Avec un déficit budgétaire de 20 milliards d'euros et le débat sur la réforme de l'Etat, le gouvernement Van Rompuy s'attend à un automne agité. Pour régler ces problèmes, le Premier ministre doit s'en remettre à la bonne volonté des ministres-Présidents des régions Kris Peeters (CD&V) et Rudy Demotte (PS). Le ministre-Président wallon parle déjà la langue de la conciliation dans Het Laatste Nieuws. Demotte, originaire de Flobecq tout près de la frontière linguistique, parle couramment flamand et connaît bien la Flandre. Il a mis en oeuvre dans sa propre commune un modèle de collaboration entre francophones et Flamands, à l'époque où le chômage sévissait dans le Hainaut alors que 30 km plus loin à peine, Courtrai connaissait une pénurie de main-d'oeuvre. Le problème, c'était les transports, mais une coopération entre transports en commun wallons et flamands a permis de mieux organiser les transports de et vers Courtrai, et de nombreux Wallons travaillent à présent de l'autre côté de la frontière linguistique. Pour Demotte, l'approche doit être pratique et pragmatique, et c'est aussi de cette manière qu'il convient de négocier en automne. Il espère que la crise, avec le chômage et le déficit qu'elle entraîne, incitera la Flandre à plus de réalisme : "Les transferts financiers entre la Flandre et la Wallonie sont plus petits qu'entre diverses régions de France, d'Espagne ou même des Pays-Bas". Il avertit aussi que la Wallonie ne parviendra pas à l'équilibre budgétaire en 2011 comme la Flandre le présuppose. Les pouvoirs publics wallons veulent investir, les Flamands veulent économiser. Toutefois, il est prévisible que cette approche ouverte ne trouvera guère d'écho en Flandre, prédit Het Laatste Nieuws.

L'organisation de tournois de poker illégaux connaît un immense succès ces derniers temps, comme le montre la recrudescence de procès-verbaux dressés par la Commission responsable des jeux de hasard à l'encontre des organisateurs. Ces PV sont transmis aux parquets, mais il est extrêmement rare que des poursuites soient entamées pour autant qu'aucun mineur ne soit impliqué ou qu'elles ne sont pas organisées par des milieux criminels. Une nouvelle loi sur les jeux de hasard approuvée le mois dernier à la Chambre donne à présent à la Commission compétence pour émettre elle-même des amendes administratives. En outre, les organisateurs, mais aussi les participants à ces tournois illégaux pourront être sanctionnés. Les associations d'amateurs pourront par ailleurs organiser un tournoi quatre fois par an, à condition que les mises et le pot restent limités.

Le président du parti nationaliste flamand N-VA Bart de Wever a ranimé le débat sur l'origine du lion flamand ornant le drapeau de la Flandre. Selon De Wever, qui est lui-même historien, le "fier lion flamand" était initialement un "fier léopard flamand". Nous savons qu'à la Bataille des Eperons d'Or (1302), les Flamands étaient surnommés "Liebaarts"; pour De Wever, ils ont gagné ce surnom grâce à la figure qu'arborait leurs armoiries, à savoir un léopard assis. Ce n'est qu'après quelques années qu'il s'est transformé en lion debout. Selon Paul Trio, professeur d'histoire médiévale à l'Université de Louvain, l'explication de De Wever est inexacte : "La première illustration de lion flamand date de 1162, sur un sceau du Comte de Flandre", explique Trio. A l'époque, on utilisait effectivement le mot "liebaart", qui peut indifféremment signifier léopard ou loup en néerlandais médiéval. Selon ses propres dires, Bart De Wever craignait qu'une nouvelle controverse n'éclate. "Mais honnêtement, que ce soit ou non exact, je n'appréhende pas bien l'utilité au niveau social, et cela ne va pas m'empêcher de dormir."

The Flemish employers intend to take action in the courts to stop a new obligation to build social housing.

Belgium's Zeynep Sever ended twelfth in this year's Miss Universe competition that was held in the Bahamas.

24/08/09 - In Bruges penitentiary six-fold killer Freddy Horion will not be allowed onto the inner courtyard for a daily walk.

