Belgium/Netherlands disaster policy
February 19, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The Dutch and Belgian authorities must improve their cooperation in dealing with cross-border disasters. The Benelux parliament has pointed to this need. A committee of parliamentarians from both countries, headed by Mayor Jacques Niederer from Weert, has requested — among other things — a unified communication system. The Dutch C2000 system is not compatible with [...]
EU security measure to collect foreigners’ fingerprints
February 13, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The European Commission agreed to a plan to collect fingerprints and photographs from foreigners entering the EU, part of an effort to fortify the bloc’s borders.
The move is part of a European effort to fortify the bloc’s borders to the outside world. Brussels said the steps are needed to guarantee the free movement of Europeans [...]
Stress causing Europeans to stay home from work
February 13, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Nearly one in four European workers suffers from job-related stress. Demands on workers are increasing while job security is decreasing, according to a new study.
Europe’s reputation for 35-hour work weeks and generous amounts of vacation time belies the fact that many workers find themselves facing an unhealthy amount of stress.
Stress is responsible for more [...]
Nine nations plan new pan-European lottery scheme
February 13, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
In an age where Europeans are increasingly urged to share and cooperate across borders, it seems only logical that someone would have the idea to spread the possibility of wealth and good fortune between neighbors.
Plans are being mulled over by nine European countries to create a cross-border lottery where citizens of those countries joining the [...]
EU to look into consumers’ happiness
January 31, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The European Commission is to present proposals on Thursday (31 January) aimed at evaluating how satisfied consumers are with the bloc’s single market.
EU consumer protection commissioner Meglena Kuneva will unveil plans for a “Consumer Market Watch”, consisting of two steps – monitoring of the market and analysis of the collected data.
The goal is to evaluate [...]
Three cities form so-called ‘Euro-district’
January 29, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Kortrijk (West Flanders), Tournai (Wallonia) and Lille (in France) have agreed to work together to form a so-called ‘Euro-district’. The aim of the project is to join forces to tackle common cross-border problems.
Monday morning authorities from 14 public bodies of the three cities signed an agreement to establish the eurodistrict.
The cooperation between Kortrijk, Tournai and [...]
Dutch dig farmer-seeks-wife show
January 26, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
There is no sex, no scandal, no sniping and no foul language, but a new Dutch reality show is getting ratings TV bosses dream of, with a quarter of the country glued to their television sets.
The “stars” are Dutch farmers trying to find wives to share love and the quiet, if rough, rural life. “The [...]
“A Dog of Flanders” expert arrested for murder of Japanese wife
January 25, 2008 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Update on our article “Do you know A Dog of Flanders?”
The Belgian daily Het Belang van Limburg reports that Japan expert Jan Corteel has been arrested on Wednesday (23 January 2008) for the murder of his Japanese wife Yoshimi in their flat in Antwerp. Neighbours heard the couple fighting early in the morning but [...]
Feeding you the news
January 15, 2008 by Sueli · 2 Comments
For all those of us who want to keep up with the news in Europe, here’s a new tool offered by the European Journalism Centre:
The EJC is pleased to offer a hearty portion of European news with the beta version of eufeeds.eu, a continuously updated news site that serves up 300 direct news feeds, taken [...]
Integration project unites Belgians, Expats in Europe’s capital
Brussels, the capital city of Europe, boasts a vibrant international community. So far, they’ve lived next to, not with, Belgians. A new integration project is trying to change that.
One would think that Brussels was a melting pot of social integration and interaction, given its mix of Flemish and Francophone locals and the large number of [...]
Portuguese journalist wins this year’s ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination’ EU press award
December 19, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The first prize in this year’s ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination’ Journalist Award has today been awarded to a Portuguese journalist writing about the discrimination faced by migrant workers in the Netherlands. The second and third prizes went to entries from France and the United Kingdom respectively. The special award to mark the 2007 European Year [...]
Miss Belgium gets booed for not being able to speak Dutch
December 18, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Dutch are among richest EU citizens
December 18, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The Dutch are in the top three of richest EU nationalities. The purchasing power of the Dutch is 31 percent higher than the EU average, European statistics bureau Eurostat reported on Monday.
The richest EU citizens are the Luxembourgers, the residents of the Grand Duchy enjoy a whopping 280 percent more purchasing power than average. [...]
EU global image improving, US fading
December 13, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The perception that the EU is a global player is increasing worldwide, while the image of the US as the world’s biggest power is fading, a new survey has shown.
Citizens in major states across the globe see the EU as the fifth superpower in the world after the US, China, Russia and Japan - but [...]
Exhibition follows Europe’s route out of the ashes
December 13, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Most people think they know at least something about the history of Europe and the EU. But the first exhibition of the Europe Museum in Brussels shows that what’s common knowledge often barely scratches the surface.
The journey from the ruins of war-torn Europe to the modern amalgamation of states now known as the European Union [...]
