creativity lost?
Belgian service providers are like an episode of Prison Break. Every time you think things can’t get worse, they continue surprising you. There, I’ve put it on paper: my own opinion (although probably shared by many expats here in Brussel...
Gender equality in Belgium
In the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index 2009, Belgium ranks well in education levels between men and women. But when we get to economic and political decision-making, Belgium drops to the 60s..."The lack of equality in economic life is...
Match your skills to your job in Brussels
Ex-pat employees in Brussels have a lot of skills and expertise. Many speak two to three languages fluently. Most have at least one Masters degree, frequently two or three. Most importantly, all are motivated individuals working more for passion and...
European Union chooses President
By Eline Gordts November 20 and Belgium is celebrating like it’s already New Year’s Eve. Yesterday evening, the European heads of state reached an agreement on who will become the European Union’s first permanent president. And yes, the man
Belgian train strike
I left for vacation Thursday 2 weeks ago. The National Railway Company of Belgium held a strike that same day. My seven-hour train ride became a 2 hour bus ride followed by an hour-long train to Paris and an overnight sleeper train to the South of Fr...
Internet price petition by Test Achats
Test-Achats, an advocacy group for consumers in Belgium, is mobilising public opinion to improve the cost of Internet in Belgium. Sign their petition. As they say, each voice counts.The petition: http://www.test-achats.be/internet/internet-trop-cher-...
Packages in Belgium
Community is expressed in many ways.In the USA, community could be found in collected groups. The individuals that “collected” these groups made camps, towns, or villages. They depended upon their community colleagues to ensure these camps, towns...
The Return of Leterme and the arrival of Daerden
Prime Minister van Rompuy had to endure a cascade of criticism from the opposition after they had learned of the Belgian Federal Government’s reshuffle plans on which agreement was reached last night. Sp.a leader Tobback accused van Rompuy of le...
Allons enfants de la … Belgique!
So you wanted to celebrate Bastille Day but you missed the annual 14 July military parade on the Champs Elysées in Paris and President Sarkozy forgot to invite you to the select garden party at the Elysée Palace – don’t stress out, you have...
Belgium welcomes the little general
Followers of the Belgian football team can be forgiven for being in the doldrums recently. After qualifying for every World Cup from 1982 to 2002 – finishing fourth in 1986 – recent years have seen an alarming slump, during which they have f...
Spanish-Belgian squabble puts EU foreign policy in a poor light
The last time that a dispute between Madrid and Brussels seized the international spotlight was in 1568 - and boy, was it big. That was when the Spanish rulers of the Low Countries sparked the 80-year-long Dutch Revolt by executing Counts Eg...
What do the Belgian politicians want for and from Europe [evelinedewinter]
At the end of April I began my quest. My aim was to interview all the persons who were heading the list of the European Elections and that of every Belgian party with a realistic chance at seats in the Parliament. I contacted Groen! (Flemish green pa...
‘A stronger Flanders in a stronger Europe’ [evelinedewinter]
When I interviewed N-VA president Bart De Wever for a totally different project I asked him why he chose to run in Antwerp (regional elections) and not to run for a place in Europe. He answered me that if you could speak of one simplistic story that...
The simple quest for a postage stamp (and what it says about Belgium)
Today is a bank holiday in Belgium. But for me that means little - I have projects to complete, so I need to work. In addition I urgently need to post a letter to the UK, but I’m out of stamps. Can I manage to find a postage stamp for purchase...
“People at number one” [evelinedewinter]
“People at number one” is the slogan of sp.a, the Flemish socialist party. Kathleen Van Brempt is their candidate heading the European list. At the moment Van Brempt is the Flemish minister of Mobility, Social Economics and Equal Opportunities. S...
N-VA: No future for Belgium; Flanders should be an independent EU nation state
Architect Frieda Brepoels, No 1 on the N-VA list for the European elections, positions the party as “the only Flemish European party in Flanders”. They do not see a future for ‘Belgium’, and look enviously at small states in E...
Guest blogging for VRT Flandersnews www.redactie.be
For the last 3 weeks before Election Day, 7 June, I am one of three invited guest-bloggers on the VRT / Flanders News / European Elections 09 website. The three “Campaign Watchers” are myself, long-time Belgian resident and British author...
Belgian goverment found way out of crisis
The Belgian government has found a way to get the economy moving. It just arrived in my mailbox. It came in the electricity bill from Electrabel. Usually I pay around 40 euro, but this time the bill was 7 euro. I looked closer. As it turns out, I got...
Rail noise v. railway competitiveness: The Belgian perspective
Just a little piece of high-level EU politics:"While Belgium recognises that measures should be taken to reduce the adverse effects of railwaynoise at source, it nevertheless insists that such measures must not jeopardise the competitiveness of the r...
A Review of the State of Government and citizenship in Belgium (and a little about the EU)
For every citizen (and employee) in Belgium, there are four governments.Individuals can belong to all four, or they can belong to one, two, or three. In Belgium, voting in each government election is not a civic right but a civic obligation. Belgian...
