News

Waiting for my child

New legislation will bring more transparency to parents wanting to adopt in Flanders

The number of Flemish signing up to become adoptive parents has dropped dramatically in the past few years, and the release of figures regarding waiting periods are largely to blame. Although it’s difficult to decrease the waiting time, the Flemish government has recently passed new legislation that makes the process easier for both parents and adoptees

Eight to 10 years. That’s how long prospective adoptive parents in Flanders have to wait for a child to arrive in their family.

Anja Otte

(February 8, 2012)

News

New industrial dialogue needed

Flanders-only negotiations in future, Peeters proposes

Flanders needs its own mechanism to carry out social dialogue involving employers and workers, separate from existing contacts on a federal level, ministerpresident Kris Peeters said last week. But he stressed that the new framework, arising from Flanders’ new responsibilities under the government accord of 2010, does not represent a fault line in relations with the other regions.

Peeters’ plan was revealed in an interview with De Morgen concentrating mainly on foreign trade. However, Peeters also raised the question of the new responsibility for the labour market, part of the state reforms agreed by party leaders in arriving at last December’s government accord.

Alan Hope

(February 8, 2012)

Schauvliege defends culture from cuts

The cultural sector in Flanders has contributed enough to budget savings and should not be asked to cut even deeper, culture minister Joke Schauvliege said last week. At the same time as announcing new subsidies for books and feature films, Schauvliege also revealed her ambition for Flanders to be nominated as “guest country” at the Frankfurt Book Fair, perhaps as early as 2015.

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”.

Alan Hope

(February 1, 2012)

Mortgage tax break will continue

Homeowners across Flanders are assured fiscal relief

Homeowners with existing mortgages will continue to receive tax benefits even after the federal government hands responsibility for the system over to the regions in 2014, the Flemish government has promised. And anyone who takes out a mortgage to buy, build or renovate a home after 2014 in Flanders will also receive “fiscal support”.

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.

Alan Hope

(January 25, 2012)

The Dutch are coming

As the Netherlands increases its fees for higher education, Flanders is looking more and more appealing to Dutch students

The numbers of Dutch students at Flemish universities has more than doubled over the last five years. Although alarm bells are not yet ringing, the Netherlands' fee changes of this year could cause an additional influx of Dutch students looking for an affordable education. The problem, though, say some university administrators, is not one of quantity – but quality.

“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.

Alan Hope

(January 25, 2012)

New channel will include English programmes

Flemish public broadcaster VRT reaches out to international audience

A new third channel for the Flemish public broadcaster VRT will come on air on 1 May, the authority’s CEO, Sandra De Preter, announced last week. On that day, children’s channel Ketnet will go out on a separate channel. Two weeks later, Ketnet and Canvas, which currently share one channel, with Ketnet airing in the daytime and Canvas in the evening, will go their separate ways with one channel each. The transition is intended to allow younger viewers to find their way to the new Ketnet frequency.

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.

Alan Hope

(January 18, 2012)

News

The butterfly effect

A Ghent researcher is catapulted into the spotlight for his work with insects, which has global implications

As Guy Smagghe of Ghent University awoke one morning last November, he found himself transformed into a member of one of the world’s most prestigious scientific circles.

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.

Alan Hope

(January 11, 2012)

Flanders faces heavy budget cuts

N-VA points a finger at public transport authority De Lijn

Jan Peumans (right) and Kris Peeters clash over budget © Belga

Flanders can expect to face “difficult times” in 2012, with necessary budget cuts of €250 to €500 million, minister-president Kris Peeters has warned. “The Flemish government will have to tighten its belt. Some ministers will feel it more than others, but the money has to be found.”

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.”

Alan Hope

(January 11, 2012)

De Lijn struggles with cost-cutting

The Flemish public transport company must save more than €40 million next year

News reports concerning an increase in fares by the Flemish public transport authority De Lijn are “premature”, the authority’s chief executive Roger Kesteloot said last week. Articles in newspapers that stated that the hike in fares planned for next year would particularly affect young people and the elderly were based on figures from a “working paper”, the proposals of which have not yet been decided.

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.

Alan Hope

(December 21, 2011)

Powers move over to Flanders

Employment, health and justice among new regional responsibilities

The new federal government accord, finalised by the six negotiating parties earlier this month, contains a number of areas in which Flanders receives new responsibilities, among them the treatment of young offenders and the question of economic migration.

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.

Alan Hope

(December 14, 2011)