Belgium
Belgium: Teenager’s murder exploited for right-wing agenda
By Paul Bond, May 8, 2006
The brutal murder of a Brussels teenager three weeks ago continues to reverberate through Belgian politics. It has prompted the largest demonstration in Belgium in the last 10 years while this week a ...
Belgium: Opel union councils serve as management’s henchmen
A report from the GM plant in Antwerp
By Helmut Arens and Andreas Kunstmann, December 18, 2004
“We had the job of saving 100 million dollars and that’s what we did.” With these words Rudi Kenneth summarised the role of the trade unions and its factory council at the General Mo...
Belgian gas explosion: questions remain unanswered
By Paul Bond, September 3, 2004
The death toll continues to rise after an explosion on a gas pipeline in the small Belgian town of Ghislenghien a month ago. Twenty-one people have now died. Over 50 remain in hospital, with the condi...
Belgium: right-wing Vlaams Blok benefits from hostility to government
By Paul Bond, June 30, 2004
Regional and European elections on June 13 have dealt a serious blow to Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
Belgium: New government to scrap universal war crimes law
By Richard Tyler, July 17, 2003
The first act of the new Belgian government was to order the repeal of legislation enabling Belgian courts to hear cases of genocide, war crimes and “crimes against humanity” regardless of...
Belgium: Liberals and Social Democrats to renew coalition without the Greens
By Paul Bond and Richard Tyler, May 21, 2003
The Liberals and Social Democrats have emerged as the strongest parties in the new federal parliament following the general election in Belgium on Sunday May 18. The biggest losers were the Greens, wh...
Flemish Interior Minister exposed as fascist SS supporter
By Steve James, May 19, 2001
Flemish Interior Minister Johan Sauwens has been exposed as a long standing sympathiser of the SS—the elite Nazi forces used to guard concentration camps in World War II.
Belgium's extreme right Vlaams Blok increases vote in regional elections
By Richard Tyler, October 19, 2000
In recent regional and local elections, the xenophobic Vlaams Blok (VB) became the strongest party in Antwerp. The VB advocates the separation of the northern Flemish-speaking region of Flanders from ...
Human Rights League lodges complaints over Belgian deportation methods
By Richard Tyler, September 27, 1999
The Human Rights League has lodged official complaints against two former Belgian Interior Ministers over the methods used by police during deportations. Sémira Adamu, a 20 -year-old Nigerian asylum-...
Refugees protest conditions in Belgium's "closed centres" for asylum-seekers
By Richard Tyler, September 1, 1999
In August, asylum-seekers being kept in one of Belgium's “closed centres” held a hunger strike lasting several days. They were protesting at the conditions in which they are forced to live...
Legal action over dioxin poisoning in Belgium
Coca-Cola products hit by new contamination scandal
By Richard Tyler, June 19, 1999
The European Union is poised to take legal action against the Belgian government for its handling of the dioxin poisoning affair. EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler said the case went beyond Belgium'...
Belgian government suffers heavy losses in general election
By Richard Tyler, June 16, 1999
On Sunday, a political earthquake hit Belgium when simultaneous elections were held for the regional, federal and European parliaments. The greatest shocks were felt at the federal level. Christian De...
