At the end of August, Belgium counted 467,718 unemployed people, 39,501 more than in July and 47,827 more than in August 2008, according to new figures from Onem.
By Le Soir
Expatica The rise in the number of job seekers has been apparent in all regions: over 21,390 in a month in Flanders, over 11,468 in Wallonia, and over 6,643 in Brussels. At the end of the month, Wallonia counted a total unemployment rate of 212,891, Flanders counted 176,660 and Brussels had 78,230 people out of a job. 73,602 unemployed people in the country are under-25, with the majority in Wallonia, with 38,525, followed by Flanders with 26,209, then Brussels with 8,868. Wallonia still counts the highest number of people who have been unemployed for a long period of time, with 104,997 people in this category, which makes up nearly half the number of the total unemployed people in the region....(Original.)
By Euronews Hundreds of women and their children demonstrated in Brussels on Saturday to calling for the veil and all other religious clothes or symbols to be banned from schools. At the moment the veil is worn at the discretion of an individual school’s headmaster, or not. Now Belgium’s 40 percent French-speakers want the same law as passed in Belgium’s Flemish half, which bans the veil. “I had long, braided hair, so they would take the lower part of my veil, and wound it into my braids.” says one women’s rights worker. But the women’s groups are split; some prefer to stress free choice, others the risk of indoctrination of the young; “The Flemish are spot on, because their law preserves the ideas of diversity and equality among pupils, pupils who are the adults of tomorrow. So we are demanding that the French speaking community takes the same decision,” says another women’s representative....(Remainder.)
By Le Soir
Via Expatica The MR is proposing a ban on wearing any visible religious symbols to school until the age of 16. The debate is hardening, according to Didier Reynders, leader of the right-wing Mouvement Réformateur (MR) party. The controversial argument has run for a long time in the French community, and it is time that someone made a decision, the MR president, Didier Reynders, announced on Sunday to the television network RTL-TVi. Many Belgian political parties want this issue solved, particularly in reference to the Muslim headscarf, but it is important to negotiate first, they have stated. Representatives of the PS, Ecolo and CdH parties also took part in the televised debate but none showed a favourable attitude towards a total ban....(Original.)
By Expatica Budget Minister Guy Vanhengel (Flemish liberal) says that the government will not continue to fill the budget deficit in the social security system. The social security system should also make an effort to fill the gap, said the federal budget minister in an interview with the financial daily De Tijd. Until now the deficit in the social security system has always been covered for by other tax money. The Budget Minister Guy Vanhengel said that it is now time for this practice to stop. According to Minister Vanhengel, the Stability Pact, which the government agreed to earlier in the week, will put an end to the automatic replenishment of social security. It is not yet certain exactly how much the social security system will have to save. The discussion with the federal government promises to be contentious. The Flemish liberals have always disliked the fact that the social security system swallows up an increasingly large chunk of tax income. The Francophone socialists do not want to touch health care, unemployment benefits or pensions in the tightening of the budget belt....(Original.)
By Le Soir
Via Expatica.com The justice department devoted EUR 21 million to listening to telephone conversations last year. According to Brice de Ruyver, professor of criminology, "police can no longer lead the struggle against crime without phone tapping". The professor confirmed that it is an expensive process and that it requires specialised personnel. Strictly speaking the actual phone tapping system only costs EUR 4 million. Then EUR 17 million must be added for court costs, the recording of incoming and outgoing phone traffic, the activation of listening, observation and identification of suspect telephone numbers, and other administrative costs. EUR 3 million is spent on translation. Professor Ruyver said that the considerable amount spent listening to telephone activity had often been discussed at the heart of the police force. "But we have since arrived at the conclusion that we cannot do without this tool. Phone tapping is one of the most effective ways of dismantling rebel groups, fighting against drug trafficking and terrorism, and keeping an eye on extremist personalities," he added....(Original.)
By Valentina Pop
EU Observer Europe has emerged as the richest region in the world, pushing North America, where wealth has declined by more than 20 percent due to the economic crisis, off the top spot, a study has shown. The world's richest also feel the recession biting, especially in North America, where the financial crisis first unfolded a year ago, reveals a survey on global wealth carried out by the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm. North America's wealth, measured in assets under management, plummeted by 21.8 percent, the steepest decline in the world. A lesser fall was registered in Europe, where assets shrunk by 5.8 percent compared to last year, down to €22.2 trillion – a quarter of the globe's total wealth. The number of millionaire households worldwide fell from 11 million to about 9 million - a drop of 17.8 percent. The decline was steepest in North America and Europe, at 22 percent in both regions, although the United States continues to have the most millionaire households - nearly 4 million. The crisis also narrowed the gap between the wealthy and non-wealthy. Wealth owned by households with less than €90,000 in assets under management increased by two percent in 2008, but it declined in all other segments. Among households with more than €4.5 million in assets under management, wealth fell by 21.5 percent....(Remainder.)
