Selon les professeurs louvanistes Wim Moesen et Paul De Grauwe, un marché européen pour les obligations d'Etat pourrait sauver bien des budgets nationaux. En effet, les gouvernements européens doivent constamment voler à la rescousse de banques, stimuler leur économie à l'aide de plans de relance, et prendre des mesures contre le vieillissement de la population - autant de dépenses qui font plonger leurs budgets dans le rouge. Chaque pays recevrait une partie des recettes en fonction de son poids économique, mais verserait en contrepartie les intérêts aux détenteurs des obligations. Le taux offerts représenteraient une moyenne pondérée du taux payé par les Etats membres sur leurs marchés respectifs (environ 3,25% en l'Allemagne, 3,5% en France, 4% en Belgique et 5,2% en Grèce, etc.). Moesen et De Grauwe pensent que ce marché rencontrerait un intérêt prononcé de la part des banques centrales et des gestionnaires de patrimoine, qui seraient heureux de pouvoir convertir en euros une partie de leurs actifs en dollars. Avec leur plan, les deux économistes sont sur la même longueur d'onde que Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD), qui a même fait de l'émission d'euro-obligations un de ses thèmes électoraux. Selon lui, l'argent récolté permettrait de mettre sur pied un plan de relance européen de 1.000 milliards d'euros.

Selon De Morgen et De Standaard, l'enquête portant sur un éventuel délit d'initiés dans le cadre de la vente de Fortis Banque à BNP Paribas s'orienterait vers le holding Bois Sauvage. Celui-ci aurait vendu, le 3 octobre, un paquet d'actions Fortis pour une valeur de 3,6 millions d'euros - le jour même où les Pays-Bas achetaient les parts néerlandaises de Fortis. Le surlendemain, on s'est mis d'accord sur la vente de Fortis Banque à BNP Paribas. Le 3 octobre a été le dernier jour avant la suspension de l'action Fortis, qui valait encore 5,4 euros contre 1,5 à peine après la suspension. La justice possède des indices selon lesquels Bois Sauvage aurait reçu des informations émanant d'un expert, un collaborateur de cabinet, un ministre ou un cadre supérieur de Fortis qui aurait participé aux négociations portant sur la vente. La semaine dernière, un juge d'instruction a fait procéder à une perquisition chez Bois Sauvage, et selon De Tijd, une enquête administrative parallèle serait en cours. Du côté du holding, on déclare ne rien avoir à se reprocher.

En tant que travailleurs journaliers, les ouvriers du port paient un lourd tribut à la crise, car la demande de travail dépasse de loin l'offre. Chaque jour, ils se rendent au "Kot", le local d'embauche où les employeurs viennent chercher de la main-d'oeuvre pour charger ou décharger les navires. Les ouvriers qui ne trouvent pas de travail sont au "chômage technique" pour la journée. Mais les employeurs ont l'intention de supprimer ce fameux "Kot". Dans leur réponse aux revendications des ouvriers du port concernant une nouvelle convention collective de travail, ils mettent cinq contre-exigences sur la table. L'une d'entre elles consiste à remplacer le local d'embauche par un système électronique plus efficace permettant d'économiser du temps et de l'argent. Mais le Kot est le lieu de rencontre où les journaliers nouent des liens et se soutiennent mutuellement en période difficile. Les syndicats ne veulent donc en aucun cas qu'il disparaisse. Les employeurs veulent par ailleurs faire passer une série de fonctions des travailleurs portuaires sous statut d'employé, supprimer les primes de nuit et de weekend et limiter dans le temps l'indemnité de sécurité d'existence. les syndicats font planer une menace de grève sur les quatre ports flamands si les employeurs ne se rétractent pas.

