Schauvliege (pictured) was speaking in Mechelen at an event to mark the retirement of Carlo Van Baelen, one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Flemish Fund for Literature (VFL) 12 years ago. She praised the “enormous drive and commitment” he brought to the job: “You strove for the interests of quality literature, sometimes going against the fashion of the day”.
“I’ve been mulling over Belgium,
Because everyone there laughs.
I’ve been mulling over Belgium,
Because the language is so soft.”
So sang the Dutch pop group Het Goede Doel in 1982, in a very odd song called “België”. And in fact, more and more young Dutch people are mulling over their neighbour to the south – for the purposes of higher education.
The changes come as part of the package of measures agreed by the main parties when the long-awaited federal government was formed at the end of last year. Several responsibilities were transferred from the federal government to the regions, including housing policy.
The new channel will bring changes for foreigners living in all of Belgium. (The VRT is carried by law on all cable systems in Brussels and Wallonia.) The VRT has promised to include English-language programming on the third channel, which presumably means home-produced content, since much of the existing VRT drama and movie scheduling is already in English.
Professor Smagghe leads a research group on crop protection in the university’s bio-engineering faculty, and his speciality is insects – in particular, the metamorphosis of insects such as caterpillars, beetles and aphids. Understanding their development can lead to new means of protecting crops from the ravages they inflict.
Peeters’ warning sparked off a round of speculation, with immediate suggestions that cultural subsidies and public transport could be most affected. Peeters was careful to outline his government’s priorities: “Investments in the struggle against child poverty; the provision of social services. Besides those, making innovation more attractive and investing in economic growth.”
The government will carry out a budget revision in February. “By then we will know what sums are involved,” said Peeters. “But it’s not looking good.”
The proposals contained in the working paper include scrapping the free pass allowed to pensioners, which would be replaced with a season ticket costing €30 a year, or restricting the use of the free pass to off-peak hours.
The Flemish government will from now on be responsible for measures to be taken in the case of minors involved in criminal acts, including when and in what circumstances a young offender will be placed in detention or if circumstances warrant being tried as an adult.
On Monday afternoon, after a session of talks lasting 20 hours in the offices of the King Baudouin Foundation in Brussels, incoming prime minister Elio Di Rupo announced a breakthrough: the parties had agreed a government of 13 ministers and six secretaries of state. Di Rupo will be the country’s first Walloon prime minister since the 1970s, and that novelty caused a problem. There are normally 15 ministers in the federal government, seven Dutch speakers and seven French speakers, with the prime minister considered neutral.
“The budget agreement is balanced and can bring back peace and stability to the financial markets,” commented Karel Van Eetvelt of Unizo, the organisation that represents the self-employed. He also pointed out that the money raised to fill the budget deficit will come mainly from businesses.
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