News

European constituency brushes regions under the carpet

20 April 2011

In April the Committee on Institutional Affairs of the European Parliament approved a report that wanted to modify the rules for European elections. Frieda Brepoels, Member of the European Parliament for the N-VA, believes that the call for 25 additional MEPs is unacceptable at a time when savings …

Belgian and Dutch naval cooperation not compromised after all

15 April 2011

The Dutch government is not, after all, going to sell its two M-frigates despite earlier, conflicting reports. N-VA Member of Parliament Bert Maertens believes this is good news for the Belgian navy: "Now Belgium and the Netherlands can continue to jointly maintain their M-frigates and keep on …

The N-VA’s vision regarding the “European semester”

13 April 2011

On 13 April, the N-VA presented its vision of the European semester. The resigning Leterme Government, which only holds 30 of the 88 Flemish seats in the Federal Parliament, did not wish to involve the N-VA in negotiations on this issue. It does not even intend to request the Parliament’s approval …

European semester – The N-VA’s vision in terms of content

13 April 2011

The N-VA is having a very difficult time with the fact that the “regering van lopende zaken” (the departing “current affairs” government, with just 30 of the 88 Flemish seats in the Federal Parliament) is planning to submit a multi-annual budget to the European Commission by no later than the end of …

The Belgian Finance Bill

8 April 2011

The Finance Bill – officially the Special Act of 16 January 1989 – determines how money is distributed between the Federal State, the Regions and Communities in Belgium. The Federal Government (Belgium) allocates part of its income in the form of grants to the Federated States, namely three …

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