European Union’s top court orders an immediate halt to large-scale logging in the Unesco-listed ancient forest. The European Union’s top court has ordered Poland to immediately halt large-scale logging in an ancient protected forest, one of many cases that has pitted the nationalist, eurosceptic government in Warsaw against the bloc. The EU’s executive commission earlier this year sued Poland at the European court of justice (ECJ) over logging in the Białowieża forest, a Unesco World Heritage site. Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, it is one of Europe’s last…
Read MoreMonth: July 2017
BT profits dive by 40% after £225m payout over Italian scandal
Telecoms giant forced to pay Deutsche Telekom and Orange to settle claim relating to the sale of EE. BT’s profits fell more than 40% in the first quarter of its new financial year after it was forced to pay out £225m to two shareholders following the accounting scandal at its Italian operation. Deutsche Telekom and Orange became shareholders in BT after the company struck a £12.5bn cash and shares deal to buy mobile company EE in 2015. As part of that deal the two companies were issued a warranty as…
Read MoreTomorrowland – federal police “comply” with judge’s decision
The federal police indicated on Thursday, “There has been a judge’s decision and we will comply with it.” This was the reaction to the verdict reached by a judge in summary jurisdiction. In its decision, the judge authorised the three complainants, who were refused access to Tomorrowland following a police screening, to attend the second weekend of the festival. This is on condition that they are subject to a further security check on entry. In total, 37 individuals, who bought tickets for Tomorrowland, were refused entry following following a federal…
Read MoreJoint trade union body rises up against the extension of the flexi-jobs regime
The food industry and retail sections of the majority trade unions the CSC, FGTB and CGSLB “strongly” oppose the extension of the flexi-jobs regime. This is anticipated to take effect as part of the government’s annual summer agreement. This was made on Wednesday by the federal government. The three unions say, “Through this agreement, once again, the government is challenging the rights of workers and social consultation.” The system of flexi-jobs, already in force in the hotel and catering industry, will indeed be widened to hairdressing and the retail trade,…
Read MoreTerrorism: ECJ keeps Hamas on EU blacklist
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided on Wednesday to keep the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, in Gaza, on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations. In a decision, the ECJ considered that the relevant court of first instance in the EU “should not have removed the requirement to keep Hamas on the European list of terrorist organisations and referred the case back to the given court of first instance.” This is stated in a communiqué. On 17 December 2014, to everyone’s surprise, the relevant EU court of first instance set…
Read MoreGeneral financial situation of Belgian football in the red
The majority of Belgium’s professional football clubs are in the red. This is the conclusion of an article written in the Dutch-speaking version of Trends on Thursday. The authors of the article, Patrick Claerhout and Luc Huysmans, consider that the objectives of the licensing system instigated by Royal Belgian Football Association have not been met, and that the general financial situation of clubs depends, to a large extent, on outgoing transfers. There are red flags around the general situation of the twenty-four professional clubs. Half of the teams in the…
Read MoreRecord turnover for Bekaert in first six months
Bekaert announced on Friday that it recorded a consolidated turnover of €2,095 billion in the first six months 2017. This is an increase of 15% on the like-for-like 2016 figures, and a record for the company. The company specialises in steel-wire production and explains this increase by its organic growth (up by 6.5%), mergers and acquisitions (+6.5%) and favourable currency movements (up 2%). These have increased the consolidated turnover by €36 million and the overall turnover by €97 million. Underlying Earnings before interest and taxes (or EBIT) reached €176 million…
Read MorePolitical dialogue between EU and Turkey ends in disagreement
A high-level political dialogue between EU top officials and Turkish ministers took place this week (25 July) in Brussels in the framework of dialogue and cooperation between the two sides. It was described as open, frank and even constructive but did not result in any common statement on the outstanding issues besides an understanding that the dialogue should continue. Turkey was represented by its Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik. On the EU side participated High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in charge of…
Read MoreUkrainian MP Alexander Granovskiy accused of second citizenship
Ukraine has strict laws prohibiting becoming the citizen of another country while holding Ukrainian passport. However it happens quite often. It is especially popular among politicians, businessmen and ethnic minorities to hold the second passport for ‘just in case scenarios’. One of the cheapest way to get the citizenship of European Union is to get the Romanian passport. MP Alexander Granovskiy (Granovski – EU) has managed to get one – and is now under fire of his fellow colleagues and law enforcers. It should be noted, that MP Alexander Granovskiy…
Read MoreEU minister says Turkey still on track to join bloc despite calls to stop accession
Federica Mogherini says it is important to keep a dialogue open despite growing pressure for Brussels to condemn Ankara’s human rights abuses. The EU’s foreign policy chief defied calls for a tougher line on human rights abuses in Turkey to insist the country remains on track to join the bloc. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, told reporters on Tuesday that it was important to keep a dialogue open with Ankara. “Clearly Turkey is and stays a candidate country,” she told reporters. “Many of our colleagues prefer…
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