The Brussels Prosecution Office is investigating abuse of prior knowledge by Fortis executives. In the wake of the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas in early October, the Brussels prosecutor's office obtained information on suspect transactions involving Fortis stock, giving rise to suspicions of prior knowledge being involved. After a thorough investigation a judicial investigation was launched a month ago, which included premises being searched. The public prosecutor's office is refusing to divulge much information, but according to De Tijd newspaper the investigation involves transactions of millions of Euros in stock during the crucial period preceding the sale of Fortis to BNP. The allegation involves privileged information being leaked at an executive level within Fortis. According to De Tijd, the Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission (CBFA) will undertake a parallel administrative investigation, which may result in administrative sanctions.

The initial results of the comprehensive study on teaching as a career undertaken by the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels and the University of Antwerp, commissioned by Minister of Work, Education and Training Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A), were leaked yesterday. The study showed that teachers are slightly more satisfied with their jobs than the average working person, earning about an average income, but slightly less than other skilled workers. The hours are shorter, although teachers feel that they work long hours unpaid (in Flanders they only get paid for the lessons). As far as combining family and work, they are better off than in most other jobs. Male teachers undertake more domestic chores than males in other jobs. Sixty percent of teachers are female, while fifty percent accept they will never be promoted. Promotion and competition are not that important, but values such as reconciling work and the family life, creativity, job security and independence take priority. The fact that a mere 12 percent of teachers have left the profession between 1991 and 2001 indicates that they are satisfied. However, very few people from other professions choose the pedagogical path, while departure is prevalent amongst young teachers within the first five years of graduating. And finally, teachers are on average less chauvinistic, individualistic and ethnocentric than other jobs, and are therefore well-placed to implement a sense of public responsibility in the youth, the study concludes.

European authorities do not accept investment costs incurred by the BAM management company set up by the Flemish government, being excluded from the Flemish budget. BAM is charged with the management of the Oosterweel Link and other major mobility projects contained in the Masterplan Antwerp for increased mobility. Europe's statistical information service, Eurostat, already stated last year that the Flemish Minister of Finance, Budget and Spatial Planning Dirk Van Mechelen (Open VLD) could not exclude the expenditure for the Masterplan Antwerp from the budget. Van Mechelen subsequently endeavoured to find a creative solution so that the expenditure by the public-private partnership (PPP) would be kept out of his budget, but this was not accepted by Eurostat. On 12 March the statistical service announced that the assets of the public limited company, BAM, must be registered as assets of the state. As a result, all investment costs incurred by BAM are now state expenses. The Flemish region is the largest partner in all the projects listed in the Masterplan Antwerp, according to Eurostat. While a BAM spokesman says that negotiations with Eurostat concerning this are ongoing, a fast breakthrough is presently not expected. The result of this is that the next Flemish government will be saddled with an additional budget deficit of two billion Euros over and above the 8.9 billion Euros they will already have to save, according to calculations released by Minister-President Kris Peeters (CD&V).

SP.A Deputy Minister-President Frank Vandenbroucke has criticised the plan voiced by Bart De Wever, leader of the Flemish nationalist N-VA, to torpedo all negotiations with the federal government from within the Flemish government. De Wever intends to paralyse the federal government, leaving it with nothing to do but to cut expenses. During a financial crisis such as the one we are presently faced with, that will lead straight to a deadlock, Vandenbroucke said in an interview in De Standaard newspaper. This is also why he considers Open VLD's Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht's flirtation with exchanging socialists for Flemish nationalists in the Flemish government to be a grave mistake. De Gucht is behaving like someone who can choose the third coalition partner, says Vandenbroucke, and the liberals are keen to shed the socialists in order to protect their right wing (from Lijst Dedecker and the N-VA). Vandenbroucke's own party, the SP.A, intends to reanimate the federal government instead, while the N-VA simply wants to paralyse not only the federal government but the entire country. And then the country can be - indeed, democratically - split. At least, that's what emerges from their programme, the socialist leader asserts. Vandenbroucke maintains that what is actually desperately needed is a social-economic policy at European, federal and Flemish level. If the federal government decides to cease supporting certain target groups, the Flemish government must assume that support instead. When it comes to state reform, Flanders must select matters that are of a priority, such as employment policy for citizens over fifty, he says. The SP.A is also opposed to linear social measures, such as the additional child benefits proposed by the CD&V and N-VA, instead wanting them to be focused selectively on children in poorer families.