Geert Noels, ancien économiste en chef du cabinet boursier Petercam, ne peut plus s'accommoder de l'obsession du court terme qui règne le secteur financier. Il a donc mis sur pied son propre projet, baptisé Econopolis, qui réunit trois volets : conseil en gestion de patrimoine pour les familles fortunées et les investisseurs institutionnels (Econowealth), conseil stratégique aux entreprises, pouvoirs publics et autres organisations (Econostrategy) et édition (Economedia). Cette dernière branche éditera de l'information économico-financière par le biais de bulletins électroniques, de séminaires et de formations financières. Dans la mesure où Noels mise sur le long terme, ses clients investisseurs devront être disposés à travailler pendant au moins trois ans avec Econopolis. La crise a fait prendre conscience à de nombreuses familles prospères qu'elles peuvent perdre une bonne partie de leur fortune très rapidement, explique Noels. Il souhaite aussi travailler en toute confiance et transparence. Le VKW, groupement chrétien des employeurs, et la fédération d'indépendants Unizo ont déjà fait savoir qu'ils souhaitaient bénéficier de ses conseils. Sa société sera un partenariat qui pourra, à terme, inclure plusieurs autres acteurs.

PM Herman Van Rompuy is on a two-day visit to Afghanistan with Defence Minister De Crem.

The management has promised to hire extra catering personnel at Antwerp Zoo.

The latest opinion poll, conducted between 26 May and 03 June on behalf of VRT/De Standaard, shows that the CD&V Christian democrats will remain the undisputed largest party in Flanders with 22.4 percent of the vote. The Open VLD liberals, still standing at 16.7 percent, face an unbridgeable 5.7 percent gap with the leading CD&V while the big losers are the SP.A socialists at 14.3 percent and the far-right Vlaams Belang with 14 percent. Compared to the 2004 elections the latter two have lost 5.5 and 10 percent respectively. Their loss is - if the figures of this poll are to be believed - primarily the gain of the right-liberal Lijst Dedecker, now standing at 11.7 percent, and the Flemish nationalis N-VA party with 10 percent. Groen! has made slight gains to 8.3 percent while the SLP, former coalition mate of the SP.A, hardly gets a look in with a mere one percent of the vote. When compared to the opinion poll held in May, it emerges that the N-VA has been most successful in attracting the undecided, growing from 7.2 percent to 10 percent during the last month. But care must be taken when interpreting the poll's figures, as 24 percent of respondents stated they were as yet uncertain for which party they would vote and only half of them said they were certain to vote for the party they named as their favourite. The margin of error for the opinion poll stands at 2 to 2.5 percent. The influence of opinion polls on voter behaviour is not known, but what is certain is that such polls are very useful to voters intending to cast their ballots strategically.

If the results of the opinion poll conducted by De Standaard/VRT turn out to approximate the ballot box count, then the composition of the next government of Flanders is an obvious one. Kris Peeters, the incumbent minister-president who will most likely serve the next term in the same post, has said he will opt for a governing team consisting of a limited number of political parties. The continuation of the present CD&V, Open VLD and SP.A coalition is probably the only combination in which three parties will garner a workable majority. Although there is also another option a Christian democrat (CD&V), liberal (Open VLD) and Flemish nationalist (N-VA) coalition. These three parties gaining a majority of seats in the Flemish house is one of the possible outcomes of the election, in particular as the N-VA has been making significant gains in the last few months. The statements made by the chairman of the francophone MR that he wants to curtail the rights of Brussels' Flemings is only grist to the mill for the nationalist party, while the calls by socialist Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A) and CD&V leading European candidate Jean-Luc Dehaene to not vote for the N-VA could also have exactly the reverse effect, De Standaard newspaper feels. This means that a lot will depend on where the 35 percent of right-of-centre protest voters in Flanders will place their cross. During the last Flemish elections most of them voted Vlaams Belang, but some forty percent of these voters are now looking at the LDD or N-VA. The oft-discussed Jamaica coalition of Christian democrats, liberals and environmentalists, which may well emerge in the Brussels and Walloon regions, is as yet a few percentage points short of majority in the north. All the other permutations require four, instead of three, political parties.

