Brussels
-
Belgium: Brussels enjoys an artistic awakening
18 April 20133172 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Belgium: Brussels, a refuge for young French people
18 October 20122156 Slate.fr Paris -
Press review: Belgium is dead, long live Belgium!
12 October 20111411Presseurop -
Belgium: Di Rupo’s guide to saving a country
5 July 201148 Presseurop -
Belgium : Anti-austerity march on European Council
23 March 2011PresseuropLe Soir -
European Parliament: MEPs want to bid Adieu to Strasbourg
11 February 201151PresseuropDe Standaard -
Belgium: Citizens desperately seeking government
24 January 2011PresseuropDe Morgen -
Belgium: Invasion of the Eurocrats
23 June 201038 La Libre Belgique Brussels -
Belgium: Are last-gasp elections invalid?
4 May 2010PresseuropDe Standaard -
Belgian crisis: Who wants to govern this country?
27 April 2010PresseuropDe Standaard -
Government crisis: Does Belgium still make any sense?
23 April 2010547 Le Soir Brussels -
Belgium: Flemish and Francophones, into the void
22 April 2010422 Trouw Amsterdam -
Geopolitics: United, but not with Europe
9 February 2010192 Wprost Warsaw -
EU/US: White House and the 27 dwarves
3 February 2010201 Presseurop -
Belgium: Zero tolerance, maximum controversy
2 February 2010PresseuropDe Morgen -
Language: French takes leave of Belgium
22 December 2009154 Le Monde Paris -
Graduates: Following the yellow brick road to Brussels
27 November 2009542 Cafebabel.com Paris -
Ethics : Is a clean parliament a happy parliament?
26 November 2009România libera Bucharest -
european parliament: Mr. Johnson goes to Brussels
8 September 2009121 The Daily Telegraph London -
Religion: The Islamisation myth
28 July 2009812 The Observer London
Brussels seems to be all the rage for contemporary art galleries. Less expensive, less saturated, and blessed with a new cultural dynamism, the town is in the midst of an artistic boom. But not everyone is convinced it will last.
Billionaire Bernard Arnault is not the only one leaving France to set up shop in Belgium. Every year, thousands of young French graduates, attracted by a more accessible job market and better living conditions, are emigrating to the country.
On 11 October, after 485 days without a government, Elio Di Rupo — who will likely be Belgium’s next prime minister — and his Flemish and Francophone partners presented a global agreement on state reforms. The compromise deal, which has been viewed as heaven sent, will stabilise the country and pave the way for an end to its long-drawn out political crisis.
Thirteen months after the last elections, the francophone Elio Di Rupo has put forward his proposals to unblock the political stalemate. It’s one step forward, says the Belgian press, but the country's future is still not guaranteed.
Multi-cultural Brussels is often described as a laboratory of ideas for urban Europe. But how do local people relate to the presence of the many European institutions in the Belgian capital?
The ever-strained relations between Flemish and French-speaking Belgians, which came to a head over the proposed breakup of the bilingual voting district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, are tenser than ever now after prime minister Yves Leterme resigned yesterday. And now more than ever before, the very existence of Belgium is on the line. So is there still any point in keeping the country intact? wonders Le Soir’s editor-in-chief.
Just two months before Belgium takes over the EU presidency, the 22 April resignation of PM Yves Leterme has once again revived fears that the country is on the verge of falling apart at the seams. At the heart of the crisis, disputes over rights and privileges of French and Flemish speakers in the bilingual constituency of BHV, or Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.
The good news is that from Asia to the Americas, an increasing number of countries are coming together to create unions inspired by the EU. And the bad news? In the long term these entities may overshadow the EU on the world stage, worries Polish weekly Wprost.
In turning down Europe’s invite to the upcoming EU-US summit in May, Barack Obama has given Europe a chafing reminder of its own weaknesses. Under the Lisbon Treaty, which was supposed to give the world a single number to call in Europe, the numbers have proliferated, bemoans the press, which quite understands the White House’s exasperation.
Attracted by the siren call of permanent employment in a high profile institution, young graduates from all over Europe flock to Brussels with their sights set on jobs in the European Commission. But making the move to the Belgian capital is not always an easy transition. Café Babel reports on the trials and tribulations of those who seek entry to the corridors of power.
Aiming to create a more secure investment framework in the EU, the AIFM directive has raised fears in the City over its future as international financial centre. On a recent trip to Brussels to plead its cause, London’s mayor Boris Johnson discovered a futuristic city where, he argues, the real centre of power lies, much to the detriment of Westminster.
In the wake of the London and Madrid bombings, predictions proliferated in print and on web that Islam was entering a radicial and violent phase. Dire warnings of the imminent “Islamisation” of Europe have turned out, however, to be of little substance, reports the Observer.