About one-fifth of the population of Brussels is made up of unemployed job-seekers. Among young people, that number is as high as one-third, according to The Brussels Observatory for Health and Social Welfare’s annual report on unemployment and income in the European capital. The report shows that...

One of Belgium’s nuclear power plants, Tihange 1, located about 40km from Maastricht, was restarted last night following a period of maintenance. The restart occurs in stages, and it takes a few days for the plant to run again at full speed, operator Electrabel told the VRT. The reactor was shut...

Electronic DJ legend David Guetta will be performing in front of 17,000 fans at Palais 12 at Brussels Expo on Saturday night. The French celebrity’s latest single ‘Dangerous’ previews forthcoming LP ‘Listen’. Tomorrowland atmosphere guaranteed. Belgian singer Arno takes to the stage at KVS on...

Belgian MPs sat until the early hours of Thursday morning debating the new government’s policy plans. The marathon session lasting 21 hours began at 10.00 on Wednesday and was finally brought to a close at 7.00 yesterday morning. The long session was an indication of fierce opposition to the policy...

At least half of the supermarkets owned and managed by the Delhaize chain were expected to remain closed on Friday, with the threat of further closures on Saturday, as unions protest the company’s restructuring plans. Earlier in the week at a meeting of the company’s enterprise board, unions were...

For the first time in Belgium, a woman fell pregnant using one of her frozen eggs, thanks to a technique implemented by the fertility clinic at UZ Brussels hospital in Jette. Until now the technique of egg freezing – or oocyte cryopreservation - was mainly used for cancer patients who feared that...

Belgian media report that the black economy in Belgium accounts for nearly €61 billion, or about 16.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a report by economics professor Friedrich Schneider, titled ‘Shadow economy and tax evasion in the EU’. By shadow economy, Schneider refers to the...

About 200 people gathered in the Brussels commune of Ixelles/Elsene yesterday at the initiative of the collective Sauver la Plaine, to protest against the controversial real estate project Universalis Park. The controversy concerns La Plaine Ixelles/Oefenplein on the campus of the ULB, the French-...

Getting a grip on Belgian politics can be tricky. Divisions between federal, regional and community governments, can baffle even for Belgians, so how is a lowly expat expect to understand it all? A good place to start is to know the names of who is running the show. So for the next two week, The...

The government of the Brussels-Capital Region will focus on major urban projects, said minister-president Rudi Vervoort in a speech yesterday setting out his government’s ambitious policy plans for the coming four-year term. “The big challenge is to implement, implement and implement,” said the...