At the express request of his own party, Guy Verhofstadt, leading European candidate for the Flemish liberals (the Open VLD), also voiced his opinions on domestic politics at the Open VLD meeting in Hasselt in Limburg. The liberals fear that, while Verhofstadt could return amazing results personally on 07 June, many voters will make their mark for a different party on the regional ballot. Minister of Finance, Budget and Spatial Planning Dirk Van Mechelen is not a convincing contender for the post of minister-president, De Standaard says, and so it is left once more up to the popular Guy Verhofstadt to give his opinion on the state of the nation. 'We've been through two dramatic years - two years that have left our country in a state of discord, two years of latent political crisis. We cannot allow that state to continue for a third year,' the former prime minister said. 'I am filled with indignation at the lack of political will, the lack of leadership, vision and also of courage,' he added, a finger pointed at the current CD&V leadership. He also warned the parties (the MR and PS) involved in mudslinging campaigns in the southern region that they are making it impossible to tackle the institutional crisis. Verhofstadt called for working out a 'powerful strategy to beat the crisis', even if the liberals sit in both the Flemish and the federal governments. With respect to his own role, he reiterated that he was available to lend a hand for the trickier matters, such as that involving state reform. He rejects the possibility of leading the liberals for the next federal elections.

Encouraged by a few favourable opinion polls, Mieke Vogels, leader of the environmentalist Groen! party, has frequently made it clear that the greens are ready to replace the SP.A in the next Flemish government. But, if it's up to Minister-President Kris Peeters, that's not going to happen. Peeters is determined that the next government will implement the `Flanders in Action' programme (VIA). The VIA was devised by some 1,500 experts in a wide variety of fields and endorsed by over a 100 organisations. It is a long-term plan, and is not party-specific because it will have to be implemented over a period longer than a single term of government. But the environmentalists consider the VIA to be an example of how not to do things, because it focuses on the logistics sector as the driving force of the economy instead of on investment in the green economy. Peeters says that Groen! is selectively picking out points in the VIA in order to criticise it. The greens claim that 'sixteen football fields worth of open space will disappear in Flanders every day', but that is not evident anywhere in the plan, he says. 'Groen! is completely alone in its extreme points of view', the minister-president said, believing the greens would do better to thoroughly study the VIA plan before criticising it. What this means is that a so-called Jamaica coalition of the Christian democrats, liberals and environmentalists is becoming increasingly tenuous, writes De Standaard newspaper. Apart from wanting to veto the VIA plan, Groen! has also made it clear that it will not support a fresh job discount (a regional tax cut), which is the liberal hobbyhorse.

There were 186,005 unemployed people in Flanders in May, 23.2 percent higher than May last year. While it is by now a well-known fact that unemployment is on the rise, that ascent is also accelerating month-on-month. In January, the annual increase amounted to 9.8 percent, while in February it rose to 15.3 percent. A month later it stood at 18 percent and in May the 23 percent climb was yet another record-breaker. According to Flemish Minister of Employment, Education and Training Frank Vandenbroucke, an even greater effort must be made for accelerated measures for the newly unemployed. 'Support and mediation are powerful weapons in the war against increasing unemployment,' he said. 'Today jobs are still available, but in six months that may change.' Economist Luc Sels of the Leuven university believes that the number of redundancies will continue to increase for a few months, because many companies can no longer take the strain of keeping their staff on the payroll through employment measures such as economic unemployment and time credits. The youth have been particularly hard-hit by the financial crisis, with unemployment amongst those under 25 up 44 percent in the space of a year, and the number of graduates soon joining the dole queues rising 54 percent. Vandenbroucke says that companies are increasingly reticent about recruiting young employees. Another reason is that younger people often work through temping agencies or on temporary contracts. A third explanation is the 'last in, first out' rule when it comes to downsizing, which naturally also targets younger employees.

Today there are already some 20,000 photovoltaic cells (PV's) in Flanders, providing almost 100 MW at peak capacity (MWp). 'By the end of 2009, Flanders hopes to hit the crest of 150 MWp in solar panels,' Flanders Minister of Energy and Environment Hilde Crevits (CD&V) said yesterday during the launch of the biggest roof-based solar power generator in West-Flanders. Manufacturing of PV cells in Flanders has also increased dramatically this year. About a third of the realised 100 MWp is generated by companies, with the other two-thirds being housed by individuals. The dramatic growth this year is due to legislative amendments, with those installing PV cells before the end of the year receiving, for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours of green energy produced, 450 Euros from the authorities for the next two decades. Those putting down money for solar power in 2010 will only receive 350 Euros. The decrease in state support is due to the lower installation costs. In 2003, one kilowatt cost 8,000 Euros to install, while today that is down to 5,000 Euros.

