Category Archives: Belgium

Politicians from 12 countries unite to press for arms ban on Israel

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Letter aims to bring public anger over 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into heart of parliaments

More than 200 MPs from 12 countries have committed themselves to trying to persuade their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, arguing they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza.

The letter, organised by Progressive International, a network of socialist MPs and activists focused on international justice, is seen as the best practical measure possible to bring public anger over the 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into the heart of parliaments, where calls for an immediate unconditional ceasefire have so far fallen on deaf ears or been rejected by national governments.

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UK gives £600m backing to Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant

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Campaigners say Ineos project in Antwerp will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in Europe

The UK government is providing a €700m (£600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.

The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a “carbon bomb” by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe’s company Ineos, it will bring plastic production to Europe on a scale not seen before, just as countries are trying to negotiate a binding global treaty to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution.

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Jim Ratcliffe’s vast petrochemical plant in Antwerp faces new legal challenge

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Proposed Project One cracking plant is ‘hugely destructive’, says Client Earth

The creation of the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years faces a new legal challenge by a group of NGOs arguing that the true impact of the development on people, nature and the climate has not been considered.

Client Earth lodged papers on Wednesday evening in court which aim to halt the building of Project One, a vast cracking plant to produce the chemicals to make plastic, which is being built in Antwerp by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company Ineos.

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End fossil-fuel era to address colonial injustices, urges prominent historian

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West should address ‘colonisation of the present’ and not focus on past, argues David Van Reybrouck

Cities in the global north that curb their carbon emissions are doing more to address colonial injustices than those who focus their efforts on taking down statues and changing street names, one of Europe’s leading historians has said.

David Van Reybrouck, the Belgian author of a bestselling history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a new book on Indonesia’s independence from Dutch rule, has become one of the key drivers of a nascent and often fraught debate about Europe’s colonial legacies. Those who have lauded his work include the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

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Sculpture of colonial officer’s ‘angry spirit’ returns to DRC as Dutch urge reckoning

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Carved wooden figure at Venice Biennale aims to spark debate about colonial blindspots in the art world

A statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during a 1930s uprising in the Congo will go on display at the Dutch pavilion of this year’s Venice Biennale, seeking to spark a debate about colonial blindspots in the art world – and the Belgian pavilion next door.

The carved wooden figure of colonial administrator Maximilien Balot will not be physically present at the world’s largest art event: a screen will show a livestream from a gallery in Lusanga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the artefact will be on display for the six-month duration of the festival.

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Farmers’ protests continue across Europe as tractors head to Antwerp port – Europe live

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Demonstrations expected to continue in several countries as European parliament will hold exchange with stakeholders

Here are the latest images from the farmers’ protest in Antwerp.

Farmers staged a protest in Sofia today, calling for the resignation of Bulgaria’s minister for agriculture, Kiril Vatev.

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Ireland and Spain among EU nations striking a different note on Gaza war

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In taking alternative direction to likes of US and UK, group has played a role in shifting perspectives on the conflict

When the UN agency for Palestinian refugees became embroiled in a scandal last month, Britain and Germany quickly froze their funding, and other countries on the continent soon followed. But instead of joining the pack, Spain and Portugal decided to go in the opposite direction. They responded with promises to up their funding.

For years, but especially in the past few months, they have been part of a grouping of countries across Europe that have consistently sought to strike a different note when it comes to conflict in the Middle East. Others include Ireland, which has called for a review of the EU’s trade ties with Israel, and Slovenia, which said it expected Israel to swiftly implement provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice in a case looking into allegations of genocide.

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Flemish film awards under fire after men win most prestigious gender-neutral categories

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Actors say non-specific categories benefit men as industry still offers them more interesting roles

The Flemish film and television awards are facing calls to temporarily do away with gender-neutral categories amid concerns that the switch has left women routinely shut out of the top awards.

At the Ensors awards on Saturday male actors cleaned up the categories for best lead and supporting actors. It was an echo of 2022 – the first year that the awards ceremony axed gendered categories – when men also walked away with each of the four awards recognising the best actors.

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Farmers face ‘lasagne of different measures’, Belgian leader says after protests block border crossings – as it happened

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Prime minister says blockades by protesting farmers at Dutch-Belgian border ‘have been stopped’

Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo arrived in Place du Luxembourg just as a bronze statue that was felled in the protests yesterday was being taken away.

The statue, which weighed 200kg, was taken into a van by half a dozen men, as the clean-up in the square continues.

I think, by now, all governments have basically seen them, the Flemish government, the federal government – yesterday also the president of the [European] Commission.

We’ve shown that we’re able to come up with steps in the right direction. For some measures, we need more time to elaborate. And there’s a real willingness to go forward.

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Macron calls for farming reform as food producers hurl eggs at European parliament

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Demonstrations calling for help with taxes, costs and environmental rules overshadow EU leaders’ summit

Europe’s farming sector is facing a big crisis and must “profoundly” change its rules, Emmanuel Macron has said after a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels was overshadowed by protesting farmers hurling eggs, dumping manure and lighting fires.

Speaking as hundreds of farmers from Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere blocked streets around the European parliament with tractors, the French president said there should be a joint EU mechanism to guarantee fair prices paid to farmers by food giants and supermarkets. He said regulations should be simplified, after weeks of farmer protests across Europe have blockaded motorways.

