Today the majority of the media and most analyses of the Belgian situation speak of an “institutional crisis” or a “communitarian crisis”. While this way of conceiving the Belgian situation does reflect a part of the reality, it is to a great extent inadequate. Indeed, although apparently deadlocked...
Federal elections took place in Belgium on June 13, 2010, three and a half months before these lines were written. There is as yet no government, and not one of the problems that gave rise to the elections has been solved. It is not an easy task to try and explain the situation to people from...
The clear sanction of the Liberal-Conservative government in the legislative, regional and European elections on May 26 took a radically different form in different parts of the country. While the Flemish (60% of the population) massively voted for the far right, it is the radical and ecological left that triumphs in Brussels and Wallonia.
MEP Marc Botenga (PTB, Belgium) speaks about workers' alliances across Europe and why we need more of them, the EU bureaucracy and political culture he witnessed, some fights at the European Parliament with the Commission, PTB's rise in Belgium and party building. An interview conducted by Loren Balhorn for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Workers at Delhaize (one of Belgium's largest supermarket chains) are massively protesting against implementation of the franchise model which is expected to lead to layoffs, precariousness, and lower wages, as well as to endanger national unions and set a new franchising trend in the whole retail sector in motion.
Full success for the national demonstration on 6 November. With more than 120,000 participants coming from the whole country the event which had been initiated by the three main workers organizations (Christian, socialist and liberal) makes up the largest social mobilization for the last 30 years.