News

Future of the EU: can the taboos finally be put to rest?

2 March 2017

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has proposed a white paper with five scenarios for the future of the European Union. “Against expectations, the Commission is not steering clear of a number of taboos in the paper,” says MEP Sander Loones. “For example, as far as I know this is the …

Dieselgate Committee: preventing a new emissions scandal

28 February 2017

The Dieselgate Committee of the European Parliament has approved a series of recommendations to prevent a new emissions scandal. “A year and a half after the outbreak of Dieselgate, it is clear that this scandal for public health could and should have been avoided,” says MEP Mark Demesmaeker, vice …

Procedural abuse in cases involving aliens finally tackled

24 February 2017

At the proposal of State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken, a draft bill has been approved with which the fight against procedural abuse in cases involving aliens can be both facilitated and turned up a notch. “From now on, it is possible in one and the same hearing to pronounce …

Freeze EU accession negotiations with Turkey

24 February 2017

Following the federal parliament, the Flemish majority parties in the Flemish Parliament are now also asking for Turkey’s accession procedure to be frozen and the European Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) to be scrapped. “In the light of the worsening human rights situation and the decline in …

First step towards investment agreements without Wallonia

23 February 2017

Flemish Minister-President Geert Bourgeois has reached an agreement to investigate how Flanders can conclude open asymmetric investment agreements without the other federal entities. After all, for a year and half now, Wallonia and Brussels have been blocking various different investment agreements …

Zuhal Demir new Secretary of State