Hier, la Sonaca, qui fabrique des pièces d'avion, a fait savoir que 440 emplois allaient disparaître dans son usine de Gosselies, près de Charleroi. La direction veut adapter les effectifs au volume de production : le rythme ralentit fortement depuis 6 mois, et 800 seulement avions sont construits actuellement contre 1200 précédemment. Les syndicats et le gouvernement wallon, actionnaire principal de l'entreprise, veulent néanmoins éviter tout licenciement sec. On a récemment appris que 130 emplois allaient disparaître au siège européen de MasterCard à Waterloo, et 110 autres chez l'entreprise de transbordement anversoise PSA Hesse-Noordnatie. La semaine dernière, 110 emplois étaient rayés dans l'entreprise chimique Borealis à Beringen, dans le Limbourg, tandis que l'entreprise de messageries, DHL (Diegem, Brabant) et Hansen Transmissions (Lommel, Limbourg) supprimaient un total de 150 postes de travail environ. Au total, De Standaard a calculé que 940 emplois avaient ainsi disparu en une semaine à peine - sans compter les licenciements plus modestes ou les faillites d'entreprises plus petites. De nombreuses sociétés belges ont réussi à résister à la crise jusqu'à présent, au prix d'un recours massif au chômage temporaire; mais cet automne, on risque d'assister à une troisième vague de licenciements à mesure que les carnets de commande se dégarnissent. Aussi dans l'entreprise de presse Sanoma (presse féminine et Humo) 75 emplois doivent disparaître. Des négociations entre direction et syndicats sont en cours. Dans l'entreprise chimique Pemco à Bruges la disparition de 50 emplois a causé une grève.

Les listes d'attente pour les soins aux personnes handicapées ne disparaîtront pas dans les 5 ans, a annoncé Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), ministre flamand du Bien-être. Jusqu'en 2011, des économies supplémentaires devront être réalisées sur le budget flamand, et il n'y aura que peu de moyens pour réduire ces listes. "Nous devons affecter aux mieux les maigres ressources dont nous disposons", explique le ministre. Priorité donc à l'efficacité. Pour l'agence flamande des personnes présentant un handicap, il faudrait 635 millions pour résorber les listes d'attente. Un chiffre qui semble irréaliste, mais Vandeurzen souligne qu'un accord visant à épargner ce secteur existe au sein du gouvernement flamand, même en cas d'économies massives. En outre, il est aussi convenu que 45% de la marge de gestion ira au bien-être, à la santé publique et à la famille. Les partis d'opposition Groen! et Open VLD veulent rediriger davantage d'argent vers les budgets liés aux personnes, et reprochent au CD&V de donner trop aux institutions, ce que dément Vandeurzen. Selon le ministre, il faudrait passer de soins de santé couplés à la demande à un système privilégiant l'autonomie. Vandeurzen, ancien ministre de la justice sous le gouvernement Leterme, estime que la stabilité est essentielle au succès des réformes de la justice. Il se réjouit par ailleurs de voir majorité et opposition être sur la même longueur d'onde dans ce dossier. En tant que ministre flamand responsable de l'internement des prisonniers qui ont besoin d'aide psychologique et de la prise en charge des jeunes délinquants, il a l'intention de resserrer les liens avec la justice.

Un groupe anversois de thérapeutes pour jeunes a décidé de prodiguer, après les heures d'école, des soins de première ligne aux nombreux jeunes nécessitant un accompagnement psychologique. Il s'agit de jeunes qui sont à la limite de la criminalité ou risquent d'y plonger, maltraités à domicile ou proches du désespoir. Les centres d'encadrement des étudiants (CLB) et de santé mentale (CCG) devraient être les services de première ligne, mais ils sont submergés et se concentrent sur les cas sérieux, mettant les autres sur des listes d'attente. La thérapie privée, réservée à ceux qui peuvent la payer, n'est certainement pas destinée aux jeunes qui demandent un encadrement d'eux-mêmes. L'initiative, baptisée Tejo, vise les jeunes entre 10 et 20 ans, et a déjà trouvé, grâce au soutien public une maison où les jeunes auront accès gratuitement et dans l'anonymat dès avril.

"Le système de bonus que pratique le secteur bancaire envers les traders des salles de marché est criminel" : telles sont les déclarations de Karel De Boeck, ancien administrateur délégué de Fortis Holding. De Boeck plaide en faveur d'indemnités moins élevées et plus étalées dans le temps. D'après lui, une banque en particulier (sans doute ABN Amro, selon De Tijd) a dépensé 60% des bénéfices du département des marchés en bonus. Le système, importé des USA, est agressif, axé sur le court terme, et "déséquilibre les personnes normale dans leur évaluation du risque et du rendement". L'ancien top manager a aussi déclaré que les bonus des traders - "des requins sans moralité qui courent d'une banque à l'autre au moindre signe néfaste" - étaient en contraste criant avec la rémunération des autres membres du personnel des banques, comme les employés au guichet.