In June this year 143,482 workers in Flanders were put on temporary unemployment. This figure is more than double that recorded in June 2008 and also more than double the figure recorded in Wallonia. In Flanders, the majority of the temporary unemployed are men (77.7 percent). In the whole of Belgium, 221,885 workers were temporarily unemployed in June, an increase of 92 percent compared to June last year. During February and March, temporary unemployment reached its peak, with figures reaching as high as 280,000 and 310,000 respectively. Temporary unemployment does not only include economic unemployment, but also days off due to bad weather, technical breakdowns or strikes. A labour contract is simply suspended on a temporary basis, but employees remain in service until an economic upswing allows them to return to their job on a full-time basis. According to national secretary of the Christian trade union ACV, Ann Van Laer, the high incidence of unemployment proves how hard the economic crisis has hit. Increasingly, companies are calling for a system of temporary unemployment as a vehicle to absorb drastic drops in production. Some companies which shut down production for weeks on end let their labourers stay at home. The reason why temporary unemployment is applied on such a massive scale in Flanders is because its industrial sector is so much stronger than in Wallonia and Brussels, making it more sensitive to the effects of the crisis. These figures do not include the number of temporary work suspensions among white-collar workers, which was only introduced as a crisis measure shortly before summer.

Top Belgian listed companies made 5.8 billion Euros less in net profits during the first half of the year than last year. That translates into half their profit (down 56 percent). Only one of these companies, KBC, is in the red, recording a loss of 3.3 billion Euros within a period of six months. This loss is primarily due to the writing down of losses caused by toxic credit portfolios. Moreover, the figures reflect only net profit and not the general state of health of the company. The sale of a company division, restructuring costs and lower taxes can all significantly influence net profit. Some Bel20 companies have also changed their profile considerably. AB InBev, for instance, grew enormously after merging with the American Anheuser-Busch, while Fortis shrunk as a result of the sale of Fortis Bank Belgium and the Dutch Fortis activities. Despite its profit loss, the drop in Bel20 figures has not been that dramatic, the newspapers De Tijd and De Standaard report. This sounds more positive than forecasts made by observers six months ago. Fortunately, companies immediately started cutting costs when the crisis hit, says Carsten Brzeski, an economist with ING Bank Belgium. During the second quarter, demand started stabilising, with an increase in orders from Asia. Brzeski further comments that the slow recovery of the world economy will first show its positive effect in steel and resource companies like Nyrstar, Umicore and Bekaert. Due to the increase in unemployment, personal spending will however continue to drop, causing companies like ABInbev (brewer), Delhaize and Colruyt (department stores) to take the brunt.

On Wednesday Dexia announced a net profit of 283 million Euros for the second quarter. That is 47 percent less than during the same period last year and less than initially expected. However, Dexia also put forward a provision of 175 million to cover itself against a further downswing in the economy. Moreover, the company is still using on average 80 billion state guarantees extended by the governments of Belgium, France and Luxembourg to maintain its liquidity position, which has cost the bank a further 143 million Euros during the second quarter. Managing director Pierre Mariani has announced that he intends to put a stop to these guarantees by the end of 2010. Yesterday it was Fortis' turn to announce their half-yearly results. The company, which has become an insurance holding since its dismantling, recorded a net profit of 866 million Euros during the first half of the year. Only a quarter of this income was generated by insurance activities, with the Belgian branch AG Insurance showing the most profit (195 million Euros). The main source of its profit however comes from the sale of 25 percent of AG Insurance to BNP Paribas (697 million Euros). In addition, Fortis announced a provision of 301 million Euros to cover a lawsuit in the Netherlands. The holding's greatest challenge to its results lies in its quarterly valuations, including interest payments on CASHES, convertible securities, call options on BNP Paribas shares owned by the Belgian government and the junk credit vehicle Royal Park Investments. These could all cause considerable volatility in respect of the Fortis results in the near future, CEO Bart De Smet agrees.

