The cost of the acquisition was €100 million and comes at a time when staff at De Morgen are protesting at restructuring plans that will mean the loss of one-quarter of editorial jobs, a total of 26 journalists. The news of De Persgroep’s interest in PCM led to some hostility in the Netherlands, with De Persgroep CEO Christian Van Thillo described as “the Flemish Berlusconi”.

This is not the company’s first foray over the border. In 2003 De Persgroep bought the failing Amsterdam daily Het Parool and has since turned it around. It also owns Q Music Nederland, formerly Radio Noordzee, which has also been transformed into a profitable enterprise.

De Persgroep will now be looking to do the same for Algemeen Dagblad, the Netherland’s second biggest-selling paper after De Telegraaf, with 460,000 sales a day but mounting losses.

“This is an important step for our company,” said Van Thillo. “PCM has an impressive portfolio of titles, which will allow us to build a unique media group.” As well as newspapers, PCM also owns Standaard Uitgeverij, the Flemish publisher, as well as Dutch retailer Bruna and publisher Meulenhoff.

The decision to expand into more newspapers might seem odd, coming at a time of universal malaise in the industry and job losses within Van Thillo’s flagship paper in particular. “If titles are having it difficult today, it’s because they can’t find a public or because they’re being badly managed,” Van Thillo said. Newspapers are not an old medium. On the contrary, strong newspapers need not fear for their future.”

The deal still has to receive the approval of the Dutch competition authorities, which is likely to be a formality. Dutch law does not allow one company to control more than one-third of the market, but PCM and De Persgroep fall comfortably below the limit. In any case, De Persgroep intends to sell off one of the PCM titles, though it is not yet clear which one.

The editorial staffs of both NRC Handelsblad and De Volkskrant are already preparing a list of requirements, including guarantees of their status as independent, quality newspapers. “De Volkskrant needs to be given every possible chance, whether that’s within PCM, within another company or on an independent basis,” said Volkskrant editor Pieter Broertjes. “We have more questions than anything,” commented Bianca Rootsaert, secretary general of the Dutch journalists’ union.

Spain gets on board with GM rescue

Spain would be willing to work with Germany and Flanders to support the creation of a self-sufficient European wing of car manufacturer General Motors, Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters was told last week. Peeters was in Madrid for the opening of a new Flanders House in the Spanish capital.

Flanders is currently preparing for talks with four German Länder (political regions) which, like Flanders, are affected by plans announced by the US parent company GM to cut jobs worldwide. GM’s plans threaten the future of Opel Antwerp.

GM has already said it would be willing to float off GM Europe into a partly independent concern, but only with the injection of €3.3 billion of aid. Germany, which has five plants in four regions, has from the start been a strong supporter of an independent GM Europe. Flanders was quick to show it was keen to go along with the plan, for fear of losing Opel Antwerp to competition from the Länder.

Last week Peeters heard from Spain’s minister for European affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido, that his government would also support a European solution for GM. Spain has one Opel plant in Zaragoza, which employs 7,000. He stressed that the plan should form part of a new strategy for the European car industry as a whole.

Peeters welcomed the additional support. “To have real talks with the bosses of Ford or GM, you need to be able to throw a similar weight in the scale,” he said. “That can only come about with a coordinated European approach.”

Both sides said they would work hard on the issue during their successive presidencies of the EU in 2010. Hungary, which also has GM on its territory and which follows Belgium in the chair of the EU in 2011, will figure heavily in this cooperation.

Peeters was due this week to have talks with representatives of the German Länder, which, like Flanders, are semi-autonomous regions within the federal state.

Youth jobs hit hard by crisis

The number of unemployed people in Flanders rose in February to 189,226, an increase of 15% on the same time last year. Unemployment has been rising steadily since November last year, when the annual increase was only 0.2%.

Men are the main victims, with just over 97,000 out of work, according to the Flemish training and employment agency VDAB. The agency also confirmed earlier reports that young people are having it particularly hard in this economic crisis: in tough times, companies tend not to employ them, and they are often the first to be let go when cuts come.

Compared with a year ago, there are now 31% more young people under 25 without a job – including school leavers who have never been in full-time work, and graduates with a new degree in their pockets. Unemployment among young people with a secondary education rose over the last year by 13%, while for new graduates the increase was 21%.

Business services suffer trickle-down cuts

Companies in the business-to-business (B2B) services sector are suffering a trickle-down effect from cost-cutting by their corporate clients, according to unions. It was revealed last week that the severe difficulties in the banking sector are leading to the loss of benefits and perks for employees, such as subsidised holidays, sports facilities and culture cheques.

Also hard hit are companies providing services such as catering and cleaning. In the office cleaning business, one union representative said that 25% of staff are without work as companies cut back by switching, for instance, from daily cleaning to once or twice a week.

The cuts are affecting some businesses even more severely, such as event planners who are now no longer called upon to organise corporate hospitality, executive team-building weekends or even just a simple office party. In some cases, companies cancel events simply because they don’t want to be seen indulging in conspicuous spending.

Last week representatives of the executive union BBTK handed out free croissants to staff at ING Bank in protest at cost-cutting measures, including the cancellation of sports and culture facilities, and the reduction of benefits for the long-term sick from two years to one. “Nobody will die because of these measures,” union spokesperson Miranda Ulens said. “But on the other hand they won’t save any jobs either. The bank is using the crisis as an excuse to scrap a series of benefits.”