Leading CD&V European candidate Jean-Luc Dehaene's call on voters to not cast their ballots for smaller parties has been widely perceived as a blunder, even within his own party. With few days to go to the elections, and a quarter of the electorate labelling themselves undecided, such a statement could threaten to boomerang back into the faces of the CD&V and its Flemish coalition partners, they believe. The minor parties are now framing Dehaene's call as a convulsive attempt to ensure the continuation of the incumbent Christian democrat, liberal and socialist coalition. They reason that if you want your vote to count for something, then you must vote for a minor party. The N-VA, former coalition partner of Dehaene's party, is milking the candidate's call in particular. 'Dehaene has made it clear in a very rash way what is at stake for his party in the elections,' says N-VA chairman Bart De Wever. 'Anybody who still believes in the cartel agenda must vote N-VA'.The agenda involved far-reaching demands for state reforms with increased competences for Flanders, launched by a CD&V and N-VA cartel. 'Only the voter can sway the CD&V from its present course,' he said. Jean-Marie Dedecker (LDD) is also profiting keenly from Dehaene's call. 'They are trying everything to go on together,' he said. 'It's going to have a reverse effect.' That is what the three coalition parties also fear, and even though they have done their utmost in recent weeks to explain that party political fragmentation does not bode well for stable governing policy, they remain convinced that it is better not to call on voters not to vote for another party.

Flemish Minister-President Kris Peeters (CD&V) doesn't want the composition of the new Flemish coalition to depend on the election results in Wallonia and Brussels nor on what the consequences of the election in the south will be for the federal administration. But there is a good chance that, if the present tripartite alliance between the Christian democrats, liberals and socialists at a Flemish level continues, it will also extend to the federal parliament, De Tijd newspaper writes. What this scenario boils down to is that the Flemish socialists will also be invited to join the Van Rompuy federal government, in which Flanders is presently only represented by the Christian democrats and liberals while the French-speakers are Christian democrats and liberals as well as socialists. This would restore the federal balance, which for that matter also provides the best guarantee for political stability. But to the detriment of that stability, the animosity between the francophone MR liberals and PS socialists has gotten so out of hand during the election campaign that few believe that MR chairman Didier Reynders, presently the minister of finance, can still hold hands with the PS in the federal government. This is why there is a fear on the Flemish side that early federal elections will also be called in the autumn. Moreover, the PS socialists are under threat of being replaced in the Brussels and Wallonia regional governments by the Ecolo greens. This could result in Ecolo being included at federal level, although Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy is alleged to have little inclination to do so. Furthermore the francophone environmentalists will also want to reinforce their power base in the federal parliament and so will probably also demand early federal elections. And this is why rumours are widespread down Wetstraat that the federal election campaign will kick off on 08 June.

Promising tech companies are easy prey for corporate raiders, as has been proved once again with the announced takeover of the Leuven company Metris by the Japanese Nikon. The Japanese are offering 5.5 Euros a share, double the company's share price last week. Metris manufactures measuring systems for, amongst others, automaker Toyota and aerospace company Boeing, and their products offer the opportunity for long-term growth. Both founder, CEO and shareholder Bart Van Coppenolle and the board of directors are backing the takeover bid. Nikon intends to delist Metris and turn it into a subsidiary. The Leuven-based company has little choice in the matter. After the takeover of 15 other companies in order to grow, the company saw its stock price plummet due to the recession and is presently saddled with large debts. The takeover means that Leuven will lose yet another one of its technological gems. Icos was awarded the same fate last year. The company was, just like Metris, a spin-off of the Leuven university and fell into the hands of KLA-Tencor, a Silicon Valley company. Icos is the world leader in the supply of inspection systems for computer chips.

After eight months of uncertainty for the 15,000 Belgian clients of the Icelandic Kaupthing Bank, they have finally got their savings back. Last year October, Kaupthing's creditors froze some 600 million Euros in savings. But yesterday, 23 of the 25 banks to which Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg still owed money voted in favour of the takeover bid by the UK investment fund, Blackfish Capital. A `yes' vote by at least 13 banks holding half of the debt was required for the takeover to be passed and, for Kaupthing's customers, this means they will finally definitely see their money in a little over a month's time. As determined earlier, Kaupthing's internet savers will be transferred to Keytrade Bank, the internet banking division of the Landbouwkrediet group. In March, a takeover bid by the Libyan state investment company was rejected by the banks. With the present takeover bid approved by the creditors, the matter must now be approved by the European Commission.

