News

European intellectual property: a fair reward and expensive link tax

12 September 2018

“We are satisfied that authors and artists will finally receive a fair reward for their work. On the other hand, our start-ups and SMEs are being hit by a link tax, due to which press publishers such as newspapers can charge a fee to online news aggregators.” MEP Anneleen Van Bossuyt reacts with …

Record number of refugees caught as holidaymakers

11 September 2018

“Going on holiday to your country of origin while being a recognised refugee? That’s asylum fraud.” Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken responds in no uncertain terms to the record number of holidaymakers with a status of recognised refugee who have been caught. In the first …

Jan Jambon: “The real fight is against the human traffickers”

5 September 2018

“The objective of the police operations is to dismantle the human traffickers’ networks.” This is how Minister of the Interior Jan Jambon reacted to criticism that transmigrants who had been arrested were being released. “The transmigrants are just poor souls looking for a better life. The real …

Stricter rules against abuse of student visas

30 August 2018

From the new academic year onwards, foreign students’ results at Belgian university colleges and universities will count towards the recognition of their student visas. In this manner, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken aims to prevent abuse of the student visa. “We notice …

Flanders among Europe’s leaders in innovation

28 August 2018

In 2016, Flanders invested a record amount of EUR 6.7 billion in research and development, representing 2.7% of GDP. This means that Flanders is doing far better than the European average of 1.94%. Flemish Minister for Innovation Philippe Muyters is pleased with the strong average, but is setting …

“Far too many have been let in”

24 August 2018

“It stops here. We are no longer taking in illegal migrants who leave North Africa by boat.” Yesterday evening, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken once again emphasised his point. He reiterated that the priority is to deport criminals. “The focus is on those who cause a …

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