News

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 …

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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 …

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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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The land of milk and honey

8 April 2011

Proportionally, Belgium attracts many more asylum-seekers than the neighbouring countries: 2.5 times as many as France, 3.3 times as many as the United Kingdom and even six times as many as Germany. As such, Belgium can rightly be called Western Europe’s pre-eminent destination for asylum-seekers …

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Cultural preconceived notions in Belgium

8 April 2011

“Solidarity makes a culture great” over 200 well-known Belgians recently said in the press. In doing so they subscribed to a manifesto which perfectly illustrates the dominant preconceived notions about Flemish nationalism. The N-VA’s reaction was to issue a rejoinder. The type of Flemish …

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Wallonia-Brussels is outright provocation

5 April 2011

The unilateral decision made by the French-speaking parties to rename the French Community the 'Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles' without even asking the Flemish parties what they thought about it, or the Flemings in Brussels, is outright provocation. The position of Flemings in Brussels is …

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