Speaking Dutch is central to this, van den Broeck believes. “Dutch is part of our DNA” as Flemish people, he said. Migration drives shifts “Brussels has always been a multilingual city because it’s centered at the border between the Roman- and the German-speaking territories,” explained VUB researcher Saeys. Waves of migration after World War II … Read more
David Clarinval, the coordinator in the government formation talks for the Reformist Movement (MR) — which is Reynders’ party — said on Tuesday morning that Reynders has done “an excellent job” as commissioner. “You know, in soccer, they say ‘you don’t change a winning team,’” Clarinval told Belgian radio — the closest hint yet that … Read more
Time is ticking for the country to form a government as it faces several EU deadlines: it must nominate an EU commissioner by the end of August and present a multi-annual plan to shrink its budget deficit to the European Commission by Sept. 20. On Thursday, talks to form a center-right cabinet led by Flemish … Read more
De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp and wannabe prime minister, will hand in his resignation to Belgium’s King Philippe Thursday evening, just after 8 p.m. Talks began to fracture in earnest on Sunday evening. The main dispute centered around a proposed capital gains tax to help plug Belgium’s massive budget deficit, which was 4.4 percent … Read more
