Federal health minister Maggie De Block is reported to be considering scrapping social security advantages granted to professional football players, following the continuing revelations of corruption and match-fixing in the investigation known as Footgate or Operation Clean Hands (a reference to the Italian operation Mani Pulite against the Mafia in the 1990s). First-class football clubs make a substantial saving every year on reductions of social security contributions (RSZ), worth a total of €7o million a year, as well as cuts in corporation charges worth another €57 million. The latter concession…
Read MoreDay: November 26, 2018
Colruyt is the cheapest supermarket chain in Belgium
According to the annual price survey of the consumer watchdog publication Test Achats/Test Aankoop, Colruyt has been found to be the cheapest supermarket in Belgium for the tenth year in a row. However, the difference with the Netherlands-based retailer, Albert Heijn, is very small. A shopping cart with branded, private label and unbranded products, vegetables and fruit is only 1 percent cheaper at Colruyt than its Dutch rival. Those who do not buy fruit and vegetables are better off at Albert Heijn. Discounters such as Aldi and Lidl are not…
Read MorePrincess Astrid and ministers leave for largest trade mission ever to Morocco
Belgium’s largest ever trade mission departs today for Morocco, led by Princess Astrid and including 469 business participants. Joining the princess, who took over the leadership of economic missions when her brother Philippe became king, is foreign minister Didier Reynders, federal secretary of state for international trade Pieter De Crem, Walloon economy minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet and Brussels region’s secretary of state for international trade Cécile Jodoigne. Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois, whose portfolio includes foreign relations, will join the mission in Rabat on Tuesday. Following a meeting today with Princess Lalla…
Read MoreIn sad moment for EU, European Council endorses “best Brexit deal possible”
The European Council special meeting ended on Sunday with the Council endorsing the withdrawal agreement with the UK and approving a political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the EU and the UK. In what EU leaders described as a sad day for EU they underlined that the agreement was the best possible in the circumstances and will not be renegotiated. At the press conference after the meeting, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that he was satisfied with the unity among EU27 despite pressure from…
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