The week in brief: 10 November

Flemish tourism minister Ben Weyts (pictured) is planning a major new project centred on the Flemish Old Masters, and in particular on Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Weyts made the announcement in London, where he was attending the hanging of the Brueghel work “The Adoration of the Magi” in the National Gallery. “For hundreds of years, the Flemish painters have been our best ambassadors,” he said. The project would look at painters from the Flemish Primitives through Memling and Rubens up to artists of today and would include an upgrade for the Groeninge Museum in Bruges, a visitor’s centre at Sint-Baaf’s Cathedral in Ghent and a newly reopened Fine Arts Museum in Antwerp. 

Working groups from the Flemish and the Brussels regional governments will work more closely together to help solve mobility in and around Brussels, the governments have announced. Last week Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois met his Brussels counterpart, Rudi Vervoort, to discuss broadening the Ring Road, access to the new national stadium and a project by De Lijn to run trams into the capital from Flanders.

Maggie De Block, federal minister for public health, has come out in favour of a limited decriminalisation of cannabis. The three regional organisations representing workers in the drugs and alcohol abuse sector called on the minister to decriminalise cannabis for personal use, together with an increase in resources for prevention and support. According to De Block, the organisations have raised worthwhile issues. “But we need to tread carefully,” she said. “We are talking about addictive substances. But it’s worth looking into.”

Cellist Veerle Simoens has been named as the new artistic co-ordinator of the Festival of Flanders Ghent, replacing Isaline Claeys, who is stepping down after three editions to pursue musicology studies. Simoens has wide-ranging experience with orchestras and ensembles and has also worked with contemporary artists like Jef Neve. She has been the business director of Casco Phil, formerly called the Belgian Chamber Philharmonic, since 2010. 

Bombardier, the Canadian-owned tram and train constructor based in Bruges, is looking to hire out some 150 of its workers to other businesses. “We’re coming into a quiet period for orders, but we don’t want to lose the talent we have,” explained a company spokesperson. A number of workers are already planning a temporary move to sister company Crespin in northern France next year, and the company is looking for a temporary solution for more, possibly with long-time customers De Lijn and NMBS. 

After two decades of remaining steadfastly loyal to Duvel, Inspector Pieter Van In, the protagonist in Flemish author Pieter Aspe’s best-selling crime novels, has switched to Omer, the beer produced by West Flanders brewer Omer Vander Ghinste. “I was in a café in Blankenberge and someone offered me one,” Aspe explained. “I was sold right away. The beer is a bit like Duvel, but the taste is more pronounced.” The switch has nothing to do with any commercial arrangement, he stressed.

Federal interior minister Jan Jambon issued an order to prevent the entry into Belgium of the controversial Muslim speaker Tareq Al-Suwaidan, who was due to speak at the Muslim Fair last weekend at Tour & Taxis in Brussels. Al-Suwaidan, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait, had been in possession of a valid visa for the Schengen countries and claimed on Twitter that the ban was the result of “pressure from the Zionist lobby”.

A fire in a diving supplies warehouse that recently sent a plume of black smoke drifting over the capital is arson, according to a fire expert brought in to the investigation by the prosecutor’s office of Halle-Vilvoorde. The fire started on 2 November in Anderlecht and later spread to premises over the border in Drogenbos, Flemish Brabant. Fire engines from Brussels received back-up from colleagues from Halle, and the blaze was still flaring up on Monday. No-one was injured, but the 3,000 square-metre warehouse building was completely destroyed.

As many as 24 child-minders in the Flemish periphery of Brussels could be at risk of losing their licences because they do not meet the language conditions of the new Flemish government decree, according to family organisation Kind & Gezin. The decree stipulates that the director and at least one other child minder must speak Dutch, a condition upheld by the Constitutional Court. However, the periphery has a large French-speaking population. K&G will now guide the 24 crèches through the steps required to meet the criteria, including language tests. 

Photo courtesy Ben Weyts