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Belgian port blockaded as farmer protests spread across Europe

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Roads around Zeebrugge could be obstructed until midnight on Wednesday, hitting commercial trade

The Belgian port of Zeebrugge was blockaded on Tuesday, causing gridlock on surrounding roads as a wave of farmer protests spread across Europe.

Authorities at the North Sea port, one of the biggest in Europe, said all access roads were blocked by 5pm (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, in a demonstration that will hit commercial trade, including imports and exports of food to and from the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.

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Flanders government looks to force TikTok and YouTube to share revenue

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Belgium already takes a cut from Netflix and Disney and new income will support local TV production

Cute cat videos, fried chicken clips and viral dances could soon help to finance Belgian TV, with the Flanders government on the verge of passing laws to force TikTok and YouTube to share revenues with local television producers.

“Politically speaking, it is important in audiovisual and media services that there are obligations on companies to invest in local TV content,” the media minister for the Flemish government, Benjamin Dalle, told the Guardian.

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Europe should not fear standing alone if US adopts ‘America First’ policy in 2024, says Belgian prime minister – as it happened

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Alexander De Croo says democracy and liberty will be put to the test in Europe this year but EU should not be afraid of going it alone

The European parliament will tonight debate the resurgence of neo-fascism across the continent, after a last-minute agenda item was added to address a chilling video from Italy that appeared to show hundreds of men making fascist salutes earlier this month.

The debate was put on the agenda by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group after its members were “outraged and distressed” by the images, S&D leader Iratxe García said in a statement.

The rise of neo-fascism is a dark cloud that looms across parts of Europe ... It is both unacceptable and alarming that in 2024 we still bear witness to such scenes.

What is even more disconcerting is the lack of consequences and the lack of a clear, decisive response from the Prime Minister. Why has (Giorgia) Meloni chosen silence? Why has she not condemned these disturbing images?

The European Parliament is not going along with this and will challenge her decision before the European Court of Justice. There must be no more rebates on the rule of law in the EU.

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Children living near green spaces ‘have stronger bones’

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Bone strength is set in childhood so better park access could prevent fractures in older people, study finds

Children with more green space near their homes have significantly stronger bones, a study has found, potentially leading to lifelong health benefits.

Scientists found that the children living in places with 20-25% more natural areas had increased bone strength that was equivalent to half a year’s natural growth.

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Michel sparks scramble to stop Orbán taking control of European Council

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President under fire after announcing he will run for election as MEP in June and will stand down if he wins

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, has said he is running as an MEP in June’s European elections and will stand down if elected, sparking a race to replace him or risk the role reverting to Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

“I have decided to run in the European elections in 2024,” Michel told Belgian media late on Saturday. The former Belgian prime minister has served as chief of the EU Council, the group of government leaders of the 27 EU member states, since 2019.

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Woman killed by falling Christmas tree in Belgian market square

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Two people injured as 20-metre high tree collapses next to Christmas market

A woman was killed and two people injured by a large Christmas tree that fell over during stormy weather in the Belgian town of Oudenaarde, authorities said on Friday.

Security camera footage on Belgian news media showed a brightly lit 20-metre (66ft) high Christmas tree slowly leaning over, then collapsing next to a Christmas market in the town, east of Brussels, on Thursday as a merry-go-round turned in the historic market square.

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Belgian court orders 55% emissions cut from 1990 levels

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Court of appeal ruling means government has only until 2030 to reach target

A Belgian court has declared the country’s climate targets “clearly insufficient” and ordered the government to cut emissions faster.

In a powerful victory for climate campaigners, the Brussels court of appeal ordered Belgium to cut its planet-heating pollution by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. By 2021, Belgium had cut its emissions by just 24%.

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Government offices in EU can ban wearing of religious symbols, court rules

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Decision made in case of Muslim employee in Belgium states that restrictions must be applied equally

Government offices across the EU can ban employees from wearing religious symbols, such as Islamic headscarves, in the interest of neutrality, the EU’s top court has ruled, though it stressed that such restrictions must be applied equally to all employees and fit within the legal context of each member state.

The decision, published by the court of justice of the European Union on Tuesday, said such bans were permissible in order to enforce an “entirely neutral administrative environment”.

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Israeli foreign minister accuses Irish taoiseach of legitimising terror over hostage statement

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Eli Cohen criticised Leo Varadkar’s description of nine-year-old Emily Hand as being ‘lost’, not ‘kidnapped’

The Israeli government has accused Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, of legitimising terror and losing his moral compass by saying a freed Irish-Israeli hostage had been “lost” as opposed to kidnapped.

Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, on Sunday summoned the Irish ambassador to the foreign ministry in Jerusalem for a formal reprimand over Varadkar’s response to the release of nine-year-old Emily Hand, who was reunited with her family after 50 days as a hostage in Gaza.

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Geert Wilders’ victory confirms upward trajectory of far right in Europe

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Dutch general election results show how populist and far-right parties are advancing into political mainstream

Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Dutch general election confirms the upward trajectory of Europe’s populist and far-right parties, which – with the occasional setback – are continuing their steady march into the mainstream.

There is no guarantee that Wilders, whose anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) won 37 seats in Wednesday’s ballot – more than twice its 2021 total – will be able to form a government with a majority in the Netherlands’ 150-seat parliament.

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