Flemish artists Wim Delvoye, Jan Fabre, Koen Vanmechelen and Jef Geys are making their presence felt at the 53rd Venice Biennale for contemporary art. Delvoye has built an attractive and imposing gothic tower, 'Torre', on the terrace of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection adjoining the Canal Grande. The ten-meter and nine-ton tower is made of steel and demonstrates sturdiness while also showcasing its latticework. Meanwhile Geys has collected a herbarium of plants and their scientific descriptions from four major cities. Jan Fabre has chosen to present a wax figure of a Lilliputian sitting astride the defleshed head of a giant Gulliver. His exhibition, (From the Feet to the Brain', at the Arsenale Novissimo covers all the parts of the human body, presenting the brain as the bridge between the body and the spirit. In the `stomach' installation, he copied his scarab-pattern ceiling in the Brussels Royal Palace, and placed a naked and scarred black man on it as a protest against the atrocities of colonialism. Koen Vanmechelen has brought his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project and his works in glass to the City of Water. Vanmechelen, Fabre and Delvoye have been the focus of a great deal of attention over the last few days at the Biennale.

01/06/09 - Nieuwpoort has unveiled a plaque commemorating the 95 Nieuwpoort fishermen who have died at sea. Every year on Whitsun Monday a tribute is held in Nieuwpoort and the boats are blessed.

Thousands of tons of recycled waste to be used on a building site are contaminated: the authorities are investigating.

01/06/09 - Majestic old-style sailboats fill the harbor of Ostend for the 10th edition of Ostend Anchor. Some 250,000 visitors are enjoying the boats, the sun and the fun in Ostend over this long weekend.

King Albert II is now the oldest King that Belgium has ever had. In 5 days he will celebrate his 75th birthday

Belgian Lorenzo Gatto came in a very praise-worthy second place in the 2009 competition.

Dutchman Lars Boom (Rabobank) has won Sunday's fifth stag in the Tour of Belgium.

Pour l'Open VLD, l'actuel ministre du Budget Dirk Van Mechelen (Open VLD) serait mieux à même de diriger le gouvernement flamand que son chef actuel, le CD&V Kris Peeters. Pour Bart Somers, président des libéraux flamands, s'il est vrai que Peeters ne s'en est pas mal sorti en tant que ministre-Président, c'est qu'il a assumé la fonction en période faste. Il est certes parvenu à maintenir la cohésion de son équipe et à réconcilier ses membres, mais le gouvernement flamand navigue aujourd'hui dans des eaux plus agitées et a besoin d'une personnalité qui aura le courage de prendre des décisions. "Aujourd'hui, il ne s'agit plus de savoir combien chacun recevra, mais ce que l'on va économiser", précise Somers. Celui-ci affirme par ailleurs que son parti est le seul à oser proposer des mesures d'économie, puisque l'Open VLD entend "dégraisser" la fonction publique. Le parti libéral a l'intention de ne pas remplacer la moitié des fonctionnaires qui partent à la retraite et de supprimer les administrations provinciales. Il se distingue ainsi des autres formations, qui veulent tout laisser en l'état (Peeters inclus), poursuit le libéral. Selon lui, Van Mechelen a déjà prouvé qu'il était un ministre capable de prendre ce genre de décisions, et est donc mieux à même d'assumer le poste de ministre-Président qu'un Peeters avec qui l'immobilisme fédéral menace de déteindre sur le gouvernement flamand. Sur le plan de la réforme de l'Etat, il faut aussi un autre leadership. Le libéral constate qu'avec Leterme et Peeters, le CD&V n'a enregistré aucun résultat en deux ans, et estime dès lors incompréhensible que Peeters rejette "brutalement" l'aide de Guy Verhofstadt, tête de liste libérale pour l'Europe, dans les négociations sur la réforme de l'Etat.