Last year the University of Leuven's Centre for Political Research polled 3,334 young voters who will be casting their ballots for the first time on 07 June, and the CD&V got the highest mark with 25.5 percent of the vote. This is striking because when the same group - then still 16 years of age - was polled two years ago, Vlaams Belang led by a large majority. Over that two-year period the anti-immigrant VB shrunk from 25.8 to 18.1 percent, putting it in second place. Researcher Marc Hooghe believes that many young voters today adopt the political colours of their parents. During the 1970's through to the 1980's, most 18-year-olds voted leftwing, but today the age of the rebellious youth is over. There is much more continuity in terms of political sympathy between children and their parents. The progressive environmentalist party Groen! is, with 13.2 percent, still a popular party amongst the youth, while the SP.A socialists seem to have also hit an impasse with new voters, garnering 14.6 percent of the vote. The conclusion drawn from the study is that 18-year-olds are not exactly the most enthusiastic voters, with only sixty percent declaring they would still vote should they not be compelled to.

The fact that General Motors, once the world's biggest automaker, filed for composition and the United States has become the 60 percent owner of the auto giant was also front page news in De Tijd. According to US President Obama Barack, the intention is to relieve GM of the composition scheme within the next two to three months. The healthy and viable divisions of GM, including marques such as Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC, will be transferred to `New GM'. The unprofitable marques, such as Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac will remain a part of the old GM, along with eleven loss-making plants and the lion's share of outstanding debts. The court composition will, however, not have any effect on the European subsidiary of General Motors. The GM marques Opel and Vauxhall are to be taken over by the Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna, the Russian Sberbank and the Russian car manufacturer Gaz (Volga). In anticipation of a final agreement, GM Europe will continue its operations under a Treuhand Anstalt, aided by a 1.5 billion Euros bridging loan provided by the German government.The GM participation of 35 percent in the subsidiary will most probably move to the new GM. Magna has set its sights on the Russian market to ensure Opel's profitability. Backed by car manufacturer Gaz's factories in Nisnji Novogorod and with credit from Sberbank, 180,000 Opels can be built for the Russian market.

It became clear last weekend that Magna will be cutting 11,000 of the 55,000 GM jobs in Europe. In Germany, where 26,000 people are employed by the car giant, some 2,500 jobs will disappear, while elsewhere in Europe between 7,500 and 8,500 jobs will be lost. Apart from Opel Antwerp, there are also factories in Great Britain, Spain and Poland. The future therefore remains uncertain for Opel Antwerp, despite the support of 500 million Euros promised by the Flemish government. Flemish Minister-President Kris Peeters (CD&V) has praised the GM agreement with the American government and hopes to engage in talks with Magna and the German government within the next weeks on a solution for Opel Antwerp. On Saturday the Flemish government met with Euroda, the European Opel dealer's association, which is also willing to provide a bailout of 500 million Euros. Flemish Minister of the Economy Patricia Ceyssens (Open VLD) has been more sceptical and warned that the current overcapacity in Europe must lead to dramatic restructuring, as the European Commission will attach conditions to state support. Opel Antwerp is an efficient operation with considerable know-how, which is why an economically viable approach should be adopted instead of a political one, she maintains. This is why the European works council of Opel yesterday agreed that Germany's involvement in the restructuring of Opel should spread to the rest of Europe as soon as possible. According to Rudi Kennes, socialist trade union representative at Opel Antwerp, it is crucial for the factory to increase its volumes from 85,000 to 180,000 to 200,000 vehicles assembled a year to remain a viable proposition.

The incumbent Flemish coalition of Christian democrats, liberals and socialists seems set for future government, says the newspaper De Standaard. While every election holds surprises, for now a new CD&V/Open VLD/SP.A coalition is almost a given. Minister-President Kris Peeters (CD&V) and liberal front-man Dirk Van Mechelen (Open VLD) both emphasised they wished to limit a new government to as few parties as possible, while socialist Minister of Works and Education Frank Vandenbroucke has seized every possible opportunity to announce his intention to complete his mission during the next legislature. It's significant, De Standaard opines, that Peeters is particularly warm towards Vandenbroucke while reserving harsh words for Groen! Any party which does not endorse the long-term project `Flanders in Action', which has been established under a broad consensus by Flemish businesses, organisations and parties, is not welcome in government, he stressed during his electoral debate on Sunday evening. Groen! is not involved in this project. Also of note, says De Standaard, is that initially the liberals' demand for a double job discount in terms of an income tax deduction sounded very firm, but the call was greatly diluted after the socialists and Christian democrats resolutely vowed to veto the proposal. The funds do not exist to do that, the socialists and Christian democrats stressed in unison, causing the Liberals to soften their demand to instead bring about a "substantial increase", and not immediately either, but rather towards the end of the term of office.