The government has readied an emergency plan to deal with a possible swine flu pandemic. Public Health Minister Laurette Onkelinx (PS) intends to launch a large-scale info campaign to educate people on the prevention of the infection. Included in this plan is an emergency law to be tabled in parliament, which enables swift promulgation of urgent Royal Decrees in the near future. By mid-September GlaxoSmithKline will also release the first vaccines and if Europe gives the green light, vaccination can start by mid October. By then the pharmaceutical company will need to have 1.75 million dosages in place to start distribution. Among the first to receive these vaccines will be target groups such as health workers, chronically ill patients, pregnant women, etc. "The vaccination is free and not compulsory," Onkelinx said. In theory only those who belong to target groups will receive free vaccinations. The government intends to reserve a strategic stock in case the virus mutates during winter. According to influenza commissioner Marc Van Ranst, flu victims are currently increasing by approximately 1,000 each week. That translates into one in every 10,000 citizens who will be ill for about a week. This is less than in some neighbouring countries and undoubtedly due to the country's resolute approach, with large-scale awareness in respect of (hand) hygiene and other measures such as the isolation of the infected and strict use of inhibitors, Van Ranst says.

There is a consensus that there will be an economic upswing in Belgium later in the year. In a number of business sectors production must be increased to replenish the stocks. The Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO) has however established that not all companies have seen an increase in orders. This is especially true in the textile and wood processing industry, the graphics and auto sectors, where conditions are quite bad, VBO managing director Rudi Thomaes laments in the newspaper De Morgen. Fortunately some companies have managed to stay afloat by introducing temporary unemployment, but they are still reluctant to make the necessary investments. As a result, the VBO has called on the government to boost investment by facilitating a single tax deduction next year instead of spreading deductions for investments across a number of years as is done currently. The VBO also suggests the government should move towards a balanced budget by slimming down its own civil service. The Belgian government could save 5 billion Euros if it brings its own administration costs on a par with the levels in neighbouring countries, a new VBO study has shown. In Belgium government expenditure amounts to seven percent of the GDP compared to an average of only 5.5 percent in the neighbouring countries. High operational expenditure can be attributed to the high number of civil servants, which has increased by 19.5 percent since 1995. In Belgium there are 4 civil servants for every 100 citizens compared to 3.7 in France, 3.4 in Germany and 2.9 in the Netherlands.

Investigations launched among the top brass in the Belgian justice system cause the federal government immense concern. Later in the year they will be faced with the extremely difficult task of drafting the budget, finding ways to cut in the budgets and reaching an agreement on state reform. At the same time they must deliberate on the split of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency and before the second half of next year Premier Van Rompuy hopes to finalise all issues so that the country can groom itself for its six-month presidency of the European Union in July 2010. Parliament scheduled a meeting today to deliberate on the justice cases. The Ghent judge Heirmans will launch an investigation into various leaks during the Fortis case late in 2008, with allegations stretching as far as the Cassation and Appeal courts. This will be followed by the investigation of possible corruption surrounding the chairman of the Brussels Commercial Court, Francine De Tandt. The government now fears that a new parliamentary commission of enquiry into Justice and possible government interference could paralyse government activities for months on end.

It may seem like a contradiction in terms, but despite the proliferation of culinary TV series and books, and the attraction of chefs' schools, many Flemish restaurant owners struggle to find a competent chef. It often takes them months, sometimes even a year, to find a suitable candidate via the Flemish Employment Services and Vocational Training Agency (VDAB) and specialised recruitment companies. There could be various reasons for this, with the most obvious one being that the life of a chef is extremely strenuous. Another reason could be that every chef has his/her own ideas about how a kitchen should be run and this is not always in line with what the restaurant owner envisions. Chefs often earn a royal salary, but the hotel and catering industry in Flanders (HoReCa Vlaanderen) intends to increase this even more, and are consequently calling for an urgent lowering of VAT in this sector.

Dirk Van Tichelt has given Belgium a first medal at the World Judo Championships in the under 73 kilos category .

24/08/090 - Fewer and fewer Belgians are using their car to get to work. Especially people working in Brussels prefer to take the train.

A woman has been killed in central Brussels after a block of concrete fell on top of her.

Genk won their first match- against Westerlo 0-1, Club Brugge only managed a draw against Kortrijk.

24/08/09 - Belgium's Tom Boonen is quitting the Eneco Tour. The rider, who won Friday's stage, wants to rest ahead of the Vuelta, the Tour of Spain.

The Belgian alternative music festival PUKKELPOP was a huge success with a record high 180,000 spectators over three days.

Belgian motoring associations are being called out to help more stranded drivers this summer.