How to go to school in Belgium and how to have your employer pay (nothing) for it
I promised this post some time ago. However, the document pertaining to this piece of employment legislation is 44 pages of French or Dutch, and I am still struggling to read Le Match. But here goes:Here is the overview as best I can deduce:Le congé...
First Polish expat running for the European Parliament
A Pole will be running for the European Parliament from Belgium. A first in the history of Poland's elections to the EP. The candidate is 26-year old Bartosz Lech and he will be 4th on the Ecolo (Greens) list in French-speaking Belgium. The Greens h...
Belgian organisational skills.
Last night I joined a couple of friends for a drink at a bar near to the European Parliament. It was a nice evening, so we were sat outside. It had already been a great evening for me insofar as I had discovered that a Hungarian aquaintance had acted...
Don’t use the Belgian post…
I’m not very enthusiastic about tax. I personally think it morally questionable that I should have my hard earned income taken away from me and used in ways I strongly disapprove of. In my part of London, only 20% of households pay council tax,...
De Staandard compares EU with Latvian poems
A short episode from today’s DNA conference in Brussels which was an interesting event mixing new web start-ups and established media companies. At a panel with the ‘traditional’ media the question came up whether established media...
Belgium to Boycott: Never cut or hook before lunch
Back in November I drew attention to the path-breaking research of the genealogists who had discovered that Barack Obama was 1 per cent Belgian. Now it seems Belgium’s contribution to the good of the world goes even further than that. Two acade...
Excessive Pricing on the Judgments Reprints Market?
In Belgium, not all judgments are published and those published are often released a long time after their adoption. Obviously, this makes the job of legal scholars very painful. To remedy this issue, the registrars of the Courts offer reprints...
How to enter Belgium, How to apply for a work VISA in Belgium
We have the World Trade Organisation to work for the free trade of products in the free market. But no organisation facilitates hiring non-EU citizens within the EU.That’s why I’m here.First, ENTER Belgium. Legally.If you are currently located ou...
How to get a Belgian work permit in Brussels part two
You, like me, may have a perverse need to do things that are difficult. Like work in Belgium-legally. (Illegal work is easier, which is why its more popular.)Here’s how to start, once you are a legal alien already residing in Belgium. (If you are n...
More on the Belgian Defense Minister
Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph (who also has a blog - thanks for the link, Bruno) has written an article about the incredible story of the drinking Belgian Defense minister Pieter de Crem on a cancelled meeting in New York and the blogging...
Pieter Frans Norbert Jozef Raymond De Crem in a spot of bother
So the Belgian Minister of Defense wants to go an get pissed in New York at the expense of the state, travelling there for a meeting that was not actually due to happen. As far as I’m concerned that’s not acceptable behaviour. Problem for...
Money, money, money
The financial crisis hit Belgium hard this week, and our local bank Fortis had to go down on it’s knees and beg for money from the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The bank is now partially nationalised. My father took th...
Belgian customer ’service’
I’ve been going back and forth between the UK and Belgium for the last 10 months, and due to a change in circumstances I’m finally getting all the bureaucracy in order so as to stay in Belgium on a more permanent basis. First of all the f...
Why do some Belgians want to become French?
Is it just for the money?
Political stalemate in Belgium
After Belgian king Albert II rejected the prime minister’s offer of resignation on 17 July, Yves Leterme will have to find new ways to guide Belgium through its identity crisis. The latest news from the EU in Brussels...
Le pays des Belges
EU politics, I find easier to understand than Belgian politics, which is one reason why this is my first post on this subject. However, the ongoing failure of the inter-communal negotiations, when the country has to cope with serious economic prob...
BROKEN BELGIUM
The long running saga of who governs Belgium is continuing. br /A couple of days ago the Belgian Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, tendered his resignation to the King after failing to reconcile differences between Belgium's French and Flemish speaking c...
Belgium as role-model for the EU
An interesting discussion’s kicked off in the comments to that history of Belgium piece, looking at how the current Belgian crisis could prove a very useful case study and model for future EU reform. It kicks of with this from SD (a Belgian, as...
One joojooflop situation
The Prime Minister of Belgium has offered to resign, setting up an unwanted rematch with Serbia to see which European parliamentary republic can go the longest without a national government. Serbia’s recent entry in the contest is a mere 57 day...
Why Belgium?
Another Belgian governmental crisis. But hell, it's only Belgium, right? What's worth getting so het up about? To find out, we need to go back more than 2,000 years...
Belgian Government Collapses
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Time to dissolve Belgium?
The argument for a political divorce...
Belgium back to crisis
Several news sources report that Belgian prime minister Leterme has offered his resignation tonight:Belgian media say Prime Minister Yves Leterme has offered his resignation after his government failed to agree on more self-rule for Belgium's Dutch a...