The socialists are not doing well in the opinion polls, especially when compared to the proactive and harmonious front displayed by the members of the SP.A party. This was evident in the presence of 10,000 supporters at the party members' day held at the Antwerp Zoo. One week before the election, the SP.A has also unveiled a new electoral demand - cutting registration fees from ten to five percent on houses costing less than 250,000 Euros and increasing the fees for houses costing more than 500,000 Euros. The Flemish nationalists of the N-VA party focused on Flemish child benefits for Flemish citizens during their party congress in Bruges. As long as the francophone region refrains from meaningful talks on state reform, the Flemish have no choice but to take the initiative to extend their own powers, party chairman Bart De Wever stated. The N-VA will refuse to enter into a Flemish government without the child benefit. Moreover, the party also wants to establish an independent energy enterprise to reduce the French monopoly in the sector. The green party met in Brussels for a final meeting before the election. Chairwoman Mieke Vogels continually provoked the CD&V in her speech, referring to Kris Peeters' `Flanders in Action' project as being solely a plan for greater amounts of concrete and logistics. As an alternative, she presented her party's environmental New Deal, which focuses on creating 100,000 jobs in the alternative energy and sustainability sector by 2020. With their proposal of a 32-hour week, the party intends to put a stop to the rat race. In addition, Groen! is completely opposed to any additional tax cuts until tax fraud has been addressed in a decent way.

In its 2008 annual report the Flemish public transport company De Lijn projected a total of 508 million bus and tram passengers for the year. But in reality, the figure is about half that, as has emerged from a survey conducted by the traffic and infrastructure division of the Leuven university among 717 citizens of Ghent who were asked to keep a transport diary up to date. Of these, 207 had a season-ticket for De Lijn and made approximately 21 trips per month; much less than the 90 trips per month for each season-ticket holder assumed by De Lijn. The presupposition by De Lijn resulted in an unrealistically high average, the survey has shown. The bus and tram company, however, is not impressed by the survey, commenting that a survey among 207 out of 430,410 season-ticket holders is not representative. A spot check conducted among 78,000 passengers by the company itself in 2002 confirmed 90 trips per month. The Leuven survey is highly politically-charged, as the Flemish government is set to face drastic choices with regard to De Lijn, which received a government allowance of almost one billion Euros last year. Only 18 percent of the expenses of the company are covered by ticket sales and season-tickets, with the Flemish government footing the bill for the remainder.

The Taiwan-born Australian violinist Ray Chen won the Queen Elizabeth Music Competition for violin on Saturday night. Hardly twenty, Chen was the youngest participant. Chen will be taking home 20,000 Euros and the honour of playing the Huggins violin, a Stradivarius, for three years, courtesy of the Nippon Music Foundation. The Belgian Lorenzo Gatto came in second with the Moldavian Ilian Garnet getting third place. A bilingual Brussels native, Gatto was obviously pleased with his second place, which made him 17,500 Euros richer. "I consider it a great honour," he told the VRT broadcaster. "This prize represents the start of many things; and with it a serious responsibility." The audience was enchanted as the 22-year-old was a darling of the public from the start.

Teachers standing in for a sick colleague in addition to their own full-time job will be properly remunerated in future. On Friday, in view of the shortage of teachers, the Flemish government removed the restriction. Primary education has been hit with a 15 percent increase in vacancies in April, with a 24 percent increase in the first and second grades of secondary school. Minister of Education Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A) sees no improvement in the near future. On the other hand, new graduates could opt for a career in education in light of the financial crisis. Moreover, teachers on early retirement (for example on pre-pension, but also including those on care leave) could be temporarily reinstated and enjoy the right to a full remuneration. Retired teachers older than 65 can also help out for a stretch.

The Canadian-Austrian company Magna has concluded an agreement in principle with General Motors on the takeover of Opel. Should Magna, together with its Russian Sberbank partner, effectively take over Opel, it can apparently bank on a bridging loan of 1.5 billion Euros from the German state. Magna will repay that loan once the takeover is completed. The assets of the automaker will be held in a foundation, a trust or Treuhand, so that General Motors' creditors cannot lay claim to them if the American auto giant goes bankrupt. According to the British business daily the Financial Times, the breakthrough came after Magna agreed to provide an extra injection of capital amounting to 300 million Euros to keep Opel going, an offer initially rejected by the German government. The trade unions reacted with relief, but it is still not clear what the agreement means for the Antwerp Opel factory. "We are happy a solution has been found before GM went bankrupt and dragged Opel down with it," ABVV trade union representative Rudi Kennes said. "Most important now is that the German government gives the go-ahead, after which we will convince Magna of our plan for the future of Opel Antwerp. Antwerp has the capacity to become the third largest Opel factory in Europe. But that means the volumes have to be redistributed. Antwerp must manufacture the small SUVs and 30 percent of the Merivas. Should that happen we will once again be well on our way to manufacturing 212,000 vehicles a year, compared to the 80,000 we are currently manufacturing. Our task is to convince Magna of this."

