Belgium: New federal government website in English
June 2, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Belgian federal government has launched a new website. The new version of the website – www.belgium.be – contains 11 sub-categories, including Family, Justice, Mobility, Health, Education, Taxes, and Work. There is also a category entitled ‘About Belgium’. It includes information on Tourism and Belgium in general. The site is available in 4 languages – [...]
New Benelux treaty to be signed next month
May 28, 2008 Leave a Comment
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux) will sign a new reciprocal treaty in The Hague next month, the Benelux Treaty. “The old treaty has yielded much for our countries, the new one modernises and strengthens the partnership,” Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen announced yesterday in Brussels after a meeting with his Belgian and Luxembourg counterparts. “The [...]
Plane breaks apart at Brussels airport
May 27, 2008 Leave a Comment
It could take a week to clear the wreckage of the US cargo plane, a Boeing 747 that crashed at Brussels Zaventem Airport on Sunday. The US carrier Kalitta Air broke apart close to a row of houses while trying to abort a takeoff Sunday. The plane snapped into three pieces. Air traffic, but also [...]
Centuries-old Jewish cemetery unearthed in Maastricht
May 12, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Jewish community of Maastricht, Netherlands, together with the municipality and the local Sphinx Tiles manufacturer, arranged for the reburial of Jewish remains from an 18th century cemetery. According to local historians, the area surrounding the planned construction of a new Sphinx building was used by the Jewish community as a cemetery from 1782 to [...]
Solitary lives of Europeans are leading continent into old age
May 8, 2008 Leave a Comment
Europe is facing a “demographic winter” as pensioners outnumber teenagers and birth rates fall, according to a report by the Institute for Family Policy. The snapshot survey of family life in 27 European countries also says that marriages across Europe are breaking down at the rate of one every 30 seconds. Because of this, the [...]
Dutch EU officials go back to their high schools
April 14, 2008 Leave a Comment
Some 350 Dutch civil servants who work for the European institutions and MEPs are returning to their former secondary schools for a day to talk with school pupils about their work and the European Union. The operation, ‘EU: Back to School’, will see Dutch EU employees deliver guest lessons to around 11,000 schoolchildren today (14 [...]
Europe struggles to accommodate its growing Muslim minority
March 26, 2008 Leave a Comment
A French court this month upheld a weekly magazine’s right to reprint a Danish cartoon of the prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. At the same time, it affirmed a lower court’s finding that the image, published two years ago, could be “shocking, even hurtful” to devout Muslims. The split decision illustrates how [...]
EU pledges to create ‘fifth freedom’ of knowledge
March 19, 2008 Leave a Comment
As part of the EU’s ongoing quest to make itself more competitive, the bloc’s leaders have suggested creating a “fifth freedom” of knowledge to be added to the four original principles of free movement of persons, capital, services and goods in the European Union. “Member states and the EU must remove barriers to the free [...]
Brussels most boring city in Europe
March 14, 2008 2 Comments
Brussels, the capital of Europe, is the most boring city on the continent, despite its renown for its waffles, chocolates, and comic books, according to a survey of international travellers published on Wednesday (12 March). The city just beat out Zurich and Warsaw for the title, who came second and third in the race for [...]
European Parliament in Strasbourg turns 50
March 12, 2008 Leave a Comment
The European Parliament in Strasbourg held a special session on Wednesday to celebrate 50 years since the European Union’s six founding members set up a common parliament . Back in 1958, the assembly was a mere talking shop consulted by governments on select issues. Now the 785-member parliament represents 27 states and is the world’s [...]
Belgium: huge transit port for drugs
March 4, 2008 Leave a Comment
A US government report says that a quarter of all drugs intended for Europe are imported through Belgium, making the country one of the biggest drug transit ports on the continent. The report says that every year 60 tons of cocaine and 30 tons of heroin arrive in the country. Belgium is an ideal entry [...]
Netherlands passes on conflict with NATO to EU
February 29, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands is passing on a conflict with NATO to the EU. The Hague is asking the European Commission to apply the same strict noise norms to AWACS aircraft as for civil aircraft. In December the Lower House, under evident pressure from the environmental lobby, adopted a motion in which closure of Dutch airspace to [...]
New website devoted to tourism in five Meuse-Rhine’s cities
February 19, 2008 Leave a Comment
5-plus which gives a n overview of tourism in five of Meuse-Rhine’s cities (Aachen, Hasselt, Heerlen, Liège and Maastricht) is launching a new web site today. Check the link. Source: Meuse-Rhine Journal
Belgium/Netherlands disaster policy
February 19, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Dutch and Belgian authorities must improve their cooperation in dealing with cross-border disasters. The Benelux parliament has pointed to this need. A committee of parliamentarians from both countries, headed by Mayor Jacques Niederer from Weert, has requested — among other things — a unified communication system. The Dutch C2000 system is not compatible with [...]
EU security measure to collect foreigners’ fingerprints
February 13, 2008 Leave a Comment
The European Commission agreed to a plan to collect fingerprints and photographs from foreigners entering the EU, part of an effort to fortify the bloc’s borders. The move is part of a European effort to fortify the bloc’s borders to the outside world. Brussels said the steps are needed to guarantee the free movement of [...]
Stress causing Europeans to stay home from work
February 13, 2008 Leave a Comment
Nearly one in four European workers suffers from job-related stress. Demands on workers are increasing while job security is decreasing, according to a new study. Europe’s reputation for 35-hour work weeks and generous amounts of vacation time belies the fact that many workers find themselves facing an unhealthy amount of stress. Stress is responsible for [...]
Nine nations plan new pan-European lottery scheme
February 13, 2008 Leave a Comment
In an age where Europeans are increasingly urged to share and cooperate across borders, it seems only logical that someone would have the idea to spread the possibility of wealth and good fortune between neighbors. Plans are being mulled over by nine European countries to create a cross-border lottery where citizens of those countries joining [...]
EU to look into consumers’ happiness
January 31, 2008 Leave a Comment
The European Commission is to present proposals on Thursday (31 January) aimed at evaluating how satisfied consumers are with the bloc’s single market. EU consumer protection commissioner Meglena Kuneva will unveil plans for a “Consumer Market Watch”, consisting of two steps – monitoring of the market and analysis of the collected data. The goal is [...]
Three cities form so-called ‘Euro-district’
January 29, 2008 Leave a Comment
Kortrijk (West Flanders), Tournai (Wallonia) and Lille (in France) have agreed to work together to form a so-called ‘Euro-district’. The aim of the project is to join forces to tackle common cross-border problems. Monday morning authorities from 14 public bodies of the three cities signed an agreement to establish the eurodistrict. The cooperation between Kortrijk, [...]
Dutch dig farmer-seeks-wife show
January 26, 2008 Leave a Comment
There is no sex, no scandal, no sniping and no foul language, but a new Dutch reality show is getting ratings TV bosses dream of, with a quarter of the country glued to their television sets. The “stars” are Dutch farmers trying to find wives to share love and the quiet, if rough, rural life. [...]
“A Dog of Flanders” expert arrested for murder of Japanese wife
January 25, 2008 Leave a Comment
Update on our article “Do you know A Dog of Flanders?” The Belgian daily Het Belang van Limburg reports that Japan expert Jan Corteel has been arrested on Wednesday (23 January 2008) for the murder of his Japanese wife Yoshimi in their flat in Antwerp. Neighbours heard the couple fighting early in the morning but [...]
Feeding you the news
January 15, 2008 2 Comments
For all those of us who want to keep up with the news in Europe, here’s a new tool offered by the European Journalism Centre: The EJC is pleased to offer a hearty portion of European news with the beta version of eufeeds.eu, a continuously updated news site that serves up 300 direct news feeds, [...]
Integration project unites Belgians, Expats in Europe’s capital
January 15, 2008 1 Comment
Brussels, the capital city of Europe, boasts a vibrant international community. So far, they’ve lived next to, not with, Belgians. A new integration project is trying to change that. One would think that Brussels was a melting pot of social integration and interaction, given its mix of Flemish and Francophone locals and the large number [...]
Portuguese journalist wins this year’s ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination’ EU press award
December 19, 2007 Leave a Comment
The first prize in this year’s ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination’ Journalist Award has today been awarded to a Portuguese journalist writing about the discrimination faced by migrant workers in the Netherlands. The second and third prizes went to entries from France and the United Kingdom respectively. The special award to mark the 2007 European Year [...]
Miss Belgium gets booed for not being able to speak Dutch
December 18, 2007 Leave a Comment
Dutch are among richest EU citizens
December 18, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Dutch are in the top three of richest EU nationalities. The purchasing power of the Dutch is 31 percent higher than the EU average, European statistics bureau Eurostat reported on Monday. The richest EU citizens are the Luxembourgers, the residents of the Grand Duchy enjoy a whopping 280 percent more purchasing power than average. [...]
EU global image improving, US fading
December 13, 2007 Leave a Comment
The perception that the EU is a global player is increasing worldwide, while the image of the US as the world’s biggest power is fading, a new survey has shown. Citizens in major states across the globe see the EU as the fifth superpower in the world after the US, China, Russia and Japan – [...]
Exhibition follows Europe’s route out of the ashes
December 13, 2007 Leave a Comment
Most people think they know at least something about the history of Europe and the EU. But the first exhibition of the Europe Museum in Brussels shows that what’s common knowledge often barely scratches the surface. The journey from the ruins of war-torn Europe to the modern amalgamation of states now known as the European [...]
EU to fund pan-European radio station
December 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
Radio fans will from next year onwards be able to tune in to a new pan-European station, to be set up by a multinational group of broadcasters and funded by the European Commission. The ‘European Radio Project’ (ERP) – a consortium of 16 radio stations from 13 member states – will from April 2008 onwards [...]
EU citizens should have rights written into passports
December 7, 2007 Leave a Comment
EU citizens in the future should have the right to demand consular protection from embassies other than their own written into their passports, the European Commission has suggested. In plans unveiled on Wednesday (5 December), Brussels has proposed citizens travelling in countries outside the EU, where their own nation is not represented, should be able [...]
