Flemish mobility minister Hilde Crevits is looking for 14 municipalities to volunteer for a project to measure the quality of Flanders’ cycle paths. Last week, Crevits announced the purchase of five specially designed bicycles that measure the quality of the road surface as they ride along. Zemst in Flemish Brabant has already volunteered. Flanders has more than 12,000 kilometres of cycle routes.

Selor, the federal government’s employment agency, is to open up job vacancies to people who have suitable experience and skills, but lack the necessary diplomas. With the new “boarding pass” system, candidates will take a test to determine if they are suitable for a position before being allowed into the full selection procedure. It is hoped that the system will help solve the lack of applicants for some government jobs.

Millionaire businessman Ivan Sabbe has threatened to lodge a complaint with the privacy commission if the PvdA (Workers’ Party of Belgium) continues to feature his home in Waasmunster, East Flanders, on a cycle route the party provides. The route marks the homes of rich people, and the privacy commission has already given an opinion that publicising the route is a breach of privacy laws, but so far no complaints have been received. Sabbe, whose fortune comes from the family carpet business, is also a politician with the Lijst Dedecker (LDD) party.

The burbot (Lota lota), a freshwater relative of the cod and an original ingredient of Ghent’s traditional waterzooi dish, is making a comeback in the city’s waters, the Institute for Nature and Forestry Research reports. The fish disappeared from the area in the 1960s, as its natural hiding places in the banks of rivers were affected by pollution and the shoring-up of riverbanks with concrete. A programme to reintroduce the fish to the waterways of Flanders, including the Grote Nete, has been under way since 2000. For the time being, however, the fish is a protected species and will not be appearing in waterzooi any time soon.

A police squad investigating the robbery of a supermarket in Aalst in 1985 has had to be reinforced, after they received more than 500 tips from the public following a TV re-enactment. The Aalst robbery, in which eight people were killed, was the work of a gang responsible for 28 deaths in supermarket robberies between 1982 and 1985. Most of the robberies took place in Flemish and Walloon Brabant; the Aalst attack was the gang’s only foray into East Flanders. None of the crimes has ever been solved.

The government is paying too much for service cheques, according to the research institute Hiva at the Catholic University of Leuven. The cheques are used to pay for a variety of household jobs, such as cleaning and ironing, and were intended to help combat the black economy. Businesses that are paid with service cheques make an average of 19% profit on each cheque, but the net cost to the government – the €1.24 billion paid out minus the €423 million in increased tax and social security income – represents €15.6 for every €20.8 cheque worth.

The King Boudewijn Foundation has issued a new free booklet on dealing with the death of a partner. The brochure, published in conjunction with the national federation of notaries, covers issues like wills, organ donations and legal matters, such as contacts with the municipality. Death of a partner was one of the major reasons cited in a recent survey into why people engage the help of a notary. The brochure, in French and Dutch, is available from the foundation’s website.
www.kbs-frb.be