In future contestants who wish to vie for the Miss Belgium title will first have to take part in provincial pre-selections

According to research, 83% of children in the last grades of primary school like going to school.

Anderlecht vs Standard: 27 minutes into play Axel Witsel, last winner of the Golden Shoe award, steps over the ball landing on Marcin Wasilweski's leg resulting in a double fracture. The Anderlecht player will undergo surgery and be out of competition for the rest of the year at least. (Studio 1)

Now that the rescue operations of the banks are a thing of the past, the Van Rompuy government is examining ways to avert financial crises in the future. The government is set to avoid a repetition of the problems surrounding the Fortis takeover by BNP Paribas. When the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy, the government reached an agreement on the takeover with BNP Paribas, but a ruling by the Brussels Court of Appeal determined that the decision had to be put before a general shareholders' meeting, resulting in a long, drawn-out procedure. Luc Coene, vice-governor of the National Bank and chairman of the steering group at the helm of the rescue operations, expressed his fear at the time that the Court of Appeal ruling could form an important precedent. According to Coene, the government will no longer be in a position to rescue banks in future as they will always have to contend with the shareholders. The state would then have no other option but to first let the banks declare bankruptcy and then resell the separate divisions. In an attempt to avoid the latter scenario, the government is working on a bill which will give it more power to purge or even expropriate banks in distress, thus facilitating the bailing out of banks. It is uncertain at this time how much power the bill will give the government as it still has to be submitted to the full cabinet and parliament. In other countries similar bills have been passed. In the UK an emergency bill was passed to nationalise Northern Rock and in Germany an expropriation bill to save Hypo Real Estate.

"Should the city of Antwerp decide in favour of a town planning permit for the Oosterweel Link on the provided route between Zwijndrecht/Linkeroever and Merksem/Deurne. Yes or No?" This is the question citizens of Antwerp will need to answer in the referendum on 18 October. Is it however clear that the question is about a bridge? Many Antwerp citizens feel the question is unnecessarily technical and complex. Groen! and SP.A are thoroughly determined that a No means no Lange Wapper bridge. Open VLD party member Annick De Ridder understands that most people are unsatisfied with the current BAM plan and therefore a No means for her that improvements to the current BAM plan are obvious. In this way she shares the opinion of the prime contractor of the plan, Noriant, who feels a new solution should be sought for the connection of the new link to the existing Ring road. As the plan is obsolete in it's present form, Bart De Wever of the N-VA feels the whole idea of a public consultation is obsolete, and the alternative of a tunnel insufficiently developed. Port alderman Marc Van Peel is unequivocally opposed to the tunnel plan and feels further research would be superfluous, saying: "We do not want a tunnel under an area with petrochemical activities or construction which is ten times more dangerous than the Kennedy tunnel". This is in glaring contrast with the opinion within the SP.A, with their chairwoman Caroline Gennez insisting: "We are two hundred percent in favour of the tunnel; not only in Antwerp, but also in the Flemish government. If Antwerp votes against the Lange Wapper bridge on 18 October, then it will be no".

Flemish Minister-President Kris Peeters (CD&V) is pleased with the decision of the Antwerp town council to limit the referendum on the Oosterweel Link to one question on the BAM route. The action groups Ademloos and Straten-Generaal, followed by mayor Patrick Janssens (SP.A), insisted on a second question on the tunnel project, but had to concede under the pressure of the CD&V and N-VA to pose only one question. Janssens had no option but to accept the ruling of his coalition partners Open VLD, CD&V and N-VA, but after his defeat his reaction sounded determined: should the referendum deliver a No vote, that would put an end to the Lange Wapper bridge plan. On public broadcaster VRT his party chairwoman Caroline Gennez reacted vehemently to the role she feels the Minister-President has been playing behind the screens:'Minister-President Peeters has become an Antwerp CD&V party member. That is however not his position and he is not entitled to impose a dictate on the Antwerp town council from Brussels.' Peeters countered with legal arguments, saying that the action committees came forward with only one question to the people in a petition and the Advisory Committee for the referendum was in favour of the way it was formulated. Peeters has refrained from an opinion on the referendum or the consequences of a Yes of No vote with respect to the Lange Wapper plan. 'The referendum will come first, then the advice from the city of Antwerp and then we will decide', he said in the newspaper De Morgen.