By Valentina Pop
EU Observer
Photo: Wikipedia US government officials are likely to tell the Polish and Czech governments on Thursday that Washington will scrap the planned missile defence shield in their countries, as the threat of long-range missiles from Iran is less imminent. The Obama envoys are expected to brief lawmakers and government officials in Warsaw and Prague on the results of the seven-month review commissioned by President Barack Obama, unnamed sources in Washington told the Associated Press. The Wall Street Journal also reported on Thursday that the White House is to shelve the Bush-era plan, "a move likely to cheer Moscow and roil the security debate in Europe." The Obama administration's assessment concludes that long-range missile threat from Iran is a far lesser one than short and medium-range, making the case for the development of "regional missile defenses" for Europe, which are far less controversial for Russia, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ. The multi-billion-dollar project agreed last year planned to install 10 interceptor missiles at a facility in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. Warsaw also managed to secure a US promise of a battery of Patriot missiles to be permanently based on Polish territory as a defence against possible Russian attack – a security guarantee Poland had sought ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Some 120 American soldiers would have been deployed at the interceptor base in northern Poland, and US soldiers would also have operated the Patriot missiles. Now the plan seems to shift more towards "rotating" Patriot missiles, which would "tour" Europe and also be stationed at some point in Poland....(Remainder.)
Belgium has stepped up its offensive against German state aid to auto manufacturer Opel's planned new owners, demanding that the slightest hint of protectionism be slapped down by Brussels. By AFP
Expatica.com BRUSSELS - The European Commission must approve 4.5 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) of aid offered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, currently less than two weeks away from a general election. Amid fears shared by other European Union member states that plants elsewhere may be sacrificed to keep 25,000 German Opel staff in work, the head of Belgium's Flanders regional government took the case for an Antwerp factory threatened with closure to the EU's executive arm. Seeking assurances that politics would play no part in Bussels' decision on whether or not to approve the aid and the takeover, Kris Peeters told EU Commission vice-president Guenter Verheugen of Germany that Antwerp would win out on purely economic and commercial considerations. "For Commissioner (Verheugen), there can be no question of protectionism and he will keep a close eye on this to make sure economic parameters lie behind decisions on whether to close or keep sites open," the Flemish leader told reporters. Peeters fears that the plant in northern Belgium, which employs around 2,700 people, is to be sacrificed by Canada's Magna and Russia's Sbersbank, who were on Thursday named by General Motors as the preferred buyers for its European division. He said submissions on aid and on the comparative merits of the different plants within Europe which may be affected have yet to be submitted....(Remainder.)
By Expatica.com Belgian passports do not pass the stringent security tests required by international law, according to officials in the US and Britain. The council of ministers has approved a proposal by Foreign Minister Yves Leterme (Flemish Christian Democrat) decreeing that, from next year, Belgian passports must contain a more detailed biometric photograph and it must display more finger print information . The United States and the European Union have filed a number of complaints about easily forged Belgian passports. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will make 700 cameras available to municipalities so they can take the detailed biometric photographs and accurate fingerprints. It is still possible to employ a private photographer take the pictures so long as the photographer has the prescribed equipment to take the photograph. The implementation of biometric passports is a European Union regulation designed to help combat identity fraud....(Original.)
A suspected Belgian arms dealer pleaded not guilty in a federal courtroom here Thursday to charges he sought to smuggle fighter jet engines and parts to Iran.
By AFP
Expatica.com MOBILE - Clad in a prison uniform, Jacques Monsieur, 56, spoke only once to confirm that his name had been pronounced correctly. His lawyer Arthur Madden entered not guilty pleas to all the charges against him, including six counts of smuggling, conspiracy, money laundering, and violating weapons trafficking laws and export controls in relation to a US trade embargo on Iran. Monsieur was indicted by a federal grand jury last month after being arrested in a New York airport. An alleged co-conspirator in the case, Dara Fotouhi, 54, is still at large, according to the Justice Department. Both Monsieur and Fotouhi are French residents, and Fotouhi, an Iranian national, is suspected of working for the Iranian government. The indictment against Monsieur says he contacted an undercover agent in February seeking to buy engines for the F-5 fighter or C-130 military transport aircraft to export to Iran. The J85-21 model jet engines can be used to replace the motors in the F-5 fighter that was sold to Iran by the United States before the two countries cut ties after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Today, they are on a US list barring their export from the United States without a special permit. It is also illegal to export them to Iran without an additional license from the US Treasury Department....(Remainder.)