EU to fund pan-European radio station
December 12, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Radio fans will from next year onwards be able to tune in to a new pan-European station, to be set up by a multinational group of broadcasters and funded by the European Commission. The ‘European Radio Project’ (ERP) - a consortium of 16 radio stations from 13 member states - will from April 2008 onwards [...]
EU citizens should have rights written into passports
December 7, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
EU citizens in the future should have the right to demand consular protection from embassies other than their own written into their passports, the European Commission has suggested.
In plans unveiled on Wednesday (5 December), Brussels has proposed citizens travelling in countries outside the EU, where their own nation is not represented, should be able to [...]
Better help abroad from EU consulates
December 7, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
European Union citizens need faster and better help if they are in trouble while abroad. Theoretically, EU citizens can knock on the door of any EU embassy in the world, whatever their nationality. However, most people are completely unaware of this fact, which is why the European Commission wants a sticker put into every passport [...]
The EU launches campaign for intercultural dialogue
December 4, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
To foster better understanding and communication between the diverse crowd that makes up European citizens, Brussels has launched a media campaign about its forthcoming “Year of intercultural Dialogue.”
The initiative has a budget of €10 million, plus money from EU capitals, and will be celebrated throughout the whole of 2008.
It includes seven flagship multi-European projects and [...]
Majority of French favour union with Wallonia
November 13, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
A majority of French citizens would support a union with the French-speaking Belgian region of Wallonia if Belgium were to cease to exist, according to a new survey.
The survey was conducted by the French weekly Journal du Dimanche on Thursday (8 November), with participants being asked whether they are in favour of an “incorporation” into [...]
Many Dutch support merger with Flanders
November 13, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Almost half the Dutch population is positive towards a merger between the Netherlands and Flanders. The newspaper DAG reported this on Monday after an opinion poll by Maurice de Hond.
The poll showed that 45 percent of the Dutch would support a union with Flanders. The majority however, 49 percent, would be opposed to such a [...]
EU unveils ‘blue card’ scheme to attract skilled immigrants
October 23, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The European Commission unveiled Tuesday its new “blue card” labour scheme aimed at attracting highly qualified immigrants to the European Union to fill millions of jobs.
The system, loosely based on the US “green card,” is aimed at attracting the kind of sought-after immigrants who tend to find more attractive pastures in places like the United [...]
EU sees numbers of asylum seekers drop
October 9, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
The number of asylum seekers in the EU has been progressively decreasing since the 1990s.
From 2001 to 2006, the numbers of applications have dropped by almost 50 percent, with a 15 percent drop noted in 2006 alone if compared to the previous year, recently released figures from the EU statistics office Eurostat show.
In 2006, the [...]
EU-based firms continue to lag behind on research spending
October 7, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Only three EU companies have made it to the global top ten for investors in research and development, according to an EU report on R&D investment.
The report lists the top 1,000 R&D investors in the EU and compares their research spending with the top 1,000 investors outside the EU.
Together, these 2000 companies represent more [...]
European lawmakers warn against creationism
October 7, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
European lawmakers have warned against teaching creationism - such as ‘intelligent design’ which denies the evolution of species through natural selection - in European schools saying it could become a threat to human rights.
National parliamentarians from around Europe meeting in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – the top human rights body in [...]
Europe ageing and divorcing at high speed
October 5, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
There are currently more elderly people than children living in the EU, as Europe’s young population has decreased by 21 percent - or 23 million – in 25 years, 10 percent of which in the last ten years alone.
Only 16.2 percent of today’s EU population is less than 14 years old, while 16.6 percent is [...]
New proposals let more people into EU, others out
October 4, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
While EU justice and interior ministers meeting in Lisbon discussed tightening border controls of non-EU citizens, the bloc’s internal borderless travel zone is set to be extended.
Among the raft of new anti-terror measures up for discussion at the two-day informal meeting, which began Monday, Oct. 1, was the use of new technology and the sharing [...]
Parlez-vous European?
September 26, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
While the European Union celebrates European Languages Day, its officials are quietly moving towards creating a new language of their own.
Read the rest of this very interesting article here.
Source: Expatica Germany, 26 September 2007
Europeans must learn more languages, commissioner says
September 26, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Europeans should learn more foreign languages and not think that a “lingua franca” – one language used internationally - is enough, EU commissioner for multilingualism Leonard Orban said on Wednesday (26 September).
Currently, 56 percent of Europeans feel they could have a decent conversation in at least one foreign language, while 28 percent feel comfortable in [...]
Belgium still struggling to form government
September 13, 2007 by Sueli · Leave a Comment
Three months on from elections, Belgium is still struggling to form a new government, as Flemish and French-speaking parties remain at odds about the need for far-reaching state reforms – including the highly sensitive issue of devolution.
The Flemish side wants more powers for the regions, something the French side fears is a cover for [...]