The Dutch prime minister Jan-Peter Balkenende admitted that there would be no dredging of the Weterscheldt before January. After meeting with his cabinet he stated that all options were considered to ensure the dredging of the Westerscheldt and prevent the removal of polders, but immediately added that it was up to the Council of State to rule on the matter and that his government was not authorised to interfere with the jurisdiction. Following the promises made by Balkenende and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Verhagen recently, the Dutch government has once again has delayed the decision, says Eddy Bruyninckx, director of the Antwerp Port Company. "It is high time to remind the Dutch government of the fact that they signed a treaty which expressly states that the dredging of the river Scheldt would be finished by the end of the year", Bruyninckx adds. He fears the Dutch government's intends again to task a commission. This would be the third time they apply this route to study alternatives for the removal of polders in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Indeed, the Scheldt treaty stipulates that measures should be made for the recovery of nature. Bruyninckx has requested the Flemish government to advise the Dutch to reread the texts of the Scheldt treaties of 2005 in preparation for the next cabinet meeting which tables the issue. Thissame treaties also state that "the delay, obstruction or revision of a specific project or task should not impede the progress of other projects".

According to Federal Budget Minister Guy Vanhengel (Open VLD) Belgium, with its budget deficit of 25 billion Euros, is commercially virtually bankrupt, adding that governments cannot be bankrupt. This is why he makes a plea for a greater sense of responsibility in an interview in De Standaard. The seriousness of the matter has penetrated the federal core cabinet, but apparently not the Flemish government, Vanhengel laments. "It's convenient for the Flemish government to first look after its own interests and to then expect us to carry the burden of Belgian debt with what is left over for the federal government", he says. Vanhengel has called for a slimming down of the civil service, referring specifically to the regions and communities. During the past seven years the civil service has increased its work force by 61,000, with 97 percent of them employed in the regions and communities, he establishes, whereas the pensions of these regional officials are paid at federal level. In Europe, an average of 6.9 percent of all jobs are within the civil service. In Belgium this figure is as high as 9.7 percent. He adds that positions within the civil service could be phased out without compulsary redundancies. The budget minister adds that also the health service will have to learn to run more efficiently with fewer funds. In conclusion he also takes the federal Finance Services and his colleague Reynders (MR) to task as far as more efficient tax collections go. The fact that he, as a liberal, is not averse to the necessity of tax increases illustrates the severity of the situation.

When the Belgian government is confronted by a budget deficit of 25 billion Euros and social security is in the red, it's time to invest more energy in the fight against social fraud, the socialist union ABVV maintains. According to figures published by the National Institute for the Social Insurance of the self employed (RSVZ), the average income of a self employed is 18,146 Euros compared to an average of 35,258 for a wage earner. The union admits to a high incidence of poverty among the self-employed, but also points to the fact that the figures reflect the declared revenues. Tax is evaded, operational costs creatively increased, etc. Plumbers, electricians and other service providers earn almost 11,000 Euros, farmers an average of 13,000 Euros, grocers and other dealers earn an average of 16,000 Euros per annum and notaries, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists and other professionals all earn in the region of 27,000 Euros. The reason for the growing gap between independent and salaried workers is twofold: the disintegration of the tax collection service and the introduction of personal corporations (BVBAs) which make it possible for lawyers, doctors or company managers to issue their invoices as a corporation, which pays only 33 percent corporate tax. This allows them to avoid being taxed as individuals, for whom taxes skim up to 50 per cent of the income.

The fact that Frank Vandenbroucke, stalwart of the Flemish socialists during the previous Flemish government, was side-tracked by top party members of the SP.A created much bad blood within the ranks of his party in Flemish Brabant, Vandenbroucke's home ground. The newspaper De Standaard had the opportunity to read letters from disappointed members, including Flemish MP Mia De Vits and federal MP Hans Bonte, who all expressed their discontent with the formation of the Flemish government, which they considered to disregard the election results. The 17th of September will therefore see the full management complement of SP.A Vlaams-Brabant approach the party's headquarters in Brussels, where it will be up to chairwoman Caroline Gennez to defend the party top's position. She confirms she will answer their questions but however stressed that she intends to focus on the future and, more specifically, on the preparations for the federal elections in 2011.

U.S. President Barack Obama wants to close down the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Not all the inmates cleared for release can return home. The Belgian federal govenrment has decided that Begium would accept one detainee. A delegation has met with the man. "In the coming days we will work out measurs to insure his integration into Belgian society," says Foreign Minister Yves Leterme.

Philip Fontaine, director of the Flanders House in New York City, is accused of diverting funds.

The man, who lives in France, was arrested in New York on charges of arms smuggling.

The American actor is receiving the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award at the Film Festival of Ghent.

1/090/09 - The Slovakian low cost carrier operated services from Brussels to Vienna, Bratislava and Prague.

In a blatant foul Standard's Axel Witsel broke Marcin Wasilewski’s leg; the incident overshadowed the match.