News in brief: 25 September 2024

Planned renovations in the Leopold II tunnel in Brussels have been postponed to 2016 because of the complexity of the works, the regional government said. Five consortia have been shortlisted for the works, with the winner to be announced in 2015. Difficulties associated with closing the tunnel – the longest in the country and carrying 60,000 vehicles a day – mean works could last as long as four years.

Flemish environment minister Joke Schauvliege last week visited a school in Aalst to kick off a regionwide campaign to raise awareness of the importance of recycling components of mobile phones. According to the GoodPlanet foundation, which is organising the campaign, only 2% of phones are currently recycled, though the disposal of electronics can be harmful to the environment. “We’ve taken steps in recent years to change from a waste policy to a sustainable materials policy,” Schauvliege said. “By better collection and sorting, waste materials can be turned into raw materials.”

The public transport users’ organisation TreinTramBus has supported a call for the scrapping of the €4.44 supplement levied on all rail users travelling to and from Brussels Airport, used to pay for the Diabolo rail link. The airport management company argues the supplement is a disincentive to airline passengers to use public transport, a position TTB supports. At present, 53% of those flying out arrive by car and 26% by public transport.

The first minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, paid a visit to the First World War sites in Langemark- Poelkapelle last week to start the construction of a new Welsh Memorial. The monument was made possible by a public collection in Wales, which raised €36,000. The Welsh government then added an additional €30,000. The plot of land on which the monument will stand, measuring 30m x 40m, is a gift from the town of Langemark, West Flanders. The monument, made of Welsh stone and topped with a painted bronze dragon, will be unveiled next summer. About 40,000 Welsh soldiers fell in the fields of Flanders during the First World War.

The 15-year-old would-be Buddhist monk Giel (Face of Flanders, 18 September), who was prevented from travelling to a monastery in India by the Ghent prosecutor, has filed an appeal with the Cassation Court, alleging procedural errors in the case brought against his plans. Giel’s travel to India was put on hold while social services investigate his situation at home.

Nieuwstraat in Brussels has held onto its position as the capital’s favourite shopping street, with an average of just over 43,000 visitors every day, according to figures from the retail trade association Atrium. The recently renovated Elsensesteenweg comes second with 31,200 shoppers, followed by the pedestrianised Kleerkoperstraat in the centre, with 28,200.

A notice to strike issued last week by emergency operators in East Flanders has now spread to the rest of the country. The operators, who answer the emergency numbers 101 and 112, say their service is understaffed by as much as 50%, while the number of calls – and especially hoax calls – is on the increase.The official date for the start of action was 23 September, but the union ACOD asked members to postpone any action until after talks planned for 26 September.

The former gendarmerie barracks opposite the Free University of Brussels (VUB) could be transformed into a new student village, following a decision by the federal government last week to sell off about 1,000 buildings owned by the former service, which was absorbed into the federal police in 2001. The sell-off will raise some €35 million.

Starting next year, shoppers will be able to use Bancontact cards to pay for purchases costing less than €25 without the need for a pin code. Currently, small payments can be made using the Proton function, but that is due to disappear at the end of 2014. The new function, unlike Proton, will not require the card to be recharged.

The 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region are appealing a ruling that declared the tax on GSM masts illegal. The court agreed that the tax was discriminatory against telecommunications companies and said the masts were a matter of public interest, now that virtually everyone uses mobile phones. The municipalities, however, argue that the constitution allows them fiscal autonomy. The matter is also of urgent fi nancial importance to the municipalities: the total tax concerned amounts to about €60 million.