The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) reports that 2014 has been the warmest year ever recorded in Belgium, with an average temperature of 11.9°C: 0.3°C warmer than the previous record in 2011. Winter officially began yesterday in Belgium, but there is still no sign of wintry weather in the...

Belgium is too dependent on foreign companies for its energy, costing the country around €1.8 billion per year, reports De Morgen based on research by Jonathan Holslag ( pictured ), professor of international politics at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) since 2011. Short-term foreign investors...

Oscar Coulembier, the oldest man in Belgium, has died aged 108, reports Anthony Croes-Lacroix of the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). Aimé Wille is now the country’s oldest man at 105 years old, writes Het Nieuwsblad . "He was sick the past few days and so his big birthday party (at the end of the...

While electricity prices are increasing in the rest of the country, an agreement between the regional regulator and the grid management company Sibelga means distribution tariffs will decrease in 2015 in Brussels by about 6% for the average electricity customer. Gas prices will also decrease, by...

The European Commission has handed down its definitive opinion against the financing of the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp, forcing the government of Flanders to go back to the beginning by issuing a new tender for the project. The Oosterweel connection, named after one of the villages that once...

Not only is the Grand‘Place the focal point of the city’s Christmas festivities, tonight you have a chance to spin around its Christmas tree in a public waltz . From 19.45, the music starts and couples are invited to step onto the cobbles and dance away. There’ll be two opportunities to dance in...

Ghent’s popular socialist mayor, Daniël Termont, has been shortlisted for the World Mayor Prize 2014. Termont is the first Belgian mayor to be shortlisted for the biennial prize, which was first awarded by the London-based City Mayors Foundation in 2004. Termont is one of 25 mayors shortlisted for...

Brussels mobility minister Pascal Smet (SP.A) has approved a grant of €38,500 to encourage car-sharing in Brussels. The grant will go to car-sharing organisation Autopia, the first step in a series of initiatives to encourage the practice, reports brusselnieuws.be Car-sharing is a growing market in...

Minister Didier Reynders (pictured), whose portfolio includes federal cultural institutions, has said he will not interfere with the artistic choices of the institutions, including La Monnaie. "They have reduced their number of staff and removed dance. That is their choice," he said in De Morgen...

Belgium’s foreign affairs department has announced it will shut down 18 embassies and consulates around the world in a round of heavy budget cuts, Belgian media report. To help meet the government-imposed savings of €30 million in the coming years, the department plans to do away with as many as 18...