Belgium

Flemish Culture minister Caroline Gennez has launched Horizon 2035, a broad brainstorming exercise on the future of Flanders’ cultural policy.

A Future Commission comprising professionals, representatives and experts from across the sector will reflect on what the cultural policy in Flanders could look like in 10 years' time.

“This is the first time such a brainstorming exercise is taking place. We are ambitious,” Gennez at the launch at Museum M in Leuven. “With Horizon 2035, we are working with the cultural sector to develop a powerful and future-proof cultural policy that will ensure that our cultural creators can continue to play their social role in Flanders in 10 years' time.”

Biggest demonstration in years!

Members from PVDA and Vooruit Antwerp are calling for the immediate removal of the Israeli flag from city hall, denouncing its presence as unacceptable amid the war in Gaza.

A United Nations expert group has called out the Belgian police for what it describes as systemic racism against people of African descent. Following a ten-day visit to the country, the group urged Belgian authorities to take immediate action, warning that discrimination by law enforcement is seriously eroding public trust.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/31953805

From time to time, important news gets overshadowed by other headlines, even though it could have a profound impact on our (online) world. To most of us, few things are more bothersome than the dreaded cookie banners. On countless websites, you’re confronted with a pesky pop-up urging you to agree to something. You end up consenting without really knowing what it is. If you try to figure out what’s going on, you quickly get lost among the often hundreds of “partners” who want access to your personal data. Even if you do give your consent, it’s questionable whether you truly understand what you’re agreeing to.

In a speech held in Brussels on Thursday, the Federal Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) laid out his government's foreign policy vision to the diplomatic corps. Mr De Wever stressed the need for international cooperation to respond to a rapidly changing global landscape.

Mr De Wever, told diplomats that conflicts, economic instability and the rise of protectionism are challenging Europe and the whole world.

The Belgian PM once again condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, stating that it is a direct attack on European values. Mr De Wever reaffirmed Belgium’s unwavering support for Kyiv.

However, conflicts are not confined to Europe and Mr De Wever also addressed the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, alongside ongoing conflicts in Sudan, Congo and Myanmar. Beyond war zones, organised crime and irregular migration pose additional major threats to stability in Europe, the Belgian Prime Minister said.

On the economic front, Mr De Wever warned against protectionism and argued that free and fair trade is the only sustainable route to innovation and prosperity. He went on to criticise what he sees as inefficiencies within the European single market and warned that without reform and deeper integration, Europe risks long-term economic decline.

Action taken by Belgium

Mr De Wever told diplomats that Belgium is taking firm action. The Federal Government has increased defence spending to meet NATO’s 2% of GDP target. Furthermore, Belgium is pushing for better coordination of defence resources within the EU. The Belgian Prime Minister also called on our allies to continue strengthening Europe’s collective security capabilities.

"Belgium is open for business, but closed for crime"

Mr De Wever went on to detail his government's “MAKE 2030” plan to revitalise Belgian industry. The plan focuses on reducing regulation, establishing a healthy labour market and increasing competitiveness. Its aim halt industrial decline and position Belgium as a competitive player in global markets.

De Wever concluded by stressing Belgium is “open for business but closed for crime.” The federal government aims to attract inward investment and also crack down on organised crime and terrorism.

To achieve these aims, Belgian diplomats will need to forge strong partnerships around the world. To this end the Sablon Diplomatic Circle has been launched. Based in Brussels, it is designed to bring to together diplomatic representatives from across the globe.

Non-paywalled version: https://archive.is/CdeEa

The bourgeois will rather dismantle Brussels's democracy than allow proletarians to have a modicum of power. We need mass protests and strikes against any attempt at annexation of any part of Brussels by Flanders.

Video games have grown into an industry with billions of customers worth hundreds of billions of euros. During this time, a specific business practice in the industry has been slowly emerging that is not only an assault on basic consumer rights but is destroying the medium itself.

An increasing number of publishers are selling video games that are required to connect through the internet to the game publisher, or "phone home" to function. While this is not a problem in itself, when support ends for these types of games, very often publishers simply sever the connection necessary for the game to function, proceed to destroy all working copies of the game, and implement extensive measures to prevent the customer from repairing the game in any way.

This practice is effectively robbing customers of their purchases and makes restoration impossible. Besides being an affront on consumer rights, video games themselves are unique creative works. Like film, or music, one cannot be simply substituted with another. By destroying them, it represents a creative loss for everyone involved and erases history in ways not possible in other mediums.

Existing laws and consumer agencies are ill-prepared to protect customers against this practice. The ability for a company to destroy an item it has already sold to the customer long after the fact is not something that normally occurs in other industries. With license agreements required to simply run the game, many existing consumer protections are circumvented. This practice challenges the concept of ownership itself, where the customer is left with nothing after "buying" a game.

• European Citizens' Initiative

https://www.stopkillinggames.com/faq

Giant FAQ on The European Initiative to Stop Destroying Games!

Europeans can save gaming!

https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxly_O-3JxyBULIT283l5A1KOhnNsWC3Bj

Remember, what's the alternative?

Place to sign EU petition:

https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/screen/home

An interesting video about Carat Duchatelet, a luxury coach builder from Liège with apparently loads of history.

cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/26831727

Belgian security agents bugged a corporate box at the RSC Anderlecht football stadium that was being used by Chinese tech giant Huawei to schmooze members of the European Parliament.

They also listened into other conversations involving one of Huawei’s leading lobbyists, including in his car. The surveillance operations, confirmed by three people with close knowledge of the investigation, formed part of a wide-ranging probe into allegations of corruption that was first revealed in March. They contributed to the Belgian prosecutor’s decision, reported by POLITICO on Monday, to request that a group of MEPs have their immunities lifted so they can be investigated.

Flemish socialist party Vooruit is calling on Flemish public broadcaster VRT to push for an investigation into the televoting system within the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest. That the Israeli contestant received 12 points from the Belgian public, while the expert jury gave none, raises questions about manipulation – just like in Spain.

**There is a high risk that the payback effects the Belgian government is counting on to reduce its budget deficit have been greatly overestimated, according to the Court of Audit. Opposition parties criticized the government for failing to keep its most important promise. ** The government expects to see a return of 7.9 billion euros from boosting the employment rate, but it is overestimating both the size of the group and the yield per person employed. That is according to the Court of Audit's opinion on the budget, which was submitted to members of parliament on Friday.

The government expects to create nearly 300,000 additional jobs by the end of the legislative term, yielding 30,000 euros per person. However, according to the Court of Audit, the group has been defined too broadly, leading to an overestimation.

'Unsubstantiated objective'

Furthermore, the Court of Audit states that it is "highly uncertain" that the government will achieve the additional employment targets set each year. The figures are not based on detailed calculations but rather "an unsubstantiated objective."

"The government can no longer hide. It has simply failed.”

The Court of Audit also lacks sufficient information to assess the realism of projected revenues or expenditures for other measures, including some tax measures and expenditures outside the defense budget that the government wants to count toward the NATO spending target of 2 per cent of GDP.

Broken promise

The opposition parties did not hold back in their criticism of the government's budget and its prime minister, Bart De Wever. “Bart De Wever has turned out not to be the responsible accountant he has always claimed to be, but rather a true amateur. The Court of Audit completely demolished his budget,” said Stefaan Van Hecke, leader of the Groen parliamentary faction.

"A balanced budget was this government's most important promise. And that promise was already broken after 100 days,” said Alexia Bertrand and Vincent Van Quickenborne of the Open VLD party. The PS called the report “deadly” for the government. "The conclusion is unequivocal: the budget does not add up," said faction leader Pierre-Yves Dermagne. "The government can no longer hide. It has simply failed.”

The Flemish government is introducing stricter labour migration policies aimed at reducing the number of non-EU workers, particularly those with low qualifications. However, a recent OECD report warns that such restrictions could harm Flanders’ economy.

Employment minister Zuhal Demir announced that employers will be required to prioritise hiring from within Flanders before recruiting from outside the EU. While high-skilled migrants will still be welcomed, with faster administrative processing for non-EU work permit applications, the new policy will specifically exclude low-skilled non-EU workers from roles such as cleaners, fast-food staff, and dishwashers. EU workers and seasonal agricultural labourers will remain exempt.

The government thus wants to prioritise local workers to counter rising unemployment and recent collective redundancies. According to Demir, it is essential to “help our own people” before looking abroad. She further emphasised that while Flanders remains open to international top talent, the focus should be on training local workers and utilising the existing regional labour force.

However, the OECD points out that this approach disregards the reality of the Flemish labour market. The report, released in March 2025, highlights that Flanders faces one of the tightest labour markets in Europe and that the region deals with severe shortages across both skilled and unskilled sectors. Despite high employment rates, Flanders is struggling with a mismatch between available jobs and qualified workers, particularly in technical, care, and low-skilled service roles.