At the same time as the German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and GM representatives were in talks in Berlin, a meeting of all the European economic affairs ministers of the countries in which Opel has factories took place in Brussels. Opel also has factories in Spain, Poland, Belgium and in the United Kingdom, where its cars are sold under the Vauxhall marque. The ministers fear that the interests of the factories in other European countries will be sidelined as a result of the German bailout plan and want more clarity on the managing company (Treuhand, a trust) Germany intends establishing and in which the assets of GM will be held. However, Belgian Federal Minister of Economy Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld) is of the opinion that Opel Antwerp now has a fighting chance of surviving. The German Secretary of State Peter Hintze (Economic Affairs) says that Berlin is committed to a European solution. While the Germans could not confirm that Opel Antwerp will remain operational, a number of decisions were reached that, according to Flemish Minister of Economy Patricia Ceysens (Open Vld), were hopeful for branches outside of Europe. "In the first instance the bridging loan provided by the German government must comply with the European regulations for state aid. If factories are to close due to over-capacity, that must be done for economic reasons and not be politically motivated. And finally we want to see that the managing company, the Treuhand, has an independent director besides the two representatives of the German government and the two from GM. The European Commission will convey its recommendations to the German government.'

The Antwerp criminal judge Walter De Smedt acquitted the burglar Saïd L. this week in protest against the fact that prison sentences of less than three years are not being served. The burglar appearing before De Smedt has already been sentenced to serve correctional sentences eleven times, the last one - also handed down by De Smedt - was to eighteen months behind bars, a sentence he has not yet served a single day of. Three months after his last conviction, he once again appeared before the judge for the theft of a GPS. According to various criminal law specialists, De Smedt could have handed down a sentence exceeding three years due to the perpetrator being a persistent repeat offender. That would have meant he would have been immediately taken into custody and would have served at least two-thirds of his sentence. The Public Prosecution Service will appeal against the acquittal, and a new trial will commence, which will almost certainly lead to De Smedt's judgement being overturned. Minister of Justice Stefaan De Clerck (CD&V) believes the judge sent out "a completely wrong message" by acquitting the offender and has called on De Smedt's superiors to launch disciplinary proceedings against him. Police officers and magistrates are highly frustrated with the fact that sentences of less than three years are not carried out, while public opinion on this is negative as well. But prisons have run out of space. The victim - the owner of the GPS - will also not be compensated as a result of the acquittal, but she says she understands the judgement: "What's the point in punishing someone if the punishment is not carried out?" Ironically, due to the media attention, the public prosecutor's office has decided to imprison Saïd on the grounds of his previous conviction.

The former prime ministers and current European leading candidates for their parties, Jean-Luc Dehaene (CD&V) and Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD), have set out their different views on the future of Europe in De Standaard newspaper. According to Verhofstadt the question today is whether Europe is not being overly cautious, resulting in it not being able to overcome the financial crisis. Europe must take on its role in the new multipolar world, he said. President of the European José Manuel Barroso has the right of initiative to intervene in the crisis, but he doen't use it, said the former prime minister. He fears the European financial crisis will become a disaster with a banking sector that has not been cleaned sufficiently and with minimalistic national economic relaunch plans. Whether he will launch a coalition to fight Barroso depends on the results of the elections. His intention is to use a majority in the European parliament to force the institutions to make decisions. Dehaene is well-aware of the fact that the financial crisis is not being tackled in the right way, but the problem is that the EPP, the European Christian democrats, have allied themselves to Barroso, said Verhofstadt. He also denied having ambitions of becoming president of the European Commission or even to become a commissioner. Dehaene is arguing for realism. Verhofstadt may perhaps have some good ideas to fight the crisis, but the impression that Europe can provide miracle cures must be avoided. The proposals to help Europe recover from the financial crisis with hundreds of billions of Euros in Eurobonds and to implement majority decision-making, as Verhofstadt wants, are not realistic at the moment, he says. "Verhofstadt will quickly learn that in the European parliament you have to realise great ideas step by step," said Dehaene. Moreover, he supports socialist candidate Kathleen Van Brempt's demands for a more social Europe, although one must not give the impression it could happen overnight, he warns.