The OECD says that improving local employment is important, but stresses that a balanced migration policy is crucial to sustaining Flanders’ economic health. “Given the urgent nature of shortages in the labour market and considering that activation policies and measures encouraging labour mobility take time to have impact, labour migration is expected to become more important over the coming years.”

The OECD recommends that Flanders streamline its migration framework to make it more flexible and efficient, allowing for the faster integration of skilled and unskilled workers alike. Focusing solely on high-skilled migration overlooks the reality that many sectors, such as hospitality and care, continue to face persistent staff shortages and that local recruitment there has already proven insufficient.

As much as 25% to 35% of all Brussels office space is vacant. Millions of square metres are unused, with buildings often even lit up looking like 'zombie buildings' from the outside.

...

A prominent Brussels real estate broker, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered a more blunt take: “In large building deals in Brussels, the usual players gather around the table — there’s the smart money, and then there’s the Régie des Bâtiments.”

The court of first instance in Brussels has condemned the Flemish government for failing to adequately protect the wild hamster, reported environmental organisations Dryade and Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen (Bird Protection Flanders). The government must now take measures, including providing a required minimum area of suitable habitat and a sufficiently large hamster population.

Guess making jokes about being convicted for stalking and harassing women is profitable in Flanders.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/11547794

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/11547677

Start der neuen Tram heute in Lüttich!

In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws on April 14, 2025, Belgium’s Defense Minister, Theo Francken, formally proposed that future F-35 fighter jets ordered by Belgium be assembled in Italy rather than in the United States. The minister also revealed that he had already made the request to his Italian counterpart, Guido Crosetto.

The article also goes into more detail of what's already been delivered under the program, the underperforming economic returns for Belgium, the bookkeeping shenanigans to take on more debt, and more.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/35691280

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – An unconventional Belgian prince will learn on Monday if he has the right to social security on top of his royal allowance after he sued for coverage -- the first time a royal has taken such action against the state in the country's nearly 200-year history.

The 61-year-old Prince Laurent, youngest of three children of the former king and queen, insists his work entitles his family to social security -- and that he is acting out of "principle" rather than for money.

Prince Laurent is no stranger to embarrassing the royal family. His long list of unwelcome antics includes likening his relatives to East Germany's Stasi secret police in 2015.

In 2018, his annual state allowance was cut by 15 percent because he met foreign dignitaries without the federal government's approval.

It was not his first faux pas, but the punishment was unprecedented.

Laurent -- who received 388,000 euros ($425,000) last year from state coffers and lives in his home rent-free -- insists he is not motivated by money.

"This is not about financial means but principle," he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF.

"When a migrant comes here, he registers, he has a right to it. I may be a migrant too, but one whose family established the state in place," he added.

Laurent has pointed to medical costs and his concerns over his family's financial wellbeing since the royal allowance will be cut when he dies.

The prince has had an animal welfare foundation offering free veterinary care in clinics for the past 10 years.

He says the foundation work, alongside dozens of visits representing Belgium and participation on several boards, means he has a busy schedule.

The prince believes he is entitled to social security coverage for independent entrepreneurs.

He took legal action after his application was refused. A first hearing was held in November 2024.

The prince did not take legal action on a "whim", said his lawyer Olivier Rijckaert, in an article in Le Soir newspaper.

Social security is "a right granted by Belgian law to every resident, from the poorest to the biggest billionaire", the lawyer added.

Laurent only receives a salary worth 25 percent of his allowance, since the rest covers professional expenses including travel and wages for a staff member.

This comes to a monthly net wage for the prince of 5,000 euros ($5,480), which is comparable to the "average salary of a senior executive in Belgium", but without the usual "full social security coverage", Rijckaert said.

Laurent and his British wife, Claire, have three children now in their twenties.

Without this coverage, Laurent cannot claim reimbursement for certain medical expenses, or sick pay if he is unable to work.

He is not the only royal to have been unhappy about money.

When King Albert II abdicated in favour of his son Philippe after 20 years of reign in 2013, the ex-monarch found his 923,000 euros ($1.25 million) a year insufficient.

Laurent has lambasted what he calls an attempt to "control" him.

"I never asked for an allowance! I always wanted to work, but I was prevented from doing so," he said in 2023, noting his desire, at the age of 60, to "finally" be able to pursue independent projects.

The judgment will not be delivered in public but sent to the parties in the case on Monday.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.it/post/16080182

A collective of pedestrians living in the Brussels is fighting illegal parking by putting humorous stickers on the rear windows of cars parked on the pavement – hindering people wanting to walk or cycle safely.

The sticker read: "Don't be a Putin. Don